Wheel weights

[jtmattison]

Anyone use wheel weights exclusively for muzzleloader projectiles?
I have a friend who works at a tire shop and he can get me tons of it.
Is it worth getting it to make roundballs with??

Huntin

 

[Rebel]

Well, i've heard others talk of using wheel wieghts for rd. balls. If you are just going to use them for punching holes in paper, then they may be ok. If on the other hand you plan on hunting big game with them i would say not to use them as they will not mushroom like a pure lead rd ball. Unless you are hunting with a large caliber and need maximum penetration on dangerous game, then you may want them.JMO

 

Wheel weights will not hurt your gun. They may not shoot as well as pure lead, but since the patch is between the ball and bore there is no direct contact. Even if there were there would be no damage to the bore. I have shot about a gazillion rifle and pistol bullets cast from wheel weights through high and low quality guns with no ill results.

Wheel weights may be too hard to allow the patch to compress against the lands and "engrave" the ball for proper accuracy.

The only way to know for sure is to try them and see how your gun does. I shoot them all the time and can't tell the difference. 'Course the way I shoot????
:m2c:

 

[Slowpoke]

WW are fine.... the only problem is the cleaning of the lead. WW have a lot of stuff attached to them and if you don;t mind the extra work, go for it. I shoot hard lead out of my smoothbore all the time. And to be honest with you, I seriously doubt that you would be able to tell the difference in your pattern. If you shoot a bore size ball, it may be a little tougher to load.

Chuck

 

WW isn't that much harder than pure lead (check the Brinnel Hardness scale)......it will expand when shot thru game altho not as much as straight lead. It may be a bit harder to load both because of the hardness and because a harder alloy will cast a little larger than straight lead, however, I doubt WW will cast enough larger to tell much difference. I've taken several head of game with a handgun using bullets a lot harder than pure lead and my experience is that the animal can't tell the difference. I've also taken several deer with my Sharps and those bullets are cast 25-1, which is harder than straight lead and I can tell you they go down immediately.

If you can access as much as you indicated take it. If nothing else you can always use it for trade to a handgunner or rifle shooter or melt in some pure lead to soften it if you wish. Wheel weights are dirty and take a while to clean but I believe they're well worth the effort. If you're close to Missouri gimme a call and we'll do some swapping!

Vic

 

[dustydean]

I found an old rock tumbler type of thing that I
use for cleaning ww's. I throw in a couple handfulls
of weights, then top it off with some sand-blast
sand, run it for about an hour, & they come out
real nice. :m2c:

 

[waksupi]

No need to clean them up. I use a section of an old propane tank, and melt down a couple hundred pounds at a time. When the wheel weights melt, the manure comes to the top, where it can be easily skimmed off. Then use some flux to stir around in the mix, to further clean it. You can use any carbon based material for flux. Old motor oil, saw dust, candle stubs, anything as long as they are dry. If there is moisture in anything that gets below the surface of the melt, it will create a steam explosion. I've cleaned up a couple tons this past year doing it this way. I shoot a lot of pistol, BPCR, and bottle neck rounds during the year, and go through a considerable amount.
I like WW's for round balls, as I do like the deeper penetration on elk and such large critters. And the people who I beat in competitions, when it happens, don't seem to cuss much more than if I was using pure lead.

 

This subject comes up from time to time on some other forums that I watch but this is the first time I've read so many positive responses. I too have access to LOTS of WW. I have 4 5gal pails full right now. A while back I decided to try for myself and draw my own conclussions. This is what I found out.
A- WW cast easier and make a nicer RB (IMO)
B- WW load a little harder. With a .440 in a .45, they still load OK but are noticably harder to load. I suspect that a .445 in a .45 (with less patch to compress) may give some grief but that's speculation.
C- In my gun, compared to hornady RB's, all else being equal, the WW shot a better group @ 50 yards.
Bear in mind that this was just a 5 shot group with WW and a 5 shot group shot with hornadys shot from sand bags off the hood of my truck and only done ONCE. Hardly a conclusive test but it's a start. Hope to do some more testing this weekend.

Cody

 

[waksupi]

I select a patch thickness I want to use, generally the standard pillow ticking, or pure linen. Then I select the ball diameter, to the tightness I want to use. I'm shooting a .426 in my .45 for easy loading. Then again, I just call it a .45, as it is an old Judge Resley barrel, and he may have cut some off sized ones over the years. I never did actually measure the bore.
The alloy will cast a slightly larger ball. I have no use for one that I need a short starter to load. I've never seen an old bag with a short starter, so I imagine they had a fairly easily loaded combination.
The tin and antimony in the wheel weight makes for better casting, the tin giving more fluidity, and the antimony helping to bind the metals together, or in other words, toughens the alloy.