Batch of Wheel Weights

[David Wile]

Hey Folks,

I took my son-in-law to Sam's for tires yesterday. He came home with four new tires, and I came home with three small buckets full of wheel weights and the required extra junk like old valve stems, paper, and a lot of sunflower seed shells. I spent about four hours this evening rendering them down to WW ingots. Since I did it in the basement with just a fan blowing smoke out the basement door, the house still ended up with a nasty odor from all the junk that gets burned off the WW in the process. It was just too cold to do it outside.

I can't complain too much though. It is the first big batch of WW I have processed in almost ten years. When I was finished, I had 25 ingots that weighed between 5.0 and 6.25 pounds each. I figure I ended up with a total of about 135 pounds of good stuff.

I used a big cast iron kettle on a big propane burner. The kettle holds about 75 pounds of lead when it is filled to within an inch of the top, and the WW I had made two batches that were a little less than full.

I just wish I could make some #8 shot with it besides bullets. Has anyone had any experience with the Littleton Shotmaker?

Best wishes,
Dave Wile

 

[Ala Dan]

Sounds like a good deal to me Dave, as there is nothing
as nice as sitting down to cast with a few buckets of new
wheel weight's. Just wish I still had the time and patience
to cast a few myself.

Best Wishes,
Ala Dan, N.R.A. Life Member

 

[dickwholliday]

i get a couple of 5 gallon buckets full everytime i go get my oil changed...it's amazing how long a fellow caster remembers you giving them a bucket full.....every few years i'll spend a day outside melting them down...i lay out a sheet of plywood and put my muffin molds, cornbread molds lyman ingot molds and anything else i can get to pour lead into on the sheet of plywood...i then have some letter stamps that i stamp "TW" on the bottom of the ingots....i've heard lately that the chinkanese tireweights are made of zinc and cause problems with your bullets but i doublt that my uzi will care.....

As far as the Littleton shotmaker goes ...i've never used one but i did see a test in some publication and the shot is ugly but have you seen what the hottest thing in the shotshell world "Hevishot" looks like....it is ugly also but shoots better than lead....so go figure.....Dick

 

[Edward429451]

I just wish I could make some #8 shot with it besides bullets. Has anyone had any experience with the Littleton Shotmaker?

I've got a shotmaking melter that is similar to the Littleton. It's 115v and got a little ramped shelf and a tray for sitting ingots on. The lead melts on top and drips through brass orificies onto the shelf and rolls down the (chalked) ramp (which rounds it) and is caught in a can of chilled oil that you have placed beneath the ramp. It's chilled and hardened by falling through the cold oil then collects on the bottom. It's nice to have a shallow (cake) pan with a fabricated drain port brazed to it and a hose stuck on it to dump into another vessel to recapture the oil because the catch-can will overflow with oil and needs to be recovered and reused. If you don't start with full cans of oil it heats up too fast and starts giving you the ugly shot.

The lead temperature is critical. Too cold and the orifices will not flow, too hot and it heats the oil too fast which then will not cool the shot sufficiently so it's still soft and flattens when it settles on the bottom of the can. Ugly shot. You have to have a goodly supply of oil from the freezer and multiple catch cans.

All in all it is a pita to make shot like this.You can make good shot with it, but you have to be on top of it. There's lots of running back & forth pouring and switching oil cans, keeping it fed with ingots, chalking the ramp, spilled oil, washing the oil off the shot afterwards. Kind of not worth it when you can buy big bags of it with no mess. It's nice to have the technology and capability though. It does work.

 

[David Wile]

Hey Edward,

You did not mention what kind of shotmaker you have, where you can buy it, or what it costs. I realize what you described sounds like a lot of effort to most folks, but most folks also consider casting their own bullets to be a lot more trouble than it is worth. I may come to the same conclusion as you that it may not be worth it, but I would like to know more about it.
Also like you said, "It's nice to have the technology and capability though."

Hey Dick,

I also use letter stamps to mark "WW" on the bottom of each ingot piece, and my "WW" stands for wheel weights. You mentioned that you stamp yours with"TW," and I sat for quite a while wondering what the "TW" meant. Finally, I came up with the idea of "tire weights." Is that it?

One more thing, the odor in the house was finally gone by mid morning today.

Best wishes,
Dave Wile

 

[JPM70535]

Take care, melting lead in a relatively unvented space such as a basement invites the injestion of potentially devastating vapors. For safety, always melt scrap WWs or any other lead outdoors or in a well ventilated space, like a garage with the doors open. Lead Poisoning is serious ***t

 

[David Wile]

Hey JPM,

A lot of folks make a lot more fuss about the hazards of casting bullets than it deserves. I have been doing it since the mid 1960s, and, during 25 of those nearly forty years, my federal job as a safety specialist required an annual physical exam which included testing for lead as well as other toxic substances. No exposure to any substance was ever found, and that included exposure to radiation while I was on duty at TMI during the first eight weeks of the emergency. I also have had an indoor shooting range in my basement since 1987, and that has never caused any increase in lead levels in my tests.

When melting lead indoors, I do use a fan to draw the smoke away from my face and out of the basement, and I am constantly washing my hands all day long whether I am casting bullets or handling something with just plain dirt.

I might also point out that melting lead does not give off lead vapors. Heating lead to a really high temperature may give off lead fumes, and lead fumes can be dangerous whether inhaled or absorbed through the skin. Actually, lead fumes are rather hard to inhale since the lead fumes do not stay airborne very well due to the heavy weight of lead. I am more concerned about the smoke that is given off from all the unknown contaminants that are part of wheel weights when they are melted down, and that is why I try to make a draft where my face is up wind of the source.

Best wishes,
Dave Wile

 

[Edward429451]

Oh sorry, it's a 'ShotMaster Maker' is what it says on it. I've no idea where it came from, I bought it used from a guy that I met in passing. I gave him 75 bucks for it IIRC.

We had a thread on these awhile back. Might even have been on TFL. If you searched here and on TFL for Littleton shot maker, that would turn up the thread. Another poster put up pics of his. I didn't have a digi cam then but I do now. I'll try and put up a pic or two in the next couple days to show you the setup.

 

[dickwholliday]

"TW" is tireweight and LT is linotype.....pure lead is L....my dad used to do it and he used PB for lead.......

As far as lead poisoning goes i think your chances are greater of getting it at an indoor range than from bullet casting....i hear stories all the time about range guys getting it......it now makes me wonder about all the time i spend at one......i used to know this kid who cast bullets commercailly in a one car garage apartment sort of place where he slept and ate......he had two automatic bullet making machines plus other furnaces....most of the time when i'd go in there the air was sort of cloudy looking from fluxing i guess.....he got out of the business but as far as i know he is still around and doing fine....if anybody i ever met should have had lead poisoning it would be him.....DICK