BP bullets out of wheel weights

[altitude_19]

Supposing one was casting 50 cal Lee R.E.A.L. bullets for a muzzleloader: Do you HAVE to use PURE lead for these? Can you get away with straight wheel weights? I just don't know where I could find pure lead without having to pay for it.

 

[Mike 56]

I tried using WW for reals before they were way too hard to load. The good news is WW worked for ML balls i just used a thinner patch.
Mike

 

[earplug]

Clean the lead

Heat the WW to the correct temperature and you can skim the tin off the top.
It won't be pure lead but you can remove much of the alloy material.

 

[altitude_19]

So I should try to get the tin out. The biggest complication is if I can't load it into the barrel, then? Sounds like an easy test to run.

 

[Busyhands94]

If you want to make balls for a cap and ball revolver out of wheel weights use the stick on kind. I hear they are really soft lead and should work well. I make birdshot and buckshot out of the really hard lead or use it to make round balls to use with a patch, both uses work fine and get rid of my excess hard lead, and the lead still gets shot.

You can skim the tin out if you want, I have done that and it's not that hard to do. I like to dilute it with soft lead so I have a bunch of softened lead I can use, it works well

I also use it to cast .22 caliber bullets for my super companion, I use them with smokeless powder if I'm ramping up the velocity, to prevent leading. If you are casting .45 LC to shoot with a Kirst Konverter and you intend to use smokeless powder. I don't know that it will be fast enough to lead the barrel if you are using Trailboss, but If you intend to use blackpowder loads you should be fine.

~Levi

 

[thomaslea1]

roof flashings

Find yourself a roofer friend and have them save you the lead flashings from older buildings. Pretty pure stuff.

 

[arcticap]

The Lee muzzle loading molds are designed for casting with pure lead or else the cast projectile may be slightly oversized.
Not casting with pure lead will make loading even more difficult than normal since the REAL bullets have driving bands that are oversized to begin with.

The biggest complication is if I can't load it into the barrel, then?

Many folks use a mallet to help start and drive their tight projectiles down to the powder.
Use a starter and then if necessary, a longer sturdy piece of wooden dowel having a thicker diameter that's close to bore size.
Once the loading process has begun and the projectile has been forced part way down the barrel then it's hard to turn back.
Generally, just keep tapping and hammering it with a mallet using as much force as necessary until it's seated all of the way down on top of the powder.
It should get easier to complete the loading after it has gone part way down the barrel.

 

[FreddyKruger]

Stick on weights are almost pure lead. I've used them with great success.

 

[altitude_19]

Now I wish I had separated the stick on weights from the rest...

 

[NCWanderer]

I hate to sound dumb (maybe I am) but I know very little about casting bullets. How do you go about skimming the tin off of the molten lead. Do you use a ladle, or is there a better way. I may eventually get into casting so I guess this is one of the tricks I need to know.

 

[Pops]

You ain't sounding dumb...
A ladle will work, or an old spoon etc..
As you stir the molten lead, any alloy materials will come to the top..
IE zinc, copper, antimony, tin are some.
stir and skim, stir and skim.
Just that simple.

 

[wittzo]

From what I've read, the stick on wheel weights are about 98% pure lead, the clip on weights are about 95%. Watch out that you don't mix any zinc wheel weights in, if the temperature is high enough, they will mix together and ruin the whole batch, making the alloy too hard to be of any use.

Fluxing is part of the process to take the impurities and should take most of the other metals out of the mix, right?

 

[Hellgate]

Are you sure that stirring and skimming will remove the tin? Shouldn't you melt everything, stir and let it sit a while to settle out with the lighter tin coming to the top? Then skim. If the alloy is a solution I'm not sure it will even settle out with the tin at the top.

 

[NCWanderer]

Thanks Pops. I learned something today. But I've got to do some more studing before I invest in the equipment I'll need to begin casting.
NC

 

[Pops]

Fluxing keeps the different materials alloyed..it Keeps them mixed.
Without fluxing, the ingredients will separate...
most common materials, being lighter than lead, will float to the top...

 

[StrawHat]

Tin will not burn out of your lead alloy nor will it float to the surface to be skimmed off. If it were that simple, lots of fellows who cast would not care that the wheel weights are not a consistant recipe but merely whatever the maker could get cheaply. There are lots of sources for pure lead so you don't need to use wheel weights.

 

[SAA]

Tin will not burn out of your lead alloy nor will it float to the surface to be skimmed off.

It's true that one will never end up with 100% pure pig lead by "skimming tin off the top", but tin does oxidize out of the alloy more readily than the lead, and eventually the tin content will be lowered through dross removal, and some elemental tin that has not been fluxed back in the alloy may also be at the surface and skimmed off too. Linotype regularly had to be replenished with tin to keep it's alloy properties to remain usefull for type setting. Some of the tin bonds with the lead, while excess has to be mixed back into alloy from time to time.

 

[Frozen North]

What is the accuracy like with these REAL bullets? I have been pouring catfish sinkers from wheel weights for a good long time, and plan on buying a muzzle loader this summer. I think I would rather pour my own bullets than use these whiz bang plastic doo hickies.

My best friend is urging me to get into muzzle loading for the late deer hunt. He says it can be a real pain to get the plastic out of the bore.

Total noob, please enlighten.

 

[Gun Geezer]

It's true that one will never end up with 100% pure pig lead by "skimming tin off the top", but tin does oxidize out of the alloy more readily than the lead, and eventually the tin content will be lowered through dross removal, and some elemental tin that has not been fluxed back in the alloy may also be at the surface and skimmed off too. Linotype regularly had to be replenished with tin to keep it's alloy properties to remain usefull for type setting. Some of the tin bonds with the lead, while excess has to be mixed back into alloy from time to time.

Linotpe. I wager not too many folks have ever seen a type setter. I used to do that job as a teenager, then i was pressman, and then in circulation. Memories.

Now back to talking about lead.

 

[robhof]

I have a fast twist barrel for sabots and several traditional slow twist for ball and conical. A smooth barrel(tight wad doesn't run down like on a gravel road) is easy to clean of anything. I lapped my sabot barrel and my rough regular barrels and have no problem cleaning them. I use ww's for sabot lead and for patched balls, but not for REAL bullets, they are hard to start. Get the stick on wts for mag style wheels, they are as soft as pure lead and you'll have no problems with revolver balls or REAL bullets.