casting with wheel weights

[Samdweezel05]

"How much lead do I really need?"

Depends on your age - getting harder to find. I suspect that is how they will finally squash shooting sports (not by taking away the right to own guns but by deciding that lead, primers, etc. are too dangerous for us to own and handle).

If you are a young man and like shooting - lay in a stock. 1,000 pounds of lead doesn't take up much room!




Very good point. Even if I don't use it, scrap lead is selling for about 50 cents a pound here so I won't lose any money on that.

[tomme boy]

WW's are a thing of the past. If you can get them, do it. Most states are banning them right now. They will have to use the new zinkers or the steel ones. Here in the next few years when most of them are gone, everyone is going to say " remember when.........." just like we say "remember when gas was $1.00/gal"

[bigedp51]

I stopped casting lead bullets in 1982 after the American Rifleman Magazine wrote an article comparing the lead content in bullet casters blood and plumbers blood. What made me stop casting with wheel weights was simple, bullet casters had very high levels of heavy metals in their blood from casting with wheel weights. Wheel weights are made from scrap metals that contain toxic materials and heavy metals and the EPA has plans to ban them and Europe has already banned them.

I wasn't worried about casting bullets that much for myself but at the time I had two young boys under the age of three and didn't want to expose them to toxic materials. The American Rifle magazine article said to make sure if casting inside that a exhaust fan was used and to keep young children away from the area where the casting was done.

Just think about this, Government deregulation means company profits come before health and safety.
And service stations and tire centers buy wheel weights from the cheapest bidders.

Wheel weights are made from scrap metal that contain:
Arsenic
Beryllium
Cadmium
Hexavalent Chromium
Mercury
Vanadium
Thallium

[Eric in NC]

Sloppy technique and careless behavior have nothing to do with wheel weights, pure lead, or other heavy metals. Wheel weights aren't the culprit (no more dangerous than pure lead or pure antimony or pure silver or pure mercury or pure chromium or...) - poor ventilation, failure to wear gloves, lack of clean up etc. is the issue.

Breathing fumes or ingesting particles of heavy metals is bad news - doesn't make a difference which metal it is really, all of them will kill you. Up to you to be careful.

Are you arguing for more government regulation? If the government made sure wheel weights were 100% lead they would still be deadly if you were sloppy or careless.

[bigedp51]

Eric in NC

95% of BLO - boiled linseed oil made in the U.S. is toxic and yet across the border in Canada it is not.
Here in the U.S. we used trichloroethylene in vapor degreasers and again it was banned in Canada and Europe as a carcinogenic agent.
As a inspector at a government overhaul depot we had to send machine shop lathes and milling machines to a toxic waste dump because they were contaminated with PCBs. PCB put in lubricating oil to prevent paying for its disposal by the companies that made it.

What I stated in my earlier posting has nothing to do with "sloppy technique and careless behavior" it deals with companies dumping toxic materials in their products to avoid paying to dispose of them properly.

Government deregulation means money paid under the table to politicians to ensure more and higher profits for the people at the top of the food chain.

Real BLO is raw linseed oil boiled in a enclosed container which causes the linseed oil to form long molecular chains (plasticizing) and this boiled linseed oil could be applied bare handed. Todays U.S. made BLO is raw linseed oil with resins added to thicken and as bonding agent and drying agents which are toxic.

Below MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets) information for American made BLO and its warnings and contents.

Skin Protection: Prevent skin contact. Wear chemical-resistant flexible-type gloves(neoprene, PVC, butyl, nitrile or similar). Depending on conditions of use additional protective equipment may be necessary such as face-shield, apron or coveralls.

============= Composition/Information on Ingredients=============

Ingred Name:COBALT NEODECANOATE
CAS:27253-31-2
< Wt:.05
OSHA PEL:0.05 MG/M3

Ingred Name:COBALT 2-ETHYLHEXANOATE
CAS:136-52-7
< Wt:.05
ACGIH TLV:0.05 MG/M3

Ingred Name:MINERAL SPIRITS
CAS:8052-41-3
RTECS #:WJ8925000
< Wt:.05
OSHA PEL:2100 PPM
ACGIH TLV:525 MG/M3;100 PPM

Ingred Name DIETHYLENE GLYCOL MONOMETHYL ETHER
CAS:111-77-3
RTECS #:KL6125000
< Wt:.05

Ingred Name:MANGANESE NEODEOENOATE
CAS:27253-32-3
< Wt:.01
OSHA PEL:5 MG/M3
ACGIH TLV:5 MG/M3

Ingred Name:MANGANESE 2-ETHYLHEXANOATE
CAS:15956-58-8
< Wt:.01
ACGIH TLV:5 MG/M3

Eric in NC, as an Inspector I spent the last 15 years of my working career inspecting the materials our goverment purchased and resurching these products for safety. When home heating oil has to sent to a test lab to check for toxic chemicals to see if these companies are dumping toxic waste materials, then it has nothing to do with "sloppy technique and careless behavior" it called "dumping".

[Eric in NC]

Just saying that "pure" lead is no less toxic than lead contaminated (or mixed with) antimony, aresenic, etc. Just like "pure" PCBs are no less toxic than PCBs contaminated with dioxin or whatever. All of it will kill you dead as a hammer if you don&#39;t use proper equipment and techniques when dealing with it.

I like Tung oil better than BLO anyway!

[Samdweezel05]

Wile I am casting I will probably have a beer in my hand, a cigarette in my mouth and after I am done I will probably use the turkey fryer to make some deep fried bacon and french fries.

[Eric in NC]

Wile I am casting I will probably have a beer in my hand, a cigarette in my mouth and after I am done I will probably use the turkey fryer to make some deep fried bacon and french fries.


Be sure to have neighborhood kids over to help and let them keep any reject bullets!!! :o

[stevec]

Wile I am casting I will probably have a beer in my hand, a cigarette in my mouth and after I am done I will probably use the turkey fryer to make some deep fried bacon and french fries.


Need any help? I&#39;ll bring beer. ;)

Steve

[Samdweezel05]

Wile I am casting I will probably have a beer in my hand, a cigarette in my mouth and after I am done I will probably use the turkey fryer to make some deep fried bacon and french fries.


Be sure to have neighborhood kids over to help and let them keep any reject bullets!!! :o




The neighborhood kids are the ones that do the casting. I don&#39;t go near that stuff,I hear it&#39;s bad for you.

[elkcrazy]

I&#39;m 63 and grew up in a family plumbing Bus. started fooling around with the lead pot when I was 8 most likely leaded several thousand joints and burn out the same casted a ton of bullets and use to carry lead pellets in my mouth when bird hunting sparrows as a kid my blood level for lead is normal as of 2/2011.

So at this point i&#39;m not really concerned about it.

Back to the question at hand I use straight clip on WW which have a BHN of 12 if I want them harder I water quench them which takes them to BHN 18.

I literally have at least a ton of scrap lead and 5lb-25lb bricks of pure lead and at least 100 lb of 50/50 solder and that does not count what is already casted.