4/24/09
I melted down over 60 pounds of Divers weights today. The guys are right about it being dirty and it had some had debris that burned off, but the metal melted quite nicely. I thought the metal might be wheel weights, but it is too soft for most Wheel Weights
Wheel Weights run around 9 on the Brinell scale of hardness (BNH).
The Diver's weights measured 7 on the BNH scale.
I can mix that with Linotype (22 BNH) and come up with a nice rifle bullet metal.
I didn't lose any actual metal at all. There was some typical debris from wheel weights that looks sort of like burned off charcoal, but only a couple of tablespoons of that per 20 pound pot of melt. So, all in all, I got the weights for free and I have over 60 pounds of metal. I will mix it with Linotype to bring it up to between 10 and 14 BNH. If I mix a 50 50 mix of the metal and Linotype, I will end up with a BNH of 14.5.
However, I shoot most of my cast rifle bullets at a hardness of 10 to 12 BNH up to 2000 fps with no problems and no leading what so ever.
I cast some 38 special wadcutters to use as testing media. The bullets were coming out of the Saeco #48 mold very nicely in several warm up casts. This material would be suitable for low velocity handgun bullets without anything added.
Just a side note: Midsouth Shooter's supply notified me today that my order of 6,000 30 caliber gas checks was shipped yesterday. They have them in stock for the moment. Better hurry if you want any to be left.
Happy Casting, boys
Harold Clark