Delete

[gunboat]

battery lead is a big no no!
It is no longer just lead -
A lot of other unpleasant stuff has been added to the lead that makes a better battery but makes it hazardous to cast with --
The terminals are possibly still ok -- not sure

[Zenja]

I've also heard to stay away from batteries/lead
Z

[Solus]

Ive shot many of wheel weight boolits out of my pistol and have no had any leading. Rifling still good. If done correctly you wont have a problem

[hylander]

Wheel weights are a normal for Cast bullets in handguns and rifles.
All I use is Wheel weights, sometimes add just a touch of tin.
Don't know to many people that do not use wheel weights.
They make oh so Purty Boolits

[CEDaytonaRydr]

I've also heard to stay away from batteries/lead
Z

Using batteries for casting is bad for many reasons. First, it is dangerous because of the out-gassing of hydrogen, which is explosive. Then, there's the out-gassing of arsenide gas, because of the arsenic that they use in the plates. Then there's the fact that battery acid is corrosive, and caustic, so handling it can be painful.

One of the best places to find lead are junkyards. Get to know the staff, and I'm sure they'll hook you up with some wheel weights.

[glassparman]

sonnyb80, everyone has their opinions but what I think you wanted was the basics of how.

Scrap lead from real lead wheel weights, fishing weights or whatever, is sometimes too soft and needs a little help from tin or some old Linotype. Linotype is a type of lead used in old printing presses and has more tin in it for strength. Too soft, and yes your bore will be all nasty. Even with the hard stuff there is a slight amount of leading in the bore. Many of the older cleaners had solvents to help clean out the lead. Even some of the old Military cleaning kits had a screen of sorts to run through the bore to help as well.

To aid in this process, they use what is known as a "gascheck". It is a small copper dish that is fixed to the bottom of the lead bullet to help stop leading and help keep the gasses behind the bullet pushing it and not eating away at the lead. You can see a fine example in Hylander's post above. The cast bullet is also usually lubed with a special lube at the same time the gas check is installed. This is done with a special die. The gascheck is usually only used on guns that are supersonic. So you will not see a gas check on a .45 auto because it is for the most part sub-sonic.

As Swagman00 said, castboolits is a great site to get information to get started in your own bullet casting.

You can also find a great deal of load data for cast bullets as they are a different load requirement. DO NOT use the same load data that you would for a jacketed bullet.

Hope this helps.

[Abenaki]

I have pushed plain based lead boolits at 1400 fps with no leading out of handguns. As of right now, I don't load lead boolits for rifles. That will change soon. But, I know guys that are getting 2500 fps in rifles with out leading.

I want to try paper patching lead boolits....you can push then just as fast as a bullet with a jacket, and not get any leading.

Take care
Abenaki

[Fishslayer]

I know a guy rounding up old lead wheel weights and claiming he's gonna melt them into bullets for .223 and other rifle calibers. Sounds like a MacGyver move to me. Want to know some professional opinions on this subject!!!

I'm not a professional.

Just go to www.castboolits.com

Boolit casters are the modern day alchemists. Wheel weights are indeed one of the desired alloys. Some mold it straight up and others alloy it with lead to gain specific hardnesses.

Kalifornistan wheel weights today are zinc. That's bad juju in a pot of casting lead. Tell your friend to be careful.

[Whiterabbit]

I know a guy rounding up old lead wheel weights and claiming he's gonna melt them into bullets for .223 and other rifle calibers. Sounds like a MacGyver move to me. Want to know some professional opinions on this subject!!!

call me macguyver. I don't shoot jacketed bullets at all anymore. Haven't bought them since mid 2012. If it weren't for the lead ban in the condor zone, I wouldn't buy copper solids either. But that's all I shoot anymore.

Cast lead, and copper solids. Pistol, rifles, muzzleloaders, shotgun. I don't do AR's and glocks but if I did I would cast and shoot lead out of it too. Some folks a few posts up say they never would. Well, plenty of people feed their gas guns a steady diet of cast bullets.

[gogohopper]

I know a guy rounding up old lead wheel weights and claiming he's gonna melt them into bullets for .223 and other rifle calibers. Sounds like a MacGyver move to me. Want to know some professional opinions on this subject!!!

WAAAY back in the day when I was a kid we had a neighbor that reloaded. I used to ride my bike to the few local tire shops and find/collect those weights for him. All i really remember is that one time I think he got water in the batch he was melting. It made a big explosion type noise. Lead spatter was all over the inside rafter area of the garage he would melt them down in. Probably still there.

CSB

[Che762x39]

I know a guy rounding up old lead wheel weights and claiming he's gonna melt them into bullets for .223 and other rifle calibers. Sounds like a MacGyver move to me. Want to know some professional opinions on this subject!!!

I know old timers who cast their own bullets for 45 ACP and 38 Special type velocities. Using the Lyman Manual I tried lead bullets in a 30-30 with good success.

Tell him to be sure to use a "gas check". He should know what a "gas check" is otherwise he will learn things the hard way.

[Che762x39]

WAAAY back in the day when I was a kid we had a neighbor that reloaded. I used to ride my bike to the few local tire shops and find/collect those weights for him. All i really remember is that one time I think he got water in the batch he was melting. It made a big explosion type noise. Lead spatter was all over the inside rafter area of the garage he would melt them down in. Probably still there.

CSB

A bead of sweat from grandpa will get a good pop. I am guessing he spilled a drink while taking a break from casting. Smoking is another bad habit to indulge in while reloading.

[rsrocket1]

What I did with 18 pounds of lead wheelweights in 3 hours last Saturday:
1062 bullets.


They shot great today under 4.2g Unique and will keep my M&P9 fed well for the next few weeks

[Whiterabbit]

wild. 18 lb of lead nets me 250 bullets. Also enough to last me several weeks.

[CGT80]

wild. 18 lb of lead nets me 250 bullets. Also enough to last me several weeks.

250 boolits at 504 grains each? If you shot 25 acp, you could have cast up to 3600 boolits with that 18 lbs.

I could only imagine how fast a 500+ grain boolit mold will drain a pot. My new 20 pound pot lasts a lonnnngggggg time when I cast 159 grain rifle boolits with a single cavity mold, but my 270 grain 4 cavity mold will empty it pretty quickly.