how much do you pay for your lead?

J

jcrawf

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I've just recently gotten interested in casting my own bullets. I've done lots of reading on the subject and got all my gear together.
I've been running all over town to different tire stations for used wheel weights and have come up short. Most stations are charging between .50 and .90 cents per pound. It seemed pretty high to me so I found a scrap yard that has them. They sell them for .70 cents/lb and they always have lots.
So, my question is... For those of you who buy their wheel weights, how much are you paying for them?
 
I found a scrap guy snooping behind my place who wanted to buy my lead. I informed him that I wasn't selling but looking to buy myself. He wanted to know what I pay, I asked what he wanted. I finally relented and told him the low to free prices I pay friends for it. He was insulted and told me that he gets 53 cents a lb in Toronto for it. I said thats a good place to sell it then. As soon as he left I put all my lead away so that it didnt disapear that night. In hind sight I should have put up with him a little more and bought some of his 53 cent lead.

Wheel weights by weight don't = the same weight of lead due to clips non lead weights and other trash that vary depending on where you get it. That 140lb pail you melt down might = 100-110lbs of WW ingots to cast with. I keep anything pure or close to pure like pipe and stick on weights seperate for Black powder loads or alloying. Remember since you have to do the work of melting it into ingots and cleaning it up that should factor into the price you pay for scrap, but its not like there's a lot of other cheap sources anymore so you kinda have to play their game.

I hate to say it but anything under a dollar for raw WW is probably fair, the lower the better. Let them know the yield isnt gonna be %100 after you melt it, mybe they'll feel a bit sorry for you. Take a look at the commercial prices for ingots and it's not cheap.

ww w.alchemycastings.com/lead-products/Pricing/203/CDNZone203-Bullet.pdf

The other thing casters are worrying about is several US states have banned wheel weights on new cars and tire installs. What does this mean? More new cars delivered without LEAD weights, and less weights ending up in the scrap pails. In the areas affected by law there are no new LEAD weights being introduced and this will likely spread across the continent like the lead shot ban in time. Basically it will be harder and more expensive to aquire lead for home casting in the future, just as it is harder and more expensive today than it was in 1980.
 
Here in Edmonton I have a shop that I pay $15 for each 10L pail of wheel weights. Before I came along they were just throwing them in the garbage, but they made it clear they weren't going to go to the "trouble" of saving them for nothing. The nice thing is they are generally careful to only throw in WW, not much other trash.

There's another shop I went into exactly once, they had several 20L buckets, not quite full, and wanted $40 each, with lots of assorted junk in them. I bought one, realized how lousy the deal was, and never went back.
 
I've been dealing scrap for years in BC and you guys are getting hosed, the prices for weights in Vancouver has been around 5-15 cents for years because they are considered "dirty" with the clips. Clean lead is another story, usually around .25, I have a supplier of bullet alloy that was in the 1.00 a lb range and that is certified alloy already in 5lb ingots, I'll have to check what their current prices are.
 
wow. i guess lead is a much more precious commodity out here on the east coast. I found the best deal today, 2 five gallon pails filled to the top for $50 each. I estimated it to be around 120lbs but I'm hoping it comes out to 175 lbs like Andy mentioned. Either way, its the best deal I've found so far.
 
I'm with the young chap Andy.
Twenty five for a five gallon pail.
I bought a used Snap-on wheel balancer so I use a few of these.
One tire shop even sorts the weights a bit.
Large and small.
So two bits was what I paid a pail last time.
 
I offer $30 for a 5 pound bucket here. Plus I provide the bucket with my name and number written on it for pickup. Tire season is approaching soon here! That means 1 bucket on averate a week for the 3 shops I deal with, for at least 3 to 5 weeks duration. Nice!
 
Send your wife, or a good looking girl. My wife is a photographer, and needed a bunch of sand bags for light stands. Photography sandbags are expensive. She got two 5 gallon pails from the tire shop for nothing. Mechanics like girls. Mostly.
 
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ffwd said:
Send your wife, or a good looking girl. My wife is a photographer, and needed a bunch of sand bags for light stands. Photography sandbags are expensive. She got two 5 gallon pails from the tire shop for nothing. Mechanics like girls. Mostly.
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Thats Bait and switch.......we're onto you
 
Our pistol club has a backstop that smashes bullets and drops the piecs into collection trays. These get emptied into pails.

The pail is 98% bullet alloy and some jacket material. It would make great bullet lead, I suspect. Not sure who buys it or how much they pay.

Have you asked at your local range? At the police range?
 
I just recently made my first wheel weight purchase. Paid $40 for two 2/3 full 5 gallon pails. I had heard $25/pail was pretty much going rate for unprocessed WW. Well, I felt the shaft nearing when I started sorting, because almost half (yes, 50%) were iron, and I fished out many Zinc as well. I have about 2/3 of a pail of lead weights and a small pile of stick-ons (most of those were iron as well). Now that I have started melting and casting, I realize that this will still yield me many hundreds of bullets for that $40, but it was still a lesson learned:)
 
leverboy said:
I just recently made my first wheel weight purchase. Paid $40 for two 2/3 full 5 gallon pails. I had heard $25/pail was pretty much going rate for unprocessed WW. Well, I felt the shaft nearing when I started sorting, because almost half (yes, 50%) were iron, and I fished out many Zinc as well. I have about 2/3 of a pail of lead weights and a small pile of stick-ons (most of those were iron as well). Now that I have started melting and casting, I realize that this will still yield me many hundreds of bullets for that $40, but it was still a lesson learned:)
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Thats what I'm finding too. I can get it alot cheaper from a garage but its a mixed bag. I got 200lbs of wheel weights (about a bucket and a half) for $60 but theres alot of unwanted material in there. I can go to the scrap yard and pay a little more, but its about 95% lead. Either way, its cheaper then buying them.
 
Are the zinc ones really made of zinc? Or is it just an alloy higher in antimony? For the price of zinc right now you may be able to sell the clean zinc for a nice price much higher than lead.
 
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