clip on vs stick on ww

[chas8008]

Well I am new here, I have been reloading for about a year.

I see a lot of people note clip on or say stick on. Why? are they a different alloy?

Oh I have a full 5 gallon bucket 140lbs? Do I have enough to start??

[archmaker]

Clip on WW are going to be the ones with the little steel clip to attach to the rim. They usually have a antimony mixed into the lead which makes them harder.

The stick on WW are usually closer to pure lead and are just that WW that stick to the rim.

And depending on the size of your bullet you can expect about a 100 bullets for every 3# so I would you have enough to start

Sort through your WW, pull out the zinc WW (they are a lot harder than the lead ones) and seperate your Stick on from your clip ons.

Smelt them down, then read some more post and determine what you want to do with your boolits.

Just a quick answer, spend some time reading the post. I tend to read as many post as possible, about 20 for each one I post. I learn more by reading then posting

Good luck and welcome!!!

[WildmanJack]

Chas,
Welcome aboard. The difference between the clip on and the stick on is.... The stick on ones are mostly pure lead, where as the clip on's could be a lead alloy, or steel or zinc. Do a search on wheel weights and you'll learn a lot aobut them and how to tell the difference.. Keep them seperate.. and get rid of the zinc..
Good shooting...
Jakc..
Oh yeah 140 lbs.is plenty to get started with..

[kyle623]

do lots of reading on here and in books on casting before you start. lead fumes are poisonous, and should take special care when smelting. Their's lots of good info on this site and dont be afraid to ask questions. welcome to the addiction.

[snaggdit]

As Archmaker said, clip ons have the clips, stick ons use a layer of double stick tape to attach them. On the hardness scale, clip ons will run 10-12bhn. Stickons will be around 7bhn. This is close to pure lead, and is usually considered as such. Guys who cast for muzzle loaders prefer the stickons. Guys casting for centerfire pistols usually use straight WW (clip ons) or sometimes mix with pure to get softer or linotype to get harder for higher velocity pistols or rifles. If you are looking to cast for a standard pistol like 9mm or 45, straight clipons (usually referred to generically as WW) will work fine, at least until you get more experienced and want to start experimenting with alloys. As for how much you need to get started, a pound is 7000 grains. If you are casting 200 grain boollits for a 45, a pound will net you 35 boolits.

As far as melting down the bucket full, hand sort them into 3 piles. Stick on WW should bend easily by hand (1st pile). If not, they are probably zinc or steel (3rd pile). Clip on WW should have the clip molded in the weight (2nd pile). If the clip is riveted on, it is not lead it is zinc or steel (3rd pile). Some use a set of wire cutters to test clip on WW. If you can score the weight, it is lead. When in doubt, this is a sure fire test. You will get better at identifying the different types quickly. Others say if you drop them on concrete lead WW make a thud while zinc or steel make a ringing sound but this is kind of subjective and not as sure as the wire cutters. Lastly, when you go to melt down the clip on WW, keep your heat just hot enough to melt them. Zinc melts at a bit higher temp so if a weight or two slipped by your inspection you will be able to skim it off the top with the other clips. Be sure to flux well before pouring your ingots. Wax, sawdust, charcoal, lots of stuff is used as a flux. A DRY wood stick to stir with helps flux, too.

Welcome to the addiction, I mean fun!

[AZ-Stew]

No one has said why the zinc weights require special attention. Zinc in your boolit alloy will ruin its casting properties. You don't want to melt any of them into your alloy.

Get a casting thermometer and keep the melt temperature below 700 degrees when rendering (some will call it "smelting") your raw WWs into ingots. This temperature is too low to melt the zinc. The zinc weights will float to the top of your alloy and can be skimmed off with the steel clips from the clip-on weights. It's better to separate them before rendering, but keeping the melt temperature low will keep you from getting zinc in your alloy should you miss any during sorting.

Lead and boolit alloys will not produce fumes at the temperatures used for rendering and casting. To avoid lead exposure, do not smoke while rendering or casting. Wash your hands THOROUGHLY after handling lead in any form.

Regards,

Stew

[BeeMan]

Snaggdit mentioned zinc stick ons, but I'll chime in. The bucket I scored on a weekend road trip and sorted last night had the first zinc stick ons I've seen. They were a bit less than 1 inch square per segment, hard enough to not easily mark with side cutters, and much thinner for their marked weight than a lead stick on would be.

There were several of the little steel stick ons, as well as a small handful of steel and zinc clip ons.

Some smelt the soft stick on with the harder clip ons. Since I'm already digging to eliminate any steel or zinc, I segregate to give future options. Your choice...

BeeMan

[fredj338]

Snaggdit mentioned zinc stick ons, but I'll chime in. The bucket I scored on a weekend road trip and sorted last night had the first zinc stick ons I've seen. They were a bit less than 1 inch square per segment, hard enough to not easily mark with side cutters, and much thinner for their marked weight than a lead stick on would be.

There were several of the little steel stick ons, as well as a small handful of steel and zinc clip ons.

Some smelt the soft stick on with the harder clip ons. Since I'm already digging to eliminate any steel or zinc, I segregate to give future options. Your choice...

BeeMan

Seeing more & more zinc wts. here in Kalif. (since lead wts. are banned after thsi year). They come in all sizes now, sq. like you describe, as well as rect. The clip on zinc have molded clips too & can only be recognized by cutting or smashing an end w/ a hammer on conc. You can smelt them out, & I do, but I would rather get as mnay out before I smelt. You have to sort anyway to get all the rubber & vlave stems out anyway (at least I do).

[snaggdit]

Thanks all for adding to my thoughts. Yeah, I have found some weights with the clips molded in that are not lead, but so far all have been marked Fe. No way we are melting hot enough for those to be an issue. Good to know there are zinc weights like that out there to look for as well.

Az-Stew, thanks for mentioning the washing hands. I forgot to mention that. Also, don't eat, drink or smoke when working with lead until you wash. I would add, wear long pants and long shirt (natural fabrics, not meltable) along with eye protection when working with lead.

[chas8008]

So WW are 10-12 hard and Stick are softer about 7.

I did know about Zinc, This is way I started getting my hands on lead. For fear of one day that I might not be able to get any.

I thought I did a good job of picking them out. I missed about 6-7 of them. But they floated.

I did not setup my subsrcibsions priors to this, So I did not divid then into there own groups. I cast 23 and 3/4 muffins

What do muffin leads weight?

[JeffinNZ]

By adding about 1-2% tin based babbit to my stick on WW I have oven heat treated them to 12 BHN which is the same at clip on WW is quote at.

[airborneshooter]

I have found a magnet helpful when sorting weights. A lifting magnet with a 80lbs or so pull from Harbor Freight can be had for about $8. Picks up a few weights at a time, and since the clips are steel, even on lead weights, everything will pick up except for zinc or lead tape weights. Pull them off one at a time and see if the weight sticks to it or just the clip.

BTW, I have seen a couple of weights that were steel and not marked Fe and would have mistaken for lead. The magnet helped catch them.

Biggest advice is to get advice, then work out your own system. Welcome!!