Hello all! I am new to this site and to reloading in general.
I am going to cast my own bullets. I have an endless supply
of wheelweights. Can you melt these down and use only the wheelweight lead for bullets? Or, do you have to use an alloy of wheelweights and something else? Thanks.

Hello all! I am new to this site and to reloading in general.
I am going to cast my own bullets. I have an endless supply
of wheelweights. Can you melt these down and use only the wheelweight lead for bullets? Or, do you have to use an alloy of wheelweights and something else? Thanks.

What are you going to shoot them in?

WW alloy, as cast without any heat treatment, works for most standard and "traditional" magnum pistol shooting and rifle loads up up to 1600-1800fps. Won't work without heat treating for faster rifle loads or many of the very top "modern" magnum loads (thinking the .454).

If shooting black powder guns, much softer would be best...if shooting low pressure "target" type handgun loads, a little softer would be better....if trying to shoot to 2000+ FPS in a rifle, needs to be harder.

What are you going to shoot them in?

WW alloy, as cast without any heat treatment, works for most standard and "traditional" magnum pistol shooting and rifle loads up up to 1600-1800fps. Won't work without heat treating for faster rifle loads or many of the very top "modern" magnum loads (thinking the .454).

If shooting black powder guns, much softer would be best...if shooting low pressure "target" type handgun loads, a little softer would be better....if trying to shoot to 2000+ FPS in a rifle, needs to be harder.

Just reloading for plinking. 38/357 and 44.

Just reloading for plinking. 38/357 and 44.

Will probably work just fine...if there is a problem, it proably won't be the alloy.

Do melt in big batches...as large as you can arrange. IDea here is that WW's vary from one to another, so the more you get melted at once, the more uniform the results.

Sort out the "odd" ones...the ones with rubber/stick on backing, the bright/shinny ones, and the painted ones (will investigate what's under the paint later).

Flux a lot...stir deeply...then flux again...and again. The stuff is usually filthy with road grit, salt crystals, plain old dirt and mud, and a helping of filthy garage grease. Want all of that out of the melt; fluxing is the best way of getting it to rise (float) so you can skim it off.

Will probably work just fine...if there is a problem, it proably won't be the alloy.

Do melt in big batches...as large as you can arrange. IDea here is that WW's vary from one to another, so the more you get melted at once, the more uniform the results.

Sort out the "odd" ones...the ones with rubber/stick on backing, the bright/shinny ones, and the painted ones (will investigate what's under the paint later).

Flux a lot...stir deeply...then flux again...and again. The stuff is usually filthy with road grit, salt crystals, plain old dirt and mud, and a helping of filthy garage grease. Want all of that out of the melt; fluxing is the best way of getting it to rise (float) so you can skim it off.

Thanks! That is good info to have. Can't wait to get started.