Wheel weights for bullets

I just saw this thread, and thought I'd add my $0.02.

I've been casting my own bullets since about 1970, and making my own shot since the mid 80's.

I got out of the Army in 1970 and bought my first centerfire handguns, a Ruger Blackhawk .357 and a 1911 .45 acp.  Wheel weights were the best source of lead that I could find and was fairly inexpensive.  I bought a couple of different moulds in each of those calibers, and began casting bullets for them.  I'm still using them plus quite a few more. 

About 1975 I bought a Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 mag and began casting for it also.  For full power loads in my .357 and .44 mags, I like bullet designs with gas checks to help reduce barrel leading.

Also in the early 70's, Colorado began having a early muzzle loader season for deer and elk.  I built a .45 cal Kentucky percussion rifle for deer, and a year or two later I built a .54 cal Hawken percussion rifle for elk.  I started casting round balls for those black powder rifles and also .36 and .44 cal round balls for a couple of black powder pistols.  Like someone posted eariler, pure lead is usually preferred for muzzle loaders.

Over the years I have also bought moulds for many of my centerfire rifles from .25 caliber up to .375 RUM.  I've found that reduced velocity cast bullets make excellent practice loads at 50 to 100 yds with my hunting rifles.  I make all these bullets from wheel weights and they are cas check bullets.

In the early 80's I also started shooting a lot of Trap and by the mid 80's I was shooting about 10,000 12 ga shotshells per year.  To help keep my reloading costs down, I began making my own lead shot.  Back then wheel weights worked great.  Wheel weights have just enough antimony in them to cast hard bullets and hard shot.

By the mid 90's I was shooting more skeet than trap, but I was still loading 10,000 shot shells a year, but in additon to 12 ga, I was also loading 20 and 28 ga and .410 shells, all with my homemade shot.

I no longer compete in trap or skeet, but I still shoot 100+ shells at one or both of them every week.

Straight wheel weights make good cast rifle or pistol bullets and good hard shotshell shot.  HOWEVER the greenies and their lead parinoia are getting the lead WW's replaced with steel and zinc weights.  The steel weights are harmless, but the zinc weights raise havoc with bullet casting.  The zinc will clog the nozzles if you are making shot and it will create voids and not completely fill out cast bullets.

Sort your wheel weights before you melt them and throw away the zinc before it contaminates your lead mix.