Wheel Weight Cast Boolit Scouring Out a Bore?

[303Guy]

Someone on another thread has said one should not use wheel weight cast boolits in a 303 Brit because it will scour the bore? I don't know if that was tongue in cheak but he was saying one shouldn't use cast in a Lee Enfield. I cannot think of any detrimental effects of using cast boolits of any lead alloy in any gun.

[blikseme300]

That "someone" needs an enema, methinks.

[Bullshop Junior]

I call horse dung. I one time shot 3 coffee cans of ww boolits from my marlin 336. No issue. most were shot plainbase of 10gn of IMR 4756. I dont see why shooting them in any other type of gun would be a issue. I don't think I ever even cleaned that gun shooting that many boolits in it..

[220swiftfn]

I seem to remember Elmer Keith saying something similar....... Then again, he was speaking in a time when block lead and tin was cheap and plentiful (as well as Linotype). That being said, it's BS, as long as you clean and flux the alloy well. Using wheelweights that AREN'T cleaned well, you CAN get inclusions that will damage the bore, but think about it, which is harder, a lead/tin/antimony alloy, or copper, brass, and guilding metal???


Dan

[btroj]

Old wives tales don't ever die.......

Can't shoot cast in a micro groove over 1600 fps with accuracy either......

[44man]

Old wives tales don't ever die.......

Can't shoot cast in a micro groove over 1600 fps with accuracy either......
Good answers, funny I am taking the 30-30 Marlin over 2400 fps without accuracy loss.
Wear a barrel with lead HEE HEE!

[jm423]

Maybe if you lubricated with valve grinding compound---

[BABore]

Must not be removing the clips.

[Trey45]

That's because all the road grime and gravel from the road follows the WW through the melt and into the mold. When you shoot the bullet there's chunks of asphalt and concrete still in it from when it was a wheel weight. It's the same as shooting 50 grit sandpaper down your barrel. Everyone knows this.

Just pretend the above is using the purple color font in case sarcasm is out of your bailiwick.

[bhn22]

That "someone" needs an enema, methinks.

I think he just had one and everything came out his mouth, and went all over his keyboard.

[rattletrap1970]

It really never ceases to astound me how many false know-it-alls are out there.. On forums, at the range, in gun shops.. There's just no end to them. This forum is about the only one I can think of that folks know what they're doing and will teach you. I haven't been casting long (maybe 2-1/2 years) and I read this place top to bottom, THEN bought what I needed and was making good, reliable, accurate boolits right out of the gate. A lot of the mis information out there is from folks that probably don't even OWN a mold. If they were so knowledgeable why aren't THEY here. lol

[RogerDat]

It really never ceases to astound me how many false know-it-alls are out there.. On forums, at the range, in gun shops.. There's just no end to them. This forum is about the only one I can think of that folks know what they're doing and will teach you. I haven't been casting long (maybe 2-1/2 years) and I read this place top to bottom, THEN bought what I needed and was making good, reliable, accurate boolits right out of the gate. A lot of the mis information out there is from folks that probably don't even OWN a mold. If they were so knowledgeable why aren't THEY here. lol

Imagine my relief at finding out that the information in the posts on alloy, powder and mold recipes for Enfield casting and reloading are not lies designed to snare the unwary but the results of careful testing and analysis, proof read and commented on by the experts in this forum representing many decades of experience.

Imagine my shock at finding out some stuff on the internet is not true.
Gotta go, I have an email from an African prince that wants me to transfer billions of his wealth and will pay me millions in a "handling" fee. Need to send him my bank account information.

Does sort of argue for washing the WW before melting them down. A step that some express the opinion is optional.

[rattletrap1970]

I don't wash em, nothing on those wheel weights is heavier than lead. Everything floats.. I just melt, flux, skim, repeat. And my casting pot is a bottom pour. I suppose you could end up with nasty stuff in your boolits if you ladle pour and aren't very careful about skimming all the junk out.

[mdi]

Oh Yeah! Don't you guys remember the Lee-Enfields barrels were made from used bomb shell casings? Way too soft for cast ww bullets...

[cbrick]

It is perfectly logical to post that WW alloy will damage your bore. I should have been doing so myself starting many years ago.

Just think of all the internet jockeys that would be leaving the WW in the tire stores for me. :mrgreen:

Rick

[alamogunr]

I don't wash em, nothing on those wheel weights is heavier than lead. Everything floats.. I just melt, flux, skim, repeat. And my casting pot is a bottom pour. I suppose you could end up with nasty stuff in your boolits if you ladle pour and aren't very careful about skimming all the junk out.

I washed one of the first hauls of WW several years ago. I just dumped them out in the back of my pickup, drove to a carwash that had an inclined drive and put the soap to them. All the grit and grime flowed out the back. Left them in the bed of the truck for several days to dry.

Decided that it was too much trouble and much easier to skim and flux. Don't do WW any more. I don't like to sort out steel and zinc. If I run low, I'll buy from someone like Rotometals.

[ghh3rd]

What in a cast boolit would scour a barrel? Lead, antimony, perhaps a little tin? .22's rimfire is unjacketd alloy, and I've passed thousands through assorted barrels and they are fine.

Just be sure to remove the steel clips from the wheelweights before loading your brass :-)

[cbrick]

Here's an example, I down loaded & saved this picture from this forum several years ago. Don't remember the original poster.

Rick

91190
Hey, I heard these things worked well. :veryconfu

[44man]

Here's an example, I down loaded & saved this picture from this forum several years ago. Don't remember the original poster.

Rick



91190
Hey, I heard these things worked well. :veryconfu
Gives funky case tension! :coffee:
Love you guys.

[RogerP11101]

I've been casting my own using wheel weights, linotype, and/or plumbers lead. No problems with any of them.
Be sure to flux and skim, as stated earlier. Flux is of utmost import and of course removing foreign debris from the surface is also important.
I do all my casting with an "OLD" plumbers open top propane fired pot which I grew up using as a plumber.
Ladling is simple and quite inexpensive in the overall scheme of things... roger

[GabbyM]

I've some size dies with lots of bullets pushed through them and they don't get larger.

[Goatwhiskers]

Same old stuff over and over. I have a friend that has no problem with cast in handguns, but will not allow such in his rifles because "it'll lead the bore". GW

[303Guy]

A lot of the misinformation out there is from folks that probably don't even OWN a mold. I think this is the case. I'm not sure he realises that 22's were made with soft steels and never wore out with thousands of rounds being fired. However, I have seen a 22 barrel with a seriously eroded throat with no rifling visible for about half an inch. I also own a 22 that had a funnel muzzle. I could measure the muzzle wear. I chopped off about half an inch to get to good bore. That could have been cleaning rod wear or perhaps corrosion near the muzzle and maybe even dust but my money is on cleaning rod wear. The worn throat could have been due to dust collecting on greasy target ammo - who knows. It was a target rifle so it could have seen a huge number of rounds in dusty conditions.

[blikseme300]

I washed one of the first hauls of WW several years ago. I just dumped them out in the back of my pickup, drove to a carwash that had an inclined drive and put the soap to them. All the grit and grime flowed out the back. Left them in the bed of the truck for several days to dry.

Decided that it was too much trouble and much easier to skim and flux. Don't do WW any more. I don't like to sort out steel and zinc. If I run low, I'll buy from someone like Rotometals.

I don't bother with sorting WW's as I use a PID set at 700* and all steel and zinc WW's float on the melt for removal. Rendering WW's is messy but the reward is enough to go to the effort.

I did about 200lbs of mono type and 500lbs of WW's today using my electrical & PID controlled smelter. Ingots are cooling as I write this. Life is good.

[mdi]

I think some fellers missed the "tongue in cheek" aspect of 75% of the replies...:bigsmyl2:

[btroj]

Anyone else ever notice that the "experts" at the range who spew this garbage aren't shooting cast themselves?

I love experts with no personal experience.

[MtGun44]

Snort, right!

Bill

[blikseme300]

Anyone else ever notice that the "experts" at the range who spew this garbage aren't shooting cast themselves?

I love experts with no personal experience.

Like the experts running this country? :wink:

[geargnasher]

I wore all the rust out of a Marlin bore once, but I had to spend about two minutes each embedding tiny clovers in the boolits with two steel plates. After about 20 rounds with lots of cleanings and inspection, it was good to go. I must have fired 3K rounds through it since then with some questionable lubes and even some aluminum gas checks here and there and the bluing in the last half-inch of the muzzle has remained unchanged since the firelapping.

Funny how it has MG rifling and shoots half-minute at 2100 fps with junky ol' un-washed wheel weights.

Yeah, I removed the clips first. It's in "Gear's Rules", ya know?

Gear

[GabbyM]

I’ve a little commuter car for work. VW Jetta TDI. Which I suppose makes me look poor to those fellows wearing big belt buckles and driving $38,000 pickups they trade every four years. Suppose I don’t have as much money as they do. Right. In good intent. They’ll come over to me with heart felt advise. Telling me I’d be better off just buying bullets than using those “ pick your derogatory word and insert here”. They really do think they are trying to do me a favor. Point of fact is I passed by fifty years of age almost a decade ago. So I’m a bit puzzled as to why they’d think I needed mentoring. Actually that’s a fib. I know why. They wear that big belt buckle and drive a PU they can’t really afford so they’ll feel superior to other people. Then they just can’t resist the impulse to point out there superiority to a person at any opportunity. What I also know is these men do not realize what they are doing or why they are doing it. So I’m always polite. Seriously! I know that’s hard for many of you who have read my tirades here on castboolits to believe. I just say something like. Well yes I shoot the best jacketed bullets when I go prairie dog shooting for quarter mile shots. But to just punch holes in 100 yard paper this is plenty of fun. Which is all true. Then as they set up next to you. Get ready to throw down and drill some holes. Gauntlet has been tossed.

When you’re done run a single solvent patch down the boor and be sure to leave it on the deck when you depart. Ed’s red is what I use. One patch at the range. Another when I get home. Then the next day wipe it clean.

Shooters I’ve the best cast boolit report with at a range. Are the twenty something’s with there new AR-15’s and sub gun 9mm’s. Probably because they don’t have to many pre conceived notions. Know it all attitude. When they come over to chat I casually show them what I have and explain what I’m doing with it. Either my 223 or 243 varmint rifles can and do all day shoot sub MOA at 100 yards. So it’s easy to impress young fellows. Many who have never had the advantage of starting out with a 22 rim fire or daisy bb gun. BTW these young shooter need out support and guidance not a look down the nose. It was hard to find a load for the 243 boolit but getting simple and shooting 11.0 grains of unique got-er-did. My 223 Rem 700 heavy varmint 12 twist will shoot 2150 fps and under three inches at 200 yards across wind. When anyone comments I tell the truth. That is it’s a 200 yard max load and I go to HV to get out past that. When they see you shot sub 3 inch at 200 yards with a cast boolit they tend to believe you when you tell them you can do that at 550 with a 400 BC J bullet at 3,350 fps. Just hold your head up high and hang a pair of jingle bells from your inseam.

Factoid:

I've got an AR that will drill little holes.
However I have a Winchester M94-AE shooting Saeco 150-FP over 26.0 grains of Rx7 over irons as accurate as I can aim the thing. BTW I'm a fan of the AE action. Just saying. Shooting from position at 100 yards. I've taken on three opponents using AR's and bested them all. Within the last year. I'm shooting stock barrel mounted iron sights and they are always shooting a scope. Trick is to get the kids off the sand bags to shoot from standard HP positions and the boys will be separated from the men. Especially when you are 58 like me and shooting against your 28 year old SIL who has young eyes. Make them beat you at your won game.

[TXGunNut]

Sounds like the gunshop where I scored a NIB 3rd gen Colt SAA in 45 Colt. Told him I'd be shooting it with BP and lead. He warned me that doing so would wear the Colt out pretty fast. Gave him a quick lesson in history and metallurgy. Oh yeah, stole the Colt. ;-) He knew a fair bit about collector 1st & 2nd gen Colts, looked down his nose at the 3rd gen guns.

[dbosman]

cbrick posted my take on the matter.
I was wondering how the WW clip affected the seating.

[MtGun44]

Remove the clips!? NOW you tell me!

Bill