How much should I pay for WW's?

[zxcvbob]

Someone just answered my Craigslist ad about wanting scrap lead. He's got hundreds of pounds of wheel weights and asked what I'm paying for them. I hadn't given it much thought because I never expected anyone to answer.

I know the price of lead is *way* down from what it was a year ago. OTOH, wheel weights is my favorite form of lead (other than type metal) and I want to pay the guy a fair price for em -- without getting taken myself.

So what's the current going rate? About $30 per 5 gallon bucket? (assumes they are still oily and a few cigarette butts and valve stems mixed in) And how much does a 5 gallon bucket of WW's weigh? Thanks.

 

[rcmodel]

Call a local salvage yard and ask them what they are paying locally.

Metal prices fluctuate daily and local prices may also vary a bunch.

Your best answer is the junkyard, salvage yard, or recycler in your town.

Once you find out from them, up the price slightly to the guy who want's to sell them.

rc

 

[putteral]

I just bought 500 lbs of wheel weights from my local recycler. He charged me .40 per pound. A full five gallon pail will weigh about 125 lbs or so.

 

[grsjax]

Primary lead (new alloy) is going for about 54 cents a pound and wheel weight scrap about 14 cents a pound. However these are in lots of several thousand pounds. Expect to pay a premium for small amounts. Ebay sellers are asking around a dollar a pound for WWs but you can get clean alloy for the same cost. Check with tire shops and see if they will sell you some. They usually sell to recyclers but might let you have some if you are willing to up the price.

 

[Floppy_D]

I pay anywhere from 25c to 40c, if I have to pay for them. Get the scrapyard price, and offer a smidge more.

 

[bullseye308]

I wouldn't feel too bad paying 25.00 per full 5 gal bucket myself. It beats evilbay.

 

[Aaron]

somebody just gave me an ammo can not quite full of birdshot. It weighs 75 pounds. I think a 5 gallon bucket would weigh well over 200 pounds.

 

[THe Dove]

5 gallon bucket of ww's will average about 150 lbs. Buy what you can.

The lead ww's won't be around much longer.

The Dove

 

[zxcvbob]

I bought a bucket part-full today from a local metals dealer. 105 pounds for $35. Not a good price, but not awful. There's a *lot* of stick-on weights in there. I should probably sort those out and melt them separately.

He asked whether I wanted tons of them, or pounds. I should have asked what the difference in price was, then bargained for a good price on a 1/2 ton.

Soft lead was $40 per hundredweight. Might be a better deal because it won't have the steel clips.

 

[dagger dog]

A little of the op, but what harm to the enviroment can wheel weights cause in there original form? Other than the hazard of one possibley flying off a automoble rim and striking some one or thing? But they do lie wasted in the gutters along the streets and byways.

I can see the lead shot of a scattergun poisioning the bottoms of shallow ponds in the nations flyways ,to be ingested by waterfowl. But any animal capable of eating even a one quarter ounce wheel weight of lead, is one to be best left alone, and not harvested for table fare.

What are the friends of the earth trying to save us from by doing away with this so valued and recirculated metal ?

 

[bullseye308]

Wasn't I the one that first mentioned craigslits? Didn't I ask for 10% of the take? I'm waiting for the PM asking for my mailing address. :banghead:


Just kidding. I scored 1000 lbs recently that way.

Keep up the good work. Let's keep those offensive wheel weights off the streets, you never know the harm they could do.

 

[zxcvbob]

I didn't get these from Craigslist. The CL guy is 100 miles away and wants 55¢ a pound for them.

A little of the op, but what harm to the enviroment can wheel weights cause in there original form? Other than the hazard of one possibley flying off a automoble rim and striking some one or thing? But they do lie wasted in the gutters along the streets and byways.

The problem is when they fall off and then get run over (and over and over) until they are ground into dust. I'm not sure how significant a source of enviromental lead it is, but it's probably more than you'd expect because of the large surface area (eventually).

 

[ReloaderFred]

All the hype is just that. Lead is a natural occuring element. It comes from the ground.

When the EPA declared Leadville, Colorado, a Super Fund Site, because of all the tailings piles of lead ore, someone finally got smart enough to test the residents for lead levels in their blood. They were normal, including the kids who had been playing on those tailings piles.

Fred

 

[broylzGlock35]

my salvage yard in town only charges 10 bucks for as much as you can get into a bucket but you have to scrounge it out of the yard yourself.

 

[Seafarer12]

I buy lead on craigs list all the time. I usually quote 35 cents a pound for ww and up to 50 for pure lead. It is more than the scrap yards are paying and most poeple take me up on it.

 

[zxcvbob]

I just updated my CL ad today and put a price in it ($25/cwt for WW's or sailboat ballast, $35/cwt for other lead, somewhat negotiable.) Previously it just said wanted and didn't say how much I'd to pay. Already got a nibble for several hundred pounds. It's in 30# ingots though, and that's too big for my caster so I'll have to break it down. Lead is awfully tough to cut with an ax or saw if it's more than an inch thick (don't ask how I know)

[thinking out loud] Might need to make a big electric melter out of 6" or 8" steel pipe and some sort of oven heating element...

 

[broylzGlock35]

if its clean and in ingot form already, i would just do like a majority ive talked to and just melt it down in a cast iron skillet on a turkey frier into smaller ingots.

 

[ReloaderFred]

For cutting large ingots, take a Skill saw and an old worn carbide blade. Lay out one of those cheap large blue tarps and use the saw to cut the ingots into usable sizes. The blade goes through the lead like a hot butter knife, but you'll end up with a large pile of lead shavings, hence the blue tarp for collecting them. This method makes quick work of cutting it down for melting.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[sqlbullet]

I use a dutch oven (now committed to the purpose, no lead stew at my house) on a coleman camp stove. I can melt down 50 lbs or so at a time, then cast them into ingots for sale or use.

If I have an irregular shape that I can't fit in the dutch oven easily (never happened yet), I would get about 25# melted and up to about 700°, then slowly lower the odd shape in, letting it melt as I went. I suppose there may be some shapes that wouldn't work for, in which case I would resort to cutting.

For 30# ingots, a large cast iron dutch oven would work fine.

 

[broylzGlock35]

i didnt know if the camp stove would get hot enough since everyone else seems to use a big turkey frier. thanks for the info.

 

[zxcvbob]

The guy is gonna mail me (flat rate box) one of the ingots to check it out.

Assuming it's good, I'm gonna pay 40¢ per pound for the whole batch -- about 500 pounds. It's supposed to be pure lead, and he's going to cut the ingots into thirds with a big metal shear so they'll fit my melter. He says he bought 3000# of it years ago for casting fishing jigs and it casts really well.

I'd rather have hard lead, but I can't pass up a deal like that. Since I mostly cast for .45 Colt and .38 Special, soft lead should be OK. And I can save my WW lead for the .357 Magnums and other high-pressure loads.

 

[Dean Williams]

I pay $15 per five gallon bucket at the local tire shop. My most recent purchase was today. I get about 80 lbs of usable alloy per bucket, so it comes out to about $0.19 per pound.

Five years ago they used to just give them to me.

I often see lino on ebay for $1.50 per pound including shipping, in 40 lb lots. I buy some of that now and then. Even at that price, it's still cheap bullets.