Wheel wieghts for casting?

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Huntsman

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This has probably come up before, but I'm curious to why so many people say not to use w.wt's for casting conicals or balls. I came across about 10lbs worth and so far have made approx. 25 137gr. .50cal balls to shoot at the range tomorrow,seeing as gopher season is here, My initentions are obvious. I did allow the molten lead to cook off most of the crap and I skimmed the rest.Since these balls will be used for plinking & gopher control:)rolleyes: ) applications, should they still be more than ideal for say...deer sized targets?
:)
 
Yes definitely dangerous; I shoot a .50 so send them to me and I will dispose of them safely :>) I have shot thousands of wheel weight balls but perhaps it is too soon yet for problems to crop up.
Wheel weight balls will not expand much in a deer size animal but one the other hand if you are concerned about penetration then that is a plus. Ultimately shot placement is where its at.

cheers mooncoon
 
Due to the burning characteristics of Black Powder, ignition can cause your slug/ball to "slug up" to fit/seal the bore. This is important to most BP weapons as it will a) improve accuracy b) reduce leading. This will occur when you use soft/pure lead or in the case of BP cartridge 30-1 or 40-1. Wheelweights are much harder than this and may work in some guns if the fit is great to begin with, otherwise I would cut that alloy with alot of pure lead.
 
Salvaged lead from buildings, roofs,pipes are usually pure lead, and yes, it can be hard to find. We buy pure lead in ingot form from a foundry for our cast bullet business. Unless you have a foundry near by, you could check scrap metal dealers, you can tell pure lead fairly easily as your thumbnail will put a good gash in pure lead, if you don't chew your nails! you'll note that it barely scratches the wheelweights.
 
I found a bunch of Rope with a Lead center it seems soft and pure looking its in 1 inch ingots. Its actully inside the rope! not the kinda rope you want to get tangled up in out on a boat thats for sure!

I can get lots of it from some fishermen i know.

Is it any good or will salt water of screwed it up :confused:
 
If you want good lead out of weel weight add a bar of 50/50 solider and work you lead 2 times with bees wax.
don
 
wheell weights work ok,is hard as described, but for best accuracy/hunting performance softer the lead the better.
i found some plumbers lead that was purest i could locate 99.5% also old lead sewer pipes if any towns in yr area are replacing them.......real pure as well.
 
Depend what you're shooting it out of as well. Smoothbores will take wheel weight just fine and load just as easy as pure lead. If you barrel is rifled, wheel weight lead MAY be too hard for SOME patched roundball loads depending on patch thickness, bore diameter, etc.

I would not cast wheel weight conicals for muskets though. They likely won;t upset fully and will be hard to load.
 
Pure lead is best for balls and muzzleloaders for the reasons stated.

Other Sources:

- the stick-on wheelweights are almost pure lead. Set them aside for pure lead, and to avoid "watering down" your antimony and tin levels in your wheelweight mix.

- ballast for sailboats

- balance weights for forklifts and the like

- be on the lookout in the near future for opportunities to help "dispose of" lead pipes. Much is still in use and is being replaced as hysteria mounts over its use.

Beware though that metal prices are rising very quickly (including lead), and getting it free is bcoming more difficult.
 
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today at work.i noticed a big old truck battery busted up.looks like it was outside all winter....
what about using battery lead for bullets? just in that one battery there is has to be at least 30-40 lbs of lead
 
fogducker said:
today at work.i noticed a big old truck battery busted up.looks like it was outside all winter....
what about using battery lead for bullets? just in that one battery there is has to be at least 30-40 lbs of lead
Click to expand...

No way! You'll get Cadmium and other trace elements in your melt, and the fumes will be toxic.
 
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I seem to remember a reason for not using a battery, but for the life of me I can't remember why other than disposing of the chemicals but since that has been done for you Maybe!

I have a supply of harder lead and I have been thinking of casting a flat nosed 44 or 45 cal pistol bullet, and using sabots. I'd imagine you would have to size the bullets but you would be able to experiment with sized to diameter and sabot. Has anyone tried that?
 
Battery lead contains cadmium and the vapours are very toxic.

With regard to the pistol bullets and sabots, make sure your twist rate is fast enough to stabilize them

cheers mooncoon
 
Even if you salvage the lead without breathing the toxic fumes from batteries...I understand that the alloy is affected, is inconsistant, with cast bullets turning to a chalk(toxic) coating on the outside of bullet. I'd suggest you give this source a miss!
 
I know some guys using battery lead. The local hutterite colony is melting it into bricks. Other than the fumes I have been told the only other issue is that there is calcium mixed into the lead when they build the "no-maintanance batteries. I imagine the calcium could be skimmed just like any other contaminant.
 
In Alberta, smelting or melting any quantity of lead is illegal without a permit. A friend got busted for melting down bullets that were recovered from a range. He was in an otherwise safe location, but the smoke was seen and reported. Once the firefighters arrived, they called the envirocops, and the fun began.

He managed to get off with a fine and some community service time, but could have been facing a five year jail visit and huge fines, as well as cleanup costs, had the enviro guy decided that they were required.

Despite the ready availability of melting pots, casting your own is actually illegal in AB.

That was back in 2000. Enviro laws have not got slacker in the meantime. :-/

Cheers
Trev
 
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