Wheel Weight Price?

Pete3

New Member
What would you guys say average would be per pound of WW in a bucket from the tire man? I have a line on some and we are going to try to make a deal, but I don't want to overpay, figure the one bucket I picked up today had roughly 100-125 pounds in it. Saw a few zinc. it was about 1" from the top of being running out of the bucket.

I may try to buy it all and just pay him for what it cleans out in ingots.
I've been paying anywhere from 10 cents to 40 cents a lb. for mixed wheel weights in southern Indiana. Lead yield has been running 30 to 35%.
 
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STIHL

Well-Known Member
Good, then if you pay your friend 25 cents a pound, sort out the lead and can still sell the remaining COWW for 25 cents a pound for the zinc and steel, you have been fair to both of you. Do not be surprised if the scrap buyer squeals if you pull out all the lead though. Iron weights are worth much less than lead or zinc. You will still need to melt and clean and pour into ingots. What is your time worth?
That’s the rub. The time is one thing, I already have same I need to smelt and clean and it’s gettting cold so now would be the time to do it.

To directly answer your question my time is worth me just buying what I want ready to go and cast and shoot. But the tinkering portion of loading and casting is what I enjoy too.

Prolly going to try one bucket and we will see how it goes.
 

STIHL

Well-Known Member
When's the next time you'll be up this way? I have quite a few 5-pound ingots of very carefully sorted SWW. Every single SWW was clipped with wire cutters and any that didn't feel right were tossed. Should be at least a couple hundred pounds. The newest weights are at least 15 years old. Make me an offer I can't refuse.

No don't want to ship it. What a PITA.
I honestly have no idea, could be next week could be next year. If you still have it when I do come through there we will work us up a deal on it.

I’ll stop and visit either way.
 

STIHL

Well-Known Member
I've been paying anywhere from 10 cents to 40 cents a lb. for mixed wheel weights in southern Indiana. Lead yield has been running 30 to 35%.
If 30-35 percent is all a bucket of this will yield then it’s not worth my time to sort. I don’t need the weights, I have about 500 pounds as it sits right now. I just don’t want to turn it down. Going to try one bucket out see how it goes.
 

Dusty Bannister

Well-Known Member
Sometimes these "deals" are just not quite as good as they seem at first. I have a friend, bless his heart, that was just thrilled every time he brought me a half bucket of WW from a new car dealership. Unfortunately, the lead yield was extremely low. I felt about like the dog trainer that was training a retriever and the dog kept dragging back dead fish for me to clean. I finally had to tell him, he was making a lot more work for me than the value of the lead in the bucket.

I do agree it will be a good idea to try it and see, you might get more casting alloy than you think. And just because the zinc weights do not cast good bullets easily, does not make that alloy worthless. Ballast for winter driving or dive weights, if nothing else. I hope you find the recovery better than expected and it will be nice to hear the results of this adventure.
 

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
I honestly have no idea, could be next week could be next year. If you still have it when I do come through there we will work us up a deal on it.

I’ll stop and visit either way.

Well . . . I highly recommend NOT January. Again. :rolleyes: o_O
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
it might be worth seeing what the local scrap yard pays for zinc ingots.
that stuff ain't cheap.
 

JonB

Halcyon member
Yea, never hurts to try, but it comes a Point where time/yield ratio becomes moot and my time and energy is better spent on more productive matters.
I got there years ago, because Minnesota passed a Ban in 2014 and before that, they put rules in place to discourage tire shops in MN from using Lead ww. So it's been years since you'd get a decent percentage of lead ww in a bucket of used ww that were generated in a MN tire shop. Just last year, my recycler buddy asked if I wanted some used WWs, he said he had a few "barrels"...He wanted 60¢ per lb...YIKES :eek:
I told him "NOPE" and also told him, there were likely less than 35% Lead, he said that's about what he has encountered in his preliminary test smelting.
 

RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
More power to anyone wanting to sort WW's. My friend and I quit in about 1998 when one in twenty was an Asian WW's that had zinc in them. We had hunted hard for the two previous years and now have lifetime supplies of WW's and Lino. But we don't shoot as much as you folks, maybe a couple of hundred pounds a year.
 

STIHL

Well-Known Member
More power to anyone wanting to sort WW's. My friend and I quit in about 1998 when one in twenty was an Asian WW's that had zinc in them. We had hunted hard for the two previous years and now have lifetime supplies of WW's and Lino. But we don't shoot as much as you folks, maybe a couple of hundred pounds a year.
200 pounds is a decent amount of shooting. Dependent upon the bullet, but nothing to shakers stick at.
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
It does make you want to build a bullet trap so you can recover what you shoot. I think Ian had a photo essay on one build.
 

waco

Springfield, Oregon
Back in the spring my buddies bought 1000 pounds of 3-4% Sb lead from Roto metals. I bought 400 pounds of it from them. Them a couple months ago I was able to buy 600 pounds of lead shot that is also 3-4% Sb IIRC. Nice to have a stash of know alloy on hand. So much of what I have is mystery metal.
 

Joshua

Taco Aficionado/Salish Sea Pirate/Part-Time Dragon
You guys are making me feel inept I only shot up 60 lb of lead last year.
Not to worry! Based on my primer usage, I think I shoot about 75 to 85 pounds. 3000 rounds isn’t a small amount of practice.

Mitty, you have got to remember that we are competing with quite a few retired gentleman, and/or shooters with their own backyard ranges. I’d probably shoot a bit more if my circumstances were different!

Also, some of these Esteemed Gentlemen are still working through the cases of primers they, or a loved one bought back in the last millennia! ;)