[Hog Buster]

Well in the past I’ve read the piece from “Practical Up To Date Plumbing”. Seems that it has the only answer for removing zinc from solder alloy. Too bad there’s no newer information, the book was written in 1914. It’s still good information as bullet alloy is very close to soldering alloy. Still not too many definitive answers on problem zinc in bullet alloy.

Bad castings are always a source of wonder. I wonder if it’s the scrap, the temperature, the mold, phase of the moon, what? Many times too many variables to ever pinpoint the problem. Ah... the magic of casting, keeps us coming back for more.

Of course there’s no limit as to what you may find in scrap. Take wheel weights, after all they’re not made to any exacting specifications I’m sure. I can remember many years back when it was a on-no to use anything with much antimony in it for making bullets. Over the years that’s gone by the way side. Now a bit of antimony is seen as good for bullets. Lord knows what else may lurking in them to give you problems.

Speaking about antimony, I’m not sure how much is in today's wheel weights. Along with tin I would guess that because of cost, as opposed to lead, there’s very little in them. Only the barest amount necessary I’m sure.

Most wheel weight is tin starved for bullet making. A shot of 50/50 solder works wonders for helping the bullet alloy fill the mold. On the other hand 50/50 solder is getting expensive and hard to find. Most solders used for plumbing are 95/5 tin to lead. Of course this will work in your bullet alloy, just different amounts to the mix. Linotype was always an alternative, but is just about a thing of the past. I sure made some pretty shiny bullets with it though. It cast light and was hard, a PIA to size.

I’m sure that sometime or another I’ve cast bullets with some zinc in them. It must have been less than 2% because they had no noticeable differences from many others I cast out of questionable alloy. Like antimony, in small amounts it may be even be beneficial, time will tell.

So far I’m not having any trouble with Zinc wheel weights. The last several hundred pounds I obtained only had 6 or 8 individual zinc ones along with about a pound or two of iron ones. However while melting this batch I noticed that it was somewhat tin starved, so adding a bit will be necessary.

In the future I guess that we’ll be using zinc........ Hey, it can be done, has been done and works without leading, but for the foreseeable future I’m scrounging lead wheel weights.