Wheel weight lead.

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doubleaes2

New member
Hey guys,

What do I have to do to wheel weight lead to make it acceptable to use for cast bullets? I won't be loading anything crazy, and I know I have to keep velocities low. I was planning on making 158 grain semi wadcutters for my model 10. One of my customers gave me a brand new lee 6 hole mold for the above bullets, so I might as well do something with it. Thanks.
 
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gb_in_ga

New member
Sure thing. Oh, did you check out the article that they linked to in the 1st paragraph? It goes into the handling and preperation of the wheelweights, and what to do to make a substitute for #2 casting alloy from wheelweights.
 
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Ken O

New member
Wheel weights are just fine for pistol loads. Some will alloy a little tin in if they are having fillout problems, but if you pour hot, there shouldnt be any problem and you would just be wasting alloy/money.
There is a website forum dedicated to bullet casting Click Here go there and brouse around, ask anything you want to know, there are some real pros there. There was a thread there recently on what hardness WW were comming out at, and surprisingly its been 14BH, most references say about 10-12. I dont have a hardness tester, so I dont know what mine are. There are only a couple companys making wheel weights now, and they are pretty close. Here is a good referance page for casting: Cast bullet referance A lot of good reading here.
 
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Leftoverdj

New member
Don't use your casting pot for your smelting. WW and other metal sources have crud with them that will clog your pour spout and stick to your casting pot. Use a separate steel or iron pot over any convenient heat source to melt your raw material, clean the clips and crud out, and make ingots.

Some batches of WW will make good bullets for .38 Special as is. I routinely add 1-2% tin to avoid finding out if I have a bad batch. I melt a five gallon bucket of WW in a large dutch oven from Harbor Freight over a turkey fryer, clean the clips and crud off and add tin. A one pound roll of lead free solder will work fine for starters. You might add a pound or two of bird shot #7.5 or smaller if there is a chance you will want to heat treat. Pour the alloy into convenient moulds. A cast iron cornstick mould is the usual choice and 2-3 will cool about as fast as you can fill and empty them. A bucket of WW will yield about 110 pounds of the exact same alloy. You can add bars to your casting pot as needed without affecting the alloy.

You will not need to heat treat for .38 Special. Air cooled WW is about ideal.
 
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doubleaes2

New member
Is that one pound of solder for the whole bucket of lead? Does the birdshot do anything to the mix without the heat treat? I figured that bucket weighed more than a hundred pounds, it was a real PITA to get into the bed of my truck.
 
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HSMITH

New member
Ditto Leftoverdj, I use the exact same method to render wheelweights. I also use the same alloys.


100-110 pounds is the yield, clean lead after all the garbage is taken out. A 5 gallon bucket of raw wheel weights is a lot more.

I use bags of candles from the dollar store to flux the wheelweights, cheap and effective.
 
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Poodleshooter

New member
I'm now using straight W/W water quenched from the mold. It works well in the .45 and .38. I haven't tried it in the .44 yet. Unquenched bullets in the .44 leaded badly.
 
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Leftoverdj

New member
Double, a one pound roll of leadfree solder adds about 1% tin to a bucket of WW. Bucket averages 135 pounds but there is a 20-25 pound loss in the cleanup to clips and dross. The birdshot is to make sure there is arsenic in the mix so heat treating will work. You may leave it out if you choose.

You mentioned you had a Lee mould. Read the instructions and follow them. Certain parts of the mould must be lubricated and a birthday candle is good for that. I also like to cover the top of the blocks and the underside of the sprue plate with graphite. Prevents lead smearing and galling. If you don't have spray graphite, you can scribble all over the tops of the blocks and the underside of the sprue plate with a soft pencil.

I get my graphite in a spray can from NAPA, but it is commonly sold as mould release at a higher price. Lee moulds run tight and graphite inside the cavities slightly reduces the bullet size, so I rarely use mould release.

Lee moulds also come covered with a preservative that prevents good casting. I boil them in hot soapy water for half and hour before I use them for first time. It can take two tries to get them clean. Other methods are not as effective.
 
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