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Wheel Weights For Casting?


Cholla

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I have read both ways for casting bullets with wheel weights. Some say too hard, others say just right. What is your experience?

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Too hard for Blackpowder shooting, not too bad for smokeless, although a little softer wouldn't hurt at the velocities we shoot.

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A variance of opinion is makes this country GREAT!  Wheel Weights, the lead variety, are just fine for pistol cartridge shooting... In fact, I generally add a bit of linotype to harden 'em up a tad for rifle velocities...  DO NOT use for cap & ball.  Like Leadspittinlefty said, you'll be hard pressed find good supplies of LEAD wheel weights.  I had a bit better luck the last bucket I bought... it was about 50% lead.

 

I've been using wheel weights as the prime ingredient in my bullet alloy since 1979 when I started casting for my .30-30s.  I only use pure lead (Pb) for cap & ball shooting.

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I haven't cast any bullets in a long time, but IIRC, the Lyman handbook shows a mix of 9 lbs wheelweights and a pound of 50/50 bar solder (if you can find any nowadays).  Makes a medium-hard alloy that has worked well for me in rifle bullets such as .45-70, .50-70 and even .56-56 Spencer. 

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Twenty years ago you could use wheel weights. But today wheel weights are all over the place with all kinds of metals in them. I would not use them!!! Buy alloy from a good foundory and you will shoot better.

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Zinc melts about 80 degrees hotter than lead and lead alloy. Keep your temps under control and it's a non issue. You don't need to pay foundry prices. I used to spend 2 or 3 days throughout the year smelting. On the other hand, I found a gentleman that smelts hundreds of lbs at a time. So, I just get mine from him now. Costs more, but I save 3 days time that is better spent casting...

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On average, my clip on wheel weights melt down to about 9 Brinell hardness.   For our cowboy velocities and chamber pressures, about 8 Brinell is optimal for best accuracy and minimum leading.  So I add a bit of soft lead and 1-2% (by weight) of tin (from solder or original recipe pewter), and get 8 hardness, well-filled out, accurate and no leading with home made "lithibee" lube.

 

Just so you have my recipe to make a 20 pound pot of 8 Brinell alloy, it is:

14 pounds clip-on wheel weights (today's average alloy)

6 pounds stick-on wheel weights or sheet lead

0.3 pounds (that is, 5 ounces)  50-50 lead tin solder

 

Wheel weights I find now are quite a bit softer than they used to be.  But I agree that the alloy in them is not very consistent, so melt down large batches of them (up to 100 pounds) to make your casting pot ingots.

 

Keep zinc weights (and zinc bullets) out, keep battery metals out, keep any metal that you are not 100% SURE of out, melt only DRY metal, and be ready to scrounge like crazy to be able to do all your action match casting with recycled alloy.   Best to use high quality known-content alloy in your rifle casting, if you care about accuracy.

 

Good luck, GJ

 

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I used them for about 7 years when I was shooting 44 cal. It was hard to find light 44 bullets so I started casting my own 160's with a mold I had made. 

 

No issues over that 7 year period using them. I'd still do it but the price of 38 lead has made me close shop...…...lol

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Back back when you could buy a new car with a high compression engine that ran on ethyl gas,  wheel weights were our primary source of bullet casting material.  I don't even know if they had zinc weights back then.  We generally got them for the asking at tire shops.  Worked great in everything we shot - 357 through 45-70. Maybe a little hard for cowboy action shooting at steel targets at the range we're shooting.  

 

One summer morning my brother-in-law and I got to the range at the crack of dawn and worked a couple of hours sifting out lead from the burm.  After melting it down we each got about 300 pounds of ingots.  I've still got most of it as I just keep collection lead when and where I find it.  I have bullet traps that recover probably 50% or more that I shoot down range.   As Sawmill Mary will only shoot coated "store bought" bullets,  I kind of keep up with my lead supply.

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I have been using wheel weights for years in my guns never had a problem.  So go a head and make all the bullets you want.

Then shoot them and have  fun at the match.  The nice thing I like about wheel weights is I don't run into lead splatter or big

chunks of lead coming back and hitting me or other shooters.

Good luck.

James Rosewood T.G  Crystal River Gunslingers.

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I have about 2100 pounds of wheel weight ingots.  I have shot about 6-800 pounds worth over the past few years.  In the past two years I have shot black powder with the same

lead.  I now powder coat them.  I use to get a little leading in my 357 pistols due to shooting 38sp.  Have had little or none in the rifle.  Now that I powder coat I have NO leading.  

If this practice is bad for my guns please do not tell them as they seem to have not caught on yet.  

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That's about all we shoot for cowboy is Wheel Weights.

I do use pure lead for C&B, and for long range 20-1 alloy.

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