my first attempt at casting.

[rammit]

I finally succeded in finding a supply of lead wheel weights, and had time try my hand at casting this weekend. I picked up a saeco and lee mold ad a pawn show for 15$ each a while back and ran a few bullets through them yesterday. I think they turned out pretty good, all though im almost positive that there's a few zinc weights that didnt get spotted when sorting before the pot.

These are a saeco 225 gr .45 mold. All came out at about .452 and average 234 grains. No idea the hardness yet, i just wanted to see if my lead was goign with work with
the zinc in it

[rondog]

Nice! I haven't tried casting yet, kinda afraid of what I'll get started! But from what I've read, any zinc weights in your pot "should" have floated to the top along with the steel clips, and you should have been able to scoop them out. They say that the zinc weights melt at a much hotter temp than the lead, and it's really not that likely they'll melt into your lead unless you just get it really hot. But, I don't know that for fact, just what I've read.

[Zombie Steve]

Congrats. I've only been casting for about 7 months. Fun stuff for those with a tinkering nature...

I have a feeling that they'd come out light if they had a bunch of zinc in them...

[rammit]

I'm almost positive there's some zinc because I noticed some clips that I see on my other zinc weights, they appear the weights are riveted to the clip, so maybe a tiny amount isn't as bad as everybody makes it out to be

[Guylee]

I'm almost positive there's some zinc because I noticed some clips that I see on my other zinc weights, they appear the weights are riveted to the clip, so maybe a tiny amount isn't as bad as everybody makes it out to be

A little bit of zinc isn't a big deal...trust me, if you're melting full zinc weights, your pot is turned up WAY too high.

[jerrymrc]

Those look nice. I am still buying bullets but I have everything to cast. I do need to pick up some Linotype as all I have is dead soft lead.

[PSS]

2% of zinc will alloy with lead. So a few clips won't hurt it much. Will make it harder and lighter.

Pure lead melts at 621f, alloys melt at a lower temp (linotype 462f) and zinc melts at 786f. Its a real good idea to buy an inexpensive hi temp thermometer to help regulate the temp. It will keep you from getting the lead contaminated and if you use it while casting it will help with the quality of your cast bullets.