casting wheel weights

[fisher2]

so i have pretty good access to wheel weights and i was wondering if there is any way that i can lower the % of antimony and make them closer to pure lead

 

[Billnpatti]

There is no home made way to remove it so your only choice is to dilute it with some pure lead.

 

[mooman76]

The stick on wheel weights are softer than the clip on type. Allot of shooters who cast for cartridge guns want harder lead and sometimes they get soft lead and you may be able to trade.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Wheel weights are currently made from a wide variety of metals, some even steel. For ml purposes they are pretty much useless.
A friend of mine who casts and reload a lot of modern calibers and is in the tire business tells me the old pure or nearly pure lead weights are a thing of the past.

 

[Idaho Ron]

Wheel weights are currently made from a wide variety of metals, some even steel. For ml purposes they are pretty much useless.
A friend of mine who casts and reload a lot of modern calibers and is in the tire business tells me the old pure or nearly pure lead weights are a thing of the past.

This is spot on. Wheel weights are made from zinc, steel, and other metals. The odds of getting any lead in wheel weights is slim. If you do get some lead your going to run the risk of melting zinc into the mix. I still get wheel weights when I can for only one reason, Fishing weights. I melt them all zinc, lead what ever and make fishing weights. Zinc is a tough metal to pour and do it right. Ron

 

[Firelock937]

What ever alloy is in the ww is what you are stuck with. I get a lot of ww's from a buddy who owns an auto repair shop, and here in Ohio they are still mostly lead alloy. Zinc can be a big pain, but it melts at a higher temp than the lead ones. When I first start melting and burning off all the junk I scoop any floaters (steel,zinc,& clips)fairly quickly so as not to melt the zinc. Great for modern handgun ammo, and I often use it for rb's in smoothbores. Just keep in mind that it will cast .001-.002" larger than pure lead.

 

[nkbj]

When casting with wheel weights, if you continually just add weights to the pot, throw away the dirt without fluxing and stirring and cast with a spoon or ladle, the non-lead (lighter weight constituents) content of the upper layer of metal in the pot will continually increase along with bullet hardness. Been there, got the tee shirt. Means that the bottom of the pot is of higher lead content.

If you were to melt down a drop bottom pot full of wheel weights and leave it sit and cook for a long time then the bottom would have a lesser percentage of alloying elements. It would be softer. But, who knows how much time would be involved to get what result? And, you still wouldn't have pure lead softness if that's what you're after. But it might be soft enough.

 

[hanshi]

I also have lots of WWs. Mine were accumulated back in the 1970s when I cast for cartridges. I prefer WW for smoothbores but there are many who use them for rifles. Just be aware they cast a couple thousandths larger so you may want to experiment with a thinner patch.

 

[Idaho Ron]

I have actually tested that theory. It was not with wheel weight it was with pure that I added lead shot to. I wanted to bring up the alloy to help with mould fill out. What I found was once alloy is in the mix it will not come out with what I have.

Now I did get some zinc melted into some wheel weights and by cooling the pot I was able to remove some of it. That is when I started to pour sinkers. Pouring zinc is a pain in the hind end. It is more like pouring oatmeal. Ron

 

[rmark]

Zinc melts at about 780 degrees - use a lead therometer to keep the molten lead in your pot below that temperature (I aim for about 680 to be safe). Any steel or zinc weights will float and can be skimmed off. My most recent batch of wheel weights was about 10% non-lead, but I expect more non-lead over time. Zinc mixed into the lead is oatmeal like (I've done it) and is useless for bullet making. You're stuck with the antimony, rouldballs will cast slightly larger that pure lead, but I've used them many times.

 

[nkbj]

Who uses wheel weights in a rifle? Surely someone on the forum has done it successfully and knows the rifling type, patch compression, over powder addition and such that worked for them.

I've thought about trying an over-powder such as cream of wheat just to see if it would work with ww balls. Something else to have fun with!

 

[Grullaguy]

I have shot round ball quite a bit harder than wheel weights out of my 50s just to see if it could be done.

I favour a cotton drill material with a lot of loft which allows it to really suck up the lube and fill the rifling. My succes was with .015" compressed in my rifle with shallow rifling and .018" with the rifle with deeper grooves.

I had some patch material a while back that would not carry lube very well, so I placed a greased wad between the patched ball and the powder. This gave me greatly improved patch survival and reduced the size of my groups.

If you are going to experiment with your rifle, I would recommend you have a good range rod. A too tight patch ball combo will have to be seated after you have committed yourself with a hard rap on the short starter.