Wheel Weights --- Stick-on vs. Clip-on for bullet casting

[Ridgerunner665]

Too much arsenic IS a contaminate...but at less than 1% it is a catalyst that works with the antimony to enable more hardening than antimony alone...

It is found in wheel weight alloy and the smaller shot sizes (shotgun shot)...believe what you want, but it is there.

These are the facts where cast bullets are concerned... http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletNotes.htm

 

[Ridgerunner665]

Yep....I am new, but even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and then.

 

[Bluehawk]

In one study of possible binary lead alloys it was found that the following elements, in the order listed, provided successively greater amounts of solid-solution hardening: thallium, bismuth, tin, cadmium, antimony, lithium, arsenic, calcium, zinc, copper, and barium.

Again you show no proof and the above statement from the link you provided is only one study...and it's about lead acid batteries!
One study is not a statement of fact!!!!! Talking to people who you claim are in the know, are not facts. With no real world experience, and just talking to people, hardly puts you in a position to throw "facts" around...sorry, but that's a fact!!!!!
Again...show me the MSDS.
If you were to go by the study's statement above you would have read that antimony is a better hardening element, as antimony is ahead of arsenic and it says..."in the order listed.."
(Shotgun shot is an entirely different animal and doesn't truly apply to handgun or rifle bullet casting.)

 

[Ridgerunner665]

You're not looking for it...

Thus each component contributes something different to the whole: tin provides cast-ability (2% is really all that's needed) and "mix-ability", antimony provides hardness and the ability to harden through heat treatment, and a small amount (0.05-0.5%) of arsenic (which in and of itself doesn't harden the alloy appreciably) significantly enhances the heat treat-ability of the mix.

*Tip: Lead shot has .5 to 1.0% arsenic (As) (depending on the manufacturer) and can be used as a hardening agent when heat treating lead/antimony alloys. 1/4 of 1% arsenic is all it takes. Adding any more than this adds nothing & will not further harden the alloy. Additional hardening can be achieved by heat treating when arsenic is present to approximately 30 to 32 BHN.

Those are from two different sources, both found on LASC

 

[Bluehawk]

Arsenic contributes to and enhances heat treatability...I don't argue that...what we are discussing is whether or not wheel weights contain arsenic!!!!
Again...shot is a different animal all together!

 

[Ridgerunner665]

Based on their heat treating ability (treated to 30+ BHN) ...WW's would have to contain arsenic, if that were all antimony it would take around 18% or more and they would be so brittle...they'd be useless

 

[snuffy]

I have not read of any real fact that proves your comment. Show me an MSDS that proves the manufacturers use arsenic in their wheel weights!
As I wrote earlier...RCBS considers arsenic (As) a contaminant and far outweighs what any "expert" on the forum has to offer! If it were of any real benefit I seriously doubt RCBS would classify it as something contaminating the alloy!!!!!!

So, RCBS are the real experts? They're relative newcomers to the casting field. Lyman has been around for much longer, if you consider they bought out the Ideal tool company.

So just who are the real experts? Clearly you don't believe what that guy over at LASC says. But who are you to say he's wrong. If time spent casting counts, I've been at it since 1972. I know enough about it to be real successful with cast for all my guns that can shoot lead bullets. I scrounge lead wherever I can, find out what the composition is, then alloy it to what I need it to do.

Fit and lube is a lot more important than how hard a bullet is. Much to much emphasis is put on so called "hard cast". I don't heat treat, no need for it, IF the bullet fits the bore and the lube works like it should.

If this were true, I suspect OSHA would have been jumping in and making up all kinds of rules for the guys at the tire shop and the CPSC would be having a field day!!!!!!
I have seen neither one of them get involved.

It's real difficult to make lead more toxic that it already is. A tiny amount of arsenic certainly won't do it! You DO know that arsenic of lead is derived from a lead compound? IIRC, it's a lead salt?

 

[ReloaderFred]

This thread went south at about Post #6. The OP just asked a simple question on whether or not his wheel weights could be used to cast bullets, and if he did well with his acquisition. All the yelling scared the poor guy off and he hasn't been back to get his answer.............

Fred

 

[9mmepiphany]

I think we're done here