Old Wheel Weights composition?

[Bazoo]

Does anyone know what the composition of old wheel weights was? Anyone link me to a page about them? I tried searching but couldnt find the info I seek.

Thanks
Bazoo

[Winger Ed.]

I don't think quality control was a big deal when the manufacturers made them.
So from company to company, and batch to batch, their composition is probably all over the place.

To get a real answer, you just need to send off a sample and get it tested.

[Dusty Bannister]

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?455904-radiator-solder

Post #9

[Bazoo]

Thanks for the replies. I dont have any of the older wheel weights, nor have I used them. I am needing to know if they varied from the new wheel weights, and I'm finding varying reports. Does anyone know if they indeed were different?

[45DUDE]

I put them in the pot and skim what floats. I have a book on the mixes. The newer are Zinc. The old wheel weights would make a good boolit without mixing. The last wheel weights I scratched up 58 pounds made 28 pounds of good lead. The older weights drop with more thud on concrete. I spent some time years ago dropping some and thought I got better but that was in my black powder days when lead was free unless you bought balls.

[Larry Gibson]

>Sent: Jan 28, 2008 9:33 PM

>Subject: Re: [CB-L] New Refinery WW
>
>Original spec was/is 3% antimony, 0.25 % tin, 0.17% Arsenic balance lead.
>
>The report was the spec is still adhered to however there was 0.5% tin.
>
>This has been the 'real' specification since the mid 1970s.
>
>Have no idea why publications seem to be reluctant to request updated information.
>
>Bill Ferguson, Metallurgist

The above is pretty close to correct. I've sent off numerous samples of COWWs procured in the 80s through the about 2000. They mostly contained 2.5% antimony +/- and .5 % tin +/-. That's why I recommend adding 2% tin to COWWs to balance the tin to the antimony. That creates a much better alloy than just COWWs alone. I received a bucket of COWWs some years back from an old friend who was not casting anymore. He had gotten them from a tire shop in '70 or '71. They tested out having very close to 2.5% of both antimony and tin. That is the COWW alloy I started casting with back in '68. It cast noticeably better than did the COWWs of the last 40 - 50 years which led me to add the tin. That older bucket of COWWs also is closer in composition to the composition that has been listed in Lyman CBHs.

[beltfed]

Generally, with antimonial tertiary alloys, anything more than 1% tin is wasted.
That is all that COWW needs to cast well.
I have used my alloy of 9+1 COWW/Lino for the last 60 or so years of casting.
There is plenty of tin from the Lino which is about 5% tin, and also sweetening up with more antimony. I am fortunate to have a good supply of Lino and good COWW, much of it older stuff.
Lee hardness test: about 13-15.
Useful for magnum handgun, modest velocity rifle and I even use the alloy for
BPCR bullets, rather than the expensive usual lead/tin alloys.
Also, the 9+1 heat treats very well.
beltfed/arnie

[Bazoo]

Thanks for the information Larry. Thanks all for contributing. I think I know what I need to know now.