WW prices.

[RustyFN]

I was checking around town today for some WW's and nobody was giving them up. The only place that was willing to get rid of some wanted $50 a bucket. The scrap yards want $77 for 100 pounds. Ouch
Rusty

[selmerfan]

So I'm doing ok at $15 per 5 gal bucket?

[targetshootr]

I've been getting them free or sometimes $15 a bucket but if I were hurting for some, I'd pay $30. Luckily I'm not hurting.

[randyrat]

I was checking around town today for some WW's and nobody was giving them up. The only place that was willing to get rid of some wanted $50 a bucket. The scrap yards want $77 for 100 pounds. Ouch
Rusty That is GREADY...

[Ghugly]

The lady that manages the local range went to the trouble of digging and cleaning some bullets to see what they were worth. She ended up with 97lbs. that she took to the local scrap yard. They gave her 97cents. I told her to give me a call the nest time she wanted to sell some lead.

[shooting on a shoestring]

Around Austin, I've got a source that's $10 per 5 gallon bucket, however its usually a 1/2 full bucket b/c if I wait any longer, someone else grabs it. I've hit a few other places that get $20 to some absolutely outrageous price. So, I usually end up with about $20 per 5-gallon bucket of trash with some WWs mixed in.

That's high, but not in comparison to jacketed, or factory loaded. I don't see how anyone can shoot enough to stay proficient shooting factory loads.

Besides, I get as much pleasure out of casting and reloading as I do shooting. So I see it as a bargain even at $20 per bucket. Thats at least a weeks worth of enterainment, maybe even a month's worth. Pretty cheap thrills.

[rbstern]

Lead futures are currently selling for $2800 per ton on the London metal exchange. If you can get usable scrap lead for less than $1/pound, you're doing pretty well.

[Beaverhunter2]

about $20 per 5-gallon bucket of trash with some WWs mixed in...That's high, but not in comparison to jacketed, or factory loaded...Pretty cheap thrills.

Right on, Shooting'-

I'm sooo glad I've recently "discovered" casting! When I go to the range, which is not as often as I'd like, I'm one who likes to spend the day and shoot hundreds of rounds. With jacketed bullets for my .480 going for $32.00/50, paying 6 cents a piece ($3.00/50) for cast should help my shooting as well as my wallet! My payback on my casting equipment should be sometime in May!

I also like casting and reloading almost as much as shooting.

And, from what my handgun hunting friends tell me, for penetration you can't beat a good, heavy hard cast boolit.

The best of three worlds!

Thanks for the help and advice, guys!

John

[xr650]

The last two buckets I got cost me $60.00 per bucket.
263 lbs. of clip ons and 44 lbs. of stick ons.
These buckets were full and very little trash.
I calculate 39 cents per lb.
Lots cheaper than $50.00 for 500 store bought cast bullets.

[Leadforbrains]

I have been doing alot of hit and miss lately. I almost feel that I have got in the casting game to late. I am fortunate though in that I travel alot with my job, and I hit tire shop after tire shop while I am on the road. This also helps to keep me from wearing out my resources. I have been averaging a 5 gal. bucket a month of WW for the last 6 months or so.
I have been mining a local range and have wound up with a bucket full of range lead. Is it just me or is a 5 gal bucket of range lead heavier than than a 5 gal bucket of wheel weights?

[felix]

Yes it is. ... felix

[Dale53]

The reason "range lead" is heavier than wheel weights is really quite simple. The steel clips (steel is lighter than lead) take up quite a bit of space in the bucket.

Dale53

[Boz330]

That is GREADY...

You can't blame them, business is business. The guy who owns the farm I hunt on is in the scrap business and he couldn't do much better than that for me with the BIL price. China is buying the stuff up by the conex full and paying top dollar.
They are even buying old batteries with the acid in them. IIC they got .30 a lb for those.

Bob

[crgaston]

It's not just the emerging markets (China, India, etc)...Apparently, a lot of the current prices are due to speculative buying on the part of numerous index funds. Actual demand does not support the current prices, and in fact some folks in the industry are beginning to short metals.

So hopefully we'll get some relief here soon.

[HORNET]

I know one guy that said he bought some lead from China but had to send it back. It had toys in it...

[xr650]

You're a killer Hornet. :mrgreen:

[Racer X]

I just bought a bucketfull that weighs ~ 200 lbs for $64. I bought 2/3 of a 5 gallon bucket from a different place for $15. The $15 place is a local chain with about 7 stores. They started dealing with a new WW vendor who buys back their old WWs so they won't sell me anymore.

[compass will]

They started dealing with a new WW vendor who buys back their old WWs so they won't sell me anymore.

This is the part that makes me mad. Even if I am offering more money, they think they are required to sell to the vendor who set up the "deal" with them.

One place was told they were getting better prices on the batteries they buy because they were "selling" there used WW to him.

[felix]

Just the other day I got a tremendous surprise! I got a battery from a Delco distributor and was told to bring back the old battery for cash, which was the surprise. Wholesale warehouses don't normally fool with "junk". I got the battery for 120 bucks, retail 190, and got a refund of 20 bucks, making the battery sale at about half retail price. I have had my fill trading out Walmart batteries every 6 months or so. But who knows, this new battery might not be any better over the long haul. What is discouraging is that I have bought batteries that lasted for years and not knowing why. Over the last 10 years or so it seems just about everything in the car business is pure junk when purchased on the "cheap". ... felix

[mtgrs737]

I don't buy tires from anyone who won't sell me their used weights! My present WW supplier just sold me two new tires and was very gratefull for the tire sales.

[imashooter2]

I don't buy tires from anyone who won't sell me their used weights! My present WW supplier just sold me two new tires and was very gratefull for the tire sales.

Around here, your car would be up on blocks.

[grumpy one]

Just the other day I got a tremendous surprise! I got a battery from a Delco distributor and was told to bring back the old battery for cash, which was the surprise. Wholesale warehouses don't normally fool with "junk". I got the battery for 120 bucks, retail 190, and got a refund of 20 bucks, making the battery sale at about half retail price. I have had my fill trading out Walmart batteries every 6 months or so. But who knows, this new battery might not be any better over the long haul. What is discouraging is that I have bought batteries that lasted for years and not knowing why. Over the last 10 years or so it seems just about everything in the car business is pure junk when purchased on the "cheap". ... felix

Felix, most of the battery mysteries can be solved. Calcium-lead batteries such as Delco makes require lower charging voltages than the old antimony-lead batteries, and are much more temperature sensitive as well. If you have an old vehicle, perhaps as a spare or pickup or whatever, it may have the wrong regulator for a modern battery. It may also have high underhood temperatures in summer, which will have similarly disastrous effects.

Given the right environment, a calcium-lead battery should give years of service. My car has the OEM battery, after 3.5 years use, despite the car having been stored "at grass" for two years between when it was imported and when I bought it, and despite the extreme heat in the Australian summer. The battery's performance is unchanged. I did just have to replace my wife's similar battery after 3 years, but I suspect it had been abused along the way.

A few years ago I bought an ultra-heavy duty open-cell battery for my tractor, and never did make any sense out of its charging voltage requirements. It would accept nearly half an amp of trickle charge forever at 13.8 volts, where antimony-lead batteries normally drop to 30-40 milliamps when charged (at which point you drop the voltage to 13.0-13.1 volts and apply it indefinitely). My best guess is that it was actually a calcium-lead battery, despite being open cell, and my attempts to treat it as an antimony-lead battery were the problem. I'll never know - I sold the farm, and the tractor.

[felix]

Thanks, Grumpy. ... felix

[jack19512]

I don't buy tires from anyone who won't sell me their used weights!






It must be nice. Around here if I took that kind of attitude with the tire dealers I would be riding on my rims. Don't take me wrong, I'm not knocking you it's just that wouldn't work here. Around here they won't sell me the weights no matter what. I guess they are afraid of upsetting the other people they are dealing with. I guess I can understand it though, if I make a deal with someone I expect them to keep their part of the bargain to. :)

[Bob Krack]

Here in Redding, CA the only metals recycler pays $.15 per lb for lead in any form and sells scrap lead in any form for $.90 per lb.

I am currently kept in supply by my local auto tire dealer. Entire family buys tires there for last 20 years. He won't sell me WWs but will give me all he has (3/4 to 1-1/2 buckets) - only once in every 3 months. Gives the rest to other casting friends/customers. My kinda guy!

Vic