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rondog
04-01-2009, 12:07 AM
Hey all, I'm new here, so be gentle! :-D I've never tried casting bullets yet, I'm just getting started in the "gathering" phase, I want to get a bunch of lead first, before I buy the tools. I plan to cast up a bunch of ingots before I spend any money on the bullet casting equipment.

I just scored about 3 gallons worth of free wheel weights today, and I've heard that zinc weights are bad juju. How do I tell the zinc weights from lead? And what other metals are there to watch out for? :confused:

Thanks!

par0thead151
04-01-2009, 12:19 AM
melt your lead at 650-700F
the cooler you melt the lead the better.
the zinc will float to the top with the rest of the ****.
dont pick it out by hand unless you dont value your time

jforwel
04-01-2009, 12:23 AM
+1, use a thermometer and watch your temp. Scoop out the weights that float.

snaggdit
04-01-2009, 12:29 AM
Yeah, melt slow and that will work. I believe your question was how to identify. There are lots of threads on this, but here are the cliff notes. Any weights with the clips riveted on are zinc or steel. Most zinc weights have Zn stamped on them, but not all. If you drop a zinc weight on concrete it will have a high pitched ring as compared to a lead WW which will have a duller thud. If in doubt, try scoring it with a wire cutters. WW will score (or even cut off) easy, not so with zinc. Good luck even making a mark on zinc. My recommendation is to hand sort your first pail or 2. Yeah, it takes time, but you will get an eye for what the zinc weights look like. I remember my first pail. I thought all WW with a coating had a zinc paint. I sortged them all into 3 piles. Obvious zinc/steel, WW with coating and lead WW. Later I realized my ignorance and melted the coated ones as well. I understand your concern, but really, keep the heat reasonable, just enough to melt the WW and any garbage will float and you will have time to skim before it even gets close to melting and contaminating your lead.

snaggdit
04-01-2009, 12:32 AM
Oh, and as for stick ons, if you can't twist them by hand chances are they are steel or zinc. Again, test with a wire cutters to be sure until you are used to identifying them.

bootsnthejeep
04-01-2009, 04:13 PM
I go thru the whole bucket, sort out the big pieces of junk like valve stems, cigarette butts, tire plugs, RAZOR BLADES (my personal favorite), and use either a hammer and my vise anvil or a pair of dikes and check every weight except the obvious zinc and steel weights. Like Snag said, it takes a while, but I'd just as soon not dump all that crap into my smelt pot anyway, and until I get a casting thermometer I'm a little paranoid of contaminating my hoard.

missionary5155
04-01-2009, 05:04 PM
Greetings and WELCOME Rondog !!!
Good to have another caster coming along.
If I was goung to start out again I would start with a easy caliber to cast for I already owned.
So what do you have ? I sort of like 41 Mags in revolver. In Auto loaders I shoot alot of 40 and 45.
Rifles can get a bit more technical due to more Pressure at the base of the boolit... but any caliber .30 and above can be cast for easily.
Mike in Peru

rondog
04-01-2009, 05:06 PM
Thanks all! After I posted that request, I found some good stickies here about this. Glad to hear about the zinc melting point, that relieved a lot of stress. I sure as hell DON'T want to handle each and every weight to see what it is.

Now, the hard part seems to be finding the weights to begin with.

rondog
04-01-2009, 05:09 PM
Greetings and WELCOME Rondog !!!
Good to have another caster coming along.
If I was goung to start out again I would start with a easy caliber to cast for I already owned.
So what do you have ? I sort of like 41 Mags in revolver. In Auto loaders I shoot alot of 40 and 45.
Rifles can get a bit more technical due to more Pressure at the base of the boolit... but any caliber .30 and above can be cast for easily.
Mike in Peru

I'd like to eventually cast for .38 special, .44 mag., 9mm Luger, 9mm Makarov, .380acp, .40S&W, .45acp, and maybe for my .30-06 M1 and 7.62x54R Mosin too. Maybe. I haven't started yet, just in the "gathering" phase at the moment, for future plans. God knows I have plenty of other projects to finish first.

Ancesthntr
04-01-2009, 05:28 PM
I also just found and joined the forum, and I also want to gather a few pails of WWs or other scrap before buying the equipment. I figure that if I can gather enough, I will be able to sell some ingots of WWs locally or on Ebay and pay for the equipment.

Anyhow, I went to several tire stores this morning on the way to work, and was told "they're all made of steel" or "the people that sell them to us take back the old ones" or something similar. Very discouraging. Now, I did not offer any money for the WWs, I simply offered to take them off of their hands and save environmental processing fees. Should I keep going as now, offering nothing, or should I appeal to the self-interested side of whomever I'm asking? If so, how much should I offer for a full bucket?

snaggdit
04-01-2009, 06:02 PM
I always try for free, but if they mention payment I tell them that some charge $20 for a full 5 gallon pail (be sure to prorate down for 3.5gallon pails or partly full). I don't go higher. A full 5 galloon pail is around 150lbs. You lose some to clips/zinc/garbage but should get 120lbs easy. At $20 you are doing good. I suppose even going higher is a good deal (your call), since buying it goes for around $.50/lb.

keeber
04-01-2009, 11:30 PM
Since I've been casting which is only since July, I have found that my best method of working wheel weights is dumping them in my drive (concrete). I then raking them out with a steel rock rake, follow up with a good washing with the hose pipe... It gets most of the dirt and grit of of them, the trash (cigarette butts, tire stickers, stems, etc etc) floats up and washes down where I can sweep it up. I let the weights dry in the sun all day or two days if its not gonna be raining. Just shovel them back up they are ready to smelt... I don't have to flux near as much and I don't worry about the smell.

No more hand sorting any of them for me.

rondog
04-02-2009, 05:28 AM
I called one of the larger scrap metal places here in Denver today, and actually got them to say they WILL sell me scrap wheel weights! But, they want .85 per pound. That's $170 for 200 pounds! I'm thinking, not. Me keep looking.

par0thead151
04-02-2009, 09:02 AM
i have a place in mikwaukee that will sell to me for 20 cents a pound...
im going to go get more from them...

Cherokee
04-02-2009, 09:41 AM
rondog - .85 lb for wheel weights is better than no lbs. Your choice. Availability of WW's is not going to get any better IMHO.

sheepdog
04-02-2009, 03:15 PM
Ron go to a national chain like a NTB, firestone, etc. Go directly into the garage and talk to someone as near to the wheel machine as possible fast. If they send you to a manager your chances of getting anything are slim. Get permission, scoop and go before a manager tell them no. Unlike a local shop there just doing their 9 to 5, they don't care.

Never mention money at a chain, but if you score 2 to 3 times at a location bring a bag of burgers and some sodas to try to keep on good terms.

TDC
04-02-2009, 04:24 PM
I'd like to add something to snaggdit's good post....

I melted down about 100# of wheel weight yesterday.

To offer a suggestion to his good advice... I discovered a quicker way to determine zinc weights. Those that are over about three inches in length and don't contain zinc can be fairly easily bent with your fingers. Those that are zinc or steel can't be bent at all. It's much quicker than using a tool to check them. You'll still have to check the shorter ww's with a tool because you can't get enough leverage with them..

I also purchased a cheap new 2-burner camp stove from Wal-Mart for $20.00. It's rated at 7,000 btu. Most people use a 10 to 12,000 btu stove. It takes a 7,000 btu about twice as long to melt a pot of weights but I think in this "zinc contaminated" world melting slowly at a lower temperature is a good thing if you don't want to invest in a temperature gauge. I can alternate pots between both burners at the same time and that keeps me busy enough...

If you use a camp stove to melt you might want to purchase an adapter from Harbor Freight that allows you to refill small propane bottles from a five gallon one. They work great and save a bunch!

TC

Ancesthntr
04-02-2009, 04:57 PM
Finally had some luck. Yesterday on the way home I stopped at a Goodyear near my house that I have used occasionally, and had a nice (too long) conversation with the asst. mgr about fishing (I didn't mention boolits right away, but sinkers). He said they have some, and was about to go get them when the manager came back from somewhere. He didnt' want to give them to me with the manager there, but I'll go back tomorrow after 4 and get them.

Today, I had a lunch meeting and on the way back stopped at a place where I'll get to pick up some WWs every month. I was told that the recycler had just picked them up on Monday, and to come back sometime around the 25th-28th of each month. Seems like a regular supplier. I also bought about 60 pounds for $15 from another tire place (my first actual physical possession of WWs), but these all appear to be lead - the guy said that they usually recycle them, so the lead is separate from other materials.

So I went in one day from having nothing, to having some lead and the very strong possibility of a regular relationship with 2 tire places. Once I get a few more places lined up, I think that I'm going to set up a spreadsheet with the information about each place, to keep track of when to make pick-ups, names, numbers, etc.

rondog
04-02-2009, 06:21 PM
rondog - .85 lb for wheel weights is better than no lbs. Your choice. Availability of WW's is not going to get any better IMHO.

Eh, good point. I was thinking the same thing.

WildmanJack
04-02-2009, 06:51 PM
I have found that going to independant tire dealers is the best bet. Large outfits that are either franchises or just big corporate tire dealers are a waist of time. Hit the little guys and if they give you some or sell them to you at a reasonable price, drop off a couple of pizzas and some pop at lunch time. you'll have a friend for life...
Jack

rondog
04-02-2009, 07:18 PM
I have found that going to independant tire dealers is the best bet. Large outfits that are either franchises or just big corporate tire dealers are a waist of time. Hit the little guys and if they give you some or sell them to you at a reasonable price, drop off a couple of pizzas and some pop at lunch time. you'll have a friend for life...
Jack

Good idea!