Wheel Weights

[jeepjackazz]

What's the consensus, or go to for info? I may be coming Into another drum of them and have always separated the lead vs zinc... are the zinc good for anything? Who in here cast themselves?

 

[dennishoddy]

I cast sinkers for fishing, but there are some dedicated bullet casters here that will contribute a ton of knowledge upon you.
Stand by!

 

[rmark]

What's the consensus, or go to for info? I may be coming Into another drum of them and have always separated the lead vs zinc... are the zinc good for anything? Who in here cast themselves?

 

[rmark]

I know zinc was being used for muzzleloading cannon balls.

 

[rickm]

Some people use zinc for fishing weights while other have experimented with zinc for bullets, personally i just put them back into a bucket for recycling.

 

[turkeyrun]

sinkers !!!!!!!!

 

[Calamity Jake]

You can't mix the two together, the zinc ruins the lead plus zinc takes more heat to melt
and is hard on molds because of the heat.
separate the two, keep the WW, sell the zinc for scrap.

 

[DRC458]

Yep. Don't use the zinc for bullets. Sinkers or cannon balls, OK, but not bullets.

 

[Buck98]

I separate the lead, WW’s, and everything else into separate piles. Melt WW’s and lead separately into ingots. Discard or recycle whatever is left. When I cast I use 2 to 1 WW / lead. Not too hard or too soft. I cast for 44 SP/mag,45 auto/ 45 LC, 38/357. Stir the pot often and flux any time I add more ingots. Haven’t had any issues (yet).

 

[RickN]

A bit of triva from my wealth of useless information. Towards the end of WW2 the Germans were low on lead so they starting casting 9mm bullets from zinc. The bullet was pointed instead of rounded and was loaded hotter. It was marked for SMG use only.

After the war some of this ammo was sold as surplus. Only problem is that ammo would punch holes in most indoor ranges backstops. Including one range that using the amour plating meant for a light cruiser that never got built.

Now this may be a fable but I have heard it from several people and the late Skeeter Skelton wrote about it in a gun mag.