Cast your own....

[Trapp]

Ok, just wanted to see if I was missing anything to get started....
Step 1 Supplies:
Propane burner
dutch oven or similar (cast iron pan/pot)
parraffin or other fluxing material
1 to 4 ingot molds
Metal spoon

Step 1:
Gather wheel weights and melt them down in the dutch oven.
Flux with approximatly a "drop" of parraffin or other fluxing material.
Skim out the slag and wheel weight holders (the floating garbage).
Pour into ingot molds, let cool.
Do this outside with safety gear.

Step 2 supplies:
Furnace and pot (Bottom pour better?)
metal spoon
bullet molds
damp cloth or bucket of water

Step 2:
Put ingots in furnace and melt.
Put bullet mold on top of the pot (to preheat bullet mold).
Flux and skim.
When heated, fill molds with lead, let cool slightly and trim (sprue) the tops off.
Dump bullets onto damp cloth (or bucket of water to harden them)
Inspect bullets for frosting (too hot?) and bubbles or cavities (too cold?)
Do outside with safety gear. Keep water away from lead furnace.

Step 3 supplies:
Sizing die
lube

Step 3:
Install sizing (and lube?) die into single stage press.
Size and lube in one stroke.


Am I missing anything? Seems easy enough. Now I just have to get the supplies

[moredes]

You don't say where you intend to cast. Indoors or outdoors, you'll need good ventilation, aka, a breeze to carry off lead fumes. Lead is absorbed through the skin, and more easily through the mucous membranes--eyes, nose, throat. You'll need goggles for sure, and you might consider a mask. I'd recommend a TC-19C dual charcoal cartridge respirator; most folks would call that 'overkill'. My casting area was set up with two 18" 2600cfm fans, (one for pushing, one for pulling) I had a 15mph wind blowing over my pot--I could see the smoky fumes get carried out the window.

You know not to have the slightest moisture sources near your casting pot? I used the water bucket method also. Until the water gets hot, bullets are hard as rock by the time they get to the bottom of the bucket, and there are no deformations. But that cooling bucket should be far enough away that NO splashed water makes it to your pot. The steam explosion will send molten lead everywhere.

You should have a pair of long leather gloves; they don't have to be welders' gloves, but they oughta come up to the middle of the forearm. Long-sleeved shirt or jacket.

Frosted bullets never seemed to affect my accuracy, but then again, I was no Bob Chow.

Bottom-pour is better in my opinion; 'way more convenient allowing for greater casting speed. I had an RCBS Pro-Melt; worked like a champ. Recently it was rebuilt for free (including return shipping). I didn't know it was lifetime-warrantied--I sent it in with a complaint and my phone number and email address and asked for a diagnosis and price, and it was returned 2 weeks later completely rebuilt. It also had a big enough neck that I could melt ingots without needing a second pot.

Spend the money for good SAECO molds. They'll stay cool longer, allowing faster casting with less cool-down periods than Lee aluminum molds. They release the bullets much easier, too (no need to wait for bullets to cool, either). If you can afford it, go with the 4-gang molds, and really increase production times. There's also a mold release that I used to use to coat the molds, but I can't remember the name of it. Gimme a day.... I might remember to search the garage; it's a mess, but I know where everything is.

I used Marvelux for fluxing (Brownell's still sells it). 'Mold Prep' was a product I used to coat the molds. It's basically a fine graphite suspended in isopropyl alcohol. I couln't find it with a google; the company that made it (Northeast Industrial Inc. may be gone too--no google results; but the phone number on the bottle is 915-532-8344. It's > than 20yr old.) There have to be other bullet mold release compounds out there. Somebody else who's more current or still casting will know.

Um... yes, stir.

Other folks will be along with more help, I'm sure.

[Trapp]

So, where does everyone get their lead from? How do you make it consistantly hard?

[snuffy]

You don't say where you intend to cast. Indoors or outdoors, you'll need good ventilation, aka, a breeze to carry off lead fumes. Lead is absorbed through the skin, and more easily through the mucous membranes--eyes, nose, throat. You'll need goggles for sure, and you might consider a mask. I'd recommend a TC-19C dual charcoal cartridge respirator; most folks would call that 'overkill'. My casting area was set up with two 18" 2600cfm fans, (one for pushing, one for pulling) I had a 15mph wind blowing over my pot--I could see the smoky fumes get carried out the window.

First to dispell a couple of myths stated here. Lead is NOT absorbed through the skin! It has to be injested, either though the mouth or lungs. Fumes are only possible from boiling lead, or dust. Casting temperature lead alloy is way too cool to produce much vapor. Good ventilation is a good idea, but not an absoulute requirement.

Now to your questions. In your step 1, yes stir the melted WW, then use a large enough ammount of wax to flux. A large dutch oven could have 30-40 pounds of lead in it. The flux will re-combine the precious tin and antimoy with the lead, as well as get all the dirt and grit to the surface. Skim it well, then cast the ingots.

In your step 2, yes a bottom pour casting pot is almost a must for any kind of production speed. I don't use any water or damp cloth, I just don't want any liquid around molten lead. I use a large flat pan with an old cotton T shirt in it. I drop the bullets in that, as long as they're cooled enough to drop from the mold, they won't deform. You have to flux again after you melt your ingots in the casting pot. Use the metal spoon to get rid of the dross, dump it in any dry can or something disposable.

In 2a, all molds have a sprue plate on their top. Hitting it on the tab sideways "cuts" the sprue from the formed bullet. A hardwood dowel about 1 inch by about 15 inches is what I use. After pouring the lead into the mold, watch the sprue. You will see it solidify by it's appearance. As soon as you see it harden, pop the sprue plate with the dowel to cut the sprue from the bullet. Then open the mold to drop the bullet onto the cloth. If you're thinking that dropping into water would harden the bullet, it will IF the lead you're using has some arsenic in it. To be sure it does, a good source of arsenic is lead shot for reloading shotgun shells. I'm not sure of the ammount of shot required to supply enough arsenic, but a guess would be 1 pound of shot to 20 pounds of lead. Frosted bullets shoot okay, no need to reject them. You will notice bullets are frosted if they take a long time to harden in the mold. That indicates you have the temp too high, or the mold is too hot. Lee aluminum molds tend to do that, just reduce the temp of the lead or slow down.

Steps 3 and 3a, you're talking about the lee push-through sizers. Yes they work, are faster than using a lubrisizer, and can be used in any standard single stage press.

[snuffy]

Trapp, check any local automotive bussinesses that do tire work. Ask them what they do with their used wheelweights used to ballance tires. That's where most bullet casters get their lead. Also check out any local scrap yards, some take lead in for re-cycling. To make wheelweights harder takes antimony. Don't let anybody tell you that adding tin will harden the lead or the bullets made from that lead. Antimoy is present in linotype metal, or printers lead. Linotype is very hard to find anymore, printing is done by faster modern processes now. If you come across a long skinny, boat shaped ingot about 20 pounds, with two hooks on one end, that's linotype. If you can get it for less than 30 bucks, grab it!

Moredes, the mold prep you have was/is made by NEI mold company.
http://www.neihandtools.com/catalog.html
Looks like they're still in bussiness.