Picked this up today

[Pablo 5959]

http://i1321.photobucket.com/albums/u543/Pablo5959/imagejpg1_zpsa23f6e8f.jpg (http://s1321.photobucket.com/user/Pablo5959/media/imagejpg1_zpsa23f6e8f.jpg.html)
So this is what 850 LB's of WW's look like before being mounted on a wheel.
There's 136 boxes with 25, 4oz weights per box.
Just as clean as when when they where cast.
What do you guys think, clean enough to go straight in to the casting pot?
I may be ready for:drinks: After I get them unloaded.

[NewbieDave007]

And in CA of all places? Nice!

[dtknowles]

I am probably to wrong person to ask but the ones I find on the street go right into the casting pot, I don't bother making ingots of them.

Tim

[WILCO]

All of my wheel weights go into the smelter as is. Crud comes up to the top.

[DeanWinchester]

NO, I would still smelt as normal and flux, flux flux. How do YOU know how clean they are from the factory? Ya think they really take pains with a wheel weight? Not worth it.

[zxcvbob]

I would make ingots of them.

I will occasionally drop a found WW directly into the casting pot, but that's just one.

[mikeym1a]

That was a good find! Congratulations!

[Beesdad]

They are worth about $30.00 a box wholesale... Can they no longer be used in Nor. Cal.?

[dtknowles]

Like I said I was the wrong person to ask. I don't spend a lot of time playing with my lead. I try to get it to the range as ammo with as little fuss as possible. The only thing I make into ingots is range scrap. Lino, solder, wheelweights, etc. stay native. Even my sprues and rejects go into boxes to be returned to the casting pot for a later batch of alloy.

Tim

Tim

[Pablo 5959]

They are worth about $30.00 a box wholesale... Can they no longer be used in Nor. Cal.?
Sorry to say but no go in CA for a few years now.
even scrapped WW's are real hard to find out here. Maybe 2 to 4% in the tire shop buckets these days if your lucky enough to even have access to there buckets.

[Beesdad]

Well that's a great score... Should keep you going for the next few weeks.. Sorry about your WW's in Ca.

[Bzcraig]

Excellent score.....you should feel a little dirty if you got them free cause......well you get the picture. I always smelt and pour into ingots.

[jsizemore]

It's cheaper to learn about your alloy in the smelting pot instead of the bottom pour casting pot. Plug the nozzle with high antimony/copper babbit and you'll have a time getting it out.

[dtknowles]

It's cheaper to learn about your alloy in the smelting pot instead of the bottom pour casting pot. Plug the nozzle with high antimony/copper babbit and you'll have a time getting it out.

What does this have to do with putting clean wheel weights directly in the casting pot?

Tim

[DeanWinchester]

What does this have to do with putting clean wheel weights directly in the casting pot?

Tim

Just that, you don't KNOW they're clean. Shiny don't mean squat. What lurks beneath the surface? Only in a smelting pot will the truth rise to the top;)

[jsizemore]

What does this have to do with putting clean wheel weights directly in the casting pot?

Tim

There's nothing wrong with learning the hard way. You might very well go through life and never have a problem. I ain't been so lucky.

[dtknowles]

There's nothing wrong with learning the hard way. You might very well go through life and never have a problem. I ain't been so lucky.

I guess something different could happen in my pot but I have been tossing wheel weighs into my range scrap alloy in my casting pot for decades. Same for adding solder and Linotype. I use corncob as a flux in the pot and leave the ash on top. I have seen posts that said that was not a good idea also. To each his own. Maybe I have had success because I do start with clean lead in the bottom of the pot and I never let the pot go below a quarter full and almost always fill the pot back to full with molten alloy before I turn it off. I scrape the bottom, sides and stem quite frequently with a teaspoon to which I have attached a wooden handle. I have had the pot get drippy and emptied it to clean the spout and stem. I give the inside a good scrubbing when it is empty but that is only every few years, might be overdue it has been at least a couple years. I probably don't cast many more than 2,000 bullets a year.

Tim

[dtknowles]

Just that, you don't KNOW they're clean. Shiny don't mean squat. What lurks beneath the surface? Only in a smelting pot will the truth rise to the top;)

By clean I mean no dirt or goo on them. My wheel weights are not as clean as his since I pick them up in parking lots and at the side of the road I do brush the off but I don't wash them. Sometimes I get a few from a shop but never many, not that lucky. Not sure what you think lurks beneath the surface. As a kid I did enjoy melting lead just for the fun of it so I can understand a fascination with smelting but am now glad to skip that part as much as I can and get right to casting bullets. Lately I have been tempted to skip gathering range scrap and just buy what I need.

Tim

[MaryB]

How much oil and stuff is one them from being made?

[zxcvbob]

How much oil and stuff is one them from being made?

A little oil would be a good thing. (flux)

[zuke]

Their gonna make nice boolit's!

[Handloader109]

I'd think that the only thing that would make it easier to cast into Ingots is easier to get clips out. But I might take a pair of cutters and clip sides off, tossing only the ends in my casting pot, keeping the clip section to Ingot cast.

[Hardcast416taylor]

Your photo of the boxes of weights actually brought back a nostalgic twinge and a small tear in my eyes. I used to help unload the supply semi trailers that supplied a GM car plant back in the 1960`s. The semi trailer would be stacked front to back with pallet loads of different weight WW for tire balancing. From 1/2 oz. by 1/2 oz. increments up to 3.0 oz, a maximum of 6.0 oz (3 oz. per side) was the max per wheel allowed back then on Pontiac cars we built. All those tons of weights I handled and have none of them to show for it!Robert

[jsizemore]

After seeing a load like that, who'd have thought there was an end in sight to Pb WW's?

[lightman]

I would check them for zinc. I can't tell much from the picture, but they look ok. Thats a great score, and should make lots of good bullets.