Casting lead jigs and sinkers

[Sea Gristle]

I finally got around to melting down a bucket of wheel weights to cast into ingots for making jig heads and sinkers another time. I watched several helpful youtube videos on the subject, but most were about casting bullets and mentioned the importance of keeping non-lead wheel weights out, something about hardness. There were too many to sort ( And I couldn't tell any difference) so I just melted the lot. Should I anticipated any problem casting?

[flycatcher]

You'll likely experience problems casting related to not having the lead hot enough. Heat the mold up well (place it on top of te melting pot while the lead is melting, cast a few rounds of jig heads - use all of the cavities - without hooks first. You may find lines/wrinkles in the castings. Most significant problem is likely to be inability to get lead into small spaces - around the hook collar, bait keeping tab on hook shaft (if applicable). in a nutshell, hard lead has higher melting point and doesn't flow as well as soft lead.
Do you casting in well ventilated area.

[Sea Gristle]

Thanks. I noticed when i put the cold ladle in it sort of granulated (for lack of a better word) around it. I was using a turkey fryer and it got way hot so I turned it down and that's when I noticed the change in consistency.