Lead Wheelweights being eliminated?
- Thread starter Ben Cartwright SASS
- Start date
Well put.
I gave up turning wrenches 4 years ago. I still get free ww's from my buddies who work at new car dealerships but most of the 5 gallon bucket is zinc and steel. These days, half the bucket is unusable. Yes, the days of lead ww's are numbered. I now stick to heavy truck shops. They still seem to have lead ww's in quantity.
I am no fisherman, but I am pretty sure lead sinkers are now illegal in the Great Lakes.
Mark
OP
Ben Cartwright SASS
US Veteran
WHat is the best way to tell is a wheel weight is zinc?
When I am melting wheel weights to make ingots, I use my turkey cooker (I bought a new one for the deep frying) and a foundry metal pot with a 2 foot handle, it will hold 20 pounds of melted lead.
When I am melting the clips and some weights float to the top, I am assuming they are steel or zinc. I haven't been being very careful about the melt tempurature.
I have about 200#'s of raw wheel weights now, and 80# of ingots
When I am melting wheel weights to make ingots, I use my turkey cooker (I bought a new one for the deep frying) and a foundry metal pot with a 2 foot handle, it will hold 20 pounds of melted lead.
When I am melting the clips and some weights float to the top, I am assuming they are steel or zinc. I haven't been being very careful about the melt tempurature.
I have about 200#'s of raw wheel weights now, and 80# of ingots
Snapping Twig
Member
Keep your pot right @ 700F andthe zinc won't melt.
Another way to distinguish is, assuming you have a cement floor, drop them.
The lead will thud and the zinc will ting.
Another way to distinguish is, assuming you have a cement floor, drop them.
The lead will thud and the zinc will ting.
OP
Ben Cartwright SASS
US Veteran
I will do both!
I have a dirt floor in my shed where I cast, but I will put a couple cement blocks there
But the easier solution seems to be your recommendation of the tempurature
I have a dirt floor in my shed where I cast, but I will put a couple cement blocks there
But the easier solution seems to be your recommendation of the tempurature
DonD
Member
I wish I were White Cloud. I think the club has something like $50,000 set aside to have the top surfaces of the berms removed and screened to catch all the nasty lead slugs and remove them. Stupid bureaucrats. Don
Seems that while wandering about on an Interstate Highway lead poisoning would be way down the list on things that will kill you...
I don't think that getting rid of wheel weights will solve the basic problem here.
I don't think that getting rid of wheel weights will solve the basic problem here.
OP
Ben Cartwright SASS
US Veteran
I went to 4 different places today to try to get scrap lead, 3 said they have to sell to a rcycling company the other, someone beat me to it
Basic_problem
Member
- Joined
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Hey why is everyone so hyped up about the lead wheel weight issue? we should all be environmentalists and start demanding the ammo manufacturers stop using lead and only produce copper jacketed steel core armor piercing ammo for the civilian market. We also need to petition congress to lift the ban on steel core ammo to the civilian market in the US due to the environmental impact of lead used in bullets. Or better yet, since we don't seem to have a problem with the use of depleted uranium shells being launched all over Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel, maybe we can start using depleted uranium bullets in our every day firearms. Apparently that's not a bio-hazard. 
Andy Griffith
Member
Is depeted uranium still uranium? Can you cast it in your regular furnace?
There is one other way...
Mayco is over in Alabama, and will deliver up here in quantities of 2000 pounds or more- virgin lead.
Just get a few friends at your club and split a couple or more tons.
Makes great weights for your safe, too!
There is one other way...
Mayco is over in Alabama, and will deliver up here in quantities of 2000 pounds or more- virgin lead.
Just get a few friends at your club and split a couple or more tons.
Makes great weights for your safe, too!
Last edited:
bobf
US Veteran
The ones I've found so far have been marked ZN and are a different color.
Bob
I remember reading in a gun magazine many years ago about casting zinc bullets.
IIRC, those bullets shot well and the penetration was exceptional.
The cost to produce would be much higher with the heat needed to melt the stuff..not to mention the hazards involved.
Gotta' think of some use for all those zinc weights that will be available soon at the tire shops and roadways. We wouldn't want the kids eating them.
Would solid zinc bullets be considered armor-piercing (in a handgun) under todays regs?
The magazine article I recall was written way before the hysteria & regulations over the subject.
IIRC, those bullets shot well and the penetration was exceptional.
The cost to produce would be much higher with the heat needed to melt the stuff..not to mention the hazards involved.
Gotta' think of some use for all those zinc weights that will be available soon at the tire shops and roadways. We wouldn't want the kids eating them.
Would solid zinc bullets be considered armor-piercing (in a handgun) under todays regs?
The magazine article I recall was written way before the hysteria & regulations over the subject.
