Amount of lead yielded after melting?

[357mag357]

I have 2 five gallon buckets filled with wheel weights. Most if not all still have the metal clips on them and some other nonmetal stuff like valve stems. My question is after everything is all melted down and fluxed what will my lead yield be? I am looking to just cast the lead ingots for now. I will start casting bullets later. Thanks.

 

[highlander 5]

I was recently the recipient of 4 5 gallon buckets of ww figure 100 lbs per bucket 5-6 lbs of that is steel clips and other trash.
Which reminds me it's time to start melting ww again.

 

[armoredman]

Start smelting and don't worry about the return. It's good low cost lead. Check for the zinc weights, (get RID of them!), pull out valves tems,(or just wait forthier scum to float to the top), and remember the stick on weights are usually pure lead, not alloyed. Go to Castboolits.com for MUCH more info!

 

[Ed Gallop]

I obtained about 65 pounds. It was free so I wasn't too conservative when skimming. There were also about 10 pounds of brass weights in there so you could say it may have been close to 70 to 75 pounds from a 50 gal bucket, but it wasn't filled to the rim. I may have produced more if I tried. My guess is you might get 85 to 90 pounds per full bucket. I suggest using another pot to do the dirty work. If they were as dirty and greasy as mine it makes a mess of the pot. I first used my Production Pot and it was a lot of trouble cleaning it to be sure only lead went into the cast. After melting the lead in 8 ounce cakes I made a lot of small droppings to be used to adjust weight more accurately when mixing in tin and linotype. Did the same with linotype. Used only lead for blackpowder but you probably know to harden for smokeless use. Ed.

 

[yammerschooner]

On average buckets that don't have the semi-sized wheel weights in them I normally lose about 15% of the initial weight to trash.