WheelWeight % of what

[Will]

I know I may be beating a dead horse but I have seen many diffrent variations of the makeup of WW. Older books show more TIN than newer books. I know there must have been a change in the contents somewhere but when did they change and how much of what do they have now? Are they a BHN of 9 of something else and how much TIN do you add for a 2000 fps GC bullet?

Thanks
Will

[Ricochet]

I don't think there's anything well standardized about wheelweight alloy.

[MT Gianni]

Generally it is whatever we can get cheap this week. It is usually tin poor but could be even poorer if tin was high and antimony low. Gianni

[Harry O]

When I first got started casting (12-15 years ago), I did some testing on the WW I gathered at the time. They were generally softer than more recently (about Bhn 8-9). It was also easier to cast with. I believe it had more tin than in the last few years. Being harder in recent years (about Bhn 10-11), they probably have more antimony and less tin. Also, it seems more "granular" when broken cold than in past years. Again, an indication of antimony.

I looked, but never found any kind of an ANSI or ASTM standard for WW. That means that it has anything in it, but usually as cheap as possible.

Even more recently (like last year), I found a number of zinc WW (the hard way). That stuff does melt in lead/tin mixtures, particularly if you turn the heat all the way up to speed things up like I did. Unfortunately, once this happens, the melt is pretty much ruined. When zinc is alone (without lead or tin around), it is VERY difficult to melt and usually only gets "mushy". I could not get it to pour with standard melting pots. Adding a propane torch got it to finish melting, but not enough to get poured into moulds -- too hard to keep too many things hot enough.

I read that the European Union outlawed lead for WW a few years ago and other places (like Japan) are following suit. Get your WW as you can. No guarantees for the future. BTW, I got some truck WW several years ago. It acted like it was higher in antimony and lower in tin than the car WW at the time. Thinking back, it was pretty much like the lead WW nowadays.

[Mugs]

Will
Even though adding tin will help castability with a correct fitted boolit of straight wheel weights you should have no trouble reaching 2000 fps. Since 1983 I've been shooting nothing but cast in IHMSA silhouette. I can't tell you the bhn of the alloy I use, I don't have a tester. But I do keep close watch on diameter and weight. I can't see any difference in the wheel weights from 83 to present. I think the days of increased tin content were alot longer ago than 1983.
Mugs

[John Boy]

Are they a BHN of 9 of something else ...
Will, I have 2 large batches of the garden variety WW's in the garage. They are Bhn 15.3 and Bhn 14.5. Sure wish they were Bhn 9's!

No help on your other Q

[randyrat]

Here is some AVERAGES of course there are some variations according to manufactures: .05% Tin , 4% Antimony , .025% Arsenic, balance lead.... BHN 12, Water dropped BHN 18...