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I see those all the time. They're probably lead, if they don't have Zn or Fe stamped on them. I've sorted buckets and buckets and never have seen an aluminum weight. Aluminum is just too light to...

I had quite a bit of zinc sitting around. I tried smelting it, and it worked. It took a lot longer to melt than lead, and the clips don't float to the top. However, it made some really nice ingots....

I keep my old steel and zinc weights in a separate bucket. I found a $5 pair of old speakers at Goodwill, and pulled the woofers out. They have nice big magnets on them. I tried using one of them to...

I found a few of these in my 9mm range pickups. I loaded them with no problems.

I had quite a bit until recently. My wife's work changed her commission schedule, and we were low on cash. I sold most of my ingots for a lot more than I paid. She was pretty impressed. She actually...

Several people here have recommended the Lee .30 Carbine or .30 Luger expander. I use the .30 Carbine drilled out with a 3/8" bit. I don't know if Hornady makes one like it.

Fiocchi (GFL headstamp) is great stuff. They also make Perfecta, which I use quite a bit. It's good brass. I've used it in 9mm, .223, .308, and several others.

I believe you guys who say you have several tons. I only can find one shop that saves WWs for me, and I get 150-200 pounds a month from them. If I had more sources like you guys do, or had been doing...

I'm from TN also. I grew up in MS and they seemed to have a lot more roadblocks there, actually. I've been here over a decade and have only seen a handful. I do usually stay out of the smaller towns,...

I mix them all up, except for the last type. I throw those in with the COWW, because they have about the same amount of antimony. If you don't have a lot of them, just throw them in all the other...

Definitely antimony, tin and oxides. I had a pile like that from a bad smelt one time. I saved it, and later threw it in a pot of pure lead, and fluxed it with beeswax. I ended up with some nice...

Definitely learn how to reload before you try casting. It was years before I finally poured my own. Before that, I bought premade boolits and mastered my loads with them.

Great job, Matchlite and Nick Quick! Reminds me of when I first started. I remember the odd-shaped ingots I made. The best thing about casting is that you can melt your mistakes. :grin:

I have been loading 357 Sig for years, and haven't had any major problems. I found that using a .40S&W carbide sizing die before the 357 sizing die keeps me from having to lube cases. Usually I use...

The scrapyards around here charge $1 and pay about $.20 per pound for WWs. Most tire shops won't let me have any, except one. I pay them a little more than scrap price and they're happy.

My rule of thumb is about 60-70% (or 2/3) yield from unsorted WWs. Out of those, I usually get about 2/3 COWW, 1/3 SOWW. I usually get around 10-15% zinc, 10-15% steel, and 10% clips. Buckets with a...

Looks just like pewter to me. Pewter pitchers, mugs, etc., also have that "golden" tinge. You lucked out.

I sort the zinc out as much as possible. I have used cutters, but even a steel clip will work in a pinch. It will shave fragments off of a lead weight, but won't do anything to zinc. Fortunately, I...

I think I finally got it worked out. I got an old toaster oven for $4 at the thrift store, and some HF red. I tried the shake method, but they were far too clumpy. I tried the piglet method, and...

2% silicon isn't high enough to affect it much. Just flux it again and/or alloy it with purer lead.

16% antimony? That has to be Linotype. The wheel weight samples look about right. As for all the silicon in the pipe, maybe it's sand that was embedded in it when you melted it.

All my COWW ingots have slightly different amounts of antimony. Some are more frosty, some are more shiny. My last batch had so much, I had to mix some old batches in with it to bring the hardness...

I found my late father's Marlin recently. I got some Prvi factory ammo for it, since I didn't have the dies yet. I've used PPU brass for years in my Mosin with no problems. Strangely enough, it...

You're exactly right. The scrap yards here pay about $.18-.20/lb. I pay $.20-.25 and the shop gladly gives me all they have. The scrapyards sell for $1/lb., so I'm getting a great deal.

I finally have a steady source of WWs. Once or twice a month, I pay $25-30 per 5 gallon bucket. It's pretty clean; no blades or trash. It's only about 20-25% steel and zinc, usually. The shop does a...