Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting I Had No Idea

So my new casting furnace came today and that thing can melt 20 pounds of lead in a third of the time my old 10 pound pot can. The bottom pour is really nice once you get the hang of it and have it adjusted for the size of the cavities in your mould. The hot plate works even better than I imagined and getting beautiful bullets with sharp edges is a lot simpler.

I got a Lee 55gr 224 mould and some gas checks too. So I try it ll out and casting the little 55 gr 22s is a lot simpler than the 350 gr 45s. Cast a big handful of the little guys and powder coated them but I had no idea just hoe little they would be and how putting on gas checks could be so hard with sausage fingers.

Good luck and don't forge the bacon grease!

Set the gas checks open end up on a tray, press the bullets into them and tap the bases on your bench...no fumbling with tiny gas checks.

I ended up using the pusher from the Lee bullet size not a 22 hornet seating die. Every one went on all the way and was straight.

Never tried casting 22's, I know just trying to seat bullets and manipulate 22 bee's and 221 Fireballs is a challenge for fat fingers.

Ya know, Bacon grease would probably make great flux.


Just sayin'.

When I worked at the solder factory they used a water soluble grease to lubricate the wire as it was going though the sizing dies. It was some rendered animal product. It was a secret formula, so it had a cryptic name like 'J15.' That wasn't cool enough so most folks nicknamed "bear grease."

The problem with bear grease was that it volatilized and got into the air. It ended up coating EVERYTHING, including the innards of the computer gear. It produced a black tarry coating that nothing, including TSP would cut easily. It undoubtedly ended up in folks' lungs. I had a whole slhs after working there.ew of health problems that magically cleared up about 6 months.

Just be real careful with bacon grease (or bear grease) as a flux.

Several guy's on another site said that after powder coating the gas checks get harder to put on. I've only done a few but after hearing that I sized and installed the gas checks before powder coating. Then re-size them again when they were done.

Think I will give that a try. I did find a way to get them on straight but it was a lot of work.

The only problem I see with gas checks first is I think I will have to use some sort of lube to run the bullets through the Lee bullet sizing die before Powder coating and then I would have to clean all the lube off before powder coating.

Scott,

I used my Lyman 450 to seat the gas checks on powder coated 55-grain RCBS 22 bullets. However, I used two top punches one in the lubri-sizer like normal and the other simply pushed into the sizing die with the flat end upward. the top punch aligns the bullet and the other acts like a pedestal. You set the gas check on the pedestal and bring the top punch down to seat the gas check. Nice flat surface to work on and plenty of room even for big fingers.

I did the same using the Lee bullet sizing die punch in my press shell holder that using a 22 hornet seating die. It pushed them on all the wy and straight. Then I ran them through the Lee bullet sizing die.

Now that my powder coating is getting better I am thinking I will try it again by coating just one coat and then putting on the gas checks and sizing.

I've had issues installing gas checks after powder coating with certain molds (not .22 but larger calibers). It depends on the mold though, I shoot a couple Lee and H&G designs that accept gas checks over powder coated bullets just fine, but have had a couple different NOE molds that just will not take a gas check without shaving the coating off.

My solution was a tapered punch to flare the gas check a little. Sounds tedious, and doing it in the luber-sizer press was, but then I started doing it by hand and found that faster and easier. My punch is just a steel bar, with a truncated cone profile on one end, with the meplat an appropriate size for the gas check. I just press it into the check and slap the back of the punch by hand, easy peasy, can do a hundred or so in a couple minutes.

I think this bullet out of a Lee mold will work if I just coat about 2 to 3 thousands. The match I tried was a heavier coating. Now that I am better at coating I am going to try again. Maybe tomorrow I will get a chance to cast and coat another batch.

Scott, what kind of casting furnace did you get? Sounds like it's working out well for you.

I've been out of casting for years now, but I'm getting ready to start up again and I'm having trouble figuring out what kind of furnace to buy. The 20 lb. size and bottom pour is what I'm thinking about, with capacity for 4 cavity molds as I have a number of old Lymans in the reloading room left over from the old days. It would be helpful to know specifically what furnace works.

BTW, based on your posts over on the handguns forum, I've bought powder coating and I'm planning to run a batch of 45 Colt HCs through the black power coating in the coming few weeks. Thanks for the tips you've posted on the process. Took a lot of the mystery out of it and makes for some cool looking bullets.

I think it was 45/70 pills i was trying to push through a lee sizer. Found out about murphy's oil soap. really slippery stuff.
then dump them in some hot water to get the murphy's off.

I got the Lee 20 pound pot. It is working well for me.

Enjoy the fun times making pretty cast bullets. I am casting really soft and getting over 200% expansion in some cases and well over 90% retention.

Thanks, I may try that. I am about to give the little bullets another try.

The Lee Pro 4-20 pot is what I've been using for years too. Drill the pour spout just a hair larger when you get it; it will cast easier.

RoninPhx, if you're having trouble pushing bullets through a lee sizer, you need to polish the taper in the sizer. They are generally pretty rough, requiring excessive force and sometimes finning of the bullet base. Once polished, no lube needed, and you can size down a lot farther than you'd expect, without too much effort.