Casting bullets

[RUDY850]

Here is something else I'm getting my self into. These are the first ingots that I have made. That at some point I will use to make bullets with.

[tl_3237]

Rudy:

Nice pile. Where did you get the base metal and how much did it cost?

[RUDY850]

Rudy:

Nice pile. Where did you get the base metal and how much did it cost?

Mostly wheel weights and recovered bullets that I had shot

30 cents a pound for the wheel weights from a local salvage yard

[tl_3237]

That's a pretty good bargain you got on the lead!

I've been shooting a lot of 45 lately and at 30 bullets/lb my metal supply is runnng low. Guess I'll have to start checking around for a source.

Your picture makes me salivate

[RUDY850]

Made more ingots this weekend. The pyramid gross

[budman46]

i like your smelting setup, rudy...one day i may try out the virgin plumber's pot i got over 20 years ago, but i still have a huge supply of sprue material, linotype, and cleaned up wheel weights to work from.

have you decided what equipment to use for your casting work? lots of good info out there...one site i like is:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/

lots of opinions, but sort through and you'll pick up a lot of gems.

[mg34]

i have about 300 lbs of melted bars of wheelweights in stock. most of them i picked up from local garages and make all my bullets from them, 38, 9mm, 40, 45 and a few rifle. very cheap and fun to make.

[RUDY850]

i like your smelting setup, rudy...one day i may try out the virgin plumber's pot i got over 20 years ago, but i still have a huge supply of sprue material, linotype, and cleaned up wheel weights to work from.

have you decided what equipment to use for your casting work? lots of good info out there...one site i like is:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/

lots of opinions, but sort through and you'll pick up a lot of gems.

I got the lee 20 pound pot and the rcbs ladle.
Haven't got any molds yet but will probably go with Saeco molds when the time comes.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/ is a great site have been there often learning things

[RUDY850]

i have about 300 lbs of melted bars of wheelweights in stock. most of them i picked up from local garages and make all my bullets from them, 38, 9mm, 40, 45 and a few rifle. very cheap and fun to make.

very cheap and fun to make

The best 2 reasons for doing it

[budman46]

rudy,
some thoughts:

i have ohaus, rcbs and lyman casting equipment...molds, sizing equipment, lyman pot, etc. gathered over the years and it's all good, but prices make it hard to justify...worse for a new guy.

some knock lee equipment, but i find it fine for the hobby caster or reloader...in the case of bullet sizing, lots cheaper, too! i even retired my rcbs bullet sizer in favor of the lee liquid alox/press mounted bullet sizer kits which works as well on the other manufacturers' designs as on the lee stuff.

you may upgrade to a bottom drop pot to increase production...i bought the same pot you have and quickly replaced it with the lee pro 4-20 which can be used for hand dipping as well.

from casting forums i picked up pointers using lee equipment that have worked well for me; you might benefit…here goes.

lee pro 4-20 pot

any tendency to drip can be almost totally eliminated by wiring the dispenser rod with the wire engaging its groove to the lifting mechanism adjustment screw and adding a weight (typically a pair of needle-nosed vise grips) to the dispenser rod…

lee mold improvements

1. carefully peen over a bit of the mold block material to prevent the attachment pins from backing out.
2. bring the mold to casting temperature, then carefully loosen the sprue plate screw until the plate just opens easily with thumb pressure…it’s a one-way deal…loosened too much and you’ll need to drill a hole in the side of the block, tap it and add a setscrew to re-tighten the sprue plate screw…so careful!

casting with lee molds

1. smoke the molds with a butane lighter.
2. bring the mold to casting temperature, then use a q-tip to (sparingly) apply Bull Shop sprue plate lube to the sprue plate chamfers and underside, mold locator pins and v-ribs.
3. reapply when sprues stick to the plate. Bull Shop advertises that, using their product, you can open the sprue plate with the sprue partially molten without any smearing …i find this to be accurate…their product is excellent and works equally well with iron molds.

lubing and sizing

i’ve used lyman and rcbs equipment and lubes to size, lube and set gas checks for years…lee’s concept of coating the bullets with a thin film of liquid alox and using their inexpensive push-thru sizing dies is brilliant; i dribble some liquid alox onto my cast bullets, swirl to coat, set them on a waxpaper clad cookie sheet, fan them to hasten drying, size…applying gaschecks (if applicable), lube a second time and re-dry; if gas checks are not required/desired, bullets need no further treatment and can be loaded as-is.

performance

for me, liquid alox performs well at velocities exceding 1800 fps, accuracy is 2” or better at 100 yard ranges for such cartridges as .308 win.

budman46