Am I the only guy who can't be bothered with WWs?

[Canuck Bob]

How many folks don't bother with scavenging WWs?

After looking into the time and grief of acquiring and smelting WWs I'm looking at commercial sources for lead. Using Roto's Super Hard and virgin tin to sweeten junk yard lead eliminates a great deal of time.

[lwknight]

I buy lead from scrapyards. WW scrounging is a no go around here cause everyone and their dogs are doing it.

[Springfield]

I guess you don't have enough Scottish blood in you, 'cause to me, free is always good.

[Taylor]

Free is good!Always on the prowl for free lead of any kind.

[Mumblypeg]

I buy lead from scrapyards. WW scrounging is a no go around here cause everyone and their dogs are doing it.

Why do dogs need WW?:coffee:

[hoosierlogger]

For some of us it is the thrill of the chase.
Ill take any free lead I can get. I have kind of figured out which tire shops to stay away from. I have a buddy that owns a pretty good size tire shop and get all I can get from him. He gets all of my tire business, even if he does cost more than the giant tire shops.

[gray wolf]

if you have the money and want to purchase your lead that's fine.
As for me--it's out of the question. Still trying to save up for a thermometer.

[Canuck Bob]

My time is very limited with work and family. I can trade some money for a clean easy to alloy lead bullet.

I don't need a ton of lead. In my volume gearing up to smelt WWs will cost a great deal per pound. I know that one can scrounge up cheap stuff but again I'm trading time. I drive across town and pickup some clean flashing lead order in a USPS flat rate International shipping box from Roto and I'm casting off a hotplate.

Nice clean predictale alloys
No zinc fears
Clean and alloy in the casting pot
No filthy WWs, i worked in the auto repair trade for many years and seen everything from dead rodents to urine end up in WW buckets
I am of Scots heritage, nothing free in this world, believe me (unless your a bankrupt Wall Street Banker or Lawyer, you still get billions in bonuses for doing a terrible job and bankrupting the world)

[Canuck Bob]

Why do dogs need WW?:coffee:

To make vests so they sink when scuba diving of course.

[No_1]

I gave up on collecting WW's a long time ago. Seems there are a lot of "scrappers" in my town that make regular stops at all the places. I have also tried the indoor range scrap thing. Lots of work for a little bit of lead compared to WW's plus all the junk to get rid of.
I few years back I started getting foundry lead. This stuff is 6% antimony and always consistent. I guess if I wanted to experiment mixing stuff together I could get fairly consistent but with out a lab at my disposal I cannot guarantee anything that comes out of the pot.

[Muddy Creek Sam]

I have never cast with WW, I use Isotope lead, No zinc. Very consistent and very little dross.

Sam :D

[Markbo]

For me personally it is one simple reason: Cost. I am trying to keep all my shooting costs under a budget and free is always good.

[jmsj]

Canuck Bob,
I can totally appreciate that you would rather not find and smelt down wheel weights. If I could afford to buy certified alloys I probably would. But I am not in that situation. By using free wheel weights I've got the cost of my wife's 38 special rounds about the same as .22s.
My time is limited also, shooting is one of the things we do as a family. So the more we can shoot the more time we spend together. My kids like to help me reload also so that is more time we spend together.

[Gussy]

Well...I admit it....Picked up a FREE 1 oz weight off the ground. Looked down when I got out of my truck today, picked it up and tossed it in back. At that rate, my scrounging is pretty limited. Especially when each bullet weighs 530gr!!
Gus

[DIRT Farmer]

I buy lead from scrapyards. WW scrounging is a no go around here cause everyone and their dogs are doing it.
__________________
L W Knight
Might have been a dog in the calf pasture that needed to collect a wheel weight.

[Canuck Bob]

My shooting will amount to feeding a Winoku 92 32-20 a fair amount of lead. A flintlock .54 400-500 rounds a year and maybe my 444 but just enough to stay current as the 444 is Grizzly country family protection.

I appreciate that cost is a factor. Hornady XTPs would cost me .25 per shot and another .15 for powder and primer a 100 rounds for a Saturday family bush walk is $45. Even with my lead at $1.75/ pound for nice 96-2-4 LTA 125 gr bullets drop to .03. $18 bucks a 100 rounds. If the lead dropped to 0 it would be $15/100.

I used to burn up lead in a nice Colt MK II Series 70 45 ACP. But the laws are so restrictive it is almost impossible not to break a carry reg just stopping at McDonalds on the drive home. I can't transport it to the family homestead in Northern Alberta and share some pistol shooting with my Veteran Uncle. He loved to shoot that GI Colt as he called it. He liked the old breakaction Webley's better. He saw the 45s jam in Italy in the mud. Sad day when 2 generations of Canadian Soldiers, one a decorated combat soldier can't shoot a pistol on thier own land. The volumes of ammo competitors and heavy shooters burn would motivate me to scrounge.

But to save .03 per bullet just seemed like a place to ease my time problems. Now my 444 casting 300 gr bullets with a GC is another story, backup to about .18/bullet. An afternoon of 444 shooting is not a family outing and 100 rounds would be a workout.

If I seem bitter about our gunlaws your underestimating my response. Fight them at every turn, never rest. They hung a prohibited rating on small cal handguns like 32 or 25 autos, then prohibited barrels less than 4", then outlawed some very reasonable military guns just because they could. It is so ridiculous that I can use one firearm only without a PAL (Possession and Acquisition License) a Flintlock long gun. Somewhere in Canada some pukes are obviously doing drive bys with percussion Kentucky rifles and bank jobs with flint lock pistols.

[Lloyd Smale]

with the ammount of shooting i do i just couldnt afford to buy comercial alloys.

[Charlie Two Tracks]

I do both. I get very little WW around here. Too many people who are scrappers or the places have contracts for their lead. I got some Isotope lead from Muddy Creek Sam and it is clean and ready to go. I shoot three to four hundred rounds a month.

[sqlbullet]

Sam didn't mention the biggest benefit to isotope lead. It comes in 31.5 lb chunks :-).

http://fellingfamily.net/isolead/core.JPG

Now all I need is a 5" cannon and I can just shoot them as they are.

[montana_charlie]

I have a half dozen wheel weights laying with my tire tools, and close friend has offered me weights from his tire service shop, but I have never melted one.
CM

[Canuck Bob]

I do both. I get very little WW around here. Too many people who are scrappers or the places have contracts for their lead. I got some Isotope lead from Muddy Creek Sam and it is clean and ready to go. I shoot three to four hundred rounds a month.

This is what I failed to understand. The volume of lead some of you folks shoot is staggering. When I read about guys with a ton stashed away I thought it was overkill, pun intended.

Now I realize I'm in the company of some very dedicated shootists.

[No_1]

When I get down to a ton on hand I break out in a cold sweat.

[gunsablazin]

I have close to a ton of lead on hand now, including 1,200 lbs. of linotype. I still stopped on my way in to work this morning and picked up about 50 lbs. of WW. There is no such thing as too much lead!:cbpour:

[skimmerhead]

it's a sickness, an addiction, call it what you will. i will never live long enough to shoot all the lead i have, but every time i get a call from the tire shop or the print shop i race up there with the anticapation of a kid with visions of the treasure that is about to be bestowed upon me! now that's either sick or crazy. now thats all i have to say bout that. (forrest gump)

skimmerhead :cbpour: :arrow: :bigsmyl2:

[waksupi]

I've got a lot closer to two tons, than one!

[mold maker]

When the free lead is gone and the price of bought lead goes through the roof, don't ask me to share the wealth of WWs I've scrounged for over the years. And the tons of range lead that I gathered and smelted will not be for sale either. It's kinda like the ant and the grasshopper, only the end of the story has changed.
Not all of us have deep pockets, or even a job. It's been three years since I saw a paycheck. its been over two years since the last unemployment check, and nobody is going to hire a white headed (what's left) stove up, old has been. I scrounge to keep shooting. It's that or sell the guns I love and forget it.
If you respect an old mans advice, lay in a lead supply that is way more than ya think you will ever need. Likewise have molds for whatever ya shoot. The extra will trade like gold for powder etc.
Remember when primers were for sale at a doz places in town, at $6./1000? Powder was $6/lb, .22 ammo at .30/box, .357s were $7. for 50. Well get used to it, Times have, and are changing. It's gonna get worse, and may never get better.
Getting your hands dirty, and spending your time guaranteeing that you can shoot in the future may be the only way. Are you willing to bet on it?????

[101VooDoo]

I'd like to be bothered with them, can't find any.

Jim

[buck1]

For a lot of boolits WWs are darn near a ready alloy. and think of this..1gallon of lead= almost 100LBS.

[fatelk]

Quite the diversity here; some have more time than money, and some more money than time. What's your time worth to you?

For some of us, though, free or even cheap wheel weights are a thing of the past. I have completely given up even looking for them around here because they either can't sell them, save them for an old-timer whose been getting them forever (one of you guys I'm sure), or they want $1 per pound. I've had several people tell me that a dollar a pound is a "real good price" for raw wheel weights. They are simply not available in this area for a reasonable price, and free is a total pipe dream. They're mostly steel around here anyhow.

I know, I know, I've read all the threads about how to get them free; take pizza, donuts, beer. If that works for you, great. It's all too much of a hassle to me and I've just given up. I have more time than money right now, and it's still not worth my time. If you don't mind the time and trouble, and can find cheap weights; more power to you.

I don't shoot anywhere near the volume some do, though. I doubt I go through 1000 rounds a year of cast. I just got a good supply of linotype for a very good price, darn near a lifetime supply for me.

[riverwalker76]

To me the old saying ... "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" ... rings true here.

I literally have 2 dozen 5 gallon buckets in my shop now, and they are all full of WW. I figure out of a 140# bucket I can get 80# minimum of usable lead. I'll keep picking them up until they stop carrying lead wheel weights. Just for one reason alone .... future security to be able to find usable lead.

One of these days ... maybe within the next 5 - 10 years ... tire shops will stop installing lead wheel weights, and then I won't have the chance to get any free lead! Even if I have to spend 8 hours on smelting 2 - 5 gallon buckets ... it's free and beats sitting around doing nothing!

I live by the old saying ... "Strike while the iron is hot!" ... just because one day soon .... we will see a stranglehold put on lead availability!

Just my 2 cents.

[white eagle]

its no bother to me either
I find it quite satisfying to turn a raw product into something totally different and usable
part of thrill I suppose :redneck:

[462]

Reckon I'm fortunate in that I still have two very reliable sources of free weights.

Keep in mind that, when the lead wheel weights are gone -- and there are fewer each day -- the price of store-bought ingots will increase in direct relation to the increased demand. It will no different than with the Obama-induced primer and powder fiasco.

[alamogunr]

I've got a little over 2 tons of WW ingots stacked up. At the present rate of usage, it will last me the rest of my shooting life. I would like to use it all up but there are other things that I either like to do or have to do. I don't think I will be cleaning up any more WW. It is hot, dirty work and at my age I can think of better ways to use my time

I've looked at Rotometals too. I'm tempted by their 4-6% antimony alloy. It might be nice to have a supply of guaranteed clean alloy and I've got approx. 800 lbs of 40/60 and 50/50 solder that I acquired before I retired.

Those posters that mentioned that lead would not decrease in value are probably right. I'll probably be able to sell anything left over provided the buyer wants to pick it up. I'm not carrying any flat rate boxes to the post office.

John
W.TN

[Muddy Creek Sam]

I've got a little over 2 tons of WW ingots stacked up. At the present rate of usage, it will last me the rest of my shooting life. I would like to use it all up but there are other things that I either like to do or have to do. I don't think I will be cleaning up any more WW. It is hot, dirty work and at my age I can think of better ways to use my time

I've looked at Rotometals too. I'm tempted by their 4-6% antimony alloy. It might be nice to have a supply of guaranteed clean alloy and I've got approx. 800 lbs of 40/60 and 50/50 solder that I acquired before I retired.

Those posters that mentioned that lead would not decrease in value are probably right. I'll probably be able to sell anything left over provided the buyer wants to pick it up. I'm not carrying any flat rate boxes to the post office.

John
W.TN
John,

They do pick up if you set it up on their website. [smilie=1:

Sam :D

[captaint]

I like my wheel weights. Never paid - yet. I have bought Lino and I have traded for pure. Still avoiding paying for everyday melt. Hoping that day doesn't come. enjoy Mike

[FISH4BUGS]

How many folks don't bother with scavenging WWs?

After looking into the time and grief of acquiring and smelting WWs I'm looking at commercial sources for lead. Using Roto's Super Hard and virgin tin to sweeten junk yard lead eliminates a great deal of time.

I believe that scrounging ww's, smelting and alloying is all part of the deal. I do not have television, and winters are long here in NH. Bad weather and winter is the smelting time. The spring and fall is casting and reloading. Nice days are reserved for shooting.
Smelt up 5 or 6 5 gallon buckets of ingots and you are good to go for quite a while.
I have always seen the lead scrounging/ingot production as part of the deal. You would be surprised how much you can get done when you murder your television.
This is our hobby. All of it. I bill my time at $145 per hour, but this is my relaxation. I like the process of creating nice ingots.
Different strokes for different folks.

[jmsj]

FISH4BUGS,
I like your thinking. Many years ago I was working on a ranch that was far from the asphalt, there was no phone, no television and the nearest neighbor was 10 miles of unmaintained dirt road away. I was still single and had nothing to do in my spare time but reload and shoot.
When I left that ranch for a ranch foreman job on another ranch I was a much better shot and reloader than when I got there. Wouldn't trade the family I have now for anything but I still look back on that time fondness. jmsj

[Mal Paso]

I envy you WW guys. By the time I started casting it was the beginning of the end for lead Wheel Weights in California so I didn't try. The first few thousand were Lymans #2 from Rotometals. An accidental shipment of Lino got me looking lor lead and I found 400# pure lead cheap. I started blending Hardball out of the two. After reading some of the discussions here I'm now mixing 1part Lino, 1part Lymans#2 and 2 parts Lead for 93.5% Lead, 4.25%Antimony, 2.25%Tin with excellent results to 1400 fps.
I shoot about 40# a month. The current plan is to scrounge what lead I can and add enough Alloy to make it right.

[a.squibload]

Can't afford much shooting, casting is part hobby and part cost reduction.
Always used WWs, never considered buying lead 'til recently.
Still finding free WWs around here, but more likely to pay vs not getting them.
More likely to pay for processed (clean) lead than WWs.
Kinda hacked me off to pay 40¢/lb for WWs at the auto salvage yard, but at least I brought home a lot of lead,
and that trip wasn't wasted.
Didn't really mind paying 80¢/lb for isotope caps, ingot, and sheet at metal scrapyard, it's already clean.
Agree, won't be long before any lead will be either unobtainable or very expensive.
Once I get a stockpile of boolits I'll feel better about it, don't want to run out then find out I need them,
and can't get them.
Trying to be prepared. Arizona's situation is on my mind. Gummint is failing to protect us.
Many local gummints are cutting back "essential services".
I believe everything will work out for the best, but can't hurt to prepare for the worst.

[skimmerhead]

i have to agree with alot of the post on this subject. trying to get ww is tough and sometimes frustrating, i have been told many times no with various reasons. ww are becomeing harder to find as the industry is slowly going green, but with alot of time and determenation i have been able to make some reliable sources. one tire store i stopped the guy was an old friend we went to school together and were neighbors, go figure hadn't seen him in years, now he saves all the ww for me. had nearly same thing at another store. print shop was alot of detective work. moral is its time consumeing, its hard work, and i never ask or take anything for free. i'll load a box of 9mm or buy a case of beer, and at times iv'e wondered if it was worth all the trouble.

skimmerhead

[cptinjeff]

To me the old saying ... "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" ... rings true here.

I literally have 2 dozen 5 gallon buckets in my shop now, and they are all full of WW. I figure out of a 140# bucket I can get 80# minimum of usable lead. I'll keep picking them up until they stop carrying lead wheel weights. Just for one reason alone .... future security to be able to find usable lead.

One of these days ... maybe within the next 5 - 10 years ... tire shops will stop installing lead wheel weights, and then I won't have the chance to get any free lead! Even if I have to spend 8 hours on smelting 2 - 5 gallon buckets ... it's free and beats sitting around doing nothing!

I live by the old saying ... "Strike while the iron is hot!" ... just because one day soon .... we will see a stranglehold put on lead availability!

Just my 2 cents.


My actions would say that I agree with this. I'm collecting all types of lead (mostly free WW) as fast as I can.


My fear is that in reality either shortly before, or soon after the lead supply drys up the nation will become a "lead free" zone. All those stacks of lead will be UNuseable for sporting purposes because of silly laws. You can't pick up a gun rag these days without seeing ads for lead free ammo or environmentaly safe ammo. Of course.....should our society melt down those laws wouldn't matter much and our stack of lead is very important again.

[HEAD0001]

I live up a holler in WV. And we like to shoot alot. Most of the time we shoot right off the front porch. I have been scrounging lead and primers because I believe laws are not that far out that will regulate you guys. But not me. I have about 3,000# of WW, 1,000# of pure lead, 100# of TN, and 100# of linotype stashed away. And I am working on some more.

You have to drive through a gate to get to our place. So I wil keep on shooting lead regardless of what they say. The only thing that would stop me would be the availabilty. So that is why I hoard WW. I am always picking up lead wherever I can. I figure I can put well over 1,000 rounds down range with my 45 Colt rifle for under $100 with WW. And I actually enjoy working with the lead. And that includes the entire process. Tom.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o223/HEAD0001/HOOKS/IMG_0620.jpg

[alamogunr]

I live up a holler in WV. And we like to shoot alot. Most of the time we shoot right off the front porch. I have been scrounging lead and primers because I believe laws are not that far out that will regulate you guys. But not me. I have about 3,000# of WW, 1,000# of pure lead, 100# of TN, and 100# of linotype stashed away. And I am working on some more.

You have to drive through a gate to get to our place. So I wil keep on shooting lead regardless of what they say. The only thing that would stop me would be the availabilty. So that is why I hoard WW. I am always picking up lead wherever I can. I figure I can put well over 1,000 rounds down range with my 45 Colt rifle for under $100 with WW. And I actually enjoy working with the lead. And that includes the entire process. Tom.


I'm not sure that I would post an attitude like that where anyone and everyone can read it. The feds may not be monitoring this board but someone that has an agenda to regulate or eliminate guns may be.

I think a better approach would be to write our elected representatives and express our opposition to further regulation of the use of lead. There is a push on right now to eliminate lead in firearm projectiles. I just got an email from the club I belong to urging the membership to write our senators and congressman to oppose such legislation as may be proposed. I intend to do that as soon as this is posted.

John
W.TN

[jonk]

If I were going to buy bullets, I'd just buy jacketed. Or commercial cast from someone who actually knows what they are doing (such as Bullshop). If I'm paying for lead, I'm buying bullets.

Ergo, it's 'free' or at most 'trade' or I'm not going to bother to do it. I got in to casting to save money. I have on occasion bought pure lead for my muzzleloader, but given that I might shoot it 100 rounds in a year, that's a very limited amount that I need. Also, you can't buy bullets for it at a gunshow like you can for metallic cases as reliably, so casting is more a 'must.'

[451whitworth]

i've never paid for WW's. i have bought some pure lead from Fishawk a while back for my muzzleloaders. when trying to get WW's for free or for beer (which i get for free from friends who work at the AB brewery) started to become a waste of gasoline i did something most people either wouldn't or couldn't. i got a part time job at the tire store. i worked 16 hours a week selling tires and i got a 5 gallon bucket of WW's as fast as the guys in the back could fill them. i ended up with multiple lifetime supplies of WW's and a little extra money for guns, powder, primers, etc. i also shoot all my loads at the family farm into a bullet trap so i'll never run out.

[HEAD0001]

I'm not sure that I would post an attitude like that where anyone and everyone can read it. The feds may not be monitoring this board but someone that has an agenda to regulate or eliminate guns may be.

I think a better approach would be to write our elected representatives and express our opposition to further regulation of the use of lead. There is a push on right now to eliminate lead in firearm projectiles. I just got an email from the club I belong to urging the membership to write our senators and congressman to oppose such legislation as may be proposed. I intend to do that as soon as this is posted.

John
W.TN


I realize that you are probably 100% right about what you posted. And I really do not want to talk politics. Just let it suffice to say that I am so fed up with those idiots that I just will not waste the years I have left allowing them to raise my blood pressure. And I would rather spend my time hoarding up lead. That is why I moved up a holler in WV. Now please understand I am not one of those "from my cold dead hands" people. But everybody sees things a bit different where I live. And it will be a long time before they get up my holler. I will be long gone before that happens. And the one thing I will not die from is high blood pressure---no stress up this holler.

This biggest problem I have up this holler is shooting the critters off the garden(out the window). And actually it is a lot of fun. But then we have a "NO FLY" zone around the garden. Tom.

[GRid.1569]

I guess you don't have enough Scottish blood in you, 'cause to me, free is always good.

I'm Scottish.... and I'm not sure if that's a compliment or an insult... :???:

That said my range scrap comes to me "Sweat Free" meaning somebody else digs it out... even better than free... :-D

[fredj338]

I stopped scrounging years ago, but if I am in a tire place, I always ask. I stopped by the local Midas place to get an oil change, they sell tires, so I asked. Free 8gal bucket, maybe 200#+. After sorting, about 140# of good ww, free. I dropped a 12pack of beer off to the guys. I won't turn it down, but if I have to pay much more than $1/# for alloy, I would just as soon buy commercial cast, at least for my practice/plinking bullets.