Best lead for casting ball?

[SwampBilly]

So much misinformation regarding wheel weights and sailboat ballast.

I'll never understand the desire for people to steer others away from a free and highly usable material.

Soft lead is soft lead.

Whether it comes from Roto-Metals, a sailboat or the wheels of a '63 Beetle.

I have used wheel weights to cast round ball for my 1858. They seem to work fine. But they say they are hardened to some degree by being alloyed with a small amount of tin and or antimony

 

[OldRust]

In my opinion pure lead only for RB = 4-5 BHN. Pick up a set of drawing pencils or if you are only concerned with round balls, a single pencil of 6B softness. Sharpen your pencil, flatten the end of the lead, I use a small pc of 400 grit sandpaper. Push your pencil along the lead, if the 6B digs in it is pure lead. If it skirts along and will not dig in, well its not pure lead. The ingot shown was cast from Rotometals lead.
Please see the attached photos

Thanks,
O.R.

 

[64Springer]

I have used wheel weights to cast round ball for my 1858. They seem to work fine. But they say they are hardened to some degree by being alloyed with a small amount of tin and or antimony

You are correct, Sir.

Tin and Antimony are present.

But it's not so hard an alloy that it won't work in front stuffers. You have to go hog wild with Tin and Antimony before a projectile is too hard.

All clip-on lead and all stick-on lead will compress enough to take the rifling. Especially if patched.

If people are too lazy to process the wheel weights into usable ingots, fine. If people want to get closer to Daniel Boone by using pure lead, fine.

But people need to stop saying wheel weights and sailboat ballast won't work in a muzzle loader.

 

[IanH]

I'll have to try that, Springer. I have a couple hundred pounds of soft lead but about 1.5 tons of wheelweight alloy I rendered myself. I as asking myself the other day why I filled the pot with soft lead just to cast trade gun balls, seemed wasteful. I do a lot of shooting, recycle from my own traps, and haven't loaded anything but hand cast bullets in nearly 20 years.

With wheelweight balls, are you casting .010" under bore, .005"? I'm assuming you use a short and long starter?

 

[64Springer]

I'll have to try that, Springer. I have a couple hundred pounds of soft lead but about 1.5 tons of wheelweight alloy I rendered myself. I as asking myself the other day why I filled the pot with soft lead just to cast trade gun balls, seemed wasteful. I do a lot of shooting, recycle from my own traps, and haven't loaded anything but hand cast bullets in nearly 20 years.

With wheelweight balls, are you casting .010" under bore, .005"? I'm assuming you use a short and long starter?

It is wasteful.

Under no circumstances will I waste soft lead/stick-on wheel weights/98-1-1 sailboat ballast on patched round balls.

The soft stuff gets saved for the .58 civil war guns.

.600 ball for a .609 smooth bore.

 

[OldRust]

My pure lead choice for round ball has no bearing on what our fore fathers used. I cast for more much more than my ML’s and very little if any of my recycled goes to waste. I have 250-300 lbs of X-Ray room wall blocks and probably twice that in buckets of clip on wheel weights.
I haven’t bothered with the stick on wheel weights, my understanding is that they are zinc

Thanks,
O.R

 

[64Springer]

Stick-on lead weights are pure lead.

Some are Zinc and they have Zn molded into the metal.

Lead and Zinc are impossible to confuse due to the weight.

 

[OldRust]

Stick-on lead weights are pure lead.

Some are Zinc and they have Zn molded into the metal.

Lead and Zinc are impossible to confuse due to the weight.

I have them saved but I’m 6-700 lbs away from needing them in my lifetime. No doubt someone else will be getting into them.

Thanks,
O.R.

 

[deerstalkert]

So much misinformation regarding wheel weights and sailboat ballast.

I'll never understand the desire for people to steer others away from a free and highly usable material.

Soft lead is soft lead.

Whether it comes from Roto-Metals, a sailboat or the wheels of a '63 Beetle.

thanks! i needed to save my breathe so didn't say essentially this.

 

[longcruise]

Clip on wheel weights typically harden to about 12 bhn after aging for two weeks at room temperature. It will also cast larger than pure lead so it won't load the same as a pure lead ball. Doesn't mean they won't work. I have far more ww on hand than pure lead but it is used for modern projectiles. I hand pick my pure lead and pay 50 to 75 cents a pound for it so that's what goes into the muzzle loaders.

 

[Freedom]

Bite the bullet so to speak and go to roto metals and order some pure soft lead. I got 5 lb the other day for $20.

That is insanity!.. Crazy high prices,...can just buy your balls commercial cast for those prices.

 

[SDSmlf]

Stick-on lead weights are pure lead.

Impressive that you figured this out, as references sources such as Lyman and others couldn’t. You may what to pass along your data to them.

In the Lyman Reloading Handbook, 45th Edition, wheel weight is stated to contain “about” ( ~ ) 9% antimony (Sb) which is “about” 5% more than the 3rd Edition of the Cast Bullet Handbook quotes. Joe Brennan, in his text, Cast Bullets for Beginner & Experts, shows two different formulations, one containing arsenic (As) and the other without. Even the good old boys at Handloader Magazine can’t agree on the formula.

And curiously, the local auto supply stores around here only seem to have ‘lead free’ wheel weights, whether stick on or clip on.

 

[IanH]

Impressive that you figured this out, as references sources such as Lyman and others couldn’t. You may what to pass along your data to them.

In the Lyman Reloading Handbook, 45th Edition, wheel weight is stated to contain “about” ( ~ ) 9% antimony (Sb) which is “about” 5% more than the 3rd Edition of the Cast Bullet Handbook quotes. Joe Brennan, in his text, Cast Bullets for Beginner & Experts, shows two different formulations, one containing arsenic (As) and the other without. Even the good old boys at Handloader Magazine can’t agree on the formula.

And curiously, the local auto supply stores around here only seem to have ‘lead free’ wheel weights, whether stick on or clip on.

Lyman #45 was edited way back when automotive wheel weights were generally made to a rough standard instead of whatever recycled stuff was cheap. The alloy then tended to have a lot more antimony in it than it has in the decades since. If there's any significant arsenic in wheelweights made since the 1990s, it's in there by accident because scrap contained it.

Tape weights can be many things. Coated ones are about like modern clip-on lead weights. Uncoated tape weights are a lot softer, but still not pure lead.

Heavy truck wheel weights can be anything. Some of them are hard as woodpecker lips and some are practically pure lead.

Joe Brennan only knows as much as those who he copies his information from. His principle source is internet bulletin boards, so take anything written by him with a dose of salts.

I quit subscribing to Handloader a long time ago so can't comment to the how knowledgeable their editors are anymore, but lack of it is why I quit spending money on the rag.

The Condor Cuddlers have pushed so hard to rid us of the lead weight burden that state by state they are becoming extinct. New auto manufacturers, to contend with state laws, have all switched to non-lead weights a few years ago,.

The good old days just keep getting gooder.

 

[earlwb]

I used to go around to the street intersections and pickup the wheel weights that fall off the vehicle wheels. There used to be jillions of the things gr

 

[Wayne Gray]

First, regarding car batteries, been there, done that. Won't ever do it again! recovering the lead is a messy process and I don't know what the exact alloy is but it made some ery hard balls. I cast quite a bit of wheel weight for cartridge guns and I'd say the battery stuff was harder.

It's commonly said to try to scratch lead with a fingernail and if you can scratch it, shoot it. Forty seven # for two bucks is a good deal Hope it is usable.

I use plumbers lead if you can find it.
Tried batteries and wheel weights and the would fragment.
Pure lead is the way to go.

 

[Reno]

Soft lead or pure lead is what you want in my opinion.
Rotometals can provide what you want. I buy from them and it is quite easy.
You have multiple choices from hardball to pure lead.
Yes, it might be more expensive. But you know what you have.
Plus you have a muzzloader costing several hundred to well over $1000.
Why scrimp on what your shoot through it.
Muzzleloaders need pure lead

 

[stikshooter]

So much misinformation regarding wheel weights and sailboat ballast.

I'll never understand the desire for people to steer others away from a free and highly usable material.

Soft lead is soft lead.

Whether it comes from Roto-Metals, a sailboat or the wheels of a '63 Beetle.

(NOPE) can tell you don't use/own a cheap Lee lead tester or no way would you/could you say that .Misinformation is not doing anyone reading this post any favors !!! I use a cheap Lee and a Cabin tree (not cheap ) you'd be amazed at what you don't know Ed

 

[stikshooter]

Impressive that you figured this out, as references sources such as Lyman and others couldn’t. You may what to pass along your data to them.

In the Lyman Reloading Handbook, 45th Edition, wheel weight is stated to contain “about” ( ~ ) 9% antimony (Sb) which is “about” 5% more than the 3rd Edition of the Cast Bullet Handbook quotes. Joe Brennan, in his text, Cast Bullets for Beginner & Experts, shows two different formulations, one containing arsenic (As) and the other without. Even the good old boys at Handloader Magazine can’t agree on the formula.

And curiously, the local auto supply stores around here only seem to have ‘lead free’ wheel weights, whether stick on or clip on.

Stick on are pure/clip on aren't ,again buy a tester and know/Ed

 

[Kipawa17]

I'm finally set to start melting lead. Found a local source although the operator is closing shop for a well deserved retirement. Got a little over 100 lbs of x-ray lead and some flashing, bought a ten pound Lee bottom pour pot then started cutting stuff up into smaller chunks. After all that cutting I found an old propane turkey burner with a good tank plus a cast Dutch oven at an estate sale. Along with some other stuff it worked out to less then five bucks.

 

[nick_1]

I buy roof flashing and old lead pipe at the scrap yard. my last trip I got 50lbs for$30.00