I'm just getting started but am building experience pretty quick as I melt, pour, mold, shoot everyday.

I live in small town Texas and really had a tough time finding wheel weights. I was wondering if anybody else was experiencing this. There are only 3 shops in town that balance tires and another 10 within a 35 mile radius. What I was told was they where no longer interested in letting the used weights go as the supplier is now giving them $1/lb credit toward their orders... the new weights are now $5/lb. I punched around on the web and it seemed like the going rate for lead ingots by Asian buyers was about 30 to 35¢/lb.

The Farmers Coop called me back and said that they would sell me some weights. I offered them 35¢/lb but they said in light of the credit they would need 50¢/lb. I bought all 238# because after two weeks of looking I had zero material. That is still just 2¢/300-grain bullet so it is not a big deal to me. I'm in this to make a better bullet not worry about the cost of shooting. Are any of you experiencing a hard time finding lead?

Depends on your area...some places re treating it like haz. mat. and have no intention of selling it to privae individuals...other places will sell it at reasonable rates (and $.30 to $.50 is reaonable)....once in awhile I'll find an old shop that will swap me WW for beer. Live in a good sized city, have lots of old tire shops ans such to hunt through.

Is getting to be a problem.

Thanks Ribbonstone...

I sure that the distributors make out by offering the credit as they get a known source of lead back. My dealings with the hazardous material stuff has all been about the recording keeping... knowing where it came from and where it's going.

The stuff I got from the Farmers Coop was very clean and no other type of scrap or dirt. In fact, after transfering the 238# of lead I hand only 3 valve stems and about 5 oz. of dirt on my garage floor. Most of it was very large weights.

A good example would be hospitals in this area...the enviromental office handles the lead removal...same folks who supervise the bio.haz. material. It isn't dangerous, but they want/need the paper work showing it's be disposed according to guidelines.

In old cities (this is New Orleans) still find a good bit of lead in demolished houses/buildings and it ends up either at the refurb. section of the demolition company or in a metal recyclier's stock...either way, they know the current value of metals to the 1/10th cent and aren't going to be offering too many deals.

Have a perhaps 100 pounds of lead pipe (good muzzle loader bullets) from an old church...just happened to notice it, and made a Friday afternoon deal with the construction crew for two six packs of cold beer.

I have found that WWs are hard to find due to other bullet casters getting there before me. Also alot of tire stores are starting to sell them to recycling companies.