I am getting into casting my own bullets for my .44 and .357 mags. I bought 46 lbs. of wheel weights at the scrap yard for cheap. About 25% turned out to be steel so I separated them out. I did a search here and found several threads on casting bullets and warning about "ruining your lead with Zinc". Can anyone explain this to me? Where does the Zinc come into the equation? And does Zinc ruin lead for reloading and why? I have cast bullets for my muzzle loaders in the past and just used pure plumbers lead. I did some research and found I needed a harder alloy than pure lead. I will have at least a hundred more questions as this progresses so I will say thanks in advance for all replies!
Wheel weights for cast bullets (Zinc?)
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morcey2
Member
Others will have better answer better than me, but the zinc will make the melt look like oatmeal if the temp gets hot enough to melt the zinc. Separate out the zinc weights prior to smelting.
Matt
Matt
ReloaderFred
Member
Zinc and steel wheelweights normally have the clip riveted on, while lead wheelweights will have the clip cast into the weight. Another way to tell is to drop them on concrete. The lead weights will "thunk", while the zinc and steel will "ring".
Hope this helps.
Fred
Hope this helps.
Fred
Thanks for the responses! I have been studying this website for over an hour. Lotsa good info. Cast Boolits is down for some reason. I will just order the basic Lyman pot and thermometer and use my turkey cooker burner in the garage and monitor the heat to get past the Zinc. Thanks!
dragon813gt
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CastBoolits is switching servers at the moment. When it's back up go to the Lead/Alloys section. There is a sticky with a bunch if pictures of all the different types of wheel weights.
I typically find that they have ZN or ZN-AL right on them. If they are in question I scratch them across the concrete floor. The zinc will dig in and make a different sound. Take a known marked zinc weight and do this to get a feel. After awhile you can pick them out on sight alone.
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I typically find that they have ZN or ZN-AL right on them. If they are in question I scratch them across the concrete floor. The zinc will dig in and make a different sound. Take a known marked zinc weight and do this to get a feel. After awhile you can pick them out on sight alone.
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fecmech
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Another way to check is try and cut them with a pair of wire cutters. The lead will leave a deep mark and the zinc are hard and will barely show a cut.
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SSN Vet
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lead melts at about 620 f
zinc melts at about 780 f
the density of molten lead is about 11 g/cm3
solid zinc has a density of about 6-1/2 g/cm3
As you heat up your smelt of mixed wheel weights, the lead will melt first and then the zinc will float to the top, where you can pick them out with pliers. Easy cheasy!
Stick on lead WWs are close to pure lead and are like a soft tape. These are easily segregated out of the pile, if you desire to maximize the hardness from your clip on WWs (which are a alloyed with tin)
I'm far from a casting expert.... But the few times I've smelted down wheel weights, once I figured out what the zinc WWs looked like, they were pretty easy to identify and pull b4 hitting the smelt... and the few that got in, floated to the top.
You don't want your smelt to get hot enough to melt zinc WWs... so it's helpful to have a thermometer.
zinc melts at about 780 f
the density of molten lead is about 11 g/cm3
solid zinc has a density of about 6-1/2 g/cm3
As you heat up your smelt of mixed wheel weights, the lead will melt first and then the zinc will float to the top, where you can pick them out with pliers. Easy cheasy!
Stick on lead WWs are close to pure lead and are like a soft tape. These are easily segregated out of the pile, if you desire to maximize the hardness from your clip on WWs (which are a alloyed with tin)
I'm far from a casting expert.... But the few times I've smelted down wheel weights, once I figured out what the zinc WWs looked like, they were pretty easy to identify and pull b4 hitting the smelt... and the few that got in, floated to the top.
You don't want your smelt to get hot enough to melt zinc WWs... so it's helpful to have a thermometer.
wgaynor
Member
As mentioned above, keep your melt at the right temp and they will remain untouched. Skim them out of the pot with a slotted spoon, but don't throw them away. Instead, get a different pot FOR ZINC ONLY and use them as fishing weights. Waste not want not...
Yep, what they said. Just don't get it all too hot and the zinc weights won't even melt. Scoop 'em out with the steel clips and other crap. It's not as big of a deal as people make it out to be. Getting your lead melt hot enough to melt zinc also is a chore, you'd really have to work at it.
Taurus 617 CCW
Member
I am looking into casting wheel weights into 00 buck for the shotgun since there is no lead build up issue with shotgun smoothbore barrels. It will also offset the cost of OO buck by quite a bit.
JLDickmon
Member
Zinc was an early lead WW substitute..
The industry has since settled on steel..
The industry has since settled on steel..
Taurus 617 CCW
Member
The first tactical shotgun class I took, we fired 100 rounds of OO buck each. That was pretty spendy. I now work at an inddor range/training facility and get free classes. The shotgun class is on my list of things to take again.
Rottweiler
Member
There's a guy over on castboolits.com that will trade your zinc (junk) wheelweights for lead. Rumor has it that he makes cannonballs out of the zinc. His name there is Shadygrady
41 Mag
Member
Yeppers that about sums it up. When you start your melting if you are sure to put only known lead WW in the bottom you can be fairly sure by keeping the temp below 700 you will not melt any zincers. However if you simply dump in a full pot of weights, the bottom may get hot enough to start off with that a zincer or two might actually melt in.
From all I have read as long as your in the less than 1% or so of total zinc you can still cast reasonably good bullets with no ill effects.
But like your post say's it's best to just keep them out period. Also the sticky on Castboolits is awesome as well as a couple of others there which pertain to zinc.
If you haven't found this one yet, be sure to go here as well,
The Cast Bullet / Hunting Articles Of Glen E. Fryxell
While your there be sure to download, or print out the PDF, From Ingot to Target: A Cast Bullet Guide for Handgunners. You will find plenty of reference material in there that is nice to keep handy.
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