I have been using wheel weights for probably 20 years now. I know they are not pure and not as soft as pure lead however I figured with a patch between the bore and the ball no harm would be done. I can still scratch the lead with my finger nail. My accuracy is fine and I have a few deer under my belt with them. No problems. My old supply has finally run out and I had to get some new ones. I got some from two different sources and noticed not all the weights are melting. They just sit there in the pot. I am guessing maybe 10 percent won't melt. I also noticed that the un meltables have very sharp corners and are smoother (almost shiny) than the others? Is there a coating on them? They were obviously melted before by someone to mold them into weights. Anyone have any answers or experiences?
Wheel weights
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New wheel weights are made of zinc....which melts at a higher temp.
You need to separate them out prior to melting.
You need to separate them out prior to melting.
What C. Clyde said. The new EPA friendly weight alloys have little or no lead.
Yep, it's what those guy's said.
If they don't melt,, fish'm out an toss'm.
If they don't melt,, fish'm out an toss'm.
Yep keep the melt temp at 700 degrees and the zinc & alloy weights will float. Skim them and trash.
We don't want any of the children to be able to pick up lead wheelweights from the side of the roadways and eat them.
Eating lead is supposed to damage children's brains.
That's why the people who grew up when lead wheel weights were commonly eaten managed to invent the computers of today and managed to design rockets and spacecraft that landed men on the moon.
Just think of what they might have done if they hadn't eaten all of that lead. :hmm:
Eating lead is supposed to damage children's brains.
That's why the people who grew up when lead wheel weights were commonly eaten managed to invent the computers of today and managed to design rockets and spacecraft that landed men on the moon.
Just think of what they might have done if they hadn't eaten all of that lead. :hmm:
I think condors and vultures were eating tires and occasionally rims and injesting the lead.
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Well, Sir, I can't speak for the condors - a mite thin on the ground here in rural East Anglia - but I can categorically advise you that OUR vulture doesn't eat wheel weights OR tires/tyres.
Let go loose a couple of years back for a recreational 'wheel and flap', he DID eat a dozing cat that had had the luck to have snacked on a bit on rancid roadkill, and was breathing the fumes up into the air, but you can't blame a poor old vult for that, now can you?
tac
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Let go loose a couple of years back for a recreational 'wheel and flap', he DID eat a dozing cat that had had the luck to have snacked on a bit on rancid roadkill, and was breathing the fumes up into the air, but you can't blame a poor old vult for that, now can you?
tac
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Va.Manuf.06
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Zonie said:
Well said!
The owner if the tire shop where I trade is a friend who does a lot of modern bullet casting. He long has saved wheel weights from his own shop for use in his casting. But, for several years now he can't/won't do that. He says there are so many different types of wheel weights these days he cannot tell one from another and sorting is a headache. The only absolute rule for us in traditional ml'ing is 'don't use wheel weights' for casting round balls'.
Rifleman1776 said:
:thumbsup:
The biochemistry of lead toxicity is well known and not in question. It can and has affected children (adult metabolism can eliminate a certain amount of lead, but a child's metabolism is not developed enough to do so). Lowered intelligence is only one of the major chronic problems that can (and has) affected such children.
Having said that, the most toxic form of lead is compounds, not elemental. Poor children, who might live in a dwelling with peeling lead paint were/are most affected (many lead compounds taste sweet to a child, so they eat them). Elimination of lead-based paint (and lead additives to gasoline) cured (or is curing - you can still find houses with lead paint) most of this exposure problem.
As an adult with only an adult child, I don't worry too much about my lead round balls or bars - but those with children should be careful about exposure - especially when casting. Of course, you should be careful, too, when casting.
My main objection to wheel weights is the same as Rifleman 1776 - BP shooting is about consistency, and you really don't know what you are getting mixed in with your lead from this source (most folk , unlike me, not having the resources to analyze the lead).
But just because you are willing to use wheel weights as a source is not a reason to reject known biochemical/medical knowledge of lead toxicity. There is enough mis-information out there as it is.
On a lighter note - these are funny to a chemist !!! 
ff
http://www.lab-initio.com/screen_res/nz015.jpg
http://www.lab-initio.com/screen_res/nz063.jpg
ff
http://www.lab-initio.com/screen_res/nz015.jpg
http://www.lab-initio.com/screen_res/nz063.jpg
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jamesthomas
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The only pure lead out there are roof jacks and lead sheeting from x-ray rooms.
If you can melt it an "normal" temperatures, it should work. Many here have successfully used WWs with a mixed lead alloy.
But your ball batches may be inconsistent, depending on the alloy mixtures you used at the time. Assuming the WWs ARE lead based and not steel or zinc, of course
Pure lead melts at 621 F. Lead wheel weight alloy melting point is usually under 600 F. Zinc melts at 786 F. Steel at 2500 F. When processing your weights into ingots keep the pot temperature at or only a little above 650 F to avoid melting any zinc (or steel).
Myself, I can afford to get my lead from TOW (even on fixed income), but I understand others can't afford (or just don't want to) do this. I just like knowing as many of the factors in my shooting as possible - and I don't want to analyze each new WW collection to see what it contains. I will stick with using pure lead (or at least an alloy of known composition).
But your ball batches may be inconsistent, depending on the alloy mixtures you used at the time. Assuming the WWs ARE lead based and not steel or zinc, of course
Pure lead melts at 621 F. Lead wheel weight alloy melting point is usually under 600 F. Zinc melts at 786 F. Steel at 2500 F. When processing your weights into ingots keep the pot temperature at or only a little above 650 F to avoid melting any zinc (or steel).
Myself, I can afford to get my lead from TOW (even on fixed income), but I understand others can't afford (or just don't want to) do this. I just like knowing as many of the factors in my shooting as possible - and I don't want to analyze each new WW collection to see what it contains. I will stick with using pure lead (or at least an alloy of known composition).
armakiller said:
If I could get my dentist to give me some lead, I would jump on it!
BTW, a "rule of thumb" I've always heard (but not proven) for hardness is that you should be able to either scratch the round ball with your thumbnail or for the patch material to mark the ball after loading.
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:rotf: :rotf: :thumbsup:Dewey3 said:On a lighter note - these are funny to a chemist !!!
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