wheelweights

[cubflyer75]

Thanks guys. Ricky you mentioned "getting the zinc weights out" and "the stickons out". Is this something you take off before you smelt them or do they, the zinc weights, also float to the top?

Exile, being fairly new to casting myself, I found that my only source for very soft lead was stick on wheel weights. It is very useful to cast a few pure lead slugs of whatever caliber you are shooting so you can "slug your bore" to measure the diameter of the grooves in your barrel. I've managed to gather around 1000 lbs of ww ingots, but only have around 10 lbs of soft lead from all those wheel weights that I use for measuring bores, and protecting gun barrels in vises and such. I seperate them and smelt them in a stainless steel measuring cup using a propane torch. My cast iron pot / turkey fryer is WAY too big for the amount of stickons that I get from a 5 gal bucket full.
Everything that I've learned about casting I've read on this website. I've never had a bad dealing with any member here, and I think that you'll find them to be a helpful, good bunch of folks. Mike

[exile]

Thanks guys. To all who have taken the time and effort to give information, it is all good and I appreciate it. I have the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook and am looking for other books, but so much of what I don't know has been filled in here. It has been great. Exile.

[RP]

Heres a new one I got a bucket of WWs from a Volkswagon dealership the other day they are now using zinc stick on WWs . Only giving 5.00 a bucket for them and still getting alot of lead out of the deal selling the zinc to the yard so Iam doing ok . So watch out for stickons made of zinc now.

[HeavyMetal]

Exile:
Save youe pennies and dimes and by a Star sizer. For a good reason see Freakshows sticky with him running his and you'll know why I suggested it.

The Lyman, RCBS and Saeco's are good units all but the ain't a Star! E bay will get you a used one in the $180 to $210 range, usually with a die and a punch, which is about 60.00 lees than a new one which won't have a die or punch.

[Old Ironsights]

A lot of the guys here sort through their WW and try to pick out the zinc and steel weights, separate the stick on weights, etc.. Not me. I dump it all in the pot and as soon as the bulk of WW melt, I give the mix a stir and skim off whatever weights are sitting on the surface (steel and zinc) and the clips with a wire strainer basket. Then I flux well, skim the dirt and pour ingots.

I'm one of the sort sort... mainly because of the new polymer clipons and the newer polymer tape-ons (used by the homeys on their Low Profile Bling Wheels... Lotsa that 'round here... and they stink to high heaven if melted.

From my last batch of 440lbs raw WW I sorted: 17.5lbs zinc/steel/polymer junk; 2lbs dirt/trash and 35lbs stick-on pb.

(Because I do small smelts, I also seperated all the "biguns" (1.5"+) from the "littleuns" (1.5"-). The "Biguns" make faster/cleaner ingots. I save the "littleuns" for a smelt-day when I have more time to strain clips & dirt. )

Net result: a few blissful hours of mindless tedium without a single spoken word or worry about screwung up a melt/misloading a cartridge and

19.5lbs of unwanted materiel removed from my WW that I won't have to skim off and 35lbs of nearly pure lead for my ML/aloying pile.

Sure, I'll still keep my smelt cold for the few I always miss, but I miss dang few.

385lb clean WW & 35lb pb for $80 isn't too bad...

Time for a smelt.