Got lucky again - 100lbs of wheel weights

[Holderofthehorns]

Well, I started reading ALL of the messages on this forum. Started on page 2360 and am now up to page 1734. OK, not every thread, as there are many duplicated questions. After a while, a guy starts to gain an understanding of what is going on in this reloading arena.

So, considering casting 45 and 9's.
I go to the tire shop for some new Michelins. "Do you have someone collecting your wheel wieights?"

Nope. Sometimes he takes them to his brother (hundreds of miles) and he makes bullets, but it has been a while.

If I bring you an empty bucket, could I trade for the full one? Yes. <-- !! Sweet !!

So the bucket is like 2/3's full. Almost too full to carry. Guessing 80-100 lbs. Dumped some into a second bucket and took 2 heavy buckets to the truck.

This is my first attempt at gathering lead. I'm getting spoiled.

 

[FROGO207]

Good find there. It pays to ask.
Got a friend that owns a garage and he has an overflowing 8 foot pickup body full of used wheel weights. I get a few buckets full every now and then when I run low on lead. Being that I am a plumber there is no real shortage of soft pure lead either. Sadly there are areas that have made it illegal to get lead this way. Times are a changing, and not for the better I am afraid.

 

[Blkhrt13]

I've wanted to get into casting. But from what I can see it's a dying art as many weights aren't lead anymore.

 

[ih772]

OP, how many of those wheel weights are zinc?

 

[rondog]

I've never had any trouble with zinc weights, I don't know why people stress out so bad over them. Zinc melts at a substantially higher temperature than lead, so they just float on top with the rest of the garbage. Use a Lyman thermometer, keep the melt temp under control, scoop off the garbage. No problem.

 

[lightman]

Nice Score! If you plan to get serious about casting try to build up a stock pile. Free lead will get harder and harder to find.

 

[sbwaters]

Yeah, well, you missed one wheel weight.

That was the one that punctured the center of my tire Friday, sticking all the way in and costing me $345 to replace. :-/

 

[JT-AR-MG42]

That was the one that punctured the center of my tire Friday, sticking all the way in and costing me $345 to replace

I wondered where that sucker came off!
Could you mail it to me?
The wheel weight only please, you can keep the bill!

That there is some bad luck.
Today can only get better.

JT

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

I work at a dealership, so the vast majority of the cars that run through our shop are less than 10 years old.
Haven't seen a lead weight in two to three years.....

 

[Holderofthehorns]

OP, how many of those wheel weights are zinc?

I don't know yet. The buckets are in the garage until I can get a half day to deal with it.

 

[Bush Pilot]

Yeah, well, you missed one wheel weight.

That was the one that punctured the center of my tire Friday, sticking all the way in and costing me $345 to replace. :-/

I think I'd avoid going back to that tire shop if they didn't even know where wheel weights belonged on a tire.

 

[Rottweiler]

Showing up with a box of fresh donuts from the local bakery or a cold 12 pack of beer in hand when you stop to pick up those buckets of wheel weights goes a long way toward insuring that you get the next bucket too. hint hint

 

[rsrocket1]

Even if half of the weights are zinc, its a great score!
$0 for 50 pounds of free lead is better than paying anything for the lead. You may have to do some sorting or be a little careful when you smelt them, but it's worth it. Be especially nice to the folks at that shop!

 

[Holderofthehorns]

^^^ Thank you. That was my feeling as well. Even if half of them are lead, I win.

Actually, this was a small town tire shop. Most of the customers have older cars. No dealership stuff in there.
I bet there will be more. I'll check back with him at Christmas.

Now to source some Tin and Linotype. And more lead. And some 200 gr conical flat nose 45 ACP molds. And some lube.
And a sizing die or Lubrisizer. And a Lee bottom pour pot.

Crap... I sure am saving money now!

 

[brewer12345]

^^^ Thank you. That was my feeling as well. Even if half of them are lead, I win.

Actually, this was a small town tire shop. Most of the customers have older cars. No dealership stuff in there.
I bet there will be more. I'll check back with him at Christmas.

Now to source some Tin and Linotype. And more lead. And some 200 gr conical flat nose 45 ACP molds. And some lube.
And a sizing die or Lubrisizer. And a Lee bottom pour pot.

Crap... I sure am saving money now!

If you are doing 45 I would just start with straight wheel weights, tumble lube, and get a Lee sizing die. Cheapest way to go and get good results. For lube you can order 45/45/10 from white label http://lsstuff.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=47 Now all you need is a mold and the pot.

 

[Holderofthehorns]

Thanks, Brewer. Cheap will get me going. The other stuff can come later.

 

[blue32]

You're doing better than some of us. I've been casting for 3 years and have only been able to score 12 individual cowws. Half were zinc.

 

[Holderofthehorns]

OK. Some wheel weights in the dutch oven on the turkey fryer burner. Using the Laser Gun Thermometer, I watched the melting.
Seems it started melting at 450f ?? I thought lead melts at ~630f. So, tin melts at ~430.

Was I seeing tin content melting?
The steel and a bit of zinc did float and was scooped off.
The ingots I cast sure did look silvery. Am I looking at a high tin content?
Is the surface temp of melted lead ~200f lower than the bulk of the liquid? I would think the temp would be fairly consistent. Or... is the laser thermometer not adequate for this job?

What do you think?

 

[Holderofthehorns]

To answer the "how much is lead?" question. About 60% by volume. More if judged by weight.

 

[Pelo801]

www.engineeringtoolbox.com/melting-temperature-metals-d_860
According to this, the difference in melt temps is about 160 F., with zinc melting at the higher temp.

I have always had better luck with mold fill if i ran my lead closer to 700 F., so its too close for me. And i found out by mixing some lead with zinc weights. Zinc isnt as dense so casts a lighter bullet. That particular batch, i was casting with a 310 gr 45 colt mold and 124 gr 9mm mold. The bullets came out at 305 gr and 123 gr, respectively. So the weight wasnt a big deal, but i have no way of knowing what the ratio of lead to zinc was. And i dont worry about zinc in the barrel. But its something i try to avoid now.

But free lead is free lead and sorting isnt bad at all. So congrats on that.

 

[30Cal]

Pure lead will melt at like 620'ish. That would be where the stick-on wheel weights start to melt. The clip on's go a heck of a lot sooner due to the alloy. 450 for the mushi-ness sounds about right. Tin will eventually oxidate and the oxide will float on the top. You need to flux and stir to keep from tossing it with the dross.

Weed out the zincs before you smelt everything. Zincs sound different (when you drop them on the floor), and don't squash with a pair of dykes. A lot are marked with a Z or a ZN. You'll get the feel for it as you go.

I've never tinkered with Lino. I shoot 50/50 clip-on to stick-on wheel weights for rifle bullets (sometimes quenched in water, but moving to powdercoating where it doesn't matter). For pistols, I use like 1:3 clip-on to stick-ons.

I use pewter for tin. I add just a wee bit as I'm casting. Tin reduces surface tension and allows the lead to fill out the mold so you get nice sharp corners etc.

 

[30Cal]

I smelt the clip-on wheel weights into their own ingots. The zinc clip-on's are the harder ones to spot when sorting by hand, but they're pretty obvious in a sea of other melted clip-ons.

The stick-ons as I said earlier are pretty pure and won't got till the melt is much hotter. But if you can cut them easily, rest assured, its lead and keep pouring on the heat.

 

[Charliefrank]

Well, I started reading ALL of the messages on this forum. Started on page 2360 and am now up to page 1734. OK, not every thread, as there are many duplicated questions. After a while, a guy starts to gain an understanding of what is going on in this reloading arena.

So, considering casting 45 and 9's.
I go to the tire shop for some new Michelins. "Do you have someone collecting your wheel wieights?"

Nope. Sometimes he takes them to his brother (hundreds of miles) and he makes bullets, but it has been a while.

If I bring you an empty bucket, could I trade for the full one? Yes. <-- !! Sweet !!

So the bucket is like 2/3's full. Almost too full to carry. Guessing 80-100 lbs. Dumped some into a second bucket and took 2 heavy buckets to the truck.

This is my first attempt at gathering lead. I'm getting spoiled.

Good deal,they make excellent bullets.

 

[flashhole]

Yes they do. I've done several smelts with wheel weights. Not hard to smelt but you have to keep up with removing the dross. Liberal fluxing during the initial smelt cleans the lead up a lot. That's important when putting it in a casting pot, especially a bottom pour pot.