Unable to get any wheel weights

[catkiller45]

I my area here in north east pa,it's impossible to get wheel weights..
Where is a good place to purchase alloy for
Cast bullets..our local junk dealer refuses to sell any lead.. Bastard..

[bangerjim]

S&S section on here.

RotoMetals, a site sponsor.

Good luck in that state!

[zarrinvz24]

Lead is out there still, we just have to be creative in finding it. Make friends with plumbers, whenever they remove lead pipe ask them to give you a call. Make friends with roofers, roofing lead is nice and soft.

[358429]

I got lead a couple of times from rocky mountain reloading. It is noodles packed into boxes.

[CastingFool]

I cringe every time I think about all the wheel weights that I threw out, back in 1970-71, when I worked at a gas station. I wasn't into casting back then. Over time I did save about 50 lbs, and eventually melted them into ingots, intended to cast into zinkers, but never did that either. The bright side is that I'm very sure I still have those ingots in my garage.

[GregLaROCHE]

If you don’t want to by from a supplier like Roto Metals, keep a watch out on the want to sell thread. Lead for sale does come up there. Consider looking for someplace where you can collect range lead. Putting a sign up wanting to buy lead for more than the scrap yard pays, in roofing supply places, may yield some good results too.

[Beagle333]

Watch the S&S section here. Lots of lead on there. Reasonable too.

[lightman]

Lead is still out there. Ask your friends, neighbors and co-workers to watch for you. I call it "networking". Its not instant, sometimes it takes months to produce. It also continues after you are ready to quit! Consider placing an ad on the local Craigslist and on any local swap shops. Talk with plumbers, roofers, telephone repairmen, and any local scrappers.

Until you find any the places listed above can get you started.

[Baltimoreed]

Be wary if you buy any on fleabay, bought some once and they were 2/3 zinc weights in the box. Thought it felt light as large a wooden box that it was. The seller said he didn’t know and refunded some money. Tire shops would be your best bet. States are phasing out lead weights due to environmental concerns.

[Hodagtrapper]

I place an ad in the "Wanted" section of Craigslist looking for lead in all forms. Picked up quite a bit in the last year. If somebody answers with "I have a big garbage can full of wheel weights" do a random sample of 100 of them using a pliers to verify they are lead. Last few deals I made the lead wheel weights comprised 45% of the total. Base your price/offer on the sample percentage you obtain. Paid way too much for the first bucket though! :evil:

Chris

[BamaNapper]

Not sure if PA has laws about handing scrap lead to someone who's not EPA approved. That's definitely not the case here.

I can still find plenty of lead wheel weights. But going to the local tire shops is a waste of time, 95% zinc and steel. Big trucks still use lead. Ask at a truck center next time you're on the interstate, it can't hurt. Also, it doesn't hurt to have an empty bucket or two with you. I was surprised that a truck center can fill a couple buckets a month. But I don't get greedy, I let them know I'm only looking for enough to feed my shooting addiction and have yet to be charged for a bucket of weights.

[kevin c]

Isotope container lead that I’ve picked up has mostly analyzed out between 2.5 to 3.0% antimony. That’s similar to clip on WW, though there’s no tin or arsenic to speak of. Straight from the radio pharmacy, it’s usually very clean alloy.

It occasionally comes up for sale in the S&S. If you’re in or around a major population center there are likely one or two radio pharmacies in the area. A call or visit with an offer to buy above local scrap prices and to pick up (plus snacks for the staff) might just get you a steady source of lead well above your needs.

[fredj338]

Lead is out there still, we just have to be creative in finding it. Make friends with plumbers, whenever they remove lead pipe ask them to give you a call. Make friends with roofers, roofing lead is nice and soft.

Also contractors that do remodeling. A buddy of mine fell into 1200# of pure sheet lead removed from an old roof being rebuilt. Its all melted down now & I can get as much as I want from him for a bullet swap.
WW are pretty much dead source but lead is where you find it. I can get as much as I want from the two ranges i shoot by berm mining. It doesnt even require much digging, more like surface scratching. Easy to get over 50# in less than 30m work. Hit up local stain glass classes or shops for scraps. If you know someone in hospital work, iso containers & dental foils. By far though, the shooting berm is your best source for DIY but buying here is 2nd.

[JoeJames]

No problem here in the Delta. There's a local farmer's tire shop near me, and they mostly do farm tires. So when I get a 6 gallon bucket it is mostly lead COWW's. His place does very little business in the way of modern sedans with weird COWW's. You need to look for a place kind of out of town that does farmer's tires.

[memtb]

I just checked with my local tire shop.....$25/ 5 gallon bucket! However, I pretty sure that they’re 30% or slightly more......the “wrong” wheel weights! memtb

[David2011]

Memtb, get all you can at that price. As the zinc and steel percentage increases, make a call to move on when it’s no longer viable.

[Handloader109]

I would for sure watch and make friends with not only plumbers, but Roofers. Especially in your area of the Northeast. A LOT of chimney and roof flashings in older homes are lead. Soft for sure, but when they remove a roof, it is in the trash.

[memtb]

Memtb, get all you can at that price. As the zinc and steel percentage increases, make a call to move on when it’s no longer viable.

Yep....it may be a good time to heavily invest in “precious” metals! :lol: memtb

[bangerjim]

Yep....it may be a good time to heavily invest in “precious” metals! :lol: memtb

That is why I have many troy ounces of silver and gold. (You should have at least 10-12% of your net worth in precious metals.....and that is NOT lead.) Those metals will always be valuable. I would NEVER consider lead as a precious metal. There are tons of it out there for the buying. You just gotta know where to look! It is one of the primary metals used extensively in our society yesterday, today, and tomorrow and always will be, even though the stupid tree kissers and owl huggers try to get it banned.

Good luck on your quest for the illusive galena goblin.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Keep looking and make sure you have enough cash on hand to buy big when the opportunity arisies. I bought 1400 lbs of wheel weights in one whack, yielded 900 lbs of ingots, about two decade's worth for me after blending with soft. Also keep an eye out for soft lead. You can always harden it up. Between water dropping and powdercoating, you can really stretch your supply of harder alloys.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Ask your junk dealer if he'd be willing to sell 1000+ lbs. Might be enough to make him bite if he is figuring you only want <100 lbs.

[Hodagtrapper]

Just had a guy answer my Craigslist ad yesterday with 225lbs of 1" clean lead pipe. He drove 45 miles to bring it to me and I paid .71 cents a pound!

Chris

[bruce drake]

My gunclub rebermed the rifle and pistol ranges last spring so my handy source of lead has been buried under a lot of fill so I broke down and bought some lead over Ebay but I have bought from Rotomoetals in the past and recommend them as well.

[imashooter2]

Range scrap is the new WW. If you have an indoor range nearby, inquire within.

[BattleRife]

I my area here in north east pa,it's impossible to get wheel weights..
Where is a good place to purchase alloy for
Cast bullets..our local junk dealer refuses to sell any lead.. Bastard..

Pennsylvania is the center of the lead universe, if you are interested in buying new material. A company I used to work for used Grant Mfg & Alloying in Altoona quite a bit. You'll probably have to get a couple of hundred pounds, minimum.

[gwpercle]

For soft lead ... Get to know building contractor(s) who does renovations on old homes ...
lots of lead used in them ... Shower pans , Roof Jacks and Wall flashing , Leave him your phone # and tell him you will take it off the job site for him . They have trouble disposing of lead ... if you can use it Win-Win .
New Construction ...there was a time when all X-Ray rooms were lined with lead under the sheet rock , lots of scrap left over during construction ... modern X-Ray may be different .
Medical and Dental offices having renovation work ... a lot of time these walls get demolished ... all that sheet lead is now scrap ...ask the contractor to call you .
Gary

[Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang]

It is one of the primary metals used extensively in our society yesterday, today, and tomorrow and always will be, even though the stupid tree kissers and owl huggers try to get it banned.

I hugged an owl once, true story

[Rickf1985]

Just had a guy answer my Craigslist ad yesterday with 225lbs of 1" clean lead pipe. He drove 45 miles to bring it to me and I paid .71 cents a pound!

Chris
I hope you bought him lunch/dinner and beer!!!

[Hodagtrapper]

I hope you bought him lunch/dinner and beer!!!

He promised more lead in the future and I found out he started a Chimney Sweep business and will clean my chimney this coming spring.

Chris

[inspector_17]

Besides SS check the vendors out also.

[pacomdiver]

and dont forget while on trips, and your waiting in the rest area parking lot waiting for the woman to go potty and while walking the dog, look on the ground for lead, my last trip to virginia in september, i got just under a pound from 4 rest area stops, lots were the square stick on ones (soft lead) and they were pressed into the blacktop, i walked around with the dog and pryed them out with a screwdriver

[RogerDat]

Tire shops that sell used tires are generally a better bet. Corporate tire stores don't sell wheel weights to the public. Factory new cars don't have lead WW's on the rims. Since they can't be sold in some states or other countries the manufacturer uses non-lead for the new cars. This means it is when a car gets its second set of tires it may have lead WW's, in short an older car. Shops that sell used tires are also more likely to see older cars than say a dealer or the big tire mega center. Those older cars are more likely to have lead WW's and the private shops are more likely to sell to an individual.

If you live in a state that bans lead WW's give it up. WW's are not likely to be a source for you unless you find a bunch sitting in a barn.

Best prices for quality in ready made ingots are most likely to be found in our S&S section. People here generally know what they have and are using it themselves. FleaBay is more of a roll of the dice.

Consider being consistent in checking second hand and thrift stores for pewter items. Not only is it a useful alloy for our casting it has a fairly high selling price. A good garage sale score on a box of pewter items can be swapped for lead or sold to purchase it. Also watch for partial rolls of solder at garage sales. Not uncommon to find them in a $5 toolbox of "junk" and be able to get just the solder for 50 cents.

If just starting out casting I would suggest not getting bogged down in WW's but to consider figuring out what you wish to cast for, then what alloy mix would work for that and put a WTB (wanted to buy) ad in the Swapping and Selling forum. Or buy from Rotometals. That way you will know your alloy is good for your intended use allowing you to focus on your casting and other steps to making completed ammo.

WW's were just a means to an end chosen because they were very common at one time. Not as common any more, better to look for the soft lead used in old roofs, plumbing, xray wall shielding and then purchase or scrounge for alloy to add to that soft lead.

ISO containers are not something I have seen often but the ones I have found were near the same hardness as COWW's

Worth noting scrap prices are high right now. Lead at yard that was $1 a pound is now $1.25 and has no problem moving it by hundreds or thousands of pounds. If you can score some soft lead cheaper from construction or other sources it does help offset the stuff you purchase commercially or in S&S.

WW's at 50% lead yield need to be less than 65 cents a pound to not cost more than buying here without all that work of sorting. At 50 cents a pound for the bucket 50% yield is costing you a buck a pound for the lead. May do as well from a scrap yard for lead that isn't as much work to process.

Spring loaded prick punch or thumbnail will give you an idea of scrap hardness. Can spot dead soft probably plain lead, can't tell what is in the alloy that makes it harder than plain unless the form gives you an idea of the use. I bought a 400# flywheel because it was harder than lead and broke with a grainy structure. Melted with a torch too low to be zinc. Turned out to have 4% antimony. May have paid a bit much for it, but got a deal on some soft lead so it sort of balanced out.

[jonp]

I my area here in north east pa,it's impossible to get wheel weights..
Where is a good place to purchase alloy for
Cast bullets..our local junk dealer refuses to sell any lead.. Bastard..

I'll tell you what's strange. I stopped at a local place and asked about wheelweights and lead. The lady said they didn't sell. A month or so later the wife stopped as she was going by and bought half a bucket full of WW and some lead pipe.

[jonp]

Just had a guy answer my Craigslist ad yesterday with 225lbs of 1" clean lead pipe. He drove 45 miles to bring it to me and I paid .71 cents a pound!

Chris

I'd have paid his gas, too

[lightman]

Roger makes a few good points. Wheelweight alloy covers most of our casting needs and it was plentiful and cheap at one time. Its still available in some areas, not so much in other areas. You just have to look for it. A friend of a friend brought me a nearly full bucket a few weeks ago. They were 100% lead when I sorted them. A year ago another friend dropped off a bucket of old weights that ware also 100% lead. I have the promise from a few other people promising weights. Some of them will come through, and some of them won't.

[fayettefatts]

Have to keep looking. I stopped at a tire shop that does mainly truck and heavy equipment tires a couple days ago. Asked if they had any scrap wheel weights. Got a 5 gallon bucket full free. Didn't weigh them but I guess close to 100 lb and probably 70-80% lead. Bucket was outside and broken open with lots of dirt, rust leaves etc. so lot of work to clean/sort but still worth the time & effort for me.

[1903.colt]

I have two yards I BUY from . My advice is start the conversation with I would like to buy some lead if not to much bother when you have time . The know the lead market price have cash last lead I bought 800 pounds for .75 a pound clean heavy . This will render close to 800 pounds . My advice who ever were ever start the conversation with I would like to BUY your lead if not to much of a hassle pay with cash don't ask for change when you give the guy out back helping you 5 bucks you will find lots of lead .

[Chaparral66]

At a casting class in October one of the guys has a box full of "scraps" from one of the boolit swaging companies. I guess they only swage from new alloys and don't fool around with all the bits that don't make it into the boolit.

[white eagle]

check here

The Captain
Smelting reclaimed wheel weights and range lead into ingots, since 2007.

down in vendors on this site

[ulav8r]

Had a pulled pork salad for lunch today, about 45 miles from home. Drank a coke and took one to go. Thanks to an enlarged prostate there was no way I could make it with a dry seat. Pulled over on the side of the freeway. As I went around the back of the truck to get between the doors to keep from exposing myself I looked down and spied a partial wheel weight. After taking care of more urgent business, I picked up the wheel weight, it appeared to be just over half of a 3 ounce LEAD wheel weight. Nice bonus for the forced stop.

[Baltimoreed]

Picked up a bag of wheelweights today on the ground outside the tire place while I was having my tires replaced. Had a bad blowout Sunday and they were getting thin anyway. Haven’t looked at them to see what is actually lead vs zinc. Jumped out of my car Saturday to grab a weight off the divider. Nobody was behind me. Used to drive my wife crazy when I would do that.

[lightman]

Picked up a bag of wheelweights today on the ground outside the tire place while I was having my tires replaced. Had a bad blowout Sunday and they were getting thin anyway. Haven’t looked at them to see what is actually lead vs zinc. Jumped out of my car Saturday to grab a weight off the divider. Nobody was behind me. Used to drive my wife crazy when I would do that.

Me and a buddy have made a game out of doing this. I have a magnet on a stick and I reach quite a few out of the window. Some years we come up with close to 5 gallons.

[Retumbo]

Still have a 55 gallon drum of COWW sitting behind my shed ��

[Keyman]

Well back 20 plus years ago, I took brass and aluminum to the metal dealer. After the pay off I asked if he had any lead for sale, but no I do not sell, but I will give you free indoor range lead if you haul. He said his buyers would not take it as it had copper and brass sweep up shells that did not fire in the mix. Well they loaded 3 55 gallon drums in my trailer, and off to home I went. That was a lot of work to melt down, but a great score, and some was sold on evil bay and sent south as far as Florida. Them USPS flat rate boxes are great!

[dondiego]

HA! A box of lead ingots from Alaska to Florida! Says something about those boxes if they arrived in good shape.

[gwpercle]

I see the day coming when the "Save the Earth" bunch will have good old fashioned clip-on wheel weights "outlawed" . For 50 years I had a free unlimited supply (he retired from his tire business) .
So I remembered that Elmer Keith used only tin / lead alloy to cast his boolits with ...
His 1936 book " Sixcun Cartridges & Loads " contained a chapter on casting and lead alloy , in which he wrote to use the following tin and lead ratios :

1/20 - For most revolver , light and normal pressure loads , hollow points and solid point , up to a velocity of 1,000 fps. ( chart shows a bhn of about 10)

1/16 - For high pressure and magnum loads , hollow point and solid point , with velocities over 1,000 fps ( chart shows a bhn of about 11).

1 / 10 - Auto pistol and rifle bullets ( chart shows a bhn about 11.5)

Old clip on wheel weights had a bhn of 9 , not sure if this is still true but ...
1/25 alloy mix will have a bhn of 9 .
I have found a 50/50 mix of COWW and Soft Lead works well for handguns , revolver and auto , and 30-30 rifle .
It seems to work better than straight COWW ...this has a bhn of 8 . I use this alloy with 9mm Luger boolits but you do have to load them with care and expand the neck properly .

I used to believe that HARD boolits were better ... It Ain't So !
bhn's in the 8, 9 and 10 range are plenty hard ... Size beats hardness Seven Ways to Sunday .
As long as I can get tin and lead ... I can make it work .

Louisiana hasn't outlawed wheel weights and a small scrap yard dealer or small privately owned tire business will still sell them to you , cash money and cold beer go a long way to making friends in these places .
Gary

[Keyman]

Well I learned to put a box in a box, and to glue and tape them three ways. Most people complained about how hard it was to open, but never was one bar lost.

[Jim22]

Ebay has a lot of vendors selling lead wheel weights.

Jim

[georgerkahn]

In my area there are several junk yards, with -- I'd wager -- pretty close to one thousand, total vehicles -- most smashed, but also on wheels. I just had the "brain-storm" of, "what's the chances of being turned down by going to one of these with a pair of pliers, screwdriver, and a plastic bucket -- to remove the wheelweights oneself?"
Just, again, a thought... has anyone tried this with any success?
geo

[Wooserco]

In my area there are several junk yards, with -- I'd wager -- pretty close to one thousand, total vehicles -- most smashed, but also on wheels. I just had the "brain-storm" of, "what's the chances of being turned down by going to one of these with a pair of pliers, screwdriver, and a plastic bucket -- to remove the wheelweights oneself?"
Just, again, a thought... has anyone tried this with any success?
geo

This is a great idea! I might do this!

I work on electric industrial fork lifts for a living. I asked one of our industrial battery suppliers about buying scrap lead intercell connectors after explaining what I wanted them for. He gave me about 80 lbs. worth with the understanding that he wanted 100 bullets in exchange.

The lead scratched about the hardness of COWW.

[white eagle]

Is the Captain still selling it here?
check vendor sponsors

[BattleRife]

In my area there are several junk yards..."what's the chances of being turned down by going to one of these with a pair of pliers, screwdriver, and a plastic bucket -- to remove the wheelweights oneself?"

I recall reading a story, probably on CanadianGunNutz.com, of someone trying this. They got up to the counter with a bucketful and were told that it was yard policy that minimum charge for a part was $2, and they considered every single wheelweight to be a separate part! He left the bucket in the shop.

[georgerkahn]

I recall reading a story, probably on CanadianGunNutz.com, of someone trying this. They got up to the counter with a bucketful and were told that it was yard policy that minimum charge for a part was $2, and they considered every single wheelweight to be a separate part! He left the bucket in the shop.

One of my best friends (now deceased) regularly used to profess that even the most well kept, beautiful lawn and/or garden in the world will STILL have a weed or two in it... Perhaps the yard owner had "attitude" or, even perhaps the potential buyer. In my years I've learned that if I speak TO and WITH people, and generally preface something like this with something in the lines of, "Hey -- what would your charges be for wheel-weights if I went out and harvested them from wheels on units in the yard... I mean, hey, I'll gladly pay the going salvage rate by the pound/kg.?" Such sets the stage, so to speak... Another real plus would be the (most of thie time ;)) steel and zinc weights could be left in the yard -- this, alone, being a savings.
In Ontario, Ca., rules went into effect in 2020 prohibiting lead weights, I believe. ( https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/canadian-environmental-protection-act-registry/consultation-document-regulations-prohibit-wheel-weights.html#:~:text=The%20objective%20of%20the%20 proposed%20regulations%20is%20to,market%2C%20there by%20progressively%20reducing%20Canadian%20wheel%2 0weight%20stocks.)
I do not know the rules in B.C. -- have they, too, banned this highly deadly and toxic to any/all within ten meters of it stuff? ;) ;) ;)

[jsizemore]

I had found a pliers/hammer tool for ww installation in a bucket of ww's and decided to give it a try in a salvage yard. It was really SLOW. An hour barely netted a quarter bucket of weights.

[Retumbo]

One of my best friends (now deceased) regularly used to profess that even the most well kept, beautiful lawn and/or garden in the world will STILL have a weed or two in it... Perhaps the yard owner had "attitude" or, even perhaps the potential buyer. In my years I've learned that if I speak TO and WITH people, and generally preface something like this with something in the lines of, "Hey -- what would your charges be for wheel-weights if I went out and harvested them from wheels on units in the yard... I mean, hey, I'll gladly pay the going salvage rate by the pound/kg.?" Such sets the stage, so to speak... Another real plus would be the (most of thie time ;)) steel and zinc weights could be left in the yard -- this, alone, being a savings.
In Ontario, Ca., rules went into effect in 2020 prohibiting lead weights, I believe. ( https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/canadian-environmental-protection-act-registry/consultation-document-regulations-prohibit-wheel-weights.html#:~:text=The%20objective%20of%20the%20 proposed%20regulations%20is%20to,market%2C%20there by%20progressively%20reducing%20Canadian%20wheel%2 0weight%20stocks.)
I do not know the rules in B.C. -- have they, too, banned this highly deadly and toxic to any/all within ten meters of it stuff? ;) ;) ;)

So, not good at reading/understanding political gobbelty-goop. What I get is that the legislation never became law, and they are trying again.

https://gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2021/2021-07-03/html/reg2-eng.html

[BattleRife]

What I get is that the legislation never became law, and they are trying again.

I don't get that out of the link you posted, what I see that is that regulations were filed July 3, 2021, and take effect 1 year later.

So as of July 3, 2022, it will be illegal to manufacture or import lead wheel weights in Canada.

[BJung]

Find someone in another State that has wheel weight lead. I traded a fellow brass for lead. With USPS Priority boxes, the shipping cost was worth it to me