Are WWs still worth pursuing?

I saw this question posed awhile back here. Last week I picked-up 334 pounds of wheel weights and here is the break-down:

Lead COWW = 54.5%
Stick-on weights = 19%
Steel weights = 13.5%
Zinc weights = 7.5%
Trash that included the stick-on composite stuff = 5.5%

I am in Iowa, the shop is still installing lead weights, we haven't banned them yet here! Over 73% by weight, is usable product.

So I should net out around 170 pounds of COWW ingots and over 60 pounds of soft lead ingots. To me, sure it is still worth picking them up. I do all my tire business there so, my cost for the weights is nil.

I keep telling myself "No more", but when they ask you to come and get them...I hate to say no! My phone company buddy will also drop-off lead cable sheathing every now and then. I can always sell or trade some of this overage.

Is there still anyone wanting the zinc weights? I must have most of a medium flat-rate box of them now. If not they will go with the steelies into the scrap iron pile.

I stopped looking when the take passed 50% steel and zinc here in the tri state area of PA. Indoor range scrap is the new WW here.

I still get WW's if they are free, I don't want to pay for the other junk.

I think its still worth while. My yields are close to what remy3424 posted. I also get them for free or for a box of donuts.

My recent experience with wheel weights yielded less than 50% useable material. I don't know if this is typical. As pointed out, the key is getting them for free (or for doughnuts) --and not putting a price on one's labor.

A local scrap dealer declined my zinc wheel weights. I am considering wrapping them as small parcels to leave beside the road; someone is sure to stop and snatch them up.

And I imagine it is like any other lead source… highly dependent on location. If you are in a state that mandates lead free weights and close to a population center, then the supply of lead weights is what comes off older cars. Here the trash passed 50% over 10 years ago when I stopped looking. I’m certain the yield hasn’t gone up since.

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Originally Posted by imashooter2

I stopped looking when the take passed 50% steel and zinc here in the tri state area of PA. Indoor range scrap is the new WW here.

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How far from Hagerstown?

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Originally Posted by Leadsother

How far from Hagerstown?

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128 miles to Hagerstown, MD.

Sadly I only got 30% by weight in the last 100lbs I got from the scrap yard

I just got a 5 gallon pail of transit bus w.w. No steel or clip on or Zinc. The biggest weights were 16 oz. It is full to the top, and the heaviest pail of w.w. I have ever lifted.

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Originally Posted by remy3424

Is there still anyone wanting the zinc weights?

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Not for us older guys with a big stash, however;
As Lead dries up--- in some places sooner than others-- and as more restrictions come along,
Zinc boolits are the future of casting.
Actually they aren't really new. Some guy was making them in the 50s for getting .222s up to 220 Swift speeds.
And Zinc washers were used behind a Lead bullet as a cleaner for Black Powder residue during the Civil War.

I've recovered one Zinc boolit myself from our range impact area last year, and there are a few videos on youtube about it.

They're sort of a hassle & learning curve, but they weigh 60% what the same Iron mold casts with Lead,
I can't remember- but they might not need to be lubed, and you can push them on up to the higher ends of jacketed speeds.

In the next few years, I think we'll see new molds come along for them and they'll get you to be able to make
something like Barne's solids, load data for them, as well as electric pots that get hot enough for pouring them too.

For something like getting high speeds for cast .223 in a fast twist AR--- they might be ideal.

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Originally Posted by quasi

I just got a 5 gallon pail of transit bus w.w. No steel or clip on or Zinc. The biggest weights were 16 oz. It is full to the top, and the heaviest pail of w.w. I have ever lifted.

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Most of us who have ever gotten a 16 ouncer have cleaned it and mounted it on the wall in the reloading room as a trophy. LOL. You don't see too many of them. My last wheel weight score was about 1600 lbs. total and I got ONE 16 oz. weight!! and they were all lead weights by the way.

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Originally Posted by Rickf1985

Most of us who have ever gotten a 16 ouncer have cleaned it and mounted it on the wall in the reloading room as a trophy. LOL.

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I used to know a guy that was a mechanic for the city's rapid transit bus line.
He brought me a few Lead clip on wheel weights one time that looked to be about the size of a banana.
I hung one of them on the wall too.

Attachment 306679

This one's the largest I've found, forget what it weighed though.

Slim

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Originally Posted by slim1836

Attachment 306679

This one's the largest I've found, forget what it weighed though.

Slim

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I like the significance of the saying on the ruler in relation to the subject. (Damn, That was deep! I have to watch that stuff!!)

Well, I am retired but it's never enough.

Slim

Are WWs still worth pursuing?

not for me I have enough to last me till I don't need them anymore

Have a few hundred pounds , still look on occasion

If it's your only source,....a little is better than none. I still get them from my local tire store and I'll admit that there is way more steel, zinc and plastic but they do add up after awhile.

Donuts ! BRILLIANT !!

A couple years ago my grandson worked at a tire shop. I paid him 75 cents per pound of recovered WW lead. I got about 200 lbs. of WW lead. About 200 lbs. of steel for the recycler, and about 15 lbs. of zinc.

I left behind 200 pounds of clean wheel weights in South Dakota in 2000. Still kicking myself.

I've traded misc range brass for lead wheel weights that are legal in another state. Actually, I was sent WW lead ingots. I plan to use them for rifle bullets in the future.