I tried my hand at wheel weights today

[beerbelly]

I tried my hand at wheel weights today. I have done several hundred pounds of pure lead for round balls, but this was my first go a WW. Things did not go exactly as I expected.  Some of the WW did not melt but floated to the top like the trash. I dipped and tossed them with the rest of the junk. Mixed in the WW were some small flat weights with a peel of sticky on the back. I assume this is the sticky weights you guys have been talking about.  I threw them out.
   I pored the medal into a muffin pan to make ingots. These I put in my melting pot. When I got my bullets made they were not the nickel shinny look  of my pure lead round balls, but more of a new pot medal shiny. The excess medal  and the sprue seem to be brittle , but the bullets are not.
 I weighed them and they are suppose to be .44 cal 240 grain sw. They weigh out at 243 to 245. I can take my thumb nail make a small dent in them with extreme force. So what do you think, do I have some bullets or junk?
                                                      Beerbelly

[Castaway]

Shoot them and see.  Seems like you cracked the code on wheel weights.  Messy, but in my experience they make good bullets.  Just make sure to flux and get all of the gunk out before you cast.

[v-man]

Although it's been over 10 years ago I have cooked up over 400 lbs of wheel weights since the mid 70's. Mostly bullets but some for sinkers. I know what your talking about but the secret is an incredible amount of stirring. They are filthy but will eventually get shiney, at least in my experience. When you think you got all the sludge out, stir some more. It keeps coming. Good luck and let us hear if it gets better for you.

[AtlLaw]

Some of the WW did not melt but floated to the top like the trash.

Sounds like the zink people talk about!  What temperature did you use?

[beerbelly]

I melted them on a colman propain stove.After I got lead in his Turkey firer burner, my buddie will no longer let me use it. 
                                   
                                         Beerbelly

[D Crockett]

 the stick on ww unless they had zn on them they were soft lead good for black powder guns . the weights that floated I would bet they were steel and you could pick them up with a magnet but if you could not then  they were probably zn  one thing I do use a lot of is a a magnet to get the clips out with  I get them out of old no good speakers D Crockett              

[Jimlakeside]

I pored the medal into a muffin pan to make ingots. These I put in my melting pot. When I got my bullets made they were not the nickel shinny look  of my pure lead round balls, but more of a new pot medal shiny. The excess medal  and the sprue seem to be brittle , but the bullets are not.
I weighed them and they are suppose to be .44 cal 240 grain sw. They weigh out at 243 to 245. I can take my thumb nail make a small dent in them with extreme force. So what do you think, do I have some bullets or junk?

Beerbelly,

In my experience you have great bullets.Pure ww are often gray when I cast them. I have been adding pure lead to the mix just to get them shinny. I like shinny looking bullets, but they don't shoot any better. I also add a little tin, but can't tell that it does anything. Like the others said, shoot them and see how they do. Different molds drop different bullet weights. If you want them a little harder, then drop them into water right after casting. For easier sizing, size them within 8 hours or else you can really tell the difference. Welcome to the addiction.

Jim

[beerbelly]

I fired 100 rounds of my WW bullets yesterday. They shot great,with good accuracy. They shoot better than I can,but at 70 I don't shoot as good as I once did.
 I took some advice that Greaybeard gave someone else the other day. I loaded at the starting loads for .44 special. They were fun to shoot in my super blackhawk. Where as one cylinder of full mag loads are enough for me. Got to pour some more first chance I get.
                                           Beerbelly

[Darrell Davis]

Wheel Weight are messy, However, heat them up with lots of fluxing and do not over skim.

Meaning, if you skim away all the stuff which comes to the top WITHOUT ENOUGH FLUXING you will loose some of the good stuff in the WW. For example part of the 1/2% or so of the tin contained in the alloy.

Be aware that adding more tin to the alloy will decrease the amount of shrinkage usually found in just WW bullets.  This can be an issue when seating gas checks.

The additional tin will make the bullets a bit brighter, and the added tin makes for easy casting and a higher percentage of bullets which are properly filled out - sharp edges etc.

I normally use, and have done so for years, old candles for my flux.  The wife just saves me any candles which have burned down short or gotten bent or broken and they do fine for fluxing.

I DO NOT add any plain lead to my bullets, as I like the hardness of the WW.

In fact, I cold water quench my bullets as I drop them directly from the hot mold.

I have had issues when using a bottom pour pot when using the WW, and a letter to the NRA brought the reply that I would never be able to get the WW clean enough to avoid this issue.

I don't know about that, one way or the other, as I can cast far and away faster with a bottom pour ladle then with a bottom pour pot and have just never gone back to the pot.

By the way, a bottom pour ladle is a vast improvement over any edge pour ladle.

Make sure to do the melting of the WW and the casting in two different steps. First melting and cleaning and pouring ingets, then later cast.

Remember, to also flux, flux, flux all through the casting process as it keeps the metal clean and well alloyed.

How bright your cast bullets are, also depends on the temp used for casting.  The cooler temps producing brighter bullets, the higher - more of a gray and if very high a frosted look.

The frosted bullets will also be of smaller dia.

I have a small supply of linotype on hand, but for my casting needs, just never have need of the increased percentage of tin and antimony, over what I already have in the WW.

And remember, PROVIDING YOU TAKE PROPER AND SAFE CARE IN HANDLING of lead and the lead alloys, much of the media hype about the dangers of lead are just that, HYPE.

I have handled lead and it's alloys for years, even at one point having a test for lead while doing another series of blood work and zip/zero/nada.  And this very shortly after having a session of melting hundreds of pounds of raw/dirty WW down for ingets.

Be careful, follow the rules and you and yours have nothing to worry about, except the media and the Leftwingers!

Keep em coming!

CDOC