Casting bullets

[Scarecrow Repair]

I need to get into casting my own bullets for some replica blackpowder rifles, and may as well throw in a revolver while I am at it. I already have molds for .678 round, .570 round and Minie, and may get one for .451 round. A friend brought over a camp stove and small pot he has used for fishing weights and dive weights, but it's a bit clumsy, especially pouring without a spout. MidwayUSA has too many choices for me to make sense of.

Furnaces ranging from $28 to $250 -- what extra do you get for all that extra money, in practical terms? I see some are bottom pour, which I bet is handy for avoiding the slag which floats to the top. Can these dribble out the molten lead at the right speed for molds?

Lead in different alloys -- what is proper for blackpowder rifles and revolvers?

They have a thermometer. Is this a good idea, or is the lead being liquid good enough?

Here is the pot that looks "best" to my uninformed guesswork: http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpag...eitemid=645810

What else would I need? A dipper sounds handy for clearing slag. What is lead flux, and would I need that? Anything else?

Any advice or hints will be well received :-)

[mike100]

My uncle said he cast some bullets 30 years ago. he's bringing over what he has for me to play with. Might even buy a 45 200 gr mold...we'll see. The lino type hard cast stuff only saves you a couple of bucks over just buying made bullets.

If you get free lead, then it's a whole 'nother ballgame I guess.

the flux floats the impurities and garbage to the top and seperates it from the lead so you can scoop it off.

[Fjold]

Buy the Lyman cast bullet guide. Going into bullet casting blind is a good way to screw up your life permanently (and shorten it appreciably).

[Blue]

My buddy works in an autoparts store and has 100's of lbs of wheel weights he got for free from local tire shops.

[Scarecrow Repair]

My buddy works in an autoparts store and has 100's of lbs of wheel weights he got for free from local tire shops.

I have been told that wheel weight lead is too hard for blackpowder muzzle loaders, maybe everything. Otherwise I'd be set for life.

[Fjold]

I have been told that wheel weight lead is too hard for blackpowder muzzle loaders, maybe everything. Otherwise I'd be set for life.

Typically in muzzle loaders you want to use straight lead, no alloys

[mousegun]

I need to get into casting my own bullets for some replica blackpowder rifles, and may as well throw in a revolver while I am at it. I already have molds for .678 round, .570 round and Minie, and may get one for .451 round. A friend brought over a camp stove and small pot he has used for fishing weights and dive weights, but it's a bit clumsy, especially pouring without a spout. MidwayUSA has too many choices for me to make sense of.

Furnaces ranging from $28 to $250 -- what extra do you get for all that extra money, in practical terms? I see some are bottom pour, which I bet is handy for avoiding the slag which floats to the top. Can these dribble out the molten lead at the right speed for molds?

I've cast from a Lyman pot on the kitchen stove, a camp stove and a little Coleman gas stove (after I've perked the morning coffee). Never used a bottom pour. Ladle only. I hear Lee bottom pour pots tend to clog. Ladle pouring is more reliable if slower.

Lead in different alloys -- what is proper for blackpowder rifles and revolvers?

Pure lead for revolvers. 1:40 or 1:50 tin:lead for rifles.

They have a thermometer. Is this a good idea, or is the lead being liquid good enough?

You will be melting pure lead at about 750 degrees plus, and alloys at less that 700 degrees. The hotter the better for lead. Alloys don't need to be so hot since some cast well down to 650 degrees. It's nice to know where you are. Keeping alloy temps low reduces dross formation.

Here is the pot that looks "best" to my uninformed guesswork: http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpag...eitemid=645810

That's a good start.

What else would I need? A dipper sounds handy for clearing slag.

Dross floats to the top. Not slag. Slag comes from processing iron into steel. A dipper (ladle) is used for pouring metal into the mould. I use an old serving spoon to skim dross after fluxing. Even if you bottom pour, get a Lyman or RCBS ladle. A ladle will let you experiment with technique and you may find you cast better bullets with it.

What is lead flux, and would I need that?

Flux is used to clean the melt, separating the dross and maintaining a clean pot. Some folks don't flux. I only flux when cleaning wheelweights. Smelly. You don't need store bought flux. Canning parafin works, sawdust, oil, whatever makes evil, smelly smoke.

Anything else?

Depends on your technique, but you need a soft place to drop your bullets; an old towel works well. Also an ingot mould to make up manageable amounts of metal to add to your pot as you go.

Any advice or hints will be well received :-)

Casting is fun, cheap, and can burn the crap out of you. Be careful!

[Scarecrow Repair]

... tons of good stuff ...

I ordered the pot, plus a ladle and some ingots. One ingot pure lead, one ingot 30:1 tin, closest they have to what you said. The pot is bottom pour, but it also has a thermostat and the others don't. What exactly is bad about bottom pour? I had figured it a good idea to avoid the dross on top. Is it inherently bad, that there is stuff on the bottom which should be avoided, or is it just harder to control, prone to plugging, too much hassle?

I figure with these muzzle loaders, especially the .69 caliber musket, ready made bullets are just way too expensive, and as long as I shoot into the hillside opposite my front door and can recover most of the lead, it will be cheaper in the long run. Besides, it is interesting to see how the bullets deform in the wet clay.

[tankerman]

I have been told that wheel weight lead is too hard for blackpowder muzzle loaders, maybe everything. Otherwise I'd be set for life.

wheel weights have plenty of casting applications and are sought after

[kermit]

Buy the Lyman cast bullet guide. Going into bullet casting blind is a good way to screw up your life permanently (and shorten it appreciably).

+1 on this suggestion.

There's alot of safety issues when working with lead, as well as handy lessons learned. I talked to one guy who thought his molds were bad because his bullets came out poorly formed. He did not know to either preheat the molds or to count on the problems for the first few pours until the molds were warm. It helps to preheat the dipper, too (and don't let the wife catch you using the good spoons for skimming the impurities off the top )

[singleshotman]

Somehow the mold makers never tell you that if you want to make fully formed bullets you MUST preheat the mold and "cook" the lead for an hour to make sure it's hot-if on the first bullet you run, the sprue doesn't stay liquid for at least 5 seconds, the mold is too cool. I watched my dad run some .44 pistol bullets 40 years ago and his were a mess-too cold, one day after this i had to do something while casting bullets and i left the gas burner on and came back an hour later and found to my amazement that the bullets i cast were perfect, i never looked back after that and never had any more trouble
casting bullets.

[Scarecrow Repair]

My friend who brought his pot and camp stove up, did preheat the mold. Biggest problem was the lead itself, but he figured it was soft enough for making bullets, at least a few of them for beginning purposes. He used to cast bullets years ago, but his equipment now is just for fishing weights etc, where purity isn't particularly important. But he made good enough Minie bullets to find out how much fun they are and convince me to get my own furnace. I knew I was going to have to mold my own bullets just because of the size and expense of the factory ones, so I had the Minie mold already, but now I want to go all the way :-) I am looking forward to this, but I expect my casting will be limited to big production runs once or twice a year, it doesn't sound like something I want to do every weekend...

[mousegun]

...The pot is bottom pour, but it also has a thermostat and the others don't. What exactly is bad about bottom pour? I had figured it a good idea to avoid the dross on top. Is it inherently bad, that there is stuff on the bottom which should be avoided, or is it just harder to control, prone to plugging, too much hassle?

There's nothing at all wrong with bottom pour. The advantages are that it's faster than ladle pouring, you usually get a cleaner melt, and it's neater than using a ladle. The main disadvantage to bottom pouring is that the bottom spout/valve often gets clogged from cooled melt or gunk and takes time to clear. Even with that, it's faster. I just prefer ladle pouring, especially for large bore. Try 'em both.

[Scarecrow Repair]

There's nothing at all wrong with bottom pour. The advantages are that it's faster than ladle pouring, you usually get a cleaner melt, and it's neater than using a ladle. The main disadvantage to bottom pouring is that the bottom spout/valve often gets clogged from cooled melt or gunk and takes time to clear. Even with that, it's faster. I just prefer ladle pouring, especially for large bore. Try 'em both.

My mistake -- your original post says "Never used a bottom pour" and I read that as the present tense command use :-)

Yes, I will try both. The 1861 is too much fun to shoot, I'd hate to leave it untouched because the bullets are too expensive.

[kermit]

Here's a link to an interesting article on lead casting basics:

http://members.aol.com/illinewek/faqs/casting.htm