Howdy Doody Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 I find in my area I am having a hard time finding wheelweights which I have had no previous problem finding. The tire shops I have gone to so far have stated that the lead weights go to recyclers, go back to the distributors and they are seeing more and more of the steel wheelweights on older tires now too. Plus not to sell to individuals due to regulations. How is supply in your neck of the woods? What do you hear? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WEEDY SASS#653 Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Howdy, As you know I'm in the battery business. A good percentage of the business is battery recycling. The smelters are looking for lead. The price is UP. We have been recieving wheelweights from our battery stores, their customers know that our company PAYS for lead scrap. I have right now a 2200+lb bin of wheel weights set to go to the smelter. I buy clean lead from the boss now and again but the price is higher than I want to pay right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Okie Sawbones, SASS #77381 Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 I find in my area I am having a hard time finding wheelweights which I have had no previous problem finding. The tire shops I have gone to so far have stated that the lead weights go to recyclers, go back to the distributors and they are seeing more and more of the steel wheelweights on older tires now too. Plus not to sell to individuals due to regulations. How is supply in your neck of the woods? What do you hear? Funny you mention this because just yesterday one of my shooting pards here in WA said he lost his source of wheelweights due to the store selling all of their lead to a battery dealer. He wasn't real worried because he has several hundred pounds stocked up, but then you know us reloaders -- never have enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smithy Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 My supply of "free" lead has been so inconsistent in the past that I have given up on relying upon those sources and just buy my lead. Currently I have been using lead shot as it is cheaper than ordering any form of lead from any source and I can get it locally at the gun shop. Smithy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Lizard Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 I find in my area I am having a hard time finding wheelweights which I have had no previous problem finding. The tire shops I have gone to so far have stated that the lead weights go to recyclers, go back to the distributors and they are seeing more and more of the steel wheelweights on older tires now too. Plus not to sell to individuals due to regulations. How is supply in your neck of the woods? What do you hear? Have you tried Ebay for lead...I have seen a lot for sale but not sure which to buy, if any...But it is a start...For any one out there is battery lead any good for what we need?? Then again what are we looking for...What are our needs?? Texas Lizard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackson Rose, SASS #45478 Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Have you tried Ebay for lead...I have seen a lot for sale but not sure which to buy, if any...But it is a start...For any one out there is battery lead any good for what we need?? Then again what are we looking for...What are our needs?? Texas Lizard Battery lead is extremely hazardous to clean and melt. Not worth the danger to your health and life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Lizard Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Battery lead is extremely hazardous to clean and melt. Not worth the danger to your health and life. OK, what is next best to use... Texas Lizard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howdy Doody Posted February 3, 2011 Author Share Posted February 3, 2011 Weedy, no I did not know you dealt in batteries, but that explains why my truck horn goes off when you walk by it. It sounds like you are in pretty good shape for a while though. The price being up there probably has a lot to do with my being able to procure wheel weights. Smitty, yup melting down shot is an option, but I still remember the deal a couple years ago when the price of shot was way out of line and I can't bring myself to melt any down. However I have in the past melted down bullets that were perfectly fine and poured them into a caliber and bullet I need at the time. Jackson Rose is right, getting into the fumes of lead from batteries would not be a good thing at all. In fact if I have the pot hot enough as I usually do starting out, I refrain from breathing in anything coming off of it, because antimony isn't good for you either. Texas Lizard I will give Ebay a looksee. The only thing good about buying bulk ingots of lead would be that there would be no time spent smelting and making ingots of wheelweights and another is that you can get something like 50 pounds into a USPS flat rate box. When I get to casting, and it is hard to get motivated sometimes, I will cast all day and with multiple molds for different bullets. I have done as much as about 120 lbs in a day and felt it too as I remember. I had sore feet, sore wrists, stiff neck and a few burns and a bunch of little splatters on my jeans that had to get scraped off. I am still good for 40 lbs a session these days. I am getting smarter as I go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Lizard Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 I just came off ebay and find a bunch of lead for sale, but it still come down to what kind of lead...I see a bunch but where do you start...I'm a novice and just getting started...Want to do it for my 45-70 and 45-90... Texas Lizard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cliff Hanger #3720LR Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Here in California bullet alloy costs are unreasonable. I made a call in to my smelter just before Christmas. $2.45 per pound. I called again about January 3rd. $3.50 per pound. New regulation cost added by state. As far as using battery lead. There is the fumes but if you do not melt it down correctly and get all the crap out of it, you run the risk of the remaining acid ruining your molds. It causes pitting and vent lines to not work as needed. The mold become scrap metal. If you want to use shot, try getting reclaimed from a local range. It's much easier to float the dirt and rocks out than to get battery lead clean enough to use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrison Joe, SASS #60708 Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 As far as using battery lead. There is the fumes but if you do not melt it down correctly and get all the crap out of it, you run the risk of the remaining acid ruining your molds. It causes pitting and vent lines to not work as needed. The mold become scrap metal. DO NOT use automotive, marine, and other vehicle battery lead for casting. ALL the maintenance-free batteries have been made for over ten years with calcium for the hardening metal, rather than antimony and tin. Calcium makes it necessary to cast at higher temperatures, or else you get severe clogging of spouts, and bad bullet fillout. One indication of calcium in the lead alloy is that you SOMETIMES will get the pot molten, but you see a lot of mushy "oatmeal" like dross at or just below the surface. Calcium/lead contaminates any lead supply you mix it with, and it is tough to get it cleaned out. Here's the worst part - calcium reacts with any antimony and arsenic in the melt to give you a dross (oxides) that if it gets a little damp, releases Arsine and Stibine gas - these two heavy metal gases are extremely toxic and have killed several metal smelter workers in the past. Vehicle batteries are NOT worth the risk. Even disposing of the sulfuric acid/lead sulfate solution that makes up the battery acid is a hazardous waste operation that can get you major fines or jail time if not handled properly. If you need to buy alloyed lead, you might try RotoMetals - their (California-based) operation still lists casting alloys at about $2 to $2.50 a pound shipped. http://www.rotometals.com/Bullet-Casting-Alloys-s/5.htm Good luck, and be safe, GJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrison Joe, SASS #60708 Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 I just came off ebay and find a bunch of lead for sale, but it still come down to what kind of lead...I see a bunch but where do you start...I'm a novice and just getting started...Want to do it for my 45-70 and 45-90... Get a copy of the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook, or find a library where you can look on over. For 45-70 smokeless loading, you would not need an alloy any harder than wheelweight alloy. This alloy you CAN find on eBay, if you look closely at the item being sold. Some of the eBayers have no clue what they are melting down, though, and they won't list what the metal really is. For 45-70 black powder shooting, you need a softer alloy than wheelweights - a 1/30 alloy is pretty common, which is one part tin and 30 parts lead, measured by weight. Open that handbook up and it will explain much of what you need to cast good bullets. In general, casting is harder than reloading, if you want good results - there is more art, more need to tinker until you get it right, and less "just follow the instructions" to casting. Good luck and be safe. Casting can be dangerous if you don't do a lot of things right. GJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monticello marshal,SASS#31597 Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Howdy, Here in the Midwest wheel weights are are now more often steel than lead.I recently obtained a 5 gal bucket of WW that were over 50% steel. It was hardly worth the effort to sort out the valve stems,trash and steel.I did note that the rim clip is molded into the lead weight where as the rim clip is attached to the outside of a steel weight. Regards MM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrison Joe, SASS #60708 Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Howdy, Here in the Midwest wheel weights are are now more often steel than lead.I recently obtained a 5 gal bucket of WW that were over 50% steel. It was hardly worth the effort to sort out the valve stems,trash and steel.I did note that the rim clip is molded into the lead weight where as the rim clip is attached to the outside of a steel weight. Regards MM Most non-lead wheelweights also have the metal abbreviation stamped or cast in the surface. FE = steel (fe is the chemical symbol for iron) ZN = zinc (zn ditto for zinc) The steel W/Ws won't melt, they just get in the way. A magnet sticks to the body of the weight if you suspect an unmarked W/W might be steel. The zinc W/Ws can be a problem. If you smelt down a batch of W/Ws and get the temps above about 900 deg F, the zinc weights will melt and alloy into the lead. This is hard to get out, and causes casting problems where the alloy temperature has to be hotter than normal to get good bullets, and your bullets are less dense (caution when making 180 grain bullets for Wild Bunch - they can end up too light!) I try to sort most out by eye, then when melting I pull out any weight that does not melt at the time the lead/antimony weights are melting. I have seen a few of the lead/antimony weights marked with the symbol for lead (PB), but not very often. Good luck, GJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howdy Doody Posted February 3, 2011 Author Share Posted February 3, 2011 Pards thanks for the tips and advise. Thanks too to those that PMed or emailed me on this. Most of us cast for our own use and rounding up lead in smaller quantities is going to be a problem for sure as first California sets regulations and then the feds jump in and it makes us think what do we have to do, get a mining claim. I can see it as a boom for professional casters though. I know as a small time shooter, I have my favorite bullets and some of them are available for sale by a few casters. If I can purchase what I need in cast out and lubed bullets, then that is the way I will probably end up going. It was custom molds that got me into casting in the first place. Cast out my favorites and you get a customer, easy as that. Meanwhile I have some real good leads on finding enough lead to keep me for a while. I am not spring chicken and do not have any ambitions of obtaining a huge stock pile of anything. Just me or course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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