My Turn.

USSR · May 7, 2018, 07:00 AM

After spending the previous Saturday teaching a couple of guys how to smelt lead and cast bullets, it was my turn. Last Saturday being a really nice day, I spent much of the day on the porch smelting down lead from my local scrap yard. One of my really great finds was a bunch of brand new, never used lead wheel weights that must have come from a truck garage. A lot of these wheel weights were 4 to 5 inches long and heavy. Since NY hasn't allowed lead wheel weights to be installed for many years, I figure they sat on the shelf for a long time before the garage finally took them to the scrap yard. Being new and clean was a big bonus, but the biggest bonus was the lead to steel clip ratio; I got 82% of the pre-smelting weight in lead.

Don

Wag · May 7, 2018, 10:09 AM

I'm jealous. I can find wheel weights at the local scrap yard but they're almost always about half zinc. And getting worse.

But they do have sheet lead and other types of lead there that works really well if you can add the tin and antimony you need.

Speaking of which, I have a few buckets of misc. lead I need to get to work on........

--Wag--

USSR · May 7, 2018, 10:59 AM

Well, Wag, look at the bright side. Unless you're loading for a magnum cartridge, you can use more pure lead than wheel weights to make a good alloy. And tin in the form of solder is readily available.

Don

Grey_Lion · May 7, 2018, 05:58 PM

I prefer pure wheel weights for swaging cores - less pressure on the dies when forming the nose or the hollow point.

May 7, 2018, 07:00 AM	#1
USSR Senior Member Join Date: November 14, 2017 Location: Finger Lakes Region of NY Posts: 1,442	My Turn. After spending the previous Saturday teaching a couple of guys how to smelt lead and cast bullets, it was my turn. Last Saturday being a really nice day, I spent much of the day on the porch smelting down lead from my local scrap yard. One of my really great finds was a bunch of brand new, never used lead wheel weights that must have come from a truck garage. A lot of these wheel weights were 4 to 5 inches long and heavy. Since NY hasn't allowed lead wheel weights to be installed for many years, I figure they sat on the shelf for a long time before the garage finally took them to the scrap yard. Being new and clean was a big bonus, but the biggest bonus was the lead to steel clip ratio; I got 82% of the pre-smelting weight in lead. Don __________________ NRA Life Member NRA Certified Metallic Cartridge Reloading Instructor

May 7, 2018, 10:09 AM	#2
Wag Senior Member Join Date: October 22, 2010 Location: Albuquerque, NM Posts: 988	I'm jealous. I can find wheel weights at the local scrap yard but they're almost always about half zinc. And getting worse. But they do have sheet lead and other types of lead there that works really well if you can add the tin and antimony you need. Speaking of which, I have a few buckets of misc. lead I need to get to work on........ --Wag-- __________________ "Great genius will always encounter fierce opposition from mediocre minds." --Albert Einstein.

May 7, 2018, 10:59 AM	#3
USSR Senior Member Join Date: November 14, 2017 Location: Finger Lakes Region of NY Posts: 1,442	Well, Wag, look at the bright side. Unless you're loading for a magnum cartridge, you can use more pure lead than wheel weights to make a good alloy. And tin in the form of solder is readily available. Don __________________ NRA Life Member NRA Certified Metallic Cartridge Reloading Instructor

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May 7, 2018, 05:58 PM	#4
Grey_Lion Senior Member Join Date: April 15, 2018 Location: Baton Rouge - Louisiana Posts: 406	I prefer pure wheel weights for swaging cores - less pressure on the dies when forming the nose or the hollow point.