Mystery marking on wheel weights

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  • Last Post 24 May 2015
billglaze posted this 27 April 2015

Does anyone know the meaning of the letters MC cast on clip-on wheel weights?I've got about 300 lbs of mixed zinc and lead weights (throw in some marked fe for ferrous, but that's not a problem.)  So far, the previously suggested use of a set of side clippers has worked as well as anything, actually it's the easiest system used so far to separate lead from junk.But, the MC cast on a large proportion of the weights has me stumped.  I've even got some marked with the symbol for aluminum;  why on earth anybody would alloy into a wheel weight some aluminum has me stumped.  Possibly it has another meaning.In any event, I'm getting a bit weary of sorting this stuff out; if something easier doesn't come to hand, I think the whole mess may be headed for the trash.  Right now, that's where the MC stuff is headed; it didn't pass muster with the side cutters.  Color me puzzled. Bill 

In theory, there's no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is. My fate is not entirely in Gods hands, if I have a weapon in mine.

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highstandard40 posted this 27 April 2015

I think the AL designates that the weight is designed for use on an aluminum wheel. I'll do some research.

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highstandard40 posted this 27 April 2015

The “AL” designates for use on alloy wheels.

The M is to fit a particular wheel profile and the C designates that the weight is coated (painted)

There are weights to fit many other wheel styles that use different letters.

The bad thing is that you can have an “MC” marking, yet it could be either iron, zinc, or lead. The MC just tells you what wheel it fits, not what it is made of.

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highstandard40 posted this 27 April 2015

Most are described here http://www.ammcoats.com/wheel-weights

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billglaze posted this 30 April 2015

Gentlemen; Thanks to all who responded to my inquiry. In my case, the side cutter trick seems to work best, but I still seem unable to judge 100% correctly. I tried the trick of getting the lead to where it just melted, then dropping in a weight in question. First, the new weight might want to Bob up, but it so chilled the lead in the pot, that the melt adhered to the questionable weight, and wouldn't let it surface. Then, by the time I was able to grab it, it had partly melted. Frustration. Tried several techniques; so far, no cigar. I'll keep trying things; something's gotta work.

In theory, there's no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is. My fate is not entirely in Gods hands, if I have a weapon in mine.

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badammo posted this 23 May 2015

You may want to try a melt with just the MC marked stuff and see what your as cast weight ends up to be. Watch the melt temp and how it fluxes. That should be an indicator of what it is and if it is usable or not.

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billglaze posted this 24 May 2015

So far, the old side-cutter trick seems to have worked pretty well, with me discarding any doubtful weights. I had cast up some bullets with metal I was sure had been contaminated; the as-cast bullets checked immediately after casting had a Brinnell of 30+, a sure sign of something rotten in Denmark. I have just cast a batch of .22's with an as-cast of 12; this indicates a satisfactory purity of metal, IMHO. I Heat Treated them to a BHN of 30; I'm going to be shooting them and chronographing them as a sort of control standard, doing so next Tuesday. I just did Chrono some of the first batch with amazement. For some reason, (no doubt mainly because of too much powder) some were as fast as 2600 f.p.s., entirely out of the ballpark. Accuracy suffered with some severe flyers. I'm highly curious to see about these new loads. Hopefully, I'll get a little accuracy; at least, I'll get a baseline for comparison.
And, I'm keeping in mind the suggestion for the metal segregation mentioned above; the sidecutter is a little slow, at least, when I do it. But, so far, it seems pretty fool-proof.

Bill

Bill

In theory, there's no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is. My fate is not entirely in Gods hands, if I have a weapon in mine.

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