It was only a matter of time!!

[Vinne]

I knew it would happen one day and it did. I went to the two or three tire stores that used to save wheel weights for me. Well to be honest, two thirds of the bucket was steel but at least there were some WW I could use so I was thankful for that much. Last week the last of my "supply" said they could no longer save WW and that they would be picked up by some outfit that made batteries.
Such a sad day for the south. I know the batch I was getting was not large but it kept me in bullets. If they can't get our guns, they will cut off our supplies to the point where the guns we have will be of little use without ammo!!:groner:

[HITEK REDNEK]

It is sad times we are living in, that's been there plan (imo) for about 10 yrs now, stock pile all you can before they do take are 2nd ammentant from us.

[Bullshop]

This is not the gov it is excide trying to corner the market by hook or by crook.

[singleshot]

This is not the gov it is excide trying to corner the market by hook or by crook.

Can't say I completely agree Bullshop. Without the US Government rules and regulations on lead, you could just offer the tire shops $$, and lead wheel weights are more effective than zinc or iron and easier to make, so they'd still be in use on automobiles. I don't think most appreciate the impact 1 "little" law or regulation can have.

[RogerDat]

If I was in the battery business lining up supply of lead would seem like a good idea. Especially one that cut out the middleman and saved me money.

Only problem with the whole idea of a "plan" to cut off our supplies is that RotoMetals and many other vendors sell lead, even sell it in alloy mixes for bullet casting. What is getting increasingly scarce is cheap or free sources such as WW's. Scrap printers lead once common is not used much by industry anymore so it has become harder to come by too. No conspiracy just not as cheap or free due to less of it floating around. Those that stockpiled Lino and Mono when there was a glut from the end of lead printing are looking pretty smart. Suppose the same could apply to WW's.

The Captain over in swapping and selling has good prices on WW ingots already smelted into nice clean WW lead. So are other members. If you want to stockpile just buy more than you need every month until you have a comfortable supply built up.

[Vinne]

And the sad part is that the tire shops tell me they have to pay to have it hauled off. Now isn't that helpful for a business!!

[dragon813gt]

This is not the gov it is excide trying to corner the market by hook or by crook.

Quoted this because it's partially true. Exide and other battery dealers have been making deals w/ shops for years now. Apparently the shop the OP is talking about decided to make this deal. It has nothing to do w/ the government. All factory dealerships have had this arrangement w/ one of the battery dealers for years here. It's nothing new.

[Bullshop]

And don't doubt for a second that excide lines the pockets of many politicos to have rulings slanted in their favor. We are talking some big bucks here to be """ THE ONE""" Think about it $100.00 a pop for every motor vehicle in use. A couple million here and there to buy a few politicos is small change well spent.
OH and another thing I figure they spend no small amount in DC to keep lead off the federal haz-mat list. If it were added to the list it would easily cut their profits in half.

[Glassman66]

I recently started working at a GM dealership in the KC area and we take our WW's to the recycler. They pay .15 a pound and told me I could have them for the same amount. I spent a little time looking in the barrels and there wasn't enough lead weights to make it worth my time to sort through. I would rather just buy decent lead to use from a good source.



Randy

[RogerDat]

Auto companies sell cars & trucks in multiple countries and states. Some of those (Europe, California) don't allow lead WW's so it simplifies the supply chain of the auto company to not use lead at all on the new car wheels. We have all seen lots of comments about the declining lead to zinc/steel ratio from tire store WW's.

This decline in scrap WW's that are lead in the scrap supply also means manufacturers such as Exide are going to pay more for the lead they purchase that depended on supply from recycling or scrap yards. Just makes sense then for them to try to make more direct arrangements to secure a supply. Especially given that zinc scrap is close the same value as the lead WW's. If they go to the tire stores they insure supply at a better price and can dispose of the zinc for a possible profit.

It also means we will pay more too. And have more trouble finding lead in the buckets we do get, and have more competition for those buckets. Either from commercial outfits or fellow casters. All one can do is keep plugging away to secure a supply of casting material at the best price available. While I don't consider it an investment from a financial standpoint I do think having a good stash makes sense from the standpoint that I'm insulated somewhat from shortages, price spikes, or a long term trend toward higher prices. Kind of hard to see a huge difference long term if a nickel increase in price per lb. is only $50 on a thousand pounds. Still if you have room and bought that thousand pounds before the nickel increase you would be happy you did. If it drops a nickel don't think anyone would jump out of the window of a skyscraper over the $50 they "overpaid".

Thing is this decline in scrap supply of lead should persist and get more pronounced. Lead is no longer used in lots of things it used to be in that are to some degree still showing up at scrap yards. Sooner or later the last of the lead from roofing, plumbing, and buried cables will have moved through the scrap yards. Then it will probably be buy from stores or other casters or not at all.

If one shoots 40 lbs. a month buy 50 lbs. and start stockpiling if it fits in your budget. In one year you would have a 3 month supply always on hand and growing by 10 lbs. a month. Stop when it feels like the right amount for you.

[Alan in Vermont]

If it were added to the list it would easily cut their profits in half.

Not hardly! The extra expense would be added to the cost of doing business and passed along to the eventual buyers of their products in the form of higher costs to buy the product.

[Bullshop]

Right so a $100.00 battery now becomes a $200.00 battery. I guess when you control the market and folks don't have a choice you can do that.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

This is a major SIGNAL to start prowling your area scrapyards for good lead . Good usable sheet lead comes readily to mind.

In my case I watched scrap brass prices for a year and then sold 2 plastic Folgers cans of carp range pickups and worn out cartridge brass to the yard and later his helpers fished me out 3 X the $'s worth of very clean lead roof sheeting. Seems lead was at a low just a few months ago.

BTW it appeared the words "cartridge brass" was great bait. Likely they have a brass hound coming by to check their wares.


BvT

[kenn]

I've got one shop literally giving it to me but it's slow. Maybe 200 net pounds in a year if I'm lucky. I'm going to supplement that with local scrapyard @.50/lbs and some from a couple of vendors on here at 1.15 shipped per pound. I'm going to try to build up a ton, literally. I don't want to wake up one day and realize my casting days are over because raw materials are now made of unobtanium.

[Vinne]

A ton still may not be enough for a young caster to last a life time. The ones that are mining the backstops are the smart ones. It may be more work but is a sure supply and that's what I call smart recycling!!

[Freightman]

i use to sell some range scrap not going to happen anymore as I want to have plenty for me and my sons.

[rockrat]

Our scrap dealer charges $1/pound and pay 10 cents!!! I have bought a couple of pure lead ingots from him lately, at about 60 lbs each ingot.