Giant Wheel Weights?

m&p45acp10+1 · December 19, 2012, 03:49 PM

I work for a company that has a large fleet of tractor-trailer rigs. They see a lot of time on the road, and of course from time to time need new tires. We have in house tire men, and mechanics that take care of them.

I mentioned a while back to the tire man that I use wheel weight for casting. He said he would save them for me when he could.

Today he gave me about 20 pounds of them. All 4 to 8 ounce huge ones.

How hard/soft are they generaly?

Vance · December 19, 2012, 08:23 PM

No different than wheel weights for cars. Just make sure they are lead and not zinc or steel.

m&p45acp10+1 · December 19, 2012, 08:40 PM

They are lead, I already scratch tested them. Seeing one next to a car weight is a sight. The big car weights look like skinny dwarfs. Most are 8 ounce weights, over 20 pounds of them.

For free I might add.

GP100man · December 19, 2012, 11:34 PM

I`ll take em , mark em SPF !!!

Lucky dog !!!

There very stable blend of alloys as they put antimony in em (now don`t ask how much) to keep em from smushing & bending .

How hard ya gotta push with the thumb nail to put a small dent in it at the edge , or does it notch ya nail ????

My exp with truck weights they checked a tad over 14bhn , but these were 20yrs old at least .

chris in va · December 19, 2012, 11:42 PM

I get a few of those every now and then. They're like gold.

10 Spot Terminator · December 20, 2012, 03:35 AM

The melt from those big boys should run at 12 BHN and is plenty good for up to most magnum pistol casts ( most ) and if you need to you can add some lino type and tin to it to create a Lyman #2 alloy clone for monster mag pistol and again ( most ) rifle casts not traveling much over 1800 fps. As with all casts there are exceptions to the rule for bigger, faster, harder and so on that will need harder alloys, gas checks, maybe water quenching etc. but good clip on wheel weights are a staple in my shop for sure.

m&p45acp10+1 · December 20, 2012, 03:19 PM

I have not melted them down as of yet. I still have about 150 pounds melted down into ingots. About a third of a 5 gal bucket of sorted clip on still to melt down. It was hot then, and I had plenty so I put them to the side for next time I am melting down.

The big ones I may melt down some time soon. I have not done a thumb nail test on them. I just scratched them with the back of my pocket knife. Total price was I bought the tire guy a round at the beer joint as thank you.

FrankenMauser · December 20, 2012, 08:01 PM

They're nice to see.
I had 12-15 lbs, or so, given to me by my grandfather. He picks them up during his morning walks down a major street.
The largest I've ever seen, was a 14-ounce. It looked cartoonish, it was so long.

That single 14 oz weight was worth thirty 429-200-RFs.

I didn't test the large weights separately, but smelted them with a batch of 30+ year-old clip-ons. The whole batch came out just over 11 BHN.

dagger dog · December 21, 2012, 11:19 PM

10 Spot Terminator's been there !

Most clip-on wheel weights will come in 12-13 on the BNH scale, if you water quench your cast boolits and let them set up for a while they'll harden up around 18 BNH.

According to Lyman's Cast Bullet Handbook, it's the trace prescence of arsenic that reacts with the casting process that makes the wheel weights harden without greater amounts of antimony.

December 19, 2012, 03:49 PM	#1
m&p45acp10+1 Senior Member Join Date: May 3, 2009 Location: Central Texas Posts: 3,930	Giant Wheel Weights? I work for a company that has a large fleet of tractor-trailer rigs. They see a lot of time on the road, and of course from time to time need new tires. We have in house tire men, and mechanics that take care of them. I mentioned a while back to the tire man that I use wheel weight for casting. He said he would save them for me when he could. Today he gave me about 20 pounds of them. All 4 to 8 ounce huge ones. How hard/soft are they generaly? __________________ No matter how many times you do it and nothing happens it only takes something going wrong one time to kill you.

December 19, 2012, 08:40 PM	#3
m&p45acp10+1 Senior Member Join Date: May 3, 2009 Location: Central Texas Posts: 3,930	They are lead, I already scratch tested them. Seeing one next to a car weight is a sight. The big car weights look like skinny dwarfs. Most are 8 ounce weights, over 20 pounds of them. For free I might add. __________________ No matter how many times you do it and nothing happens it only takes something going wrong one time to kill you.

December 19, 2012, 11:34 PM	#4
GP100man Senior Member Join Date: August 1, 2007 Location: Tabor City , NC. Posts: 1,969	I`ll take em , mark em SPF !!! Lucky dog !!! There very stable blend of alloys as they put antimony in em (now don`t ask how much) to keep em from smushing & bending . How hard ya gotta push with the thumb nail to put a small dent in it at the edge , or does it notch ya nail ???? My exp with truck weights they checked a tad over 14bhn , but these were 20yrs old at least . __________________ GP100man

December 20, 2012, 03:19 PM	#7
m&p45acp10+1 Senior Member Join Date: May 3, 2009 Location: Central Texas Posts: 3,930	I have not melted them down as of yet. I still have about 150 pounds melted down into ingots. About a third of a 5 gal bucket of sorted clip on still to melt down. It was hot then, and I had plenty so I put them to the side for next time I am melting down. The big ones I may melt down some time soon. I have not done a thumb nail test on them. I just scratched them with the back of my pocket knife. Total price was I bought the tire guy a round at the beer joint as thank you. __________________ No matter how many times you do it and nothing happens it only takes something going wrong one time to kill you.

December 20, 2012, 08:01 PM	#8
FrankenMauser Senior Member Join Date: August 25, 2008 Location: In the valley above the plain Posts: 13,424	They're nice to see. I had 12-15 lbs, or so, given to me by my grandfather. He picks them up during his morning walks down a major street. The largest I've ever seen, was a 14-ounce. It looked cartoonish, it was so long. That single 14 oz weight was worth thirty 429-200-RFs. I didn't test the large weights separately, but smelted them with a batch of 30+ year-old clip-ons. The whole batch came out just over 11 BHN. __________________ Don't even try it. It's even worse than the internet would lead you to believe.

December 19, 2012, 08:23 PM	#2
Vance Senior Member Join Date: January 16, 2011 Location: North Bend, OR Posts: 743	No different than wheel weights for cars. Just make sure they are lead and not zinc or steel.

December 19, 2012, 11:42 PM	#5
chris in va Senior Member Join Date: December 26, 2004 Location: Louisville KY Posts: 13,806	I get a few of those every now and then. They're like gold.

December 20, 2012, 03:35 AM	#6
10 Spot Terminator Senior Member Join Date: January 3, 2008 Location: Central Oregon Posts: 348	The melt from those big boys should run at 12 BHN and is plenty good for up to most magnum pistol casts ( most ) and if you need to you can add some lino type and tin to it to create a Lyman #2 alloy clone for monster mag pistol and again ( most ) rifle casts not traveling much over 1800 fps. As with all casts there are exceptions to the rule for bigger, faster, harder and so on that will need harder alloys, gas checks, maybe water quenching etc. but good clip on wheel weights are a staple in my shop for sure.

December 21, 2012, 11:19 PM	#9
dagger dog Member Join Date: September 5, 2010 Posts: 65	10 Spot Terminator's been there ! Most clip-on wheel weights will come in 12-13 on the BNH scale, if you water quench your cast boolits and let them set up for a while they'll harden up around 18 BNH. According to Lyman's Cast Bullet Handbook, it's the trace prescence of arsenic that reacts with the casting process that makes the wheel weights harden without greater amounts of antimony.