SOWW not all pure lead

[high standard 40]

There has been some discussion on the composition of stick-on wheel weights. Some casters lump them all together and classify them as pure or nearly pure lead. I have held the contention that not all SOWW are created equal. Some are hard lead. I recently acquired a BH tester and checked the hardness of some SOWW like the ones in this photo.



I used this alloy to cast some bullets to test. Right out of the mold as soon as it had air cooled enough to handle, the first test yeilded a BH of 10.35. That can hardly be considered pure lead. I will test more samples after they have fully hardened and post my results here. Perhaps these type weights don't show up often in other locales but are common here and are easy to identify by their appearance and all have that little logo on them. It would be prudent to seperate these and include with COWW, at least based on this incomplete test.

[Nocturnal Stumblebutt]

I agree completely, those are essentially the same as COWW, whereas the "tape weight" style are typically fairly pure lead.

[runfiverun]

I have seen some that were stupidly hard.
I guess high speed lead needs to be harder.

[nwellons]

Thanks for running the test and posting. I'm getting ready to smelt and I will put those with the COWW.

[jdam169]

I have noticed that same soww in my buckets. I always put it with the coww because the first time I saw it in the bucket I took the snips to it to see if it was zinc but it wasn't but it didnt cut easy like the "pure" soww. Thanks for confirming the hardness!

[ssnow]

I have a bucket of those that I have kept separate form the others. For the record, does anyone know the brand name of those weights? The logo is similar to the Cooper Tire logo, but not quite right for Cooper.

[40Super]

I get lots of those in the COWWS also, I call them Toyoto weights, whether they are or not I'm not sure. They look more like the Saturn logo.

[375RUGER]

How true it is. I have seen them really hard to really soft, even branded/logo'd the same, obviously different batches. Same for some COWW, some hard some soft.

[high standard 40]

OK, I waited 48 hours and tested another sample and it came out to be 13.42 BH. As I mentioned in the original post this is air cooled SOWW with that particular logo. Also, I have found that in general, all the COWW I have found with this logo are among the hardest when compared to other COWW. I haven't had an opportunity to test any of those yet. I plan to though.

[Balta]

What kind of tester you ar using to get that decimal reading?

[high standard 40]

What kind of tester you ar using to get that decimal reading?

I, like many others, built my own BH tester. The concept is very simple really. I use an arbor press, a steel ball, and a known weight to apply pressure to the sample to be tested. I then measure the diameter of the impression made into the sample and enter the data into this calculator. http://www.ajdesigner.com/phphardnes...ess_number.php
I tested several lead alloys of known composition and the results from my tester seem to be reasonably accurate. This is using the same applied principle as the commercially available Lee hardness tester.

[high standard 40]

I have a bucket of those that I have kept separate form the others. For the record, does anyone know the brand name of those weights? The logo is similar to the Cooper Tire logo, but not quite right for Cooper.

I have been curious about this also so I did a little search and found the manufacturer of these weights. It is a Canadian manufacturer called "Plombco". The company "Fastenal" sells them.

[ssnow]

I have been curious about this also so I did a little search and found the manufacturer of these weights. It is a Canadian manufacturer called "Plombco". The company "Fastenal" sells them.

Your Google Fu must be better than mine I couldn't find that anywhere. Good to know, Thanks.

I have a bucket of them, but they came from a place that does truck tires, so most of them are the larger size. But I find a few of them here and there among the regular tire shop places.

[fishnhunt]

Stick On Wheel Weights (SOWW) are manufactured by several companies and have several recipes. I have found (and sold) pure lead, nylon coated lead, chrome, steel, coated steel, and coated zinc. The zinc and steel are usually marked with "ZN" or "FE" - but not always! In many cases I have been melting COWW and SOWW in the same pot and found the clip ons to melt faster than the stickys - I always thought that the stickys were more "pure" lead and thus required higher temp. I have dipped COWW into the molds at a little over 600 degrees and the stickys were still in the process of melting. I always assumed that the clip ons have constituents that have lower melt points.

[Defcon-One]

I agree completely, those are essentially the same as COWW, whereas the "tape weight" style are typically fairly pure lead.

The first answer said it all!

They are the same as COWW! I always throw those in with the Clip-On wheel weights.

Tape-A-Weights are 0.25% Tin the rest Lead, pretty darn close to pure, but flows a bit better.

[kens]

well that just sucks. I smelted a bucketfull of SOWW a few weeks ago, I thought that the ingots seemed hard, but blew it off since they were all SOWW.
There was a great many of those painted ones like the above pic.
So, you are saying that I didnt just 'think' they were hard, they really are?
And I never got a darned bit of soft lead out of 60lbs of SOWW.......

[Defcon-One]

Kens:

Your lead alloy will be a bit harder than pure, but depending on the ratio of painted weights to tape-a-weight, it will probably not be as hard as COWW. If you were planning on using this lead for muzzleloader balls, it might be an issue but, I'd test some, as it might not!

If you are using it to make any other bullets, then you are ahead of the game with a bit more Antimony than pure and a touch of Tin to help with fill out.

As I said above, I treat the painted ones as COWW and keep the tape-a-weights separate so that I know it is Nearly Pure with only .25% Tin. I use that exclusively for making ratio alloys like 25:1! I just add enough solder to get the Tin where I want it.

[DeanWinchester]

This is why an old pair of pruning shears are worth a fortune.
I always cut a weight I don't recognize.
I get a lot of those particular weights and they are quite hard. They go in the COWW bucket.
Be advised, I have encountered a zinc weight that looks similar to that so be vigilant.

[GlocksareGood]

I cut everything. Don't matter if I have seen it 1000 times or just once. All of the soww and the cowws with that logo appear to be the same composition Of lead. Hard. I just add them to the cowws bucket. I have seen cowws that were softer than these sowws. I have seen this brand of soww up to 2oz. Anyone seen bigger?

[el34]

I always happy to get those things. I was nervous about them at first, the wire-cutter test showed they were lead but exceptionally 'stiff', kinda brittle. I found them using google images but couldn't get any data. I separated them until I had enough to make a few ingots and tested them- 10.4BHN still warm. That's a bit better than my still warm coww ingots. And no clips or trash to fish out.