5 Gallon Bucket of Wheel Weights

[RugerSlinger]

What are people paying for 5 gallon buckets of wheel weights? I talked to my local dealer and they said they will sell them to me for $47. for a full bucket. Is this reasonable and what kind of weight can I expect from that?

I don't cast yet but I am thinking about getting into it.

 

[drgrant]

You're paying money for them? I guess the days of the "give the guys in the tire shop a 30 pack for all their lead wheel weights" are over.

-Mike

 

[01SVTvert]

Negotiate. You can get cast lead that is smelted and cast into ingots for a buck a pound delivered off of castboolits.

If the source has 130 plus lb in a bucket expect to get about 90? Or so lbs lead. If this is your only source I would go for it as the days of lead ww are ending.

I am new to the lead game so others may chime in that have more experience than me.

 

[marvelshooter]

From what I have read at Castboolits.com it sounds like the new normal. Most signs point to lead wheel weights being phased out which is too bad because for pistol bullets they can be used as is. There is plenty of pure lead available but tin has to be added - a few percent - to get it to cast properly and tin is about $10 a pound. So is it a good deal? I'd buy it and put it away because you never know what the future holds and besides you could always sell it.
My 2 cents - Dan

 

[mac1911]

take a good look make sure it is not a lot of zinc and iron in it. I quess if its all lead I might be tempted to grab it. Very few shops in my area will even bother with you. The few closest to me already have guys on the inside takeing it.

 

[HumeMan]

Yes, make sure what kind of weights you are getting. Wheel weights come in all kinds of weird metal mixtures. Very few are actually pure Lead. My old man destroyed a melting pot while trying to cast musket balls from those things.

 

[DukeInFlorida]

When I was buying them by the bucket full, I was paying $20 a bucket.
Last time I bought some, I found a tire shop that had a 55 gallon barrel FULL of them, and gave them $200 for the whole thing. Estimated weight was 2,000 pounds.
Lifetime supply.

The local scrap metal place in Portland, Maine offers to SELL wheel weights for fifty cents a pound, and will give you same value credit for any zinc and steel weights that come from the batch. That's not a bad price for someone looking for a regular supply.

Finally, a few folks have reported that they bring used range brass to the scrap metal place, and SWAP it for wheel weights. Something like a 4:1 ratio. One pound of brass gets 4 pounds of wheel weights. If you have endless access to brass, it's another way to get wheel weights cheap.