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Wheel weight lead question

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Pulling up an older thread to answer my questions; my neighbor just offered me about 150# of wheel weight lead for free, already cast in small ingots, that stuff is HARD and I initially turned him down but I think I will take him up on the deal now.

I stopped by the local small-town garage to get my trailer tires balanced a few days ago, the guy had at least 400# of wheel weights in various buckets that he was selling for 25 cents a pound.

I guess I will be wheel weight lead rich in a few days. I have about 80# of soft lead already but a guy just can't have too much.
See my post above, been casting for probably forty years now and wheel weights will work, with the above caveats.

The other thing is that you could also look to trade them to a modern bullet caster for pure lead as well. Pistol shooters in particular like wheel weights as they are harder and can be made even harder through tempering because of their antimony content.

Cast boolits.com is your friend

As I said above, beware of zinc though.
 
No need to imagine it, it's been happening for years and is nearly complete
The Obama EPA placed such overwhelming restrictions on lead smelting plants in the US that the last of them were forced to shut down
Now Fish & Wildlife is starting to ban lead bullets
https://www.themeateater.com/conser...nters-should-know-about-the-new-lead-ammo-ban
Yep we no longer produce any virgin lead in this country, all we "produce" is from scrap.

Another attack on America by the black Marxist.
 
No more lead fishing weights, new wheel weights aren't lead, or have a lower content than before. All AT&T lines were connected with a huge piece of lead. They removed them years ago.
In 1980 when I got my first muzzleloader dad's friend worked at an old garage. He brought me over 100lbs of something resembling lead. I cast all of it for my 45 CVA. I later was told it was Babbitt. Now, owning a Ford Model A, I find that stuff is precious to owners and workers on these cars. But in 1980 it was truly scrap.
View attachment 341241
Babbit is a very high tin and antimony alloy, used mainly for industrial bearings, used to love it when I could get my hands on it for casting unmentionables. It was great to use to "sweeten" the alloy to make it harder and pour better to fill out the mold (tin is good fof that)
 
Babbit is a very high tin and antimony alloy, used mainly for industrial bearings, used to love it when I could get my hands on it for casting unmentionables. It was great to use to "sweeten" the alloy to make it harder and pour better to fill out the mold (tin is good fof that)
I only knew it was free, could be cast into Round Ball, would shoot with a thin patch and 60grs ffg. and penetrate like the devil's own.
My motor in my Fordor is strong, best I've had it was 63mp, so it's far from needing a rebuild. I know collector's of old cars pay dearly for it now to re-pour bearings.
 
If you are casting your own though, beware of wheel weights that contain zinc as many do these days. They can be hard to spot and will mess up your mold and pot in a heartbeat.
I stopped using them for that reason.
I use an old Lyman electric pot and the zinc created a crust around the bottom of the pot.
 
Take the free wheel weight lead stuff and then hit the garage try to buy the whole batch for a little better price and stash it away. BTW my local scrap dealer is only paying 14 cents a pound for wheel weights :thumb:. Clip-on wheel wheel weights are hardened with antimony and are great as is when used for modern pistol bullets, high velocity stuff excepted. A little tin solder added will make the WW metal flow better,. The newer lead stick-on weights are very soft, nearly pure to allow them to easily bend to conform to the wheel and will need hardening for modern bullets but should be great for M/L stuff. You can probably mix your WW metal 50/50 your with pure lead and get good results, a test batch in the lead pot will tell. I shot a lot of scrounged wheel weight .44 Mag bullets before acquiring a lifetime supply of linotype which containing 4% tin fills out the molds beautifully. I cast pure linotype hex bullets for my Whitworth. They are so hard they shatter on steel or rock and recovered ones that passed thru logs were in good enough shape to shoot again, the square shoulders are rounded a bit but still very shootable. YMMV
For my Muzzle loading rifles I always mix my alloy as 50/50 by weight pure and wheel weight. For my 50 and 54 cals it provides a bit deeper penetration because it doesn’t flatten out as much as the pure lead does, and for my 32 and 36 cal rifles I squirrel hunt with it doesn’t deform at all and just punches a clean hole. Even if I make a bad shot on one running and hit a leg first, it is just a clean hole. No bone splinters it may be broken but the harder alloy doesn’t grind them up like the pure does when it starts to deform on impact.
 
Not much to add to previous responses, but that's never stopped me before. I have used WWs for PRBs and could tell no difference in accuracy. I was shooting a .440 ball with a rather thick .020 patch and it worked just as good as the pure lead. However...........had a tough time killing a doe mule deer with a broadside, double lung hit that exited. As I approached the downed deer, it ran...I shot again hitting it a second time running away at about 90yds...that second ball passed between the rear legs, entered the belly and angled forward into the base of the neck. She expired about 150yds from where she was first hit. That second ball was as smooth and shiny as the day I cast it. Just sain' great for penetration, but no flattening upon impact. Now I use a .54.
 
I only use wheelweights for unmentionable pistols. Should you need to pull your bullet with a bullet puller, forget it. The lead is too hard for the bullet puller screw to bite. Plan on spending a $200 gunsmith fee or more for a stupid mistake that a pure lead bullet would have solved the issue immediately. Wheelweights ... just don't use them in muzzleloaders just just like smokeless rifle powders.
Ohio Rusty ><>
 
I only use wheelweights for unmentionable pistols. Should you need to pull your bullet with a bullet puller, forget it. The lead is too hard for the bullet puller screw to bite. Plan on spending a $200 gunsmith fee or more for a stupid mistake that a pure lead bullet would have solved the issue immediately. Wheelweights ... just don't use them in muzzleloaders just just like smokeless rifle powders.
Ohio Rusty ><>
There are other ways to get a stuck bullet out other than a bullet puller or a gunsmith
 
I don't know if I replied to this one already or not but here goes..an old guy like 80..told me to melt the weights a large amount and pour into a cardboard tube..he claimed that when it cold it would separate and after pealing the tube open you could see the lines and cut it apart.. don't know never tried
 
How many pounds of wheel weights were usually available at colonial forts compared to pure lead

How many laptops or smartphones were usually available at colonial forts compared to quill and parchment?
I wonder who did their HVAC repair, which pharmacy they used, and how far to the nearest international Airport? What about vaccines, insulin, antibiotics?
If you or anyone you cared for ever used ANY of these that pretty much negates your question.
Although some curse it, we DO live in the 21st century.
Otherwise, there'd be no forums other than on the village green
 
Yeah Yeah Yeah ....... don't get your panties in a twist.
Oh you mean to say you did not ride a horse to the reenactment, yeah, heard it all before.

Go to the top of the page where it says "Keeping Tradition Alive", nothing about wheel weights is of the muzzleloading time frame.

Some of you guys are very thinned skinned.
 
Another question; I shoot range lead that is at least 90% pure lead, I cast a lot of .530 balls all of which weigh right at 226gr. out of my almost new CNC Lee mold. What would a wheel weight ball the same size weigh for comparison?

If I picked up some of the newer mostly zinc wheel weights by mistake, what would the same ball weigh?
 
Another question; I shoot range lead that is at least 90% pure lead, I cast a lot of .530 balls all of which weigh right at 226gr. out of my almost new CNC Lee mold. What would a wheel weight ball the same size weigh for comparison?

If I picked up some of the newer mostly zinc wheel weights by mistake, what would the same ball weigh?
I've never noticed a difference in group size or POI using them. Be hard to say cause ww don't have a set amount of metals.
I know pistol competition shooters who used nothing but WWs, and did well. I used to be one. Also have picked up range scrap by the bucket.
 
Yeah Yeah Yeah ....... don't get your panties in a twist.
Oh you mean to say you did not ride a horse to the reenactment, yeah, heard it all before.

Go to the top of the page where it says "Keeping Tradition Alive", nothing about wheel weights is of the muzzleloading time frame.

Some of you guys are very thinned skinned.
If a large grey chunk of extra heavy material arrived in the colony, it's a safe bet someone wouldn't agonize over what to do with it. They'd use it as a door stop or melt it down for RB.
 

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