Large truck wheel weights

[MSG]

I just bought some wheel weights from a tire shop that does mainly tractor trailers and large trucks so the weights are all very large. They are charging $35 for a 3 gallon bucket full. So should I stock up on these? I've called dozens of tire shops in the area and no one else will sell them to me or already have someone that they give them to or they recycle the weights themselves. Are truck wheel weights more desirable since there is more lead and less clips (sounds like a dumb question but I'm still a newbie at all of this)? Thanks.

[plus1hdcp]

I think your best gauge will be after you smelt the 3 gallon bucket and determine how many pounds you get. I will be interested in finding out how much you net.

[leadman]

These are a great source of casting alloy. You are correct in the reduced amount of clips. Also less likely to have iron or zinc in the batch. Least I haven't seen any of the large iron or zinc yet, just the plastic tubes with some type of shot in them.

[David LaPell]

I got alot of these the last time around and they made it much easier to use in my little Lee ladle pot. Alot less clips and just a bit of paint and dirt to clean up with.

[bslim]

Truck WW's are a good source. I find less steel content / lb and so far not a lot of steel or zinc.

[RP]

Only thing I can add on truck weights is they have If I remember right babbit which i not a big deal unless your making shot with a dipper. But weight to clips is alot better. Melt one down and weigh out what you got in lead. I think you be ahead on the price myself.

[MSG]

I'll have to pick up a few more buckets the next time I'm in that area.

[-06]

You can buy lead ingots online for about $1 per lb all ready for your kettle and moulds. A three gallon bucket probably weighs about 60 lbs so you will be getting it for @ .50 lb. My son scored an ammo box full of new tk weights recently. Will be trading them to a bud for triple used stuff. Just love swapping like that.

[mold maker]

I read some where that truck weights were a slightly different alloy that contained a very small % of copper.
What I have cast made good boolits that were slightly harder. No problems with them so far in over 8 years.

[MSG]

You can buy lead ingots online for about $1 per lb all ready for your kettle and moulds. A three gallon bucket probably weighs about 60 lbs so you will be getting it for @ .50 lb. My son scored an ammo box full of new tk weights recently. Will be trading them to a bud for triple used stuff. Just love swapping like that.

I weighed one of the buckets and if I remember correctly it weighed about 110 lbs. I'll have to take a scale out to the storage building later and weigh them again. I do know for sure that it weighs a lot more than 60 lbs.

[cbrick]

I read some where that truck weights were a slightly different alloy that contained a very small % of copper.

What I have cast made good boolits that were slightly harder. No problems with them so far in over 8 years.

I've read that also but it hasn't been my experience. Very possible that it could the case with some brands of weights but none that I have encountered. I've used hundreds of pounds of the truck weights, I seek them out, they BHN test and cast the same as the rest of my weights.

Rick

[Ervin]

Don't get many truck weights here but what I have have are all zink. Get 'em while you can.
Ervin

[evan price]

All I've found of truck weights have been ZINC. Clearly marked Zn on the weight, and they are impossible to clip with pliers. Just be aware they are not all Pb!

[shotman]

Some do have babbit its good for boolits but bad for shotmakers.
Last year A guy had about 200 lbs of NEW weights listed on feebay in the auto parts, many were truck weights but didnt seem to have the babbit, as they worked in a shotmaker.
check at your county school bus garage

[MSG]

Well I found another tire shop that does a lot of truck tires and they will sell me a full 3 gallon bucket for $30 so I went ahead and bought two. From what I've sorted through so far, they are almost all lead and very little zinc or Fn. Man truck wheel weights are a ton bigger than car weights, some of the car weights are more clip than lead.

[plainsman456]

I would get all that you could afford because they are going like the dinosaurs.
They do cast some good boolits.

[smokemjoe]

I had a can of the truck wts and they were pure soft lead once. Last week at a stop sign, I seen a WW by my side, no one around so I got out and found 2 big truck wts. also, look like they were layed on a truck and drove off. Over 1 lb. of lead.