50/50 solder & wheel weights

[jpmilicia]

I have a lot off 5/50 solder I got from work that I would like to use with wheel weight to improve castability.
How much by weight, can I add to my Lyman 2867791 Lead Pot? I will be casting using a RCBS 45-270-SSA mold.

[Winger Ed.]

Welcome.

Pure Wheel weights is a good alloy all by itself.
I'd save the solder to alloy into pure Lead as sparingly as I could and still have a good fill out
and be hard enough for what you wanted it to do.

If you're having fill out problems with just the wheel weights-- I'd look to the pot and or the mold not being hot enough.
With a hot mold & pot-- you should get real good results with 1/2 & 1/2 or even quite a bit less wheel weights to pure Lead.

Everything has to be pretty hot, but the musket ball folks get good results with almost pure Lead.

Lead wheel weights are drying up, and the price of solder is higher now than giraffe lips.
I wouldn't waste it making boolits any harder than I really had to.

[Dusty Bannister]

Since you have identified your casting pot by a part number, I am only going to suggest that if you really need to add tin to the Clip on Wheel Weights, add 1% tin. I think you are talking about 50/50 solder so if 6 pounds of WW is 96 ounces, you would add 2 ounces of 50/50 solder.

[gwpercle]

Those Clip On Wheel Weights ( COWW) are getting hard to find ... the metal can be extended by mixing the COWW with equal part soft scrap lead . This is a good alloy for handguns and even the 30-30 rifle boolits . If having fill out problems with straight COWW or the 50-50 COWW/scrap Lead mix ... the rule of thumb is to add 1% Tin to the pots total weight ...
no need to exceed 2% Tin ... you will only be wasting tin ... look elsewhere for your fill-out problem . I casted for 45 Years with straight COWW's and never added any tin ... cast right at the temperature that makes lightly frosted boolits ... it's more the heat than tin .
Gary

[jpmilicia]

Thanks for the input. I'm relatively new to this game. I thought the frosting was an indication of an alloy problem. I guessed wrong! I was also trying to use this solder for something.

[Winger Ed.]

I thought the frosting was an indication of an alloy problem.

If you don't already have one- grab a copy of the Lyman cast reloading book.
The front end of it has a lot of information you'll want.
It will take months off your trial & error learning curve.

What I do is run the pot hot and cast a few, when the mold warms up and I get the frosting,
and maybe some 'finning' out into the vent lines.
I back the heat off a little at a time until it stops. Then rock on.

[jpmilicia]

Really appreciate the input!!!!!! I retired in June and was just starting to get the honey-do list knocked down and was looking forward to start melting down some WWs and doing some casting. Then I got that dreaded call, they want me to comeback to work part time, thru 1st quarter next year. Guess I didn't have to say yes, but I did. I could have worse problems, right? Thanks again everyone.

[405grain]

jpmilica: If you're just starting out casting there are some things that you should look out for. Back in the day, wheel weights used to be made from a lead, tin & antimony alloy that was fairly decent for cast bullets. Over the last decade or so wheel weights transitioned to being made from zinc. If you accidentally melt some zinc into your bullet casting alloy it will produce an alloy that behaves like metallic oatmeal, and is terrible for making bullets. Do a search on this site to find out how to check and make sure that none of your wheel weights are the zinc type.

I second Winger Ed's recommendation that you pick up a copy of the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook. The 3ed edition is generally available as a pdf on the internet, but the 4th edition has more information in it.

[jpmilicia]

I'll have to pick up a copy of the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook. One never stops learning. I had heard about the zinc wheel weights before and luckily have not stumbled upon any. Thank goodness!!

[Dave W.]

There are a few different ways to sort out zinc, aluminum, steel from the lead wheel weights. Try to cut them with side cutters, lead will cut much easier than the others. Drop them on the floor, lead has a dead sound where the others will have more of a bell ring sound. Are the letters ZN on the wheel weight, if so, do not use. Keep the temperature of the pot below 800*, the unwanted weights will float to the top rather than melting. After you have sorted some, you will start to recognize the bad ones by sight. Enjoy your new venture.

[Winger Ed.]

When I melt wheel weights, I bring the temp up fairly slowly, stir a lot, and the Zinc ones float up.

[Dusty Bannister]

Actually, zinc melts at 787 F and if in a pile in the melting pot, can be trapped under clips and other dross. This will put them closer to the heat source and could be a problem since the alloy melts from the bottom to the top. One or two is not the end of the world, but is not desired either. Sorting goes slow at first, but is the best way to learn the different types at a glance.

[Rickf1985]

I keep a manual thermometer in my pot as I am heating up the melt and as soon as thing even start to melt I am watching the temps. I never ever let it go above 650. As things are starting to melt I am stirring stuff around because the dross and clips will keep the stuff on top from melting as the bottom get hotter so this keeps it even. Always watch the temp. Once everything is kind of liquid I toss in some wax and that very quickly separates the dirt from the lead and then I start pulling out clips and anything else that is not melted. I don't worry about looking at it now, I just pull it out if it is not melted and drop in on a metal plate. Once all of the unmelted stuff is out of the pot then I will bring the temperature up to about 700. Do my fluxing and cleaning and the rest of the routine. Then I will look through he stuff I pulled out. In the last round of melting I did I had several buckets of mixed garbage lead of all sorts and sure enough there were several zinc stick on wheel weights, An aluminum battery clamp and a zinc sinker. mixed in there but since I kept the temps down they never even started to melt, came out discolored but you can still read the writing on them.

[GlocksareGood]

I have always hand sorted them. Lots more zince now a days. I picked up little over 800lbs about 6 weeks ago. I am seeing about 25% by volume of zinc and steel wheel weights. I cut every one as I sort with a pair of end cutters. Takes time but nothing is worse than zinced up lead.

[jpmilicia]

Wow!!! You guys are an encyclopedia on this stuff! Looks like getting lead ( cheaply ) is getting harder by the day. I need to become friends with the local scrap dealer. Its probably been 30yrs. since I looked for scrap lead. I'm out of the loop!

[Geezer in NH]

I have found as the saying goes frosty bullets are happy bullets.

[Winger Ed.]

I cut every one as I sort with a pair of end cutters. Takes time

That's better than most of the excuses I use to stay out in the shop longer.

[dale2242]

I, like you, have a lot of 50/50 solder.
My alloy is 9# clip-on WW +1# 50/50 solder for a generic Lyman#2.

[jpmilicia]

Dale, that is what I was looking for. I've lost track of my scrap since I've been away from it for so long, but I don't know what I will do with all the 50/50 solder I have. I need more scrap lead!!!

[GlocksareGood]

Keep a look out on Facebook market place. I have been back to buying some lately there. You can find some deals ever once and a while. You will also see people trying to sell raw WWs for $1.50/lb or I got for $10/lb. Gives you something to laugh at.

[JMN]

When hand sorting, I always keep a small screwdriver in one hand. For any WW that I'm not sure of by sight or feel, I give it a good scratch with the screwdriver. Zink doesn't scratch deeply and the scratch feels rough. Lead feels smooth while scratching. This method will be faster than using a pliers or wire cutters.

[fredj338]

Tin is just making it flow better. You can try just adding 2-3oz to a 20# pot & see if it helps.

[fredj338]

I, like you, have a lot of 50/50 solder.
My alloy is 9# clip-on WW +1# 50/50 solder for a generic Lyman#2.

You could half that tine & probably have the same results.

[Willie T]

If you have plenty of 50/50 solder, Lyman No2 is a really good alloy and somewhat of a benchmark due to how it performs. Hardness is around 15 and gives good expansion without being brittle. It is a forgiving alloy to cast with. Not what I cast most of the time but the best stuff I try to cast is with Lyman No2. I mix it just like Dale 2242 detailed.
Willie

[jpmilicia]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate all the input.