Wheel weights for muzzleloader??

I finally bit the bullet and got a '58 Remington New Army .44 replica (made by F.LLI Pietta) that I have been drooling over at Cabela's for a long time. I was browsing the reloading stuff a sales guy came over and we got to talking about making lead balls for my pistol. He mentioned that some people who have access to them use old lead wheel weights to make balls to shoot... my brother works at a Ford dealership and they have 5 gallon buckets of these things.

So I do a little research on the net, some places say it is fine, others say don't do it because they are a funny alloy, and other say if you melt it twice the alloys seperate and you have pure lead...

Anybody ever done this before? I don't plan on shooting it enough to come out ahead of buying a box of 100 bullets for $15, but it sounds like it would be fun to do as long as I don't ruin my gun.

And here is my new critter getter:

I have used wheel weights to make lead sabbots and splitshot. Never had a problem with them at all.
Be careful when melting the lead the fumes off it are not good for you at all.
it isn't really as fun as it sounds, I buy my shot now instead of making it.

cool pistol.getting ready for black powder comp?

wheres my horse and cowboy hat.

a rancher down the road from me holds shooting,ax throwing and other pioneer competitions.looked fun so i got a .54 cal rifle to join in.

for your q-i'de think as long as you can still remove the lead with bore solvent it shouldn't matter.but i'de rather buy them as the lead is real bad for you to play with.

i've been looking in cabela's too,i want to start reloading my brass.

My step-dad buys the old wheel weights from the local tire shop. He pays $0.10 a pound to get rid of them for them. He melts them and makes his own bullets since he and my mom do competition shooting every weekend throughout the summer.

Nice gun.

Lead is toxic and can kill you. There's a reason it's called lead poisoning because it can poison you. Most of Europe has already outlawed lead wheel weights and the US will be phasing them out in a few years. When they get thrown from wheels and then get run over and ground up, they add lead to the ground water. Just my thoughts. Do what you want.

Nice Pistol.

rickcdewitt said:

cool pistol.getting ready for black powder comp?

wheres my horse and cowboy hat.

a rancher down the road from me holds shooting,ax throwing and other pioneer competitions.looked fun so i got a .54 cal rifle to join in.

for your q-i'de think as long as you can still remove the lead with bore solvent it shouldn't matter.but i'de rather buy them as the lead is real bad for you to play with.

i've been looking in cabela's too,i want to start reloading my brass.

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My dad wants me to join up with his cowboy action shooting group, I am going to see if I am any good first... I can see it being like tractor pulling where I am competing against a bunch of people that have nothing else to do besides practice with their top of the line equipment though.

I am looking forward to see how it compares against his Ruger .45LC though

Capt Jay said:

Lead is toxic and can kill you. There's a reason it's called lead poisoning because it can poison you. Most of Europe has already outlawed lead wheel weights and the US will be phasing them out in a few years. When they get thrown from wheels and then get run over and ground up, they add lead to the ground water. Just my thoughts. Do what you want.

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I would be using old wheel weights, not putting new ones on. A bucket or two in theory should last me for quite awhile.

I know lead is toxic, every gun I have shoots it either as pure lead or with a copper jacket. There are handling procedures that virtually eliminate the risk of it, mainly wash your hands right after you are done, and don't eat anything or touch your face until after you have washed. If I did decide to make my own bullets they would be made outside too.

This will mainly be for thunking (can't really call shooting a .44 plinking) and for a backup for my inline during muzzleloader season, sometimes one shot is good, but not quite good enough.

Thanks for the compliments everyone.

85_Ranger4x4 said:

My dad wants me to join up with his cowboy action shooting group, I am going to see if I am any good first... I can see it being like tractor pulling where I am competing against a bunch of people that have nothing else to do besides practice with their top of the line equipment though.

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SAS (Single Action Shooting Society or Cowboy Action Shooting) is what my mom and step-dad does.

When you melt lead its the fumes that will get you more so than the handling. Your handling procedures are also an excellent idea.

I personally leave enough lead in fields every year to sink a boat.

Nice gun though. It looks like a blast to shoot (pun intended).

engdept said:

SAS (Single Action Shooting Society or Cowboy Action Shooting) is what my mom and step-dad does.

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My dad has all but been pleading with me to go to a shoot just to watch this weekend, but aside from shooting my new gun I also desperatly need to change the coolant in my F-150 while the weather is nice, I might go but it looks doubtfull at the moment.

I really have too much stuff going on at the moment to add another hobby to the mix...

85_Ranger4x4 said:

I really have too much stuff going on at the moment to add another hobby to the mix...

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Thus why I have not started shooting with my parents.

85_Ranger4x4 said:

This will mainly be for thunking (can't really call shooting a .44 plinking) and for a backup for my inline during muzzleloader season, sometimes one shot is good, but not quite good enough.

.

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be careful though.i've heard more than enough stories of some nazi game warden busting guys for using other than the gun its season for to finish off game.but does the pistol qualify or is there another season for the blackpowder pistols?

what game do you have there? whitetail?hogs?

Blackpowder is blackpowder. Pistols are ok as long as they are .44 or bigger (to a point) and don't have modifications to put a stock or a longer barrel on them. (which would give you a 6 shot rifle)

My dad asked the game warden a couple years ago, he said it doesn't matter how many you carry as you can only shoot one at a time anyway. I also just checked the website and they say it is ok on there as well. I could carry a cartridge pistol if I wanted to according to the website.

I will be chasing whitetail deer.