How much do you pay for your COWWs?

[Phlier]

So over this past month or so, I've been scouring my town trying to find not just decent prices on COWW's and scrap lead, but anyplace that will sell it at all.

Even the Ma and Pa local tire stores aren't interested, even when I offer to pay double what their recycler pays. Typically, the response is "the EPA considers it hazmat. As such, we can only sell it to properly licensed recyclers." (As much as it burns me to do so, I'm going to avoid going off on a political rant here.)

Now the real kicker here is that those scrap yards that are "properly licensed" to buy Plutonium....er... I mean lead, are able to buy that dreaded hazmat (clip on wheel weights) from tire stores legally (whereas I cannot), then move it down the street a few miles, and turn around and legally sell it to me for 75 cents per pound.

So that's where I'm at. Sifting through the scrap yard's 60 gallon drums filled with Zn. Fe, and occasionally lead wheel weights to buy the lead ones for 75 cents per pound. Two hours yesterday netted me 22 pounds of lead COWWs (less than one in four clip ons were lead). I didn't bother with stick ons, as they are almost pure lead... See next paragraph.

One other thing they had that caught my eye, but wanted to ask you guys first... They have pure lead in 10 pound ingots for the same price. Around 1,000 pounds or so. Is this a good deal? If so, I'll be returning on Monday to buy all of it. I did buy 80 pounds.

I'm very interested to hear how much you guys are paying for COWW's where you're at. Yeah, I know that some of you guys are getting them free, and I'm very jealous. So what I'm hoping to find out is what you guys that actually have to pay are paying.

Back in the '70's when I was casting with Dad, we'd just stop into any convenient tire store and walk out with as much free "hazmat" as Dad could fit in the old International Travel-All.

[rancher1913]

the local dealer that I know sells to me for 60cents a pound but he is going out of business so that will dry up quickly, the big city dealers that will sell to the public all want a buck a pound and at that price you can buy from vendor sponsors on here in ingot form ready to go. have gotten to know a couple of tire shops over the years and one we trade garden produce for ww's and the other I pay 20 bucks for a full 5 gallon bucket, neither has very much quantity. most all the other tire shops in town will not sell to the public.

the pure will be good to trade with on here as its great for casting slugs and round balls or you can buy lino and blend it.

[Phlier]

I bought 15 pounds of "Super Hard" from Roto Metals for alloying with pure lead. Adding in the Super Hard will bring the dollar cost up a bit. Not sure exactly how much as I haven't done the math yet.

[frkelly74]

If it is available, at reasonable price, you have the money required, are not going to move soon, you should buy it, especially if it is ingoted. Ingotted at less than $1 a pound is a no brainer. Buy it!

[atr]

I pay nothing ....I have so much lead, and wheel weights that I will never shoot it all

[Phlier]

If it is available, at reasonable price, you have the money required, are not going to move soon, you should buy it, especially if it is ingoted. Ingotted at less than $1 a pound is a no brainer. Buy it!

I was hoping to hear that it was a good deal, but wanted to check with you guys first. Didn't want to blow 750 bucks on lead in one shot unless it was a very good price.
I'm going to cast a few bullets with one of their "pure lead" ingots over the weekend and test them for hardness with a Lee hardness tester. Figure I'll test as cast and also a couple water dropped ones to see if they harden at all after water dropping. Should be a quick and easy test to see if it's pure lead.

[scotner]

Paid $20 for one bucket and $30 for another. Ended up with 111 pounds COWW, 45 pounds SOWW and 48 pounds of Zn and FE total after melting down.

[Phlier]

Paid $20 for one bucket and $30 for another. Ended up with 111 pounds COWW, 45 pounds SOWW and 48 pounds of Zn and FE total after melting down.

Great prices, wow. Was this directly from a tire store?

There are still a few tire stores in town that I haven't asked yet, but had given up after around ten or so denials. Maybe it's worth pursuing more.

[Beagle333]

Pure lead at .75 per pound? Jump on that!!!

COWW is non existent here. I get all of mine from the S&S section. Really all from one guy.... but all from that section of the forum.

[Phlier]

Pure lead at .75 per pound? Jump on that!!!

COWW is non existent here. I get all of mine from the S&S section. Really all from one guy.... but all from that section of the forum.

Yeah, think I will.. Just gotta get the wife's permission to drop that much cash on lead. I've visited the scrap yard for COWW's many times, and have never seen them get *any* pure lead for sale, let alone a half ton of pure in ingots. They also have roofing lead, but don't think I'll have enough money to get the ingots and the roofing lead both. I just hope the "pure" ingots that I bought really are pure lead. Going to go cast a few right now to find out.

I'll take a picture of the ingots, and see if you guys can identify them. They aren't really "ingots" per se.... imagine casting a 20 pound ball of pure lead, then cutting it in half. That's what these look like.. half balls. They aren't actually cut, but they look like they were cast as half spheres. They look like they were probably used as ballast at one point. Why they are now considered scrap is a mystery, as they are in perfect condition.

[kmrra]

I have a probly stupid question , but what does COWW stand for , I see it refered to often here , Just wondering

[Beagle333]

Clip-On Wheel Weights.

[scotner]

Great prices, wow. Was this directly from a tire store?

There are still a few tire stores in town that I haven't asked yet, but had given up after around ten or so denials. Maybe it's worth pursuing more.

Yes, these were from two local shops. I also checked another shop and he had his old weights in an empty washer fluid bottle. I asked him how much and he looked at me sort of funny and said "you mean people pay for these?". I quickly thanked him and changed the subject. He told me to come back in a couple of weeks and he would have some more for me. I let a month go by (knee issues) and stopped in there the other day. They said that guy didn't work there any more and he was the one that kept up with the old weights. Since he left they have been tossing them in the corner behind the balance machine. I plan to go back early this week with TWO 5 gallon buckets. One to get those weights up and one with my name and phone number on it.

[z28z34man]

My dad owns a tire shop so every time I go home I pickup a bucket or two.

[shootsblanks]

I went into a tire shop and asked what they did with their weights, they asked what i wanted them for, as it turns out the owner thought making bullets was really cool and i have picked up about 2 1/2 5 gal buckets from them for free! The other shops in town charge about 40 bucks a bucket though....

[Phlier]

Great information, gents, thank you.

After hearing that some of you guys are still successfully talking tire dealerships out of their COWW's, I think I'll continue the hunt.

One nice thing about the place I go is that I can sort out the lead COWW's before buying them, so I'm paying 75 cents per pound of pure lead COWW's. Kinda nice vs paying for a bucket full of weights from a tire store that are assorted Zn, Fe, Pb.

[scotner]

Great information, gents, thank you.

After hearing that some of you guys are still successfully talking tire dealerships out of their COWW's, I think I'll continue the hunt.

One nice thing about the place I go is that I can sort out the lead COWW's before buying them, so I'm paying 75 cents per pound of pure lead COWW's. Kinda nice vs paying for a bucket full of weights from a tire store that are assorted Zn, Fe, Pb.

I would like to be able to go through them so I would not have to deal with disposing of the unusable stuff. Problem is if I pick what I want out of what is available and they have to get rid of the rest they may decide to just dispose of all of it in one place. Scrap yard or whatever.

[RogerDat]

OP doesn't indicate what part of the country he is in, prices, availability, and lead percentage of a bucket varies depending on region. You only need one or two tire stores to come through with a bucket or two to get you off to a good start. I hit every tire place I could find for 50 miles in the three directions I travel. Found two stores out of all of them. I hit at least 6 or 7 scrap to find a couple that would sell to the public. I make a drive to check on a fairly regular basis.

All I can say is if you find a source, take them some donuts, or a pizza at lunch. Be the guy that really appreciates them selling you those wheel weights or scrap lead.

Price around here runs from a low of 40 cents to 75 cents. Good stuff such as solder or printers lead may be at a premium price of around $1 to $1.50 I have really slowed down buying lead, have accumulated a lot so these days I'm looking for a good deal or a premium alloy. Especially clean plain lead at a good price might tempt me too.

It took time and regular checking in at sources or potential sources to build up a supply but steady searching eventually leads to some scores or sources. Forum has a lot of posts from people that "stumbled" onto a big pile of good lead alloy at a sweet price. Generally only happens if your out looking for it.

[scotner]

So what do you do with the scrap that you can not use? Will a scrap yard buy zinc and steel weights? What about the clips from the COWW?

[Phlier]

OP doesn't indicate what part of the country he is in, prices, availability, and lead percentage of a bucket varies depending on region. You only need one or two tire stores to come through with a bucket or two to get you off to a good start. I hit every tire place I could find for 50 miles in the three directions I travel. Found two stores out of all of them. I hit at least 6 or 7 scrap to find a couple that would sell to the public. I make a drive to check on a fairly regular basis.

All I can say is if you find a source, take them some donuts, or a pizza at lunch. Be the guy that really appreciates them selling you those wheel weights or scrap lead.

Price around here runs from a low of 40 cents to 75 cents. Good stuff such as solder or printers lead may be at a premium price of around $1 to $1.50 I have really slowed down buying lead, have accumulated a lot so these days I'm looking for a good deal or a premium alloy. Especially clean plain lead at a good price might tempt me too.

It took time and regular checking in at sources or potential sources to build up a supply but steady searching eventually leads to some scores or sources. Forum has a lot of posts from people that "stumbled" onto a big pile of good lead alloy at a sweet price. Generally only happens if your out looking for it.

I'm in the desert south west.

And yes, once I find a supplier, they'll be well taken care of.