MidSouth Shooters SupplyLoad DataWidenersRepackbox
Lee PrecisionRotoMetals2Reloading EverythingInline Fabrication
Titan Reloading
Page 14 of 14 FirstFirst ... 4567891011121314
Results 261 to 275 of 275

Thread: Zinc Wheelweights

  1. #261
    On water northern Mn . 1903.colt's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2022
    Location
    Backus Minnesota
    Posts
    36
    For now I do not cast wheel weights most of the Lead I buy is shot with a spectro gun , Although I have always been very careful to keep Zinc out of my melt . Im finding so much zinc now in wheel weights for my liking I pass on wheel weights .

  2. #262
    Boolit Master


    Defcon-One's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Virginia, USA
    Posts
    1,132
    Ten years ago:

    100 pound bucket; (12 pounds of Steel, 7 pounds of Zinc, 18 pounds SOWW and 63 pounds COWW.)


    Now:

    100 pound bucket; (23 pounds of Steel, 35 pounds of Zinc, 9 pounds SOWW and 33 pounds COWW.)

    Just not worth the trouble anymore!

    DC-1
    "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits." - Albert Einstein

  3. #263
    Boolit Mold
    Join Date
    Oct 2015
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    20
    Should have read this thread before I tried using a turkey frier to melt a bunch of scrap lead a friend who does salvage gave me. There were a few steel ww’s and recognized a few zinc ones as well. Had car battery clamps, and lead pipe along with the ww’s and I’m pretty sure I melted some zinc in the mix. Never had a sort of purple color float to the top before, but before panicking I fluxed and tried casting. So far so good. Boolits fill out good and are plenty good for handgun practice rounds. Beside the weird color I don’t notice any real difference. So I’m in the so far so good category. I’ve always had a knack for learning the hard way. Will try a controlled heat to around 675-700 degrees to see if anything floats to the top. Think dumb luck May get me through the greed for the free lead.
    Last edited by jwlegal; 05-31-2022 at 11:40 PM.
    You can get much further with a kind word, and a gun, than you can with a kind word alone. Al Capone

  4. #264
    Boolit Master Wal''s Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2012
    Location
    No longer living in the High Country, Australia, a lowlander now.
    Posts
    648
    Always have the colour purple with my WW melts..........so all good I would say.......


    "Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so too."

  5. #265
    Boolit Master


    Defcon-One's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Virginia, USA
    Posts
    1,132

    Your OK! Purple is pure lead from the other items!

    If it casts good, I'd say your OK! Purple is the pure lead from the battery clamps and lead pipes! Heat pure hot and it goes rainbow on you. Yellow, purple and pinkish blue.

    Fluxing will blend the alloy together and clear it up. Use a bit of paraffin wax and some pine saw dust for best results.

    DC-1


    Quote Originally Posted by jwlegal View Post
    Should have read this thread before I tried using a turkey frier to melt a bunch of scrap lead a friend who does salvage gave me. There were a few steel ww’s and recognized a few zinc ones as well. Had car battery clamps, and lead pipe along with the ww’s and I’m pretty sure I melted some zinc in the mix. Never had a sort of purple color float to the top before, but before panicking I fluxed and tried casting. So far so good. Boolits fill out good and are plenty good for handgun practice rounds. Beside the weird color I don’t notice any real difference. So I’m in the so far so good category. I’ve always had a knack for learning the hard way. Will try a controlled heat to around 675-700 degrees to see if anything floats to the top. Think dumb luck May get me through the greed for the free lead.
    "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits." - Albert Einstein

  6. #266
    Boolit Grand Master

    jonp's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Posts
    8,281
    Quote Originally Posted by jwlegal View Post
    Should have read this thread before I tried using a turkey frier to melt a bunch of scrap lead a friend who does salvage gave me. There were a few steel ww’s and recognized a few zinc ones as well. Had car battery clamps, and lead pipe along with the ww’s and I’m pretty sure I melted some zinc in the mix. Never had a sort of purple color float to the top before, but before panicking I fluxed and tried casting. So far so good. Boolits fill out good and are plenty good for handgun practice rounds. Beside the weird color I don’t notice any real difference. So I’m in the so far so good category. I’ve always had a knack for learning the hard way. Will try a controlled heat to around 675-700 degrees to see if anything floats to the top. Think dumb luck May get me through the greed for the free lead.
    Be as greedy as you can get when someone offers you free lead.
    I Am Descended From Men Who Would Not Be Ruled

    Fiat Justitia, Ruat Caelum

  7. #267
    Boolit Bub

    GuyKickinit's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2018
    Location
    Oregon
    Posts
    42
    Nice to see this topic active as I just cast a bunch of .308 RFN for my 30-30, and then I added 4 pounds of ingot from WW and cast some 250g .452. When it was at about 500 it was looking like runny oatmeal. Once up to 680 degrees it was filling out great but had a frosty look. I started casting 185g .311 or the 303 brit today and was have a hard time getting it to pour right until it was almost 700. I'm pretty sure there must be some ZN in the alloy. They are all plinking rounds. So good enough for me.
    I have about 15 buckets of unsorted ww yet to go.
    Follower of Jesus
    Licensed Certified Gunsmith, FFL
    Member, GOA, SAF, NAGR, OSSA, OFF, AFA, and FPC. Maybe others.

  8. #268
    Boolit Master
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Posts
    1,423
    I get purple /blue/gold tones from (PURE) /Ed

  9. #269
    Boolit Master
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Posts
    1,124
    When melting new lead, I keep the thermometer in there and religiously keep the temp well below 700 degrees. Then scoop any unmelted zinc out of the mix. (It floats.) Zinc melts at 787 degrees.

    I do sort the wheel weights of course, but this has saved me when a Zinker slips through...

    Vettepilot
    Last edited by Vettepilot; 07-21-2022 at 07:46 PM.
    "Those who sacrifice freedom for security, have neither."
    Benjamin Franklin. (A very wise man!)

  10. #270
    Boolit Buddy Mandoair's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2021
    Location
    South Central Alaska. on the north gulf coast
    Posts
    211
    My last batch of cww was 2/3 rds Zn Fe. I was pertty sure I got Zn into the mix. Fluxed with sulfur and hoped for the best seems to cast okay but I haven’t been at this long enough to know much about anything. What does having Zn look like when casting. My scrounged range lead plus tin casts nicer looking and heavier boolits. Thanks

  11. #271
    Boolit Master WRideout's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Butler, PA
    Posts
    2,605
    In my experience, zinc in a pot of lead turns into something resembling oatmeal, which does not go away, no matter how hot you get it. One zinc WW in a pot is usually easy to spot, since it will float on top of the lead.

    You don't say how much weight difference there is. Any other metals added to lead will tend to make the resulting alloy lighter in density. If the difference in weight is minimal, it could be that your range scrap simply has a higher percentage of pure lead.

    If the questionable WW lead just doesn't work for you, consider adding small amounts to you range lead, to stretch the supply. Lead alloys are incredibly forgiving, as long as you don't add too much of any one thing, i.e antimony, arsenic, tin, etc.

    Wayne
    What doesn't kill you makes you stronger - or else it gives you a bad rash.
    Venison is free-range, organic, non-GMO and gluten-free

  12. #272
    Boolit Mold
    Join Date
    May 2021
    Location
    Saint Louis, MO
    Posts
    11
    I'm surprised there is so much concern over zink WW. I smelt in an old pot on a propane camping stove and the zink doesn't melt even if it sits in the pot of melt for a good while. Yes, the proportion of lead in a bucket of WWs has gone way down but it's still worth it to me. I keep a 5 gallon bucket in my car and hit up the smaller repair shops. They don't do a lot of tires and usually don't recycle used weights. Most often they'll give me what they have if I tell them up front I'm mooching and show them one of my cast boolits. I keep all the unusable steel and zink weights and sell them to the local scrap yard for the WW price of 8 cents a pound.

  13. #273
    Boolit Buddy Mandoair's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2021
    Location
    South Central Alaska. on the north gulf coast
    Posts
    211
    Quote Originally Posted by JMN View Post
    I'm surprised there is so much concern over zink WW. I smelt in an old pot on a propane camping stove and the zink doesn't melt even if it sits in the pot of melt for a good while. Yes, the proportion of lead in a bucket of WWs has gone way down but it's still worth it to me. I keep a 5 gallon bucket in my car and hit up the smaller repair shops. They don't do a lot of tires and usually don't recycle used weights. Most often they'll give me what they have if I tell them up front I'm mooching and show
    them one of my cast boolits. I keep all the unusable steel and zink weights and sell them to the local scrap yard for the WW price of 8 cents a pound.
    I use a massive home made burner with a cast iron Dutch oven. I have cast aluminum ingots out of it and have found zinc ww floating partially melted. I also have learned to raise the temperature much slower with my cww. Click image for larger version. 

Name:	838AB058-F8DD-42A4-B5CE-D372FC91D0D1.jpg 
Views:	38 
Size:	77.8 KB 
ID:	307076 Click image for larger version. 

Name:	04BF9E8F-28FE-4A7F-AA72-77245E3A0B44.jpg 
Views:	44 
Size:	70.2 KB 
ID:	307077

  14. #274
    Boolit Grand Master

    imashooter2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    PA
    Posts
    7,899
    Quote Originally Posted by JMN View Post
    I'm surprised there is so much concern over zink WW. I smelt in an old pot on a propane camping stove and the zink doesn't melt even if it sits in the pot of melt for a good while. Yes, the proportion of lead in a bucket of WWs has gone way down but it's still worth it to me. I keep a 5 gallon bucket in my car and hit up the smaller repair shops. They don't do a lot of tires and usually don't recycle used weights. Most often they'll give me what they have if I tell them up front I'm mooching and show them one of my cast boolits. I keep all the unusable steel and zink weights and sell them to the local scrap yard for the WW price of 8 cents a pound.
    You use a very weak burner under a very small pot. If you step up to a large pot on a significant heat source, you would be wise to be more careful.
    ”We know they are lying, they know they are lying, they know we know they are lying, we know they know we know they are lying, yet they are still lying.” –Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn

    My Straight Shooters thread:
    http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...raight-shooter

    The Pewter Pictures and Hallmarks thread:
    http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...-and-hallmarks

  15. #275
    Boolit Grand Master

    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    England,Ar
    Posts
    7,687
    Quote Originally Posted by imashooter2 View Post
    You use a very weak burner under a very small pot. If you step up to a large pot on a significant heat source, you would be wise to be more careful.
    True words of wisdom! My homemade jet burner produces somewhere around 500,000 BTU's and will easily melt any Zinc weight that gets trapped on the bottom.

Page 14 of 14 FirstFirst ... 4567891011121314

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check