Contaminated Lead

[dakotashooter2]

I recently began melting my WWs into ingots. To avoid possible zinc contamination I avoided all of the painted WWs in the bucket. My question is " is there an easy way to determine which WWs contain zinc?" Some of the WWs have a very distinct appearance to them and I'm wondering if that is the key .The paint can be "chipped" off on most except those previously noted. I plan on melting down the painted ones in a separate batch just to be safe. Any other suggestions?

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

I posted these same concerns a month ago when I began casting with WWs.  I found 1/2 to 3/4's of my WWs were painted so I really hated to have to sort 'em.

As it turns out the painted ones are OK.  Just stinky as heck - smelt 'em outside and cast 'em into ingots.  I've cast bullets with 'em and so far the only peculiar thing I'm noticing is the ingots and bullets have a "galvanized" appearance.  The molds fill out just fine, the bullets are shaped and weigh just fine - so I don't think it's zinc.  They just look "flecked" like a piece of galvanized sheet metal.

I would describe my bucket full of WWs as being divided into 3 categories.  Dull gray and dirty, Painted and somewhat clean, and shiny-but-not-painted.  I think the shiny ones are just newer and I use them too.

Someone has said to avoid old ones that do not tarnish - they're the ones with zinc.

[Lloyd Smale]

IVe melted thousands of pounds of wheelweights down and casted with them and never seperated anything and never had a problem