Last of my WW's

[509thsfs]

Well, finally melted down the last of my WW's. Have had this last 1/2 5 gal bucket on hand the last couple years and finally got around to melting them down. Got an early start this morning. I have lines out to a few leads for another batch but will see how they pan out.

This afternoon I hope to blend some WW and Lino. Want to try 10 lb WW and 2 lb Lino. Anyone had any luck with that blend and have a general idea of the BNH? My Lee tester is "in the mail". 10/4 ww/Lino is supposed to be close to #2. #2 I want to try in my rifles, but want something a tad softer for pistol loads but a little harder than straight WW's.

Getting started
http://i718.photobucket.com/albums/ww187/USAF-SP/startmelting.jpg

1st Pour
http://i718.photobucket.com/albums/ww187/USAF-SP/1stpour.jpg

In Progress
http://i718.photobucket.com/albums/ww187/USAF-SP/inprogress.jpg

Done and cooling off. Ended up with 56 lbs
http://i718.photobucket.com/albums/ww187/USAF-SP/done.jpg

[fredj338]

Straight ww work fine for just about any handgun load to 1300fps or so. You can sweeten it w/ 1# of lino, casts a bit better & gets a bit harder, about 13-14BHN. Some alloy combinations.http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletAlloy.htm

[509thsfs]

Fred, for years I've always just used WW's with a little 60/40 solder added and been happy with it. Two years ago I experimented with 30-06 loads in one of my 03A3's and was very happy with it, but was thinking of mixing up a batch of #2 (which I just got done doing 30 mins ago) for regular use in it and hopefully some of my other military rifles.

I was thinking about adding a little Lino to ww's for pistol for just the reasons you mentioned. That and maybe some magnum pistol loads. The link you gave is where I got the #2 recipe. Thanks.

[509thsfs]

Good luck today. On a whim, on the way back to the office while on the road, I scored a 5 gal bucket of WW's. Free. It was the 1st place I decided stopped and wasn't even the place I was looking for. Asked how often he fills a bucket, all he said was "all we do is tires all day long, come back in a month or so". Gonna throw a couple empty buckets in the back tomorrow in case I make it to the other place and get lucky.

One bucket actually keeps me in boolits for a couple years, but wouldn't hurt to get a couple more to keep in the shed for the future.

Back in business

[Matt_G]

Lead WW"s are an endangered species. You should get every wheel weight that man will give you for as long as you can. Even if you don't use 'em, you'll be able to help out someone else down the road and make a little money at the same time.
Find out what beer he drinks and buy him some when you get the next bucket. ;)

[Ole]

I actually soften my WW's with pure lead to make them go further.

2:1 WW:PB and water drop works fine for SKS boolits @ 1900fps.

[geargnasher]

WW~3%Sb, ~.5%Sn, remainder Pb and trace.

Lino= 12%Sb, 4%Sn, remainder Pb.

10 lbs WW + 2 Lbs Lino + 12 lbs of alloy at 4.5% Sb, 1% Sn, remainder Pb. You would need to add about six or seven ounces of pure Sn to make that close to #2 alloy. Remember, #2 is a eutectic alloy so the percentages need to be very close to perfect for it to give you the most ideal results.

Gear

[509thsfs]

Well my last batches came out to WW's at 11.0 BNH and 10/4 WW/lino at 12.5 BNH in the muffin pan ingots (seen in the above pics). That's using the Lee tester that came in and waiting a few days before I tested. The tester was pretty consistant, checking multiple ingots multiple times. Next batch of alloy I'll get some pure tin as well to add and see how that works. Also need to order a little more Lino.

Little rig I put together in about 20 minutes to make using the Lee tester a little easier to use. You can see the "dimples" on the ingot markes "WW" on the right
http://i718.photobucket.com/albums/ww187/USAF-SP/1tester.jpg

[Fatman]

Like 509th I get WW's as often as I can, granted I cast fishing lures with mine but the wealth of info on fluxing and cleaning makes this site great.

My 95 Explorer died and just wasn't worth fixing anymore, bought a used car and got a caution light so stopped and had it checked at my garage. While there asked if he had time to change the oil while searching out the caution light and he said no problem.

I pulled my car into his one empty bay, and got out. As I went to walk around the car to talk to him he says, "By the way you planning on picking up those old wheel weights anytime soon"!!!! Been working so much overtime hadn't stopped in a month and a half.

Well what a beautiful site awaited me when I walked around the back of the car by the wheel balancer but 5, 5 gallon pails filled with wheel weights. 4 of them were wheel weights the other was a pail of stick on's all pure. He had other pails but they only had zinc ones in there. Not only did he save them for me but had them sorted too, but I'll still check just in case.

The next day the boys were eating subs from the Deli and drinking some cold brews!!!!!!!!!!!! Get all the WW's while you can!!!!!!! Already traded two buckets of wheel weights to a guy who pours bullets for 250 lbs cleaned pure lead.

Fatman

[Milltown353]

This is why I'm building a good berm.

[509thsfs]

Got another 5 gal bucket free today from the place I originally wanted to stop at yesterday. Good streak of luck, I'm 2 for 3 the last two days. 3rd place I stopped at (chain store) turns them into their car battery supplier for credit. Makes good sense. But, at least I have 2 local sources of free weights if I stop by every couple of months. Hopefully get 5-6 five gallon buckets full. That'd give me 500-600 lbs of clean ingots and will last me a good while. At least until I start shooting comp again.

[JSAND]

Good for you, get all you can, while you can. I work in an auto salvage yard and I can tell you that it's looking like lead is definitely on it's way out. Even the stick ons are fast becoming fe (more times than not actually). It gets harder and harder to find sources for W/W even for sale; as the mom and pop shops are selling to the battery distributors or someone else. If you don't already have a foot in the door somewhere or just get lucky you are nearly forced to buy from someone that has a supply. My little town and the ones around it do not even have the option of recovering lead from ranges as there are none. I guess I just got lucky getting the job I did, when I did.

[Crash_Corrigan]

Well from the looks of things around this forum it would seem that the days of getting ww's are about finished.

I need to get started on a boolit trap. I figure that an investment of less than a hundred bucks should get me on the right track.

Building a foot square by 3 foot long trap to be covered in thin plywood and braced by 2" x 2" wood should get the job done. Filled with rubber chunks from Lowes or Home Depot this device should be man portable (with a hand truck which I have) from the back of my F-150 and allow me to resuse all my lead boolits.

However I still will need to get more lead as I do enjoy the clang of a chunk of lead hitting a steel target. It is instant gratification and does not compare to walking up to the target and marking and measuring a group on a paper target.

I love the sound a 695 gr Creedmoore boolit makes hitting a target at 400 yds and more. You cannot see the boolits as they fly because of the smoke but you certainly can hear them. Boom.......................CLANG!

But for rapid fire at 10 or 15 yds with my 9 MM's or my 1911 what could be better than a boolit trap that will allow me to recycle ALL my boolits. Some of them might not even need to be recast. They can just be resized and reloaded again. Imagine leaving one of those babies fired out of two different guns at a crime scene for those TV forensics wannabees to figure out? :killingpc

I really enjoy shooting my '29 Winchester 94 with cast boolits. It is such a joy to work that action and get decent groups. Saving those boolits to be used again and again cries out to my Scottish roots. Having my friends also there to deposit their lead boolits to increase my supply also floats my boat.

I only wish I could mine the berms of my shooting club. They have been there since '59 and have never mined the berms. I sometimes walk down to the 440 yd line and pick up a coffee can of lead boolits that are lying on the surface but this can only happen when everybody is gone and walking around near the berms is frowned upon.

I do however have an indoor shooting range just a block away from me and I wonder about buying some of their lead?

[imashooter2]

I've been living off indoor range scrap for 8 - 10 years now... Not bad alloy at all.

[FISH4BUGS]

I have been using that mix since I started casting some 20 years ago. Came up 14 once on the hardness scale. It is supposed to be Lyman #2. Never had an issue.