Casting wheelweights

[Barr]

You can also sort weight by using a wire cutter to crimp the end of the weight. If the cutters have limited penetration into the weight it is not lead.

Magnets also help sort steel weights.

Hitting the weight on a hard surface also allows you to sort. The lead weight will "thud" and the others will ring.

Keep melting temps below 700 during smelting and you can also sort that way.

 

[Zeke/PA]

I'm fortunate enough to have a very ample supply of pure lead on hand,so much so that I can earmark the wheelweight stuff for fishing lures,sinkers,jigheads etc.
My Old Army and my T/C Senaca just LOVE the homecast pure lead balls.

 

[Curator]

kawaliga,

Once WW alloy fully hardens it actually becomes a bit "springy." My ASM Walker has plenty of leverage to seat an oversize WW ball at full hardness. My Ruger Old Army had had a replacement lever installed after bending the original on a hard WW ball. Dead-soft lead has no "grip" once seated. I am sure that is also true of annealed WW metal. You can check this yourself by measuring sized bullets of varrying hardness. Dead soft pure lead and wheel weight bullets cast that same day run through my .454 sizing die and come out .4541 but 2-week old air cooled wheel weight bullets come out .4545 due to alloy "spring-back."