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So I went and got a bucket of wheel weights from the local tire guy and what would you know 2/3 steel, 2/6 stick-on made of something different (lead/zinc?) and 1/6 max what i was after :-(
Any suggestion on where to get the real deal or maybe someone has a hording of weights they may want to part with (I will even pay with Waikato if required).
Attachment 179767
As Bob Dylan said "Time's are a changing". Lead is now considered to be a Hazardous product so there is movement over to Zinc weights ,I did not know of steel ?. So to counter this toxic material ,it's out . The flat square ones should be of pure lead .
Your only hope is to secure it while you can from where you can get it or to get a local foundry to make up whatever recipe you want ?.
hmmm yes some of the square ones were quite hard and some obviously soft lead. But yes steel seems to predominate.
I saw a lead keel from a yacht being cut up with a chainsaw once... go ask a scrap metal dealer for some.
Thought of making a driving band out of something else that's cheap and swaging it onto the cast bullets?
Wheel weights have gone the way of Linotype, unobtainium.
Straangely I tried to give away about 20 kg of lead on here a few years back and it was hard work! nobody wanted it, a lot was already into ingots and #2 lyman mix.
I gave a lot to a guy at work to make sinkers.
If you ever see anyone recovering large older telecom cables from ducting or inground......many were lead wrapped, You could have a shot (pun intended)
Or just cast the zinc weights?
Nah they don't cast well and make terrible slag.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cordite
:(Quote:
Originally Posted by johnd
I tried, he was out of it all together. I will try and visit again at some stage.Quote:
Originally Posted by 40mm
Pull the lead head nails off your neighbours roof.....Quote:
Originally Posted by 300CALMAN
I would love to try explaining that to Mr Plod...Quote:
Originally Posted by 257weatherby
Yeah all the new ones are zink
You are better to use pure lead and add tin to suit anyway I use 20-1 in my black powder rifles
Some use 16-1 that’s why it’s good you add enough tin to get the hardness you want
Wheel waights are not adjustable unless you want to go harder
I have a really reliable Source of both pure lead and tin which most won’t have available to them though
Definitely getting harder to find good Sources
That would indeed be usefulQuote:
Originally Posted by berg243
Or any other lead scrap
Wear a PROPER mask. Lead dust will fuck you up.Quote:
Originally Posted by muzza
Buy / make a cannon.... Problem solvedQuote:
Originally Posted by berg243
Pure lead is fine for slugs and buck shot (useful also!) but not much good for boolets. You need tin/antimony to harden it. Wheel weight metal was ok although I have added tin containing solder to harden it up a bit.Quote:
Originally Posted by berg243
Wow got quoted $100 kg for the 90/5/5 alloy. Cheaper to buy pre-cast
Ask any plumbers you may know. Lots of house roofs being replaced with tech screws which had lead heads or maybe house dismantlers with the amount of old dwellings being demolished for new builds.
Is it possible to get the lead out of car / auto batteries? Or is the acid and other nasties to problematic to deal with? I have four dead ones here. Going rate at the scrappers is 80c per kg.
From memory there is stuff in them which is not nice and they are a hassle to get the lead out of . The better option is to sell to the scrap dealer .Quote:
Originally Posted by timattalon
Attachment 180321Quote:
Originally Posted by Mauser308
It's no going to be fun opening car batteries, after you wash out the sulfuric acid you then have to crack the cases and remove the corroded plates. Melting it is likely to smell horrific.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tankd
Yeah that's a good point buy it's pure lead (still welcome) but wheel weights are half way alloyed to make a hard bullet alloy. Just add tin solder and your done. If you have pure lead you must source and add antimony also (not fun).Quote:
Originally Posted by BSA270
Are diving belt lead weights any good?
Sure are!Quote:
Originally Posted by Three O'Three
Ended up with a pile of 22rimfire lead and when melted it poured like porridge,so heated almost red and made cannon balls with it.Quote:
Originally Posted by 223nut
Attachment 180498Attachment 180499
That's probably where half the old wheel weights ended up!Quote:
Originally Posted by berg243
Sounds like it had some zinc in itQuote:
Originally Posted by Tedz50
Could be anything in the cheap .22 Rf bullets the match grade .22Rf are top quality lead a friend gave me a bucketQuote:
Originally Posted by Tommy
of recovered match stuff from a Smallbore / pistol range also had match Air pellets just needed some tin to cast properly
best lead I have ever used, Hit up your local Smallbore club they usually clean out the back stop yearly they only allow standard
velocity ammo so there should not be much crappy lead.
The last smalbore club got shut down by the council. Apparently there is one somewhere still in Auckland so I will inquire when we are all out of prison.Quote:
Originally Posted by shooternz
Zinc is shit, it's impossible to remove and makes glunky slag every time you melt it. Hard to cast even into fishing sinkers.
Apparently you can remove it with Sulphur. Watched a YouTube vid on it recently. Lot of effort tho and still not 100%Quote:
Originally Posted by 300CALMAN
yes that makes sense, the fumes would be horrible not to mention the damage to your smelter.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jhon
Sounds like its becoming wheely hard to come by :)
