Clip on Wheel weights

[Texas Gil]

Any idea what the lead content of clip on wheel weights is? Anyone use these for casting round balls?

 

[Grimord]

I believe they are mostly zinc with very little lead content. Not like the old wheel weights, these new ones have far less lead in them, if any.

 

[Texas Gil]

Thanks

 

[hawkeye2]

If you find the old ones they are a hard lead alloy and quite suitable, actually desirable, for projectiles for unmentionables

 

[Woody Morgan]

But not muzzleloading fodder.

wm

 

[user 48679]

FWIW, I use only pure-d lead, and no alloys, in my frontstuffer projectiles.

 

[LawrenceA]

I have used COWW for conicals.
Tried Round ball but they are too difficult to load

 

[Thomas.bill92]

Yeah broke a ball started trying to load a patched round ball made from clip on wheel weights. Almost broke the rammer on my 1858 Remington too. Lessons learned, however if you can find some of the stick on lead wheel weights, those are good for black powder.

 

[Tim-Ohio]

Any idea what the lead content of clip on wheel weights is? Anyone use these for casting round balls?

Don't know anything about the lead content but I know they are pretty hard. Back when I had lots of spare time for casting balls I used to make .315 rbs with about 1/3 wheel wt lead. This effectively kept the ball from expanding and blowing squirrels in half. Just made a nice neat hole.

 

[11th corps]

A friend (God rest your soul Mike) brought me a bucket of wheel weights last year. Probably half of them are zinc, but there are still some lead ones around. You can use a pair of pliers to check if they are zinc or some other besides lead material. If they dent easily, they are most likely lead. I just toss them in the casting pot along with my range scrap when melting. If they float to the top intact, they aren't lead. You can use them-the lead ones- to trade with people who do have pure lead. Shooters of those new fangled guns who cast want harder lead alloy.

 

[bubba.50]

You can use them for roundballs but as stated, they'll be slightly larger and you'll likely need much thinner patch material. And they probably won't 'upset/mushroom' like pure lead at BP velocities.

 

[mooman76]

You can use them for roundballs but as stated, they'll be slightly larger and you'll likely need much thinner patch material. And they probably won't 'upset/mushroom' like pure lead at BP velocities.

Exactly this. I used them for years when I had no soft lead. The Lead WWs if you have them vary on content but are approximately 95% lead and the rest tin and possibly other alloys like antimony.

 

[user 48679]

A source of pure lead is Verizon/Ma Bell linesmen - many retain the pure lead sleeves/casings at telephone line junctions they regularly have to replace when doing repair work.

One of my friends is a retired linesman who amassed several hundred pounds that he re-cast into ingots & stored until use...….

 

[ohio ramrod]

WW lead is often used for smooth bores, but not very many use it for rifles or pistols.Same with linotype lead.I keep my pure lead for the rifles and pistols, but for the smoothbores I use any and all!

 

[AFord]

Everyone has explained it so well that I am only adding what I use. I have soft lead for ML, and old style wheel weights for 'unmentionable' pistols and I have gotten some Linotype metal to alloy with the WWs for unmentionable rifles. I hope that I haven't led anyone to 'the Dark Side'?

 

[oldwood]

Ohio r/r , I too saw in the Forum months ago that wheel weights can be cast into balls , and used for smooth bore balls.

 

[Stumpkiller]

I have used them for smoothbore round balls. The old lead/antimony clip-on kind. The rule was if you could scratch it with your fingernail it was soft enough. And 30 years ago I was determined enough to keep at it until it scratched, by gum.

With "pure" lead so available I quit using them. But still have a hoard . . . just in case.

 

[Texas Gil]

Thanks for all input. Think I’ll just cast some .60 RBI’s for my smoothie with the WWs and see what happens.

 

[mooman76]

By the way, the stick on WWs are soft lead, not pure but softer than the clip ons.

 

[BadDaditood]

Here’s a hardness chart from yesteryear.
Telco lead and stick on WWs are 40/1, still plenty soft for MLers.
The old clip-on WW are lead alloyed with tin/antimony and a touch of arsenic.
Lead is being legislated out of existence, the new WWs are steel (magnetic) or zinc (Zn stamped into the mold)
At first Zinc will float in a lead melt but if hot enough it will melt too making an oatmeal like mess that absolutely ruins your lead and pot.