Lead Prices must be up and why some don't melt.

hunter64

hunter64

CGN frequent flyer
Rating - 98.8%
84   1   0
I went on my annual lead roundup yesterday and man o man the prices have sure jumped. For the last couple of years I could get a 5 gallon bucket of used wheel weights for about 10-15 bucks if I had to pay at all. Yesterday things sure have changed, now they want 30-35 bucks for a bucket. What I do is grab a 1 gallon bucket and say I just need a few and they will give me about 1/2 gallon full and one place gave me 4 5 gallon buckets full for free. So after all was said and done and everything was melted and cleaned, I have another 500 pounds of lead to go into the coffers.

Another question concerning wheel weights, I noticed that quite a few of them didn't melt. They were a different color of weight and no doubt they were made of something else but what is it? Is somebody trying to get "Environmentally Friendly" on us and starting to use a different material than lead?
 
hunter64 said:
I went on my annual lead roundup yesterday and man o man the prices have sure jumped. For the last couple of years I could get a 5 gallon bucket of used wheel weights for about 10-15 bucks if I had to pay at all. Yesterday things sure have changed, now they want 30-35 bucks for a bucket. What I do is grab a 1 gallon bucket and say I just need a few and they will give me about 1/2 gallon full and one place gave me 4 5 gallon buckets full for free. So after all was said and done and everything was melted and cleaned, I have another 500 pounds of lead to go into the coffers.

Another question concerning wheel weights, I noticed that quite a few of them didn't melt. They were a different color of weight and no doubt they were made of something else but what is it? Is somebody trying to get "Environmentally Friendly" on us and starting to use a different material than lead?
Click to expand...

Same here, don't know what they are made from. I used WW for fishing jigs and cast bullets and it's the first batch that I have with these "metal" ones.
 
If they are zinc, I would scoop them off with the rest of the scum on the top, I've heard that zinc is not a great metal to mix with your casting brass.

I must be lucky, I know the fellow at one of the local tire places, and I go a 100lb pale off him just a few months ago.... :D
 
There are zinc WW's out there, and although zinc does melt at lower temperatures, it's still more than the melting point of lead. Therefore it's possible that the temperature in you pot is hot enough to melt the lead ones, and not the zinc. This is a good thing, because any zinc in your alloy will degrade it.
 
The perfect mix, if you can find it, check scrap metal places for Babbot (high tin content) lynotype (bhn 22) and then mix in some pure lead till you get the mix at BHN 16. Then your set for any type of shooting from hunting to tgt. And running that mix @ 2000 fps is fine without leading.:D
 
I did some searching today and Europe has outlawed all new car dealership and replacement tire shops from using lead wheel weights and you can't buy lead unless you have some kind of license for it. They are being so environmentally friendly that once the shooters lead supply runs out that is it other than buying steel bullets I guess. This makes sense because I found a lot of zinc/steel wheel weights in the bucket that I got from a European car specialty shop. Hope it doesn't come here but like all things it probably will eventually. I guess China has been buying up huge amounts of lead and thus driving up the price. I have 1000 lbs of WW in 25 lbs ingots and then a couple of 5 gallon pails full of 1 lbs. ingots so I should be OK for a while.

On a slightly different vain, for pistol shooting I have been thinking of making a steel backstop affair that I could catch the bullets in and reuse the lead. Something welded together with 3/4" steel slopped down and into a couple of sandbags and I would lean this up against the backstop. Lead at 1200 fps I don't think should go thru 3/4" steel and you would hear a definite ping when you hit the target. Kind of like this one only of course in thicker steel.

http://www.pyramydair.com/cgi-bin/accessory.pl?accessory_id=557

Any ideas? Just something to try and save some of the lead so I don't have to scrounge for it and you never know about where things are going to go in the future.
 
The ones that won't melt are zinc. I skim them off the top with the clips and toss them. You don't want any other metals in the mix. Usually the clips are riveted on the back of the zinc weights.
 
You live and learn! :eek: I stand corrected. Somehow melting pure zinc never seemed to take a lot more temp than lead, but here: Z - 419.53 °C (787.15 °F), Pb - 327.46 °C (621.43 °F). If your pots are barely above lead melting point, than zinc won't melt indeed.
 
prosper said:
There are zinc WW's out there, and although zinc does melt at lower temperatures, it's still more than the melting point of lead. Therefore it's possible that the temperature in you pot is hot enough to melt the lead ones, and not the zinc. This is a good thing, because any zinc in your alloy will degrade it.
Click to expand...


SSSSOOO when you melt in bulk stay under 725 degrees F and pull the floaters off with the rest of the gunk
 
spot-lead-60d-Large.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom