Bought first WW in a decade

[fstreed]

It has been around 10 or 12 years since I bought my last batch of used wheel weights. A lot has changed. I am in southern Oregon, just across the border from California. Last week I threw an old plastic bucket in the back of the truck and started checking tire shops for WWs. First place said their's were contracted to someone. Second place had some. The guy at the counter said they went for $40 a bucket, but he warned me that it would include a lot of steel weights. He promised a full bucket and since I was about out of WW alloy I went for it.

One of the guys in the shop helped me load it and it seemed as if the bucket was lighter than I remembered even though it was full. I noticed that they had another full bucket ready to go and decided that if the first bucket panned out I would come back for the other.

I got it home and started separating the various weights. It had a LOT of steel weights in it, probably almost half by volume. There was also an alarming number of zinc weights in it. I ended up with 55 lbs. of coww and 31 lbs. of soww. There were a lot of stick-on steel weights which I separated out. It was a little disappointing compared to what I used to get back in the '70s, 80s, and '90s. But still cheaper than ebay lead and at least I knew what they were.

I went back and got the other bucket. It contained the following: 26lbs. of steel and zinc (a lot less zinc in this one, perhaps a dozen total), 19 lbs of soww, 62 lbs of coww, and 9 lbs of clips skimmed off. The bucket also had the usual lug nuts, pulled tire studs, and other assorted garbage including one empty condom pack, which didn't get weighed.

Total yield for the two buckets at $80 was 117 lbs of coww, and 50 lbs of soww. Not like the good old days. I used to pull out some of the bigger pieces of garbage and just dump the rest in a big pot and melt it. It was almost all lead with just an occasional steel weight, and a lot less soww. I don't remember the yield but it was a lot higher than now. About half of it I got for free back then, the ones I paid for was probably $10 or $20 a bucket.

[canyon-ghost]

Aw, the price goes up but it's pretty much the same. A guy can't expect the same quality but, you're still getting wheelweights. That in itself is saying something. These aren't really the good old days but, maybe, they are the good-enuf days.

I've gotten some fair deals on wheelweights, and a few not-so-good deals. I'll take the lead I can get over getting nothing. Rather just go shooting as not.

Ron

[jcameron996]

I made a tour of the tire shops last week with similar results. I paid fifty cents a pound for wheel weights. Out of the forty pounds I bought at one tire shop I got about 27 pounds from clip on weights. There were a lot of steel weights but not much zinc. Not sure how many pounds of stick ons because I threw them in another bucket to smelt later. Seems that alot of the clip ons were pretty small so I spent a lot of time skimming off clips. Oh well, I guess I will take what I can get.

[fstreed]

Overall, I don't think I did too bad. I am going to try to lay in a few more buckets. That should hold me for awhile. I like ww alloy because I have used it for years and am used to it. I have quite a bit of pure lead on hand as well as linotype and foundrytype. I bought a few hundred pounds of lino from a local junk yard back in the '80s and still have quite a bit of it. The foundrytype I got from a dealer who used to advertise in "Shotgun News", I think his name was Art Green.

At almost 60 I probably don't shoot near as much as a lot of you guys. Still, I worry about running out. So I take whatever lead I can get. The guy at the tire dealership told me I had better stock up on lead WWs while I can because they are going fast. So I intend to do just that. I am in the process of casting up a supply of my most used bullets so I won't have to bother with them for a few years.

I used to be able to buy ww cheap at any time. I was given a lot of buckets over the years just by simply showing up with an empty bucket to replace a full one. One shop I remember going to had a big fat guy running it. When I asked if he had any used ww he said yes. I asked how much. He smirked and told me they were free if I could load them by myself. I was kind of slender back then but growing up on a ranch and bucking a lot of hay gave me a strong back. I was working as a wildland firefighter on a hotshot crew at the time and was in excellent shape. The fat guy and one of his employees pointed me to the bucket of ww and watched with big grins. I pulled on a pair of gloves, lifted the bucket with one hand using the bail (and hoping it held out), and carried it out to the truck, unlatched the tailgate with one hand still holding the bucket, then used both hands to lift it in. Every muscle in my body was protesting but I acted like it was nothing and asked them if they had any more. They weren't grinning by then. Stunts like that probably explains why I'm a stove up arthritic old wreck now. It was fun while it lasted.

[lwknight]

fstreed, you made a good score. The last lead I bouight was $1300,00 for 1574 pounds.
I ended up with around 900# of near pure. 300 pounds of misc. antimonial lead (WW and what not) , 200 pounds of lead with weired properties that I would not cast bullets with , some solder and 150 pounds of junk and dross ( more less ) .
All in all it was about $1.00 for useful lead/alloy. The other stuff will make weights or whatever.

[Defcon-One]

At 47 cents a pound, I think that you did OK. The clip-on lead is always good to have and the stick-on lead is nearly pure lead and certainly has it's uses. It is great for alloying into 20:1 or 25:1 for special needs alloys or for casting muzzle loader foder all by itself!

I am seeing less and less of the Zinc in favor of Steel weights. I predict that the Zinc will eventually go away completely, as will the lead, and that Steel will become the new standard.

[fredj338]

I would be happy to pay 50c/# for good ww alloy. The problem is it is costing quite a bit mor ethan that if you drive around looking for ww. My next tire purchase will be contingent on scroing at least some free ww.

[Iowa Fox]

I just finished sorting 8- 5 gal buckets of weights. Lots of steel and ZN here also. Seems like more stick ons than the old days also but at least they are lead. I have one small shop left where the guy sorts into a gallon can then dumps into a bucket so I get almost 100 pecent good stuff and no sorting for me. All he ever wants is a 12 pack for the bucket. I think I'm going to start taking him cases or 30 packs.

[looseprojectile]

of mostly clip ons. Very few stick ons. Mexican used tire seller. Five gallon bucket near full for 30 bucks.
When I walk through the Wal Mart parking lot all I see are cars and pickups with alloy wheels that use stick ons. Darned few cars with steel wheels anymore. Can't imagine clip ons being with us very much longer.
If I don't live much more than another decade I probably have enough.


Life is good

[fryboy]

here in the middle i dont find many ww's , i'm pretty sure that some retired guys beat me to'em and have long standing deals with'em or something , the few i do find i'm fortunate in one regard - precious lil zinc , i saved all i could until i had enough to smelt ( about a bucket and third ) i didnt weigh the stick on's but an educated guess of 20-22 pounds is close , 86 one pound ingots ( so figure 80# -ish ) a whole pile of steel clip ons and a small pile of steel stick ons ( erm and clips :P ) TWO zinc clip ons plus one aluminum one i need to take a foto of and post on the i.d. thread , yeah only two zinc ones...gee i'd almost rather have zinc than steel ( it's worth almost as much as lead on the market ) it was hardly worth the effort to hand sort every one