Back to sorting WW's

[RayinNH]

Donald, I'm sure I've recycled some of your bullets that you made from those wheelweights .

[lightman]

I still get lead weights from a local tire shop. I just sorted a partial bucket this morning. I get them for free as I buy tires at this shop. I also take the shop guys donuts from time to time. Oh yeah, me and my old running buddy still stop at intersections and off ramps if we see a weight laying there. We also find the occasional tool and have picked up several receiver hitch pins.

[Rickf1985]

You ever find the rest of the trailer not far from the found hitch pin? Personally I find smelting large amounts of scrap lead relaxing. It is not a fast process so there is plenty of time to relax. When I am doing wheel weights I set the burner low so it melt very slowly so I do not exceed 700 degrees and all zincs I may have missed are floating with the clips and get scooped out. Once that is done it is back to just relaxing and melting. I do need to get a smaller ladle though. I use the Rowell ladles and I have a #4 and a #5. With severe arthritis in my hands that #5 9 pounder is getting hard to handle for too many pours.

[lightman]

You ever find the rest of the trailer not far from the found hitch pin? Personally I find smelting large amounts of scrap lead relaxing. It is not a fast process so there is plenty of time to relax. When I am doing wheel weights I set the burner low so it melt very slowly so I do not exceed 700 degrees and all zincs I may have missed are floating with the clips and get scooped out. Once that is done it is back to just relaxing and melting. I do need to get a smaller ladle though. I use the Rowell ladles and I have a #4 and a #5. With severe arthritis in my hands that #5 9 pounder is getting hard to handle for too many pours.

Ha Ha! No, I've never found the trailer! I'm guessing that the hitch was removed and the pin was left laying on the bumper.

But yeah, I rather enjoy sorting weights and I also enjoy the smelting process. I usually get together with a buddy once a year in late Winter or early Spring and melt our years accumulation of scrap.

[Bigslug]

I've really only had two wheelweight scores. Archaeological digs, both of them:

My department used to reload our practice ammo long before I ever got there. During a clean out of an outbuilding, one of the guys who knows my kinks found and brought me over a hundred pounds of WW in processed and unprocessed state. . .along with a pair of ten cavity HG molds. That was a day of

Another one of the lads brought me a bucket from his recently passed father's place in NV. . . who I think had unrealized plans for muzzleloading - dunno. We're probably at least 30 years removed from the original collection of them.

I suppose I should poke my dad's traditional tire shop out of curiosity, but I can't imagine more than one pound in a hundred being lead here in the Land of the Lost.

I've had a few hits of ingots and cast bullets from cases where my local gun shops got the whole estate and didn't know what to do with the reloading supplies, but I'm no longer on "speed dial" with the newer businesses. Guess I gotta make new contacts. . .

[fivegunner]

I have about 10 , 5 gallon buckets of WW to sort out. it takes alot of time to sort. I am getting lazy.

[FISH4BUGS]

Spent some time each night last week sorting out ww's from my stash. I now have 2 5 gallon buckets of lead ww's ready to smelt into ingots.
I estimate there are about 150 lbs of lead ww's in there. I'll probably net 120+ lbs of ingots.
Next decently warm stretch (it was 7 degrees overnight here - high today of 35) I'll get them into ingots.
Needless to say the smelting is an outdoor activity.
I may be mentally disturbed, but I actually enjoyed that process of sorting the ww's (radio going, heater in the man cave - nice relaxing quiet time), and I am looking forward to smelting. There is comfort in having ingots - both ww's and linotype.
I bought 100 lbs of linotype pigs many years ago and still have about 75 lbs left. My alloy is always 5lbs ww to 1 lb linotype. Hard cast all the way!
The joys of casting.........and cheap therapy
p.s. I MUST be losing my mind. I had a short dream about picking up ww's off the road last night.

[1903.colt]

I stopped with WW three years back when I started seeing prices unrealistic to many people competing for the same 5 gallon pail . Now I'm getting free water pipe from water sewer contractors , now I alloy although the lions share lately is cast as is for black powder metallic Cartridge.

[Bill M]

Back in the 80's I worked for a company that once a month I travelled about 300 MI away to work for a week. There was an airbase, and car dealers on every corner, and every type of tire shop to put new tires and wheels on the young airmen's new ride! I gave $5 a bucket then, and shared with my friends, and every trip would check for new sources. Often, the owner/manager would tell me they were saving WW for customers that muzzle load. I carried about 20# of lead ingots in my toolbox, so I would bring them in, and tell the guy to give them to his "smokepole" friends, and save me the WW. Often the fellow would give me several buckets after that!
I did melt a couple of buckets at Christmas, so I have casting material, I still have about 10 buckets left, but most are old stock, a few cast iron, but no zinc weights!

[FISH4BUGS]

I did melt a couple of buckets at Christmas, so I have casting material, I still have about 10 buckets left, but most are old stock, a few cast iron, but no zinc weights!

Same here - these ww's are 15+ years old and I have found not too many zinc and even fewer steel.
I will not lack for anything to do in the future - just sorting them all into lead only will take a few years.

[beltfed]

Fish4bugs
I have found over the last 60plus years of casting that my 9+1 of COWW/Lino is plenty "hard cast" for most bullets, other
than really high vel work.
You are wasting your Lino using it in 5+1 unless you have a really rich supply of Lino
beltfed/arnie

[FISH4BUGS]

Fish4bugs
I have found over the last 60plus years of casting that my 9+1 of COWW/Lino is plenty "hard cast" for most bullets, other
than really high vel work.
You are wasting your Lino using it in 5+1 unless you have a really rich supply of Lino
beltfed/arnie

You are not the first to tell me that. An old timer told me 5:1 was Lyman hard cast equivalent. Maybe or maybe not, but it works for me.
I DO have a rich supply of lino.
I have some 75 lbs (3 pigs) of lino left.
If you do the math, that should be good for more than 450 lbs of alloy @ 5:1.
I do shoot a LOT, including full auto subguns with cast bullets.
But your point is well taken - why waste it? I'm willing to give it a try.
I think my next batch of casting will be 9:1. I can control that at the casting pot level.
I have never leaded a handgun or subgun barrel in my life.
If this new mix leads the barrel, I know where to find you.

[popper]

Dive weights and boat ballast are about any metal that will melt and pour.