I finally cast some good bullets today. I started on this project clear back last winter. I decided I would take my .358 caliber rifles and pistols and start casting for them. I'd been doing pure-lead bullets for my muzzleloaders, but this was considerably different.
I had all sorts of things get in the way. Mom got sick and went in the hospital twice. That wrecked two windows I'd set aside in my schedule between big projects at work. The last hurdle was late last summer; I could not get a good fill in any of the molds.
I finally decided it must be the alloy. I was using Wheelweight mixed 50-50 with pure lead. I ordered some pewter off Ebay. The fellow never shipped the stuff, so I had to contest the transaction. I finally ordered new pewter a month ago, and it arrived during the middle of deer season.
Today, I had time free, and the weather was warm and the rain was holding off. First I cast the 5LB of pewter into .53 cal round balls, then I mixed the 50-50 alloy and added one ball to the pot for every 10lbs. That was the trick. All of a sudden, I had boolits! The failure rate was amazingly good too, I had 1 bad boolit for about every 20 good.
I did about a hundred each of Lee 125 grain 125 RF, Lee 158 grain SWC and RCBS 35-200-FN -- just enough to play around with the Lee Lubrisizer and load up some test rounds.
The main project is trying to get a good gas-checked loads for a Marlin .357 lever and a Rem 7600 in 35 Whelen. Secondarily, I have several 357 Mag pistols, that I hope to keep fed. My goal was to have the Whelenizer converted to lead for this season, but I'll just have to wait a year.
