Hardness & Composition of Wheel Weights vs Lead Alloys

[MikeArthur]

This info is from Midway USA

Pure Lead: 99.97% pure lead: Brinell hardness-6

20/1 Alloy: 5% tin/95% lead: hardness-10

Hardball: 2% tin, 6% antimony, 92% lead: hardness-16
(similar to Lyman #2 bullet alloy)

Linotype: 4% tin, 12% antimony, 84% lead: hardness-22

so what is the composition of wheel weights and what is their hardness?
are all wheel weights consistent?

thanks, Happy Thanksgiving

mike arthur, hart's battery, chs, sc

[hobbler]

Wheel weights nowadays appear to have more variations in hardness than in the past. Maybe they have melamine in them. Anyway here's what they supposedly are:
0.25% Sn
3.0% Sb
96.75% Pb (and trace elements)
12 BHN
Small amounts of a few other elements (like arsenic, copper, aluminum) also contribute significantly to the hardness. I suspect that the different sources over the years have had different amounts of these and that may account for the differences in performance. If you want hard try to get the big truck tire weights. Sometimes they'll ring like a ten penny nail hit with a greasy ball peen hammer. Boy that's really dating myself...that was back when nails rang.

[MikeArthur]

so you made me look up my chemical symbols

Sn--tin

Sb--antimoney

BHN: Brinnel hardness

i wonder if the fumes from the trace elements you describe are good for one's sinuses

thanks,

mike

[J Weber 4114V]

The two places that has the most info on cast bullets,alloys etc are here

http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletAlloy.htm

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/index.php

Reading everything here should keep ya busy for a decade or longer

[MikeArthur]

"fluxing back in" is a phrase he uses...

when i use hardball for my henry bullsts, i may be skimmimg off key alloys...how does one "flux back in"? thanks
mike

[J Weber 4114V]

Lead alloys.
Lead when molten in contact with air will oxidize.This floats to top of pot.
Think lead,tin,etc rust. To fix that prob you need to flux. By adding carbon it hooks up with that extra oxygen atoms and is released and the parent metal is left.
Anything that will burn and turns into carbon will work,some just stink and smoke more. In the casting pot most shooters just use wax.Old candle wax is fine.In a 10 lb pot a lump the size of a small grape is enough.Throw it onto top of lead.Let it melt then stir it in well.
If you are using a bottom pour pot you can cover top of melted metal to keep excess oxygen away.Clay kitty litter works well.[I recomend CLEAN stuff for this :] You can just add more alloy right through the litter.
This does not work with dippers,they will need to flux more often.


When casting pure PB I very rarely flux.I use clean ingots that I have fluxed outside when casting then from the scrap I come across.Any dross that floats up I just skim off and save to be refluxed into next batch of ingots.

[MikeArthur]

was, when i flux the alloy and skim the top, am i taking out tin and anitmoney and thereby making the remaining lead softer

the one article seems to recommend fluxing back in the stuff to maintain the original hardness.

mike

[J Weber 4114V]

Fluxing returns the tin and other metals back into the mix.After fluxing the separation of the metals and the oxidizing process starts all over again.The more you disturb the melt the faster the process happens.
You can let this drive ya crazy! Don't.
Fluxing a couple times per 10 lb pot should be enough.

[MikeArthur]

does the stuff i skim off contain the harder alloys?

if so, does i not skim or what?

thanks

[RaiderANV]

Mikie,

YES.....you are tossing out a very small % of your tin and whatnot.

IF you flux during your casting BEFORE you skim you'll be leaving all the good stuff in your pot.