Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting Got a question about wheel weights...

I would recommend the lyman sizer, you'll not regret it.

It's what I used before so I'm comfortable with that. Thanks.

head over to cast boolits they have a swap and sell and you'll likely find a good deal on a used one.

Mickey, I am sorely lacking in knowledge of metallurgy. Like karate, I know just about enough to get my azz kicked. I just try not to get the stuff hot enough to melt the zinc. That way I have one less thing that I don't understand to worry about. Plus I sort ahead of time. The zinc weights are easy to spot. Actually these days the lead weights are the easiest to spot because there are so few of them.

Alan

I ordered a RCBS yesterday. I had a good reason at the time but I can't remember what it was. I could have told you at the time I opted for the RCBS but it was something that I read in a couple of customer's reviews of the Lyman.

RCBS is a good sizer too.

Mickey, there is a guy on castboolits that will trade lb for lb zinc contaminated lead for straight lead. He makes cannonballs or some such. I always sort through my wheel weights first separating steel and zinc from lead. Also if you keep the heat down the zinc's will float.

After I get through sorting the zinc out of seven five gallon buckets I'll give him the zinc if he wants it or anybody else that can use it. I may see what a scrap dealer will give me if nobody wants it.

The zinc weights have more of a silver color and sand texture than the lead WW. Lead will be a grayish color and the weights will likely show some sort of damage from use. Zinc will be less damaged. Zinc also gives off a distinct sweet sickening odor that smells like hot galvanizing on an overheated stovepipe when melting. I've found them floating in the lead melt. Get them out. The less dense metals such as bullet jackets when melting range recovered lead and zinc weights will float to the top. The steel clips also float.

The other junk gets skimmed off the top until you have a mirror, silvery melt. Just have an old coffee can or other junk metal contain to dump your slag in. And old spoon works fine for skimming.

If your bullets aren't filling out, your molds may be too cool or you may need to add some tin solder to your melt. If your bullets are coming out frosty looking, your molds are too hot. It doesn't hurt them. But if they are frosty and aren't filled out completely, add some tin.

Also wrinkly bullets indicate the mould temp is too low.

You also might want to consider getting a cast iron melt pot just to melt your sorted WWs or recycle recovered range lead and pour them into ingots such as an old muffin pan and use your production pot strictly for melting your ingots and casting.

Thanks for all your suggestions.

Mickey, if you are convinced that your melt temps and alloy are correct and you are still getting less than perfect fill-out it might be due to a contaminated mold. The folks over at Cast Boolits told me about this and recommended a thorough degreasing of mold mating surfaces and cavities.

I'll degrease mine. I'm sure I hosed it down with brake cleaner but I'll do it again. Thanks.

not all brake clean solvents work equally well,some leave a slight residue,dipping the mold in really hot soapy dish water with dawn soap and a good brushing with a soft tooth brush followed by some alcohol seems to clean fairly well then immediately heat the molds to remove moisture and coat the surface with mold release spray.
the guys are correct that the mold won,t cast well until its fairly hot , I generally want my bullets to look a bit frosted, and adding 5% tin to the mix of wheel weights helps both bullet strength and the mold fill out more uniformly.


http://www.midwayusa.com/Product/76...mold-release-agent-and-lube-6-oz-aerosol
a build up of smoke soot from a wax candle on the surface until the molds surface is coated in fine black soot, will work but its not going to last nearly as long or work as well.

"..and adding 5% tin to the mix of wheel weights helps both bullet strength and the mold fill out more uniformly."

Yep. The antimony in WW solidifies before the lead, a bit of tin keeps the antimony in solution until it all solidifies.

I just ordered tin from Roto-Metal in cut pieces of wire. Now my question is how can I tell how much to add? I ordered 3 pounds but using a 20 pound pot will this supply last a good while? I know that it depends on how much I cast but I've never added tin before. In my past casting I just used pure wheel weights.

I fear that I'm making this too complicated. In my younger, and simpler days I just went at it. Now that I'm hanging around you guys I'm trying too hard.

That's the same conclusion I came to several years ago......., so, I just became young again. Life is some much easier that way, sometimes.

Alan

just fill the 20 lb pot with 19 lbs or nearly full,


of ingots and the first time its melted add 1 lb of pure tin, flux and stir it in, cast till its 1/2 used then add wheel weight metal ingots and about 1/4 -1/3rd lb of tin and let the pot re heat each succeeding melt time, really its not going to matter if you get it absolutely exactly correct, just try hard to keep it in the 3.5%-5% tin range and youll be fine, obviously you try to be as consistent as you can.
I generally melt wheel weight metal, flux it, and cast ingots in a muffin pan using a large iron pot on a turkey deep fry heater




http://www.harborfreight.com/12-inch-cast-iron-dutch-oven-44705.html

you only need about 2 oz of tin per 10lbs of alloy to get close to 2% tin alloy mix. 2% tin in an alloy is a LOT of tin, and that much is not really needed.

for 20lbs of alloy I'd add 2oz to start see how that works and at MOST add another 1 oz.