What kind of metal

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Melting the latest batch of wheel weights from a tire shop - about half were the old lead style and melted easily while the remainder were of TWO kinds. Some would not melt at all while others would melt ONLY with a much higher temp than the lead weights. Question is: what kind of metal is the stuff that will melt and how suitable is it for casting boolitts? Anyone got any thoughts or input from experience? Thanks.
 
Hunter1970 said:
Iron, and Zinc (higher melting point than lead). Zinc mixed in with your lead can be a deal breaker. I've heard of guys using straight zinc for casting, but I've never seen it.
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Thanks Hunter, but what do you mean about being a "deal breaker"? Is it good or bad? I kept the lead melts separate. and haven't yet melted the other stuff pending input from guys like yourself who have obviously had some experience with this "new stuff". Am I correct in assuming the "new type metal" could be effectively "mixed" with the lead if one wanted harder "lead" boolitts?
 
Zinc in your lead can cause your castings to not fully fill out. Some guys get away with small amounts of it with no issues. I hand sort all my zinc out, and it gets turned into the metal recycler. You should sniff into the Cast Boolits site; tons of info and experience over there.
 
Thanks Hunter! You were a great help! I kinda had that figured but I wasn't sure! You just saved me a BUNCH of time wasted in melting that stuff down! Will also take your advice re sniffing the Cast Boolit site! Thanks again!
 
Zinc mixed in with the lead will give you fits when you try to cast bullets. The bullets will come out with little voids in them about the same shape as a fingernail trimming. A tiny bit of zinc (less than 1%) will be OK and actually improve your bullets - but much more than that makes it really hard to cast decent bullets.
 
I believe the manufacturers quit using pure or alloyed lead in wheel weights long ago. Can't say I'd put money on it though.
 
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