I had a 686 S&W similar to the one in the post below.
I was into reloading at the time.
A friend of mine owned a service station.
He gave me the old tire weights that were the normal for that time.
I would melt them down and pour the lead into biscuits.
Now to anyone that is looking for cheap lead that would seem to be a great idea.
However; I would never do that again.
What one would never notice is that the tire weight lead is full of grit.
I had a bottom pour pot and guess where the grit went!
Yep right to the bottom.
No big deal! Don't be too sure.
One day I was cleaning my 686 and noticed the forcing cone had scratches in it.
For the sake of me I could not figure it out.
Well my buddy that reloads told me the answer.
Grit in my lead.
So! Beware reloaders. Do not uses a bottom feed pot with wheel weight lead.
Matter of fact I would not use wheel weight lead at all.
Wheel weight needs to melted in a large pot and fluxed properly in order to remove all crap that floats to the top. Only then it can be recasted in the bottom pour pot. I do this to any uncertified lead.
A better idea is when you are making ingots ... flux the melting pot a few times.
Fluxing will bring all the trash to the top . I find it unusual that your grit sunk to the bottom , usually , with a flux , all trash floats . .
When casting wheel weights into small ingots I flux 3 times with Wood shavings and a commercial flux .
Stirring and skimming to remove impurities . Then after putting ingots in castin pot I flux that melt with cedar wood shavings (from pencil sharpener) beeswax and commerical flux ...two or three times , stirring and skimming of the trash .
I will gladly take any wheel weight lead you care to give me ... I know what to do with it .
Gary
Wheel weight alloy composition has changed drastically in the last 10 to 15 years. You need to be very careful about using wheel weights as a bullet casting medium. Google articles on wheel weight alloy composition and proceed carefully.
Pizza Bob is spot on. I have maybe 50 or 60 lbs of '70s/'80s wheelweight lead I fluxed, let cool in the pot, then re-melted and fluxed again before pouring into ingots. In that era wheelweights were nearly all lead with steel hangers that you could skim of; today's wheelweights are more alloyed
I have a bottom pour pot and a cast iron lead pot. I process lead in the cast iron and then cast out of the bottom pour. As has been stated above, lead needs to be melted, fluxed, skimmed, to clean it prior to being cast into bullets. Honestly, i treat all lead as dirty lead just as I process virgin brass as I would fired brass. But current wheel weights have no/little lead anymore.
I use a coffee grinder for wood shavings found this way works great. If you can find cedar smoking chips they can work great also. Basswood and balsawood does too but I need those for my fly fishing popper bodies.
Most of the hundreds of pounds of wheel weights I processed became fishing sinkers so grit wasn't too much of a problem. I never did find anything that sank in a pot of molten lead, dirt, grit and steel clips all float to the top given half a chance and can be easily skimmed off.
I'm not setup to reload yet. But I want to and read what I can. But have tons to learn. I did however see a neat setup that may help yall also. Jerry Miculek has one and saw him explain it once on YouTube. But he turned a small truck trailer into a nice bullet trap. With that he catches all his practice rounds etc and is able to recoup it all.. and alot cleaner. For someone who shoots alot and reloads I'd say it worth checking out. I plan to make a shooting desk/table one day that has a brass catcher beside it for all my brass too when I do get set up. When paired up I'd say it would reduce materials alot and keep dirt away to begin with too. But the trap was pretty impressive
I had for years been enthuised with casting.
I lived close to a machine shop that cast brass and alunimum.
A friend who lived in Asheville NC helped me develope a mold to cast Pewter.
He had CNC experience.
It took two years to perfect the molds.
I was successful in that endeavor and managed to cast 630 images of the coffee pot that is the symbol for Old Salem.
Well, by now it is obvious that you are aware that I was not a seasoned bullet caster, as I failed to seek advice.
Hense the mistakes a novis can make.😕
I had the equipment to cast but after the failure of the bullet try out, I sold it to another novis.
I can say I did enjoy the ride though and made some good looking bullets.
Of course my 686 did not go along with it.
My problem is finding time to cast. I have 5 gallon buckets full of wheel weights Just waiting to be melted. Who wants to come over and help? I have a shooting range in my backyard. We can shoot cast shoot cast shoot cast all day if you like. Heck bring your molds and I will share some lead. Any takers in sw Ohio LOL.
Every thing gets fluxed twice to make ingots,then a few 45lc bullets. I'll test the bullet hardness(Saeco) and mark the ingots from my 22 lb pot. When I cast the lead is fluxed again. My bullets come out bright and fully cast. I'll also use wood chips a wax as my fluxing media.
Antimony, selenium and tin (among other metals and metalloids) are soluble in lead, so they won’t separate out during melting (in fact, the heat makes them more soluble).
If we could skim only the dross, it should contain only the impurities and the junk we're trying to remove. The components of the alloy don't gravity separate, nor heat separate, but like the rest of the alloy, they do oxidize and float to the top. This is the scum that is seen on the top of the molten alloy. Fluxing helps to return the oxides into the alloy.
A more complete explanation can be found here:
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