Price for a 5 gallon bucket of mixed wheel weights.

[justindad]

I got a five gallon bucket of wheel weights from a tire shop for $25. Turned out to be about 50% steel and 45% lead. I am thinking I overpaid.
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How much are y’all paying for a bucket of mixed wheel weights?

[deltaenterprizes]

Last time I bought some about 5 years ago I paid $30 a bucket for 4 buckets and when I got finished sorting I had about one full bucket of usable stuff!
Your price was better than mine!

[ohen cepel]

Brother in law used to bring a bucket to me now and again from the shop he deals with. I asked him to stop as it was a hassle for him and the last one was about 25% lead. I am starting to think the wheel weights are drying up rather hard. Depends some on region I think but for me I am out of that game.

[imashooter2]

I won’t pay for unsorted wheel weights. It’s impossible to know what you will wind up with. Your bucket could have just as easily been all steel and zinc.

Speaking of zinc… are you sure all your non steel weights are lead? I would expect there to be zinc in a mixed bucket.

[Winger Ed.]

Not exactly a bargain, but you didn't really get burned either.

You might hang onto the Zinc, as Lead dries up, its the future of casting.
There's videos on youtube where guys have already switched over to it.

[oley55]

OP,

that's what I have been paying and my sort results mostly match yours. Zinc content varies between 5 and 8 percent.

[lightman]

I got a five gallon bucket of wheel weights from a tire shop for $25. Turned out to be about 50% steel and 45% lead. I am thinking I overpaid.
*
How much are y’all paying for a bucket of mixed wheel weights?

My opinion is you didn't get burned but didn't get a real bargain. Your estimate of 45% lead should be somewhere between 45 and 70 pounds of lead, minus maybe 12% for the clips. So you have $25 invested in that much lead plus the cost of melting it and casting it into ingots.

Awhile back I passed on a bucket of supposably sorted weights for $50. I would have bought them if I was needing lead.

[hoodat]

My last deal was twenty bucks a bucket, and I could fill my own bucket from 55 gallon drums. What a hassle! I got a pretty good bucket full, but spent a lot of time doing it. Haven't been back to do it again, so I must have enough lead. jd

[Mitch]

I will not pay for buckets of WW. to much work and you do not know what you are getting.By the time you sort then melt and remover the clips from the pot it is just a pain.My time is worth something and the risk of not getting much lead for your money to great.In my mind there are better ways of getting there without all the PITA.In the end WW are just another alloy to plug into the alloy calculator. they are not the cheep source of lead they use to be for most.You do not need WW to cast good bullet no majic there.

[oley55]

I see more and more folks dissing the effort of reclaiming wheel weight alloys. I don't get it. From my recent experience rendered wheel weights are costing me about 45 cents a pound excluding propane costs. Still way less than other sources ($2.00 a pound). Yea, I'm retarded now and I have more spare time, but I'd still prefer to have that extra $1.50+ a pound in my pocket to bjy powder, primers and brass.

I was just doing some calculations to figure how much/cost of some hardball or foundry type alloy I would need to harden up my 400 pounds of near dead soft lead and decided I need to keep chasing after wheel weights for making 50/50.

[NyFirefighter357]

COWW has completely dried up here in NY maybe most of the northeast. I've seen COWW selling for $2lb+ in S&S here. You did just fine, I also save the Zn for future use.

[imashooter2]

Thank God I put up my stash years ago. The future of reasonable cost alloys just looks so bleak…

[beltfed]

Last 10 buckets I finally got around to sorting, I averaged about 70percent lead WW ingots.. over several years of accumulating them Mostly cost me $0- a couple were as high as $20 per bucket
. At 80, I think I got plenty.
Most of my alloy is 90%COWW/10% Lino
I also have a lifetime supply of the Lino
Pays to shop ahead.
beltfed/arnie of the "silver bullet brigade"

[MSUICEMAN]

just paid 20 per 5gal bucket of WW... these are from a few decades ago. supposedly they were sorted but will sort again to be sure.

[FISH4BUGS]

I had a shooting buddy sell his tire shop some 15 years ago and retire. He called me and said "...come and get all the WW's you can cart away".
2500 lbs later I felt like I had enough.
They are almost ALL lead with few steel and a few zinc. The barn is my storage area.
Lots of stick ons that will be melted and sold some day. Probably some 300 lbs of those.
I added a few buckets here and there when I could get them. I didn't need them but when they are available........
I think i am set for the rest of my days.
I'm not sure that I have actually PAID for a bucket. A couple of 6 packs or sodas or a box donuts usually was gratefully exchanged.
Those were the good old days.
I might try to get some pure lino someday when I start getting low on it. Down to my last 100 lbs.
I am one lucky guy.

[FISH4BUGS]

Thank God I put up my stash years ago. The future of reasonable cost alloys just looks so bleak…

Sometimes the opportunities present themselves,and you had better grab it or lose out.
I listened to that little voice in my head that said "...grab everything you can" and I did.

[David2011]

Last time I tried to buy WW the tire shop wanted $185.00 for two buckets; no extra charge for the chaw, valve stems, zinc and trash. Thanks but no thanks.

[oley55]

Last time I tried to buy WW the tire shop wanted $185.00 for two buckets; no extra charge for the chaw, valve stems, zinc and trash. Thanks but no thanks.

wheel weights or no, one does not need to imagine what their business model looks like.

[justindad]

I called around tire shops to see who else sold used wheel weights. Got nothing. One guy said: “The end of times is coming man! I can’t be gettin’ rid of my wheel weights!” Smart man.
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Seems like getting a worthwhile price on available wheel weights is a matter of luck.

[justindad]

Speaking of zinc… are you sure all your non steel weights are lead? I would expect there to be zinc in a mixed bucket.

The 5% unreported was zinc and a heavy rubber. I was surprised at how little zinc I found.

[Rickf1985]

I just recently paid $.50 lb. for 1500 lbs. of wheel weights. Lead percentage was 100%. This was a deal of a lifetime and these things NEVER happen to me but it was a right place, right time type of thing. Took 40 years for it to happen! A young man had bought out an estate of a deceased reloader and this was just part of what he got. I also bought a lot of linotype and tin. Like has been said, it is out there, you just need to be diligent. If I die in the next few years my wife will surely be doing the same thing with a couple tons of lead. Although I have told her to be SURE she checks values before selling guns and supplies. I told her, " Do NOT sell it for what I told you I paid for it!!!!!! It may sound morbid but I think the average age of us casters on here is close to 70? You younger guys just need to keep your eyes open. LOL.

[Rcmaveric]

I think you did good. I normally pay 33 cents a lb for mixed wheel weights from the scrap yard. Most often 30-50% lead. They buy the sorted scrap back for 16 cents a pound. I just keep doing that until i used up all the money I allocated for lead. I also do the math to se how much the lead cost me. As long as I am pay less than 80 cents a lb of clean lead, i call it a deal. Because if i were to buy it from a member here or on-line it would be 1$ a pound or more and thats without shipping. So anything less than a dollar a lb is money saved. There is big difference in price of reclaiming 300 lbs of lead than odering it,