Just got done sorting half of a 5 gallon bucket. 90% of it was lead. So I would say, lead is still king here in MN.
Just got done sorting half of a 5 gallon bucket. 90% of it was lead. So I would say, lead is still king here in MN.
sort out the zinc , and find shady grady , he will swap sorted zinc only wheel weights and send you good lead in ingots or muffin cone shapes i have sent him over 200 lbs , always treated me right sent me back the same .. good guy .... my way to sort zinc is the scratch test and concrete , if it looks like it may be zinc scratch it on the sidewalk it will make a hi pitched chalk sound a lead ww will sound a little duller , the rest you can try with side cutters , takes a little longer but very accurate , or look for a z at the end of the name like regZ or a zn on the clip . takes some practice but after 30 - m40 buckets you get to recognize the fe ,iron...the zn ,zinc... and the pb lead alloy good shootin ...badbob
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I'm just getting started casting bullets, been pouring sinkers for 20+ YEARS, i HAVE PLENTY OF SOFT LEAD.
dO THE WHEEL WEIGHTS HAVE ANTIMONY IN THEM AS TO MAKE THEM HARDER?
What % of ww do you use for bullets, I going to cats for 9mm,45,and 300 BLK
Thanks
I picked up a box of these at the dump today (including some weights) and thought this information might be of interest.
The video at the beginning looks great but has no sound
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Thank you for posting this. I am just getting into casting and this will be a great help. BTW, if you come across any more free junk sail boats and you don't feel like breaking in down, send it my way
Yes, the antimony in WW's does make the alloy harder, so does the tin. '...What % of WW...' Depends on what you mean. The precentages of #2, as listed in my 1951 Ideal Handbook, are 90% lead, 5% tin, and 5% antimony. The Lyman manual says to use 9lbs of WW's and 1/2lb of lead, and 1/2lb of tin. This is supposed to bring the alloy up close to the Lyman #2 alloy in percentages. So, from this standpoint, it's 90 %. (Oh, Lyman bought out Ideal) Darn, my brain just went for a walk. Can't remember what the other use of 'percentage' was that I was going to use. I have Lead (pure), Tin (pure), and antimony (pure). The antimony is a bother to get mixed into the alloy. I've been reading on it, but, haven't figured it out yet. all that to say, I can mix any alloy I want. I also have linotype alloy, and foundry type metal that I can add to the mix. But presently, my wheelweight alloy, mixed as per the Lyman manual, is my source for daily shooting. I just got another 85lbs of WW today. Smelted about 50lbs this evening before the light went away. Got ~41lbs of refined alloy. Will do the rest tomorrow, weather permitting. Hope this rambling answer is of some help.
Last edited by mikeym1a; 10-17-2013 at 03:46 AM.
Thanks for the info. What a time saver it is.
Thanks for the original post. Seems that I recall lead will leave a black streak on paper/cardboard. I just checked a "micro" wheel weight and confirmed this. Steel won't mark not sure about zinc.
If diag. wire cutters can leave a cut mark it's not zinc? I have a bunch of coww that while they will take a cut are clearly harder than those labeled "micro".
I have many coww that appear to have a coating, almost like plastic are they ok to smelt? I'm guessing that the coating may be to protect aluminum and alloy rims. But not sure what happens when it's thrown in the pot with that coating. These also tend to be the ones that are harder to cut into with my diag cutter. If I rub the coating off with a bit of emery cloth they do leave a black streak on wood.
Just smelted 60lbs of scrap lead into ingots so am anxious to get some ww lead to mix in and get some hardened ingots suitable for casting. Going to be above 30 this weekend so going to want to go for it when it won't be painful to open the garage door for ventilation. Doing the ingots was a blast, can't wait to cast some actual boolits.
As a side note anyone have any "best" ways to clean these ww's up? I'm thinking oil, grease, etc. is to be avoided when casting so they should probably be cleaned first... and I know DW will not be amused if I use the dishwasher
Just throw them in the pot as is, it will smoke a lot but it will cook out the paint, oil and unwanted grime. Just flux a few times and skim the clips and such off. That's what I do anyways.
Hello all, first post, been lurking the last couple weeks.
Sold the boat, bought a 1911 for me and an XDs in 9mm for the wife. Changed hobbies, decided to shoot instead of sail. Also decided I am going to reload to make it more affordable, and while I am at it, I might as well cast too. So...
I looked on CL, found a guy trading WW for ??? and did a deal. Traded a 410 breech single shot shot gun for 600 pounds of mixed WW.
I got a heck of a deal!
Here is the breakdown after the sort.
495 pounds total lead. 450 clip on, 45 stick on.
65 pounds steel (Fe)
28 pounds Zinc
rest was trash... valve stems cigarette butts etc.
I expect to loose some more when we smelt to ingots in clip weight, and mis-sort. I am sure I missed some unmarked Zinc.
I used the techniques on the video in the OP, and it worked well. Took about 6 man hours to sort. My back is NOT happy with me right now!
Looking forward to getting these WW's into ingots, and sometime in the next month or so, casting into usable boolits! Still doing my research on here for what molds to buy, boolit shape, tumble lube? etc.
Leaning towards TC tumble lube 124g Lee for the 9mm and 230 tumble lube RN for the 45...
So much to read, so many different opinions, hard to decide.
I'll keep y'all posted how much we get from the smelt in finished ingots.
I'm new and this is awesome. Answered a lot of my questions.
I just went through 15 gallons worth of wheel weights I picked up from a local tire shop. Talk about disappointment. I ended up with about 2.5 gal worth of lead. I've never seen so dang much steel. Anyone else experienced this? I live in Idaho.
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Smith Wesson 629 PP and 686 PP, 617
Awesome post, and thank you. I have been sitting on my WW afraid to wonder what was in them, but did the snipper test tonight on a new acquisition and most of it cuts or deforms neatly.
Observations from a newbie:
1) The hard plastic coating on some COWW distorts the ease of the cut test.
2) Even aside from this, some COWW that can be cut, are harder than others.
3) Following on from #2 above, I wonder what would happen if you went to the trouble of sorting out WW by appearance and then did a hardness test (even as simple as with a Lee hardness tester) on the resultant ingots? Has anyone tried this? Ultimately I'm not sure i care; if some of the WW have a higher antimony content, this will help the whole batch be harder, which is not a bad thing.
As a last resort, I can always go to Rotometals or one of the other companies. But for now, I am content to scrounge.
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 |