Scrap lead.prices

[headednorth]

Like to get an idea of what sort of price range I'm looking at for different types of scrap lead. If I'm walking into a tire shop looking for ww and they tell me to make an offer, what's a ball park figure to start out at? Same for scrap yards, if I walk in asking about linotype or pure lead or scrap lead, what should i be looking to pay? I literally have no idea where to begin price wise.

 

[Chevy 2 65]

Tell them the offer is 10 cents a pound

Non-Ferrous Scrap Metal	Market Price	Your Price *
Scrap Rod Brass	$1.82 lb.	$1.70 lb.
Scrap Cupro-Nickel	CAll	Call
Scrap Soft Lead (clean)	$0.75 lb.	$0.68 lb.
Scrap Wheel Weights	$0.30 lb.	$0.20 lb.

 

[greencobra]

i use to go to gas stations that did repairs. they maybe didn't have the amount of wheel weights as a tire place...i'd get a 3/4 full 5 gal. bucket full....but they usually gave it away. hit 3 or 4 stations and you get enough for a while. they might even agree to save them for you. approach the mechanic, not the attendant.

 

[MGnoob]

Tell them the offer is 10 cents a pound

Non-Ferrous Scrap Metal	Market Price	Your Price *
Scrap Rod Brass	$1.82 lb.	$1.70 lb.
Scrap Cupro-Nickel	CAll	Call
Scrap Soft Lead (clean)	$0.75 lb.	$0.68 lb.
Scrap Wheel Weights	$0.30 lb.	$0.20 lb.

Thats never going to happen. $.50 a pound is about rock bottom, for unsorted wheelweights.

 

[RImike]

I have lead bars that I have melted down and processed to remove impurities. I was planning on one day to melt down the bars and get into casting bullets however that day is about 40 years away. Not sure if I should keep or scrap the bars.

 

[Chevy 2 65]

Thats never going to happen. $.50 a pound is about rock bottom, for unsorted wheelweights.

Look at the chart again

 

[MGnoob]

Am i suppose to see something different than the first time i looked at it?

 

[38ExtraSpecial]

Don’t pay over $20 a bucket for wheel weights. It’s mostly zinc and steel now. Look for a tire shop far away from a scrap yard. The town fair tires of the world usually want big bucks.
You can go on castboolits and have clean wheel weight ingots for $1 a pound shipped.
Start asking friends. Plumbers. Roofers. Masons. Eventually someone will come up with some free lead

 

[RImike]

Am i suppose to see something different than the first time i looked at it?

Look at the last row:

Scrap Wheel Weights $0.30 lb. / $0.20 lb.

 

[MGnoob]

So this chart, with no link, no date. Is the bible of scap lead price for the entire USA..
And a tire shop is going to sell it to anyone walking in the door for 50% of what you claim its worth after sorting it for you.

Ok got it. Well have to agree to disagree.

 

[RImike]

So this chart, with no link, no date. Is the bible of scap lead price for the entire USA..
And a tire shop is going to sell it to anyone walking in the door for 50% of what you claim its worth after sorting it for you.

Ok got it. Well have to agree to disagree.

http://www.letmegooglethat.com/?q=scrap+lead+prices

 

[MGnoob]

Headed north, while you should scrouge it anywhere you can for free(or the effort and gas).
You do have to be careful to know what your buying, because as said it may be mostly crap. Finding $20 full buckets of scrap is rare/lucky at best.

The issue is at more that .50 per lb of semi sorted WW after the debris, steel clips and other non lead.
Your almost at the $1 a pound you can buy 1 lb ingots for with the effort/time of doing it yourself.

The down side is when you buy ingots at 1 dollor you dont always know what your really getting , but even then there are plenty reliable sellers..

If you haven't got to castboolits.com

 

[MGnoob]

http://www.letmegooglethat.com/?q=scrap+lead+prices

Thats is funny no doubt. I also believe google has all the answers.
In this case it just doesn't..look at silver prices, what silver is worth doesn't corrolate with what you can buy or sell it for today.

You should also know lots of tire shops reuse the weights, so selling them for .10 a pound doesnt make sense when they would be paying more to buy new weights

 

[RImike]

Thats is funny no doubt. I also believe google has all the answers.
In this case it just doesn't..look at silver prices, what silver is worth doesn't corrolate with what you can buy or sell it for today.

Call the local scrap yards and see what they are paying, they generally get the same value from the same source. It's a traded commodity and is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. If it's traded at $.30, the spot price or what you can sell it for will be less and is based on immediate sale where as the buy price is more of an average. The $.10 difference prevents the scrappers from loosing their shirts. Same goes for currency, while the euro to USD rate might be $1.16 when you fly to Europe and want to convert currency i will be closer to a 1.20 or more rate. The only way around this is arbitrage in which you play the currency game and might profit a .10 cent

 

[MGnoob]

How many $0.10 lbs of WW have you bought in the last 12 months?
I dont want to argue it further. I just dont think tellin the OP to try and buy WW at .10 from tire shops is helpful.

 

[TrashcanDan]

A half bucket of lead shot got me .40 an lb at the yard monday.

How far from the south shore are you?

 

[mac1911]

Tell them the offer is 10 cents a pound

Non-Ferrous Scrap Metal	Market Price	Your Price *
Scrap Rod Brass	$1.82 lb.	$1.70 lb.
Scrap Cupro-Nickel	CAll	Call
Scrap Soft Lead (clean)	$0.75 lb.	$0.68 lb.
Scrap Wheel Weights	$0.30 lb.	$0.20 lb.

thats what the scrap yard are willing to pay you for bringing in scrap NOT what you will pay trying to buy it.

Hit up local smaller shops that you know do tires. If they WW are all mixed offer $30 and coffee for a full 5 gallon bucket.
I hit up local shops in my area although many places have deals with the vendors to turn the scrap in for a discount on new weights or already have someone taking it.

Now you can still buy smelted wheel weight lead for $1/lb shipped to your house.

I have paid as much as .50 lb for sorted lead wheel weights with 2 people. they deliver nice clean sorted wheel weights to my door a few times per year. I dont mind paying as they are always well sorted, really clean and dropped off. I get about 150-250lbs a year from them last few years they have been very good to me and only charging me $30 for very full buckets.

 

[Chevy 2 65]

Look at the last row:

You said 50 cents. why pay more?

 

[RImike]

You said 50 cents. why pay more?

MGnoob said that, not me.

 

[Chevy 2 65]

MGnoob said that, not me.

OK, now it's time for a beer. My apologies

 

[RImike]

OK, now it's time for a beer. My apologies

I'll bring the Bud Ice

 

[mac1911]

A half bucket of lead shot got me .40 an lb at the yard monday.

How far from the south shore are you?

Lead shot can bring in much more or any know scrap lead with out "other" stuff in it.
Wheel weights with clips and glue all over them is treated like plain old scrap prices at most places.

 

[MGnoob]

Shot is the best, never mind isit cleaner.
Mixing shot with range scrap can produce a WW like alloy.

Id buy it all day at .40-50 cents, its a better value than WW any day

 

[headednorth]

A half bucket of lead shot got me .40 an lb at the yard monday.

How far from the south shore are you?

Im North Shore. Not totally hurting for lead, been picking up range scrap here and there. Happened to be looking at a tire place this a.m. and thought about going in but had no idea what I should expecting as far as prices.

- - - Updated - - -

Thanks for the replies everyone. Appreciate all the info.

 

[mac1911]

Im North Shore. Not totally hurting for lead, been picking up range scrap here and there. Happened to be looking at a tire place this a.m. and thought about going in but had no idea what I should expecting as far as prices.

- - - Updated - - -

Thanks for the replies everyone. Appreciate all the info.

BJs and Benny's have been a good source of wheel weights for me. Go later before closing and try to catch one of the kids on a smoke break around the side of the building. Ask him about the wheel weights.

 

[Stape]

Last time I bought lead for casting I was paying .70/lb for scrap, dirty mixed lead. Nowadays, with so many vendors near me, I can buy cast bullets for a smidge over what I can make them and that's not even factoring in my time to cast. I still cast some, bust mostly odd-balls or stuff I don't go through a lot of like 310gr 44 mag bullets, some BP round balls, and 45/70 projos. Even then, I'm thinking about ordering lead from rotometals as I get a certified alloy and I can at least be consistent. Last time I hunted for lead, half of it was zinc or crap stick on wheel weights. Just not worth it anymore. I get a bunch of radiation shielding lead from refurbed x-ray rooms, its pure lead and I save that for BP and fishing sinkers.

 

[RImike]

BJs and Benny's have been a good source of wheel weights for me. Go later before closing and try to catch one of the kids on a smoke break around the side of the building. Ask him about the wheel weights.

Benny's has gone out of business...

 

[mac1911]

Benny's has gone out of business...

o well pick or find some other lower end tire place where most of the workers are like 19 and offer them 25 bucks for the lead in the buckets,,,,don't expect them to carry it for you. That's another thing DO NOT trust the buckets to hold more than the weight of a half filled 5 gallon bucket.

 

[mac1911]

Last time I bought lead for casting I was paying .70/lb for scrap, dirty mixed lead. Nowadays, with so many vendors near me, I can buy cast bullets for a smidge over what I can make them and that's not even factoring in my time to cast. I still cast some, bust mostly odd-balls or stuff I don't go through a lot of like 310gr 44 mag bullets, some BP round balls, and 45/70 projos. Even then, I'm thinking about ordering lead from rotometals as I get a certified alloy and I can at least be consistent. Last time I hunted for lead, half of it was zinc or crap stick on wheel weights. Just not worth it anymore. I get a bunch of radiation shielding lead from refurbed x-ray rooms, its pure lead and I save that for BP and fishing sinkers.

This is a good point. Also virgin alloy has dropped a little bit over the past few years. Especially if you want a know alloy like hardball or such.
Stick on wheel weights make good round ball you just haave to get past the glue when smelting.

Its nice when you can find a vendor who has the size bullets you want in a alloy you want. As prices for things like lube and gas checks have gone up. Last time I bought gas checks they where just under .03 each. Im about a year away from needing to restock and might just buy my own gas check maker ?

 

[TrashcanDan]

Im North Shore. Not totally hurting for lead, been picking up range scrap here and there. Happened to be looking at a tire place this a.m. and thought about going in but had no idea what I should expecting as far as prices.

- - - Updated - - -

Thanks for the replies everyone. Appreciate all the info.

Yea , roger that
I have plenty I've burned down into muffin pucks. Range scrap, wheel weights, all that.
If you were close and in dire straits, I could part with some. I get a slow steady supply for free year round so giving some away here and there is no loss to me.