Collecting WWs

[steg]

yesteday I was talking to a guy I met who also casts, and he told me not to bother going to a certain place because they were anti gun, so I thought what the heck and gave it a try, asking for used WW's to make deep sea lures out of for my buddies, he got a big smile on his face and got one of his guys to put them in the car for me, their wasn't alot but he explained he had just been cleaned out by another fisherman, so unless you know for sure they are gun friendly be a fisherman (deep sea) LOL I get seasick on the boat while its still in the harbor, I don't even try anymore. BTW he told me to stop back every once and a while...steg

[509thsfs]

That's all I"ve been telling people the last couple days that I've been making the rounds. When they ask me what I want them for, I just tell them "for making sinkers". Actually, more people relate to that and have been shaking their head in the affirmative. I actually do make sinkers out of some of it. It's gotten me 3 and a half five gallon buckets in the last 3 days just stopping at places while on the road during the day.

Found it also helps if you take along a couple of your own empty buckets. Some don't want to give up their scrap bucket (some don't mind). I've kept 3 empty ones in the jeep the last few days. all the places that gave me some today all asked if I had one.

[jimmeyjack]

lol, same here. I do use the stickons for sinkers tho.

[hoosierlogger]

Found it also helps if you take along a couple of your own empty buckets. Some don't want to give up their scrap bucket (some don't mind).


If I am out in an area I dont normally go to, Ill stop and ask for them. I dont always have a bucket with me, so I just dump them in the bed of the truck. I usually haul them around for a couple of weeks to ensure that most of the cig butts and wads of chew are washed out by the rain.

[casterofboolits]

I am blessed to have a buddy who takes care of the tires for a local trucking company. He drops off four to six five gallon buckets of truck weights every three months. Another buddy has access to a Goodyear Tire Center and I get the weights and he gets credit for the 45 bullets he uses for IPSC and IDPA.

Also, I still have about two tons of lead from the indoor range at my club. I mix the range lead and WW 50/50. This alloy works well for 45 ACP. For 9s, 38s, and 40s I add a mix of tin and linotype to the pot. Linotype from scrap yards has dried up, so I ordered linotype alloy and pure tin from Roto metals. Order sixty pounds and they ship it free. Lino was $2.49 per pound and pure tin was $11.49 per pound.

To smelt the WWs and range lead I use a plumbers pot which has a sixty pound pot. The ingots are made in cast iron muffin pans. The "muffins" weigh 2.5 pounds.

Good luck in the search guys!

[ghh3rd]

casterofboolits - do you have a will?

[509thsfs]

Well, over the last four days, I've managed to collect four 5 gal buckets worth of WW's for free. Total time invested looking... about 2 hours, if that much. Not kidding. I just happen to have a LOT places in the area. Takes about 5 mins to ask and get a "nope" or a "yep" and load em up. I just stopped at places while on the road going to places I needed to go for work. I'd see a place and swing in real quick. Collected the majority of them in one 3 mile stretch of road. A couple of the places I will stop by again in a couple months as they seemed to be busy places and do a LOT of tire work. I was given quantities ranging from one handfull, to 1/3 a bucket, to a full bucket. told the guy that gave me a handfull and the one that had 1/2 a coffee can full "thank you very much, it all adds up"

Have a few people going to ask some friends if they have any too. I could use 2-3 more buckets and I'll be set for my needs for at least 15-20 yrs. Heck, has taken me almost 5 yrs to use up my last 5 gal bucket since I got out of IDPA and PPC comps.

[rondog]

How much should a guy expect to pay for a bucket of w/w's?

[wistlepig1]

If you do have a Will, I am up of adoption.:kidding:

[Matt_G]

How much should a guy expect to pay for a bucket of w/w's?

Anywhere from free to $30.00 seems to be norm. Seem people want even more.
It's going to vary quite a bit. Where I live I have three sources. One is free, but I buy him some Foster's Lager anyways. I only get a bucket or two a year from him. My main source is good for a bucket every 3 or 4 weeks. A bucket costs me a case of Bud Light. I buy the beer on sale and keep a stash to trade with. That runs me about $18.00 per. I thought I had found another source a while back. Guy had six 5 gallon buckets worth. I was all ready to do a deal till he told me he wanted $60.00 a bucket. :roll:
They're still there as far as I know.

[509thsfs]

Just got done melting down and cleaning up 2 of the buckets. After culling out the stems, cigarette butts, stick on, FE, and ZN weights as well as the clips, ended up with 148 lbs of clean WW ingots. These two buckets were about 4/5ths full, so I ended up with about what I expected from past experience. The other two buckets are full to the rim, so should get close to 200 lbs when I get to them in a couple years.

All these weights I got free. In the past when I was in MO and bought from a scrap yard, I paid $25 a 5 gal bucket. A few years back when I moved back to PA, I called a scrap yard and they wanted 30 cents a pound. No idea what they want now. Never got around to calling and asking. Was waiting to see how the scrounging went 1st. Went real well so never called to see. I should just for info. Still would like to get a couple more buckets just to have on hand and trading material.