Wheelweight Question

Yep, zinc for sure. That said, try heating it nice and hot, then skim off the 'oatmeal' if you can. You can still cast it as-is and shoot it, just don't expect stellar results. Tips for the future:

1. Get a good casting thermometer, and keep your melt at 650 or below, lower if you can. Anything zinc will float before melting an you can fish it out.

2. It's better to invest time in sorting. I've seen a lot of zinc now which looks just like lead, shape-wise...so...

---Youll get a feel for the density of lead WW's versus zinc.

---Aside from something obviously stamped 'Zn', it's hard to rely on stampings, raised or non-raised lettering, etc...If you see 'P', 'MC', 'AL' or the like, that's almost always lead; the stampings indicate use on aluminum/alloy wheels and motorcycles.

--When in doubt, use the sound test and use a pair of side cutting pliers. Lead wheelweights, when hit against concrete, tend to thump or sound really dull, and zinc and steel have a distinct ring and are very hard to cut with pliers. I've had lead WW's that ring a little bit, but the plier test tells me they're lead.

--Tape wheel weights are either pure, soft lead, the zinc and steel ones are almost always stamped 'Zn' and 'Fe', I just use the pliers test where it isn't obvious by feel or by looking at them.

You'll get a pretty good feel for when something's lead, and when in doubt, just use the pliers. This will keep almost all zinc out of the mix, and also keep you from accidentally discarding a lead WW.