Wheel weights aren't what they used to be

[fortrenokid]

It's been more than a few years since I last made a bulk purchase of wheel weights (ww's) and melted them into ingots. At that time I was given a 5-gal bucket by my friendly tire store and those, plus a good supply of lino and some scrap lead from housing demolitions kept me in cast bullets until just recently.

This week I bot a 5-gal bucket of ww's from my tire dealer (they used to give 'em away free if I made tire purchases but not any more) and am more than a little distressed at the number of non-lead ww's. The good news: most of 'em are lead but I find that I have to check each ww individually. First I run a magnet over it and that picks out the ones with iron content (the ww itself; not the iron clip). Then I give them the "scratch test" by running a sharp nail over them. The lead ww's take a deep scratch; the non-lead ones either just barely take a scratch or the nail just slides over them. Many show up by visual inspection as they are stamped Fe (symbol for iron), Al (aluminum), or Zn (zinc). Some of the ones with Al must refer to a brand name as they are otherwise obviously lead.

The tire dealer gave me a good deal on the 5-gal bucket but there's quite a bit more hassle than in previous years to separate out the non-lead ones and , as the pile of non-lead ww's grows, it diminishes the amount of "good" ww's left for bullet casting.

By the time I get thru the 5-gal bucket I'll have a decent (indecent?) size pile of the non-lead ww's. Anyone out there have any suggestions for their use other than just dropping them off at a recycling center?

Years back it seems that a non-lead ww was a comparative rarity. Maybe once in a while a "mystery metal" ww would float to the top to be quickly snatched out before it could contaminate the batch of lead. Sadly that now longer seems to be the case ... seems there are a lot of "mystery metal" ww's.

[str8shot426]

I have found I get about 2/3 the weight of the raw ww in pure ingots after smelting. The last bucket I got from my tire guy weighed 60lbs. After sorting and melting I had 43 lbs of ingots.

[lwknight]

Yup, the days of dirt cheap casting alloys are pretty much gone.
You can still scrounge up stuff to work with but usually have to add some bought materials to it. At least its still cheaper than buying ammo and you are free from the ways of the system.

[waksupi]

Save the zinc weights. The price on scrap zinc will be taking a substantial surge in the future.

[fortrenokid]

Save the zinc weights? Sounds like add'l hassle to go thru the "rejects" to sort out the Zn ... although several of them are clearly marked as Zn. I do remember -- multi-decades ago -- an outfit called, if memory serves, Kladaloy Bullet Company ... or something like that. The bullets were cast in what looked like Lyman moulds and were of zinc. The company made all manner of claims about their accuracy and bore-cleaning properties.

Have read articles over the years of casting bullets with zinc. They very strongly recommended using separate casting vessels lest the lead alloys get hopelessly contaminated ... also to cut sprues quickly before they got too hard.

Hard to tell if I'll have enough zinc ww's to consider a separate casting operation ... but perhaps that's a thot for another day.

[WRideout]

I had been melting WW straight, in my Lee dipper pot, but it seemed to take forever to get it all melted and cleaned up of junk. Now I run my hot plate simultaneously with the Lee pot, so that I can get the clips and debris out of the WW before they go into the Lee. Production is much improved, and I can now sort out by type which kind of alloy I've got; stick-on vs. clip-on etc.

I used to just drop everything in the pot and skim off the floaters; zinc and steel WW. Now I take the time to sort, and find that after a bit of practice, it is actually not too bad to cull the non-lead ones out first. The simplest way for me was to use the pinch test with side cutters. Surprisingly, I can actually tell the difference between unmarked lead and zinc, by just making an indentation with the cutters. This has really eased my smelting efforts, since there is a lot less trash to remove from the melt. Just my 2 cents.

Wayne

[inspector_17]

Getting pretty good in being able to tell the difference between WW by sight alone. Still use magnet, side cutters and old punch to verify though. Eyes aren't what they used to be! LOL

[bumpo628]

A member named ShadyGrady trades lead for zinc, lb for lb. I believe he makes cannonballs with the zinc.
I've traded with him before and it only costs you a little work of sorting and each pays their own shipping.

[boog]

A member named ShadyGrady trades lead for zinc, lb for lb. I believe he makes cannonballs with the zinc.
I've traded with him before and it only costs you a little work of sorting and each pays their own shipping.

I think I saw someone post that he wasn't trading now, or was out of lead, or some such. I'd say contact him first.

[Defcon-One]

Wait until you find out that they only have 0.25% Tin and 2.00% Antimony in them now. That is about half what they used to have!

I guess nothing is what it used to be, but I can still remember the good old days!

Now, I sound like my Grandfather!

[Clay M]

After I go through them I can take the zinc and steel back to the tire shop and he will replace them with lead.The good news is my son is also into casting ,and he said he would sort them,if I would buy them.

[knobster]

I notice maybe a 10% reject rate on WWs. I typically dump everything in the melting pot and skim off the steel and zinc. Goes much faster for me.

[lwknight]

I notice maybe a 10% reject rate on WWs.
Lucky you. for now at least. I lost 25% last time I fooled with wheel weights.

[Clay M]

Last bucket I bought weighed 140 lbs. It had 25 lbs of steel and zinc in it.

[MrWolf]

After having just hand sorting about 700 lbs of ww's and basically using the side cutter on most, you do get a feel for what is lead and not. I sort into four buckets - lead, soww, steel, and zinc. I could definitely see a difference using the cutters and put my painted soww's with the coww as they felt about the same hardness and were not soft lead. Using a magnet helped but you could basically sort the steel by sight after awhile. Waiting for the weather to change so I can finally smelt. I spent about $70 total for the bunch, not counting car repair costs for one bucket :???:

[TiteWadShooter]

I loose about 40% to zinc and steel in my area, but that don't stop me.

[pretzelxx]

Zink is becoming a shootable option, I'm holding on to Zink for some options down the road. :O

[Jr.]

The AL, FE, and MG symbols are not necessarily which material they are made out of but which type of rim they can be used on. The AL is for aluminum rims which have a very wide and short lip to clip onto FE is for steel wheels with a long thin lip and MG is for mag wheels which have a long wide lip.

[fortrenokid]

Couple of thots after reading these very informative posts.

I now separate out the fe, al, and zn (chemical symbols) BEFORE putting 'em in the melting pot. Last time I tried to melt down a mixed batch of ww's, the result was a sludge-like mixture that was definitely contaminated ... not even good for fishing weights or ship ballast. Had to throw it out and give the melting pot a good cleaning. Not going to happen again if I can help it.

The explanation on AL, FE, and MG symbols was helpful. Have found ,tho, that every ww with FE that I've come across thus far has stuck to a magnet. Ditto, everyone marked Zn was definitely not lead. AL? Most of the ww's marked AL have been lead but a few stuck to a magnet or didn't take a deep scratch in the manner of a lead ww.

Anyway, the ww's are still out there. Just need more care in the sorting. The days of gettin' 'em free may well be over but I'm not the unhappiest camper if they're cheap enough. The 5-gal bucket I bot recently (and am still sorting ... slow process at best) should keep me going for a good while. The range I shoot at also has significant amounts of range lead that are essentially free for the scrounging, at least until the range wises up and starts charging for it ... but that's a story for another thread.

My thanks again to all the good pards that have put in their 2 cents worth. Have found the comments to be very helpful.

[RogerDat]

I find it really varies from different shops. Some don't have much junk. One shop runs close to 25% Zn and Fe. I too use long handled side cutters. Nip toss nip toss. Goes pretty fast but hand gets a little stiff if I try to do too many in one shot.

[Boaz]

Tire shops that sell used tires or in other ways cater to customers with older vehicles run a higher percentage of real lead weights . Weight manufactures are starting to produce more zinc and steel weights because material they are made of is controlled by the state they are sold in . Non lead is the coming thing and already is in the 'green' states .