I have about a 5 gallon bucket of used wheel weights that I am planning to cast when my Lee Pro-4 20 furnace comes in a few days. I am new to the casting game and this will be my first try at it. From all that I have read, 20lbs of WW to 1 lbs of tin is about the right alloy to match Lyman #2. The problem is the tin. I was going to try to use plumbers solider, but I can only find the lead free stuff. Can I still use that, or does it have other stuff in it in place of the lead that will damage the alloy? Also, how much tin do you guys reccomend that I use? I am going to start by casting tumble lube 158 gr SWC for my .38 S&W model 15 using the Lee 6 cavity mold. I hope to advance to 9mm in the near future. Any help is much appreciated.

I would recommend starting out with plain wheel weights.
As expensive as that solder is I just don't see it being worth it for pistol bullets.

Look around and see if you can find some cheaper tin.

Try your wheelweights without tin first. If you don't get a good fillout, get 95% tin (Sn) - 5% Antimony 5% (Sb) plumber's solder. Start with 1% tin and try 2% if that doesn't work. More seldom helps, and playing with melt temperature and pour timing is a better bet.

Bye
Jack

Like jack and Ken say, try the wheel weights first. I've cast several thousand pounds of them with nary a problem.

I have about a 5 gallon bucket of used wheel weights that I am planning to cast when my Lee Pro-4 20 furnace comes in a few days. I am new to the casting game and this will be my first try at it. From all that I have read, 20lbs of WW to 1 lbs of tin is about the right alloy to match Lyman #2. The problem is the tin. I was going to try to use plumbers solider, but I can only find the lead free stuff. Can I still use that, or does it have other stuff in it in place of the lead that will damage the alloy? Also, how much tin do you guys reccomend that I use? I am going to start by casting tumble lube 158 gr SWC for my .38 S&W model 15 using the Lee 6 cavity mold. I hope to advance to 9mm in the near future. Any help is much appreciated.

Comments about wheelweights are generally good. Check the packaging for the lead-free solder, you will find generally it is 95% or so Tin. This is close enough to consider it pure for casting purposes, you can ignore the remaining portion as it will have insignificant effect. Contrary to old practice using binary alloys (2 part) you don't need much Tin, only 2% or so, to help with castability. Add about 1# of Lead-free solder to 50# wheelweight and you will have as good an alloy for pistol bullets as there is.

According to the label, the "Oatley" lead free solider that Lowes carries (it contains tin, copper and selenium) (no percentages given). Do you think that these ingredents will damage the alloy? I have a good supply of WWs, so if I can just use WWs for 38 it would be much easier. Eventualy I want to cast 147 gr bullits for my M11 SMG with suppressor. Thanks again for the very helpful input.

Duane

I do well with straight wheelweight metal cast with a light frost at magnum pistol speed. I get good mold fill-out and they shoot fine.

Cheezywan

If you haven't done it already, you should clean up all of your wheelweights in another pot than your new Lee pot. You don't want to dirty up your good casting pot with all of the residue from cleaning up the wheelweights. Plus, if you use ingot moulds, you can more easily keep track of your mixture.

Al hit the nail on the head. Most of us use some kind of stove such as a Coleman and a big pot to cast up the wheel weights into ingots. I use a gas turkey fryer and an old cast iron pot and a stainless dipper to cast up the wheel weights.

A stainless spoon with holes in it lets me skim off the metal fasteners from the lead and it's easy to flux in the big pot. I use the dipper to dip the lead into an ingot mold. The turkey fryer was bought on sale from Walmart for 29 bucks and the pot and dippers and such were bought at the local good will store.

Ingot molds can be made from muffin pans from the thrift shop, but I like the cast iron one's that most mold companies make.

. . . I use a gas turkey fryer and an old cast iron pot and a stainless dipper to cast up the wheel weights.
A stainless spoon with holes in it lets me skim off the metal fasteners from the lead and it's easy to flux in the big pot. I use the dipper to dip the lead into an ingot mold. . . but I like the cast iron one's that most mold companies make.
Roger that almost word for word. Shows great minds think alike.;)

Roger that almost word for word. Shows great minds think alike.;)

You guys break my heart.
I thought that I was doing something "origional"
At first,I used a plumber's pot,but now I use a wider,bigger cooking pot.It's easier to remove the crap from the alloy.
Frank

Will using the Lee furnace to melt the WW really crud it up. I hadent thought about that. I guess I could use an old cooking pot.

You really need to convert your wheel weights into clean ingots before putting them in your Lee casting pot.

I have heard that aluminum pots will fail. Get a heavy cast iron or stainless model, 4-6 quarts is a decent size. Keep in mind that that much lead is VERY heavy so be sure whatever you put it on is strong enough to hold it.

I have never done so, but If I had no other choice I would build a wood fire in the backyard to rend out my weights.

Glad I found that out before I ruined my new Lee furnace, which I'm still waiting for. Midway sure seems to have alot of stuff on backorder these days. Thanks again guys.

I'm not going to say it will ruin it. It will just be a huge PITA to work up a five gallon bucket full of wheel weights in it.

The one time I felt Midway treated me wrong was over a back ordered item. I always compare them to Graf's when I order now. Usually Midway is a better deal for what I need but not always.

Glad I found that out before I ruined my new Lee furnace, which I'm still waiting for.

Turning WW into clean ingots can generate a lot of smoke and noxious fumes. It needs to be done outside. A propane Turkey Fryer burner and a cheap cast iron dutch oven project

Using your casting furnace to make bullets from clean ingots can easily be done inside given decent ventilation.

Decent smelting tutorial here: http://ezine.m1911.org/casting_frame.htm

-ktw

Rendering wheel weights in a Lee pot is not something I'd want to do. Too many obstructions to get the clips out very effectively. Coleman stove works fine. Turkey cooker even better due to more BTU's.

Alluminum pots are dangerious because they will get soft at temperatures you achieve with both of these stoves(you can boil water in a paper cup. Not the best choice to do so). Cast iron or steel is much prefered. Match the size of the pot to the diameter of the heat source(flame) for best efficiency. Done once, is no longer a chili pot.

Cheezywan

Most everyone agrees above that you don't need more tin.

Range scrap ( old lead from range's bullet traps ) usually has less tin than WW's, since it's primarily from swaged 22s and jacketed bullets. I find that when mixing WW's 1:1 with range scrap, the ww's provide enuf tin to make a castable alloy. This stretches the WW's a longer way, which helps since they're harder to come by than range scrap is.

This makes soft bullets that work well with low-pressure pistol rounds, esp. 45 ACP.
.

Would appreciate suggestions / recommendations for a WW and lead / linotype mix for a 45/70 and a 38/55 rifle --- non - hunting use .

Thks

Stan Douglas