Are wheel weights useless?

[nhmoose]

As far as I concerned wheel weights belong on tire rims, when welding galvanized pipe, need to drink a lot milk.

My FIL was a burner at the Quincy shipyard in MA. He drank a quart of milk on the way to work every day. At 58 he was diagnosed with dementia and we lost him again 9 years later.

It was due to the fumes of heavy metals so do not inhale zinc or galvanized fumes simple breathing masks or apparatus and he would not have left us 30 years ago.

 

[Bo T]

You should stay up wind of your melting pot, but zinc doesn't present much hazard at lead melting pot temperatures. It vaporizes @ 850 C, Zinc melts @ 420 C. So, while you are putting out some zinc fumes, it is much less than what is put out welding galvanized steel.

 

[Rifleman1776]

One can no longer make an accurate statement that wheel weights are made of any single material. The owner of the tire shop where I trade is an avid caster/reloader for modern guns. He, of course, has ample access to used wheel weights. He says that, these days, they can be made of almost anything. Pure, or even hardened, lead ww are gone from the scene mostly due to anti-lead legislation.

 

[coloradoclyde]

lead ww are gone from the scene mostly due to anti-lead legislation.

That's not exactly accurate....

 

[nkbj]

One can no longer make an accurate statement that wheel weights are made of any single material. The owner of the tire shop where I trade is an avid caster/reloader for modern guns. He, of course, has ample access to used wheel weights. He says that, these days, they can be made of almost anything. Pure, or even hardened, lead ww are gone from the scene mostly due to anti-lead legislation.

Yep. Almost 40 years ago I designed cartridges based upon wheel weight metal as a then known (dependable :haha: ) standard of reference.
Nowadays if you are casting round ball, well, you could get most any kind of hardness. But whatever you get, you can make it work in a round ball barrel.

 

[coloradoclyde]

You guys are making this more difficult than it needs to be....
As long as you identify, separate, work in small batches and use a hardness tester, any lead can be made useful....

 

[Toomuch51]

There is nothing "wrong" with wheel weights, or zinc for that matter in the case of patched round balls, if that is the only thing you are using. I have included zinc here because the cloth patch prevents the ball from coming into contact with the bore.
The weight of the different materials will affect the trajectory of the ball, so if you used one for sighting in and another for shooting you would not necessarly be impacting the same place, especially with zinc, as it is so much lighter.

Personally I would NEVER put any kind of plastic down my rifle barrel as it will tend to load up the rifling, especially if used a lot, and is near impossible to remove without destroying the barrel.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Have you actually cast zinc round balls?.....

 

[Rifleman1776]

Have you actually cast zinc round balls?.....

I have. I was given a bunch of zinc and cast up a bunch of balls for use in my 20 ga. fowler.
From the same mould the zinc dropped at .590" weighing 271 gr. Lead came out at .600" weighing 325 gr.
Not used yet (due to health issues) they should be fine but with a different POI.

 

[mooman76]

How well did the zink cast? I have never tried but have heard nothing but bad.

 

[Toomuch51]

Have you actually cast zinc round balls?.....

Not for rifle or pistol, however they do make a fine (and inexpencive) shot for a 6# field piece.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Interesting....... :hmm:

 

[Rifleman1776]

How well did the zink cast? I have never tried but have heard nothing but bad.

No problem, no difference than lead except for the weight difference.

 

[nkbj]

When you're casting lead alloy and you get some zinc mixed into the lead alloy, that's the problem.
It wants to give give poor fill out on the bullets, wrinkle problems, frosted corners.
With round ball if your mix is a little contaminated you usually get by with just jacking up the heat. If you got some really squirrelly metal then definitely make round ball out of it.

 

[Rifleman1776]

When you're casting lead alloy and you get some zinc mixed into the lead alloy, that's the problem.
It wants to give give poor fill out on the bullets, wrinkle problems, frosted corners.
With round ball if your mix is a little contaminated you usually get by with just jacking up the heat. If you got some really squirrelly metal then definitely make round ball out of it.

The zinc I used came from WWII era model train kits. No value so I just melted down. I didn't use my regular electric pot to avoid contamination. Used a small cast iron pot over coleman stove flame. Worked fine and now I have a large supply of zinc balls.

 

[coloradoclyde]

The zinc I used came from WWII era model train kits.

I suspect they were probably a zinc alloy.
Zinc is often alloyed with other metals including lead, tin, aluminium, and copper.
Otherwise known as "pot metal"

 

[Rifleman1776]

The zinc I used came from WWII era model train kits.

I suspect they were probably a zinc alloy.
Zinc is often alloyed with other metals including lead, tin, aluminium, and copper.
Otherwise known as "pot metal"

Possibly. I have no way of knowing for sure. And, I'm sure the paper targets and Bambi won't know, or care, either. :wink:

 

[coloradoclyde]

If they shoot...it's a great alternative... :thumbsup:

 

[brubincam]

had a bar of solder and melted it into 440 diam balls used them in a shooting match useing TC HAWKINS in 45 cal--worked just fine in my paper target shoots--no noticable differance than lead balls--summer shoots every other SUNDAY --shot the complete summer and came in 2nd place out of over 40 shooters

 

[hawkeye2]

Zamac (pot metal, white metal) was the usual alloy for model trains. A base metal of zinc and alloying elements of aluminium, magnesium, and copper.