Casting my own bullets

[John from MD]

Dont forget antimony

For what? Surely not for muzzleloaders.

 

[trickg]

Somewhere there's a 3% joke waiting to happen.

The most obvious source of lead for the longest time was wheel weights, but lead WW are getting harder and harder to come by - at least here in Central MD. In the reading I've done recently it seems like it takes a good bit of time to sort them, and if you do accidently try to smelt and you have zinc weights in the mix, it ruins the whole pot.

I wonder what my Dad would think if he was still alive. People used to marvel that we shot heavy handguns all the time, but he cast bullets for everything and it was as simple as getting a 5-gallon bucket of wheel weights from the Farmer's Co-op. In his reloading notes, he has a few places where he said he reloaded for one of the guys who worked there in exchange for the WW hookup. They were almost the perfect alloy for pistol, but he had some linotype and pure lead he'd add here and there depending on hardness and what he needed it to be.

I have his old Saeco Brinell lead hardness tester, but I didn't wind up with any of his molds or his luber/sizer.

Saeco Lead Hardness Tester

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Fundamentally I understand the process - I cast under his tutelage when I was a kid - but it's just not something I'm going to get into now. Maybe when I retire.

 

[wilcam47]

Somewhere there's a 3% joke waiting to happen.

Exactly

 

[toppkatt]

I do use slightly harder (alloy) lead for the Spencer. Others pure soft lead.

 

[gungate]

OK - Just ordered a bottom pour smelting pot and 2 molds - 36 and 50. Both are the 2 round ball versions.

 

[John from MD]

OK - Just ordered a bottom pour smelting pot and 2 molds - 36 and 50. Both are the 2 round ball versions.

I hope you have a casting thermometer.

 

[gungate]

I hope you have a casting thermometer.

"melted" isn't enough?

 

[John from MD]

"melted" isn't enough?

By the time you get the process down, you will be on your way to becoming a mad scientist.

It really is more complicated that it looks. But, I will try to give you some simple steps. You really do need a thermometer as you can make good looking balls without one but they won't be the right size.

The next paragraphs assume that you have read the basic parts of the Lyman Lead Bullet manual and Lee Precision instructions. WARNING. Never get water near the mix as it will explode sending molten lead in all directions. SWEAT IS WATER so don't lean over the pot.

1. Put the ingots of soft lead in your pot and set the dial at 8. As it melts, add more until you are about 3/4 of an inch from the top. While you are waiting for the lead to melt, rest your degreased mold on the top of the pot so it gets pre heated. When the lead is molten, you can dip the edge of the mold in the metal as per the LEE instructions.

2. Put your thermometer in and adjust for about 750 degrees. When it gets molten, drop a piece of candle wax or oiled sawdust or lithium grease (assuming you don't have flux powder). It only takes a pinch, about the size of a pea.

These will all smoke so live with it or drop a match head in the mix to light off the vapors. Then stir the metal with a spoon or your ladle so the impurities come to the top. Skim them off with a spoon and discard.

2. While you are waiting for the lead to melt, rest your degreased mold on the top of the pot so it gets pre heated. When the lead is molten, you can dip the edge of the mold in the metal as per the LEE instructions. Next you take a Q tip and put a little two cycle engine oil on it and touch it to the alignment pins, sprue plate pivot pin and rub it on the top and bottom of the sprue plate. Do this sparingly and it will keep lead from sticking to the sprue plate.

3. Now start pouring some balls. You want to allow the lead to puddle on top of the mold cavity as the lead shrinks as it cools. You will not make good balls initially because your mold will be too cool. Even though it may be 400 degrees, it will be too cool and you will get lines and voids in your casting. No big deal, this is a learning process. With a two cavity aluminum mold, you should be able to keep the mold hot without using a hot plate. Just remember, if you see lines in the ball, either the melt or the mold is not hot enough.

That is as basic as I can get but, as you can see, it is not as easy as Mel Gibson makes it look in The Patriot. !

 

[trickg]

I don't ever remember Dad casting with a thermometer - he had a propane stove, some cast iron cauldrons and a 75 gallon propane tank. He cast tens of thousands lead bullets and I can't recall a thermometer at any point.

It could be that he'd been doing it long enough by the time I was old enough to remember, (he was 40 the year I was born after all) that he simply knew how to adjust the flame by how it looked.

 

[The Saint]

"melted" isn't enough?

Generally speaking, melted IS good enough. You can start to learn by eye with the temperature past just "melted", too. Colors might change or skin might form faster, or your pours might be wrinkly...just learning experience. I don't use a thermometer...just my eyes and knowing my lead pot.

 

[Blacksmith101]

Snip......

The next paragraphs assume that you have read the basic parts of the Lyman Lead Bullet manual and Lee Precision instructions. WARNING. Never get water near the mix as it will explode sending molten lead in all directions. SWEAT IS WATER so don't lean over the pot.
Snip.....

We refer to that as getting a visit from the Tinsel Fairy.

 

[John from MD]

I never used a thermometer when growing up and casting on the kitchen stove either. But, I wasted lots of time culling bullets and, we didn't make the best bullets then either. The kill area on a deer is 8 inches so you don't have to make MOA capable bullets to do that.

Using a thermometer for casting makes your sessions more efficient and you have less returns to the pot.

 

[gungate]

By the time you get the process down, you will be on your way to becoming a mad scientist.

It really is more complicated that it looks. But, I will try to give you some simple steps. You really do need a thermometer as you can make good looking balls without one but they won't be the right size.

The next paragraphs assume that you have read the basic parts of the Lyman Lead Bullet manual and Lee Precision instructions. WARNING. Never get water near the mix as it will explode sending molten lead in all directions. SWEAT IS WATER so don't lean over the pot.

1. Put the ingots of soft lead in your pot and set the dial at 8. As it melts, add more until you are about 3/4 of an inch from the top. While you are waiting for the lead to melt, rest your degreased mold on the top of the pot so it gets pre heated. When the lead is molten, you can dip the edge of the mold in the metal as per the LEE instructions.

2. Put your thermometer in and adjust for about 750 degrees. When it gets molten, drop a piece of candle wax or oiled sawdust or lithium grease (assuming you don't have flux powder). It only takes a pinch, about the size of a pea.

These will all smoke so live with it or drop a match head in the mix to light off the vapors. Then stir the metal with a spoon or your ladle so the impurities come to the top. Skim them off with a spoon and discard.

2. While you are waiting for the lead to melt, rest your degreased mold on the top of the pot so it gets pre heated. When the lead is molten, you can dip the edge of the mold in the metal as per the LEE instructions. Next you take a Q tip and put a little two cycle engine oil on it and touch it to the alignment pins, sprue plate pivot pin and rub it on the top and bottom of the sprue plate. Do this sparingly and it will keep lead from sticking to the sprue plate.

3. Now start pouring some balls. You want to allow the lead to puddle on top of the mold cavity as the lead shrinks as it cools. You will not make good balls initially because your mold will be too cool. Even though it may be 400 degrees, it will be too cool and you will get lines and voids in your casting. No big deal, this is a learning process. With a two cavity aluminum mold, you should be able to keep the mold hot without using a hot plate. Just remember, if you see lines in the ball, either the melt or the mold is not hot enough.

That is as basic as I can get but, as you can see, it is not as easy as Mel Gibson makes it look in The Patriot. !

Thanks! Great starting point. I have one of those infrared thermometers. I pointed it at a fire once and it registered like 900 degrees so I think it will go high enough. Not sure how accurate it is at higher temps. It also of course only does surface temps. I'll see about getting a proper thermometer as well.

 

[JohnnyE]

A couple of questions for you experienced casters:

What percentage of your boolits go back into the pot?

Irrespective of the number of cavities in a mould, how many times can you fill and empty a mould every minute? How fast can you cast?

I haven't used a thermometer (though I'm going to start) and usually have to recycle the first few casts, and overall I manage a less than 10% scrap rate. Once I get in a rhythm, I can sustain three, and in bursts hit four, casts per minute using a pot and bottom pour ladle.

 

[Todd S]

I usually recycle the first 4 pours automatically. I use a hot plate to keep my molds warm. My throw backs are probably around 10% since using the hot plate. Prior to the hot plate, throw backs were pushing 40%-50%. I usually cast with 2 or 3 molds and the molds would cool off without the hot plate, giving inconsistent bullets.

 

[Archeryrob]

I recycle the first few and later save a zip lock sandwich bag of rejects. I reject winkled bullets and rounded off corner bases. That said, I never have the problem with pure casting fot BP or 45 colt. When I cast 9mm or 30 cal with a WW alloy, is when I seem to have the bullets I reject. I can be picky sometime as nothing is wasted except some of my time, but perfect bullets shoot better.

 

[gungate]

What are you guys using for a pouring station? I was going to mount the smelter on a piece of plywood and support it with a couple saw horses in my backyard. I assume most people are not doing this indoors?

What filter cartridges should I get for my mask? Or do I even need one? Also I will probably wear my full face shield that I use for lathe work.

 

[John from MD]

I usually recycle the first 4 pours automatically. I use a hot plate to keep my molds warm. My throw backs are probably around 10% since using the hot plate. Prior to the hot plate, throw backs were pushing 40%-50%. I usually cast with 2 or 3 molds and the molds would cool off without the hot plate, giving inconsistent bullets.

This is pretty much what I have seen as well. The real limiting factor for older gents is the fatigue from holding and moving molds. This really shows when you are using steel molds or gang molds. Most of my molds today are six and eight gang molds which get heavy after a while. I usually limit my casting time to an hour and a half. In that time, I can usually make a couple hundred good bullets.

In my younger days, I kept a separate 20 pound lead supply molten on a propane burner. These shortened the delay when adding lead to the pot. I stopped doing that about 10 years ago when I stopped competing.

 

[tjiann]

What are you guys using for a pouring station? I was going to mount the smelter on a piece of plywood and support it with a couple saw horses in my backyard. I assume most people are not doing this indoors?

What filter cartridges should I get for my mask? Or do I even need one? Also I will probably wear my full face shield that I use for lathe work.

My station (simple 4lb Lee pot with ladel) on outdoor table and in garage (when weather isn't cooperating for outdoor pours).