Using wheel weights mixed with pure lead

[TexasMac]

Guys,

My stock of pure lead is getting a little low and for some time I’ve been meaning to experimenting with mixing pure lead with wheel weight alloy. I have about 1,000 lbs of WW alloy collected over the years. I know some of you use it with good success & I’d sure appreciate hearing what works for you concerning final alloy mix and other suggestions.

Wayne

[mdeland]

My best alloy to date for BPCR midrange use has been 16 lbs of mostly lead with a bit of antimony, 3 Lbs. pure lead and 1 Lbs of tin for a 20 Lbs batch. This alloy still gives me a bit of barrel leading using veggy wads and Paul Mathews Lube but nothing like straight WW does. The BHN is 9 as I remember it right after casting. They don't seem to get much harder so there can't be much antimony in the predominate alloy I use. Four of us BPCR Midrange shooters went in together and bought 8000 lbs crane counter weight that was mostly lead but had a few bullet jackets found in it when we melted it down into ingots so must also have a trace of antimony in it.
I have found with straight WW use if I run them much over 1600fps the leading increases significantly without gas checks. I'm not sure one could even get a lead/tin alloy to work at all at 1600 fps.

[beltfed]

Wayne,
I , for years have used my alloy of 90% COWW/10% Linotype for BPCR bullets as well as pistol and smokeless rifle bullets, including
Schuetzen also. Have had very good results in casting with it with fully formed and very good weight control, especially more recently with using my PID controller on the lead pots. Have also had Very Good results , Accuracy wise, even out to 1000yds shooting with the BPCRs. and no leading problems when I have /had been shooting greasers.
Based on historical compositions of COWW(ClipOnWW) and Lino,
My estimate of the overall 90/10 blend iis:
94.5% Lead
4.5% Antimony
1 % Tin.

I have also in the past used straight COWW "sweetened up" with 2% tin to make it cast better . This has worked well also.
beltfed/arnie

[mdeland]

I use a lot of WW alloy now as our midrange venue has dried up in AK, mostly in the .357 Max rifle and now in a .357 Mag rifle. One thing I have wondered about and need to test is what effect water dropping has on WW alloy besides making it harder. I'm thinking it may cause increased leading but have not tested it out to see if this is true or not.
My water dropped WW bullets come out about 14 Bhn and stay pretty well in the same range for many years. The 15 year old WW bullets were 12 Bhn and I don't remember if they were water dropped or not.

[beltfed]

90/10 CHardness Measurements of Arnie Seitz Provided Bullets
(with Ross McCollum for Comparison) [02/05/2019]
Bullet SAECO Hardness Tester Lee Hardness Tester
Reading BHN Diameter BHN

DDEPP 371 Grain; 9+1 COW W/Lino Alloy (Arnie Seitz) 9 17.1 0.058 15.4
DDEPP 371 Grain; 1+16 (tin + lead) - Arnie Seitz 7 10.7 0.076 8.7
DDEPP 425 Grain; 1+16 (tin + lead) - Harlan Glover 7 10.7 0.075 9.0
SAECO 740 405 Grain; Home-brewed 20/1 alloy mixture
-Ross McCollum 5 8.0 .082” 7.4

OWW/Lino Hardness measurements vs 16+1,

[beltfed]

Tried to spread out the columns, but it did not work when I submitted the table
Hope you can sort it out.
Example, for the first one. 90/10(9+1) COWW/Lino bullets
Saeco : Reading: 9, BHN: 17.1 Lee: Diameter: 0.058", BHN : 15.4
Sorry,
beltfed/arnie

[desert deuce]

Seems like Michael Rix posted his wheel weight combination mix on this forum a few years ago and it does shoot quite well.

[TexasMac]

I forgot to mention tin in my original posting. Also, I am only interested in a WW/lead/tin alloy for greasers for BPCR silhouette. I do have a bunch of tin that I picked up some time ago for $5/lb. I do remember one or more shooters mentioning using WW alloy with some added tin and others using WW with pure lead added. No doubt some have tried WW with pure lead & tin added. Rather than starting from scratch with WW & trying all kinds of combinations I'm hoping someone has done some of the preliminary work and has a good WW alloy that works.

I plan to go with bullet diameters that match the groove diameter rather than relying on obturation and, of course, leading is always a concern.

Wayne

[Kurt]

50/50 makes a fine GG bullet and it holds nose setback good and fills the grooves 100%.

[beltfed]

Kurt, please remind us what is "50-50"

Wayne,
I imagine you are still shooting a brg 40-65.
You mention using groove diameter gg bullets.
I suggest you use neck I.D./freebore diameter bullets.
Should provide less of that lead blowby/wash for harder antimony containing alloys
that do not bump up.

[beltfed]

Wayne, also, I feel that 0.060 LDPE wads at about 0.414" that I use
does a better job helping reduce gas cutting on the bullet.
beltfed/arnie

[beltfed]

Wayne, also, I feel that 0.060 LDPE wads at about 0.414" that I use
does a better job helping reduce gas cutting on the bullet.
beltfed/arnie

[Kurt]

Arnie,

50/50 is 50% WW 50% lead by weight. I don't shoot GG, haven't for a long time but I was asked to do some snow shooting with that mix and I did it.
For some reason my .50-2.5 Shiloh does not shoot a PP as well as it will a Brooks Creedmoor nosed GG and I use the 50/50 mix for that rifle. I also have shot it in the .40-70, .45-70 Browning BPCR and the matching .40-65 BPCR, 44-75 Ballard, and the .44-2-5/8 Bn. It's a good mix if one wants to shoot WW greasers.
The old WW are rich in antimony and some tin that is what holds nose setback to a minimum......Kurt

[TexasMac]

Wayne,
I imagine you are still shooting a brg 40-65. You mention using groove diameter gg bullets. I suggest you use neck I.D./freebore diameter bullets. Should provide less of that lead blowby/wash for harder antimony containing alloys that do not bump up.

Wayne, also, I feel that 0.060 LDPE wads at about 0.414" that I use does a better job helping reduce gas cutting on the bullet.
beltfed/arnie

Arnie,

Both are excellent comments. I agree with you that going with freebore diameter is most likely better than groove diameter since the long freebore diameter in the Browning is about 0.002” larger than the groove diameter. I also plan to shoot the alloy in a Shiloh Sharps .40-65 which has a very short freebore but it’s also 0.002” larger than the groove diameter.

I do have a good bit of 0.060” LDPE wads & will give them a try.

BTW, I just received an email from a guy that’s been reading this thread. He said that Michael Rix’s WW formula is 50-50 wheel weights & lead plus 1% tin. I plan to try it with and without tin to see what happens.

Thanks,
Wayne