WW question with photos

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  • Last Post 30 July 2009
Seabee posted this 25 July 2009

I have 2 photos of WW. the first 3  are harder than the other 4. NO# 1 has a grey paint on it. MC MARKINGS #2 has a silverish paint on it.  IAW MARKING

3 has AL-MC

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CB posted this 25 July 2009

Seabee

They all appear to be zinc in the top photo.. Try to melt them with some lead ww and see if they float. If they do pitch em.

Stephen Perry

Angeles BR:fire

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Seabee posted this 26 July 2009

Thank you. I will give it a try . I have been looking for the ZN marking but nothing..

Are lead WW all lead or do they have tin in them too?

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CB posted this 26 July 2009

Seabee

WW should have some antimony to give them some bite. No need for tin if not. My observations.

Stephen Perry

Angeles BR:fire

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Coydog posted this 26 July 2009

Seabee

  I had check on the internet seach on ww to try to see what ones would be zinc and there is different comp. that make them the ZN is the way one comp. mark them . The orthers do not the orhter writtien on them for the letters is for the tire shop to know what rim to put the ww on and what auto . I had wonder myself of how to tell also . bu the only way to really know is what Steve had told you . But you have the heat down low for just the lead to melt and when you start to clean the slag off you will have the zinc ones on the top . I found that out when I got some ww and had it low just for the lead to melt. Hope this will help . Ortherwise if it has ZN that is easy ones to find.

Coydog

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Seabee posted this 26 July 2009

I have weighed all my 500g 45's they range from 471 to 492 about half are 477 and 478. Now my 405g 45's turned out to be over 405 . Many are 408 up to 430g. I have had some great help from Duane. I need to work on the basics . Heat and what not..

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peter nap posted this 28 July 2009

In the top photo, the one on the left and right could be either zinc or lead. The center is almost certainly zinc.

The only real way to tell is the low temperature melt.

You can also try to peel a sliver with a knife but still melt to be sure.

I spent a lot of time on the phone with wheel weight manufacturers trying to find out about markings. The quick answer is...Most American manufacturers do mark wit a Z or ZN...but a lot of WW's are being made in China. No one really knows if they even know if zinc is in theirs so for the most part...no Z mark.

The bottom line is still a low temp melt. After you make your ingots you know what's in them so you can go to higher casting temperatures.

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JetMech posted this 28 July 2009

650 - 700 F maximum. I throw out the clearly zinc ones, (grey paint, marked ZN), then heat the rest. It will be obvious, Seabee.

WW normally have a small amount of tin, but it's often insufficient to get good mold fill-out. If that's a problem, adding 2% tin will solve it. They also have about 3% antimony, which is important if you want to heat treat or water quench your bullets to obtain a harder bullet.

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hunterspistol posted this 28 July 2009

   I picked up some new wheelweight, they've been recycling and using lots of silver paint apparently.  Wheelweight does indeed have enough antimony to heat treat, water quench is hard enough for high velocity rifle loads.  It's fairly hard lead anyway.

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Seabee posted this 29 July 2009

Thank you for the replys. I have had no issue with filling the mold. the bullet looks good. frosty . I drop them in a bucket of water. I do have issues some time with the lead getting hard and pluging up the hole while filling. To stop that I have heated the mold more where the holes are.

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hunterspistol posted this 29 July 2009

  Sometimes, if the screw that hinges the sprue cutter gets a little loose, it gets clearance under it and starts that. If you pop them out too quickly, evidenced by a lead smear under the sprue plate and, torn sprue holes in the bases, it will put the clearance in without the screw being loose. Take a minute and check out your mold, this is the fun piddling part!

    You can scrape the top of the mold with a sharp knife or razor, and maybe the bottom of the sprue plate(provided the mold is cast iron).

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Seabee posted this 30 July 2009

I had some smearing on the Alum molds at some point . More after the fact as i was heatinh the top of the mold more so it would not get ard and plug the hole before it was full.

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