Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting i need help with bullet casting

i have no idea how to do this. i can get some tire weights from tire shops i guess if they sell them. so no problem there.

i have an old coleman stove for melting with, so no problem there.

i need what? moulds? a seive for skimming off the crap?

what is flux? how do you use it? are there some books that might help me here?

wanna get into this for fairly cheap. less than 100 dollars.

What are you casting for?

Marty,

I recommend talking or contacting this gent.

http://www.theantimonyman.com/

A Rowell ladle, while expensive, will aid immensely should you go the pot/ladle route (no skimming is needed).

Lee moulds and a Lee sizer is a good way to start if starting cheap.

A Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook or RCBS's manual, if you can find one, are great for the beginner and advanced alike. It will give you more answers to a beginners questions than can be answered.

45 acp VA, and i will look into the RCBS book there hawkI

I don't normally link to "competing" websites, but THE best place to go for any and all cast bullet education is here:

Boolits

I detest their "baby talk" moniker for cast bullets, but their knowledge is undeniable.

thanks rocky, that site really does have a lot of info...

Hiya Marty -

For flux, Brownell's "Marvelux" is all I've ever used.

One thing you didn't mention is a pot. What I do is get about a 5 gallon bucket of wheelweights at the tire shop. (5 gallons of wheelweights is a LOAD to pack very far.) I have an old cast iron pot, probably 6 quarts volume or so. I fill it as far as I can, then stack all I can on top of that. I put it on the coleman (propane) stove, then take 2 propane torches and start melting from the top ... just adds more heat so the stuff melts faster. Make sure you have good air flow and try to work from the upwind side. With the kind of heat you're working with, besides the lead fumes, there will be a lot of road grime burning off, a few valve stems in the pile you'll miss, stuff like that you really don't want to breath. You'll need some ingot molds. Lee are fine, nothing fancy needed. I also use some old muffin pans and only pour lead maybe a half inch deep into them. Keep those separate from the ones you're going to eat out of later!! Anyway, when the lead starts to melt, the tire clips will begin to float. I use about a 2 foot by 2 foot piece of half inch plywood to stack the tire clips I've skimmed loose onto. Once you get the clips out, flux the mix. This is a good time to "spike" your alloy with additional tin if you plan to do so. It's best to treat bigger batches so the outcome is the same / consistent. For scraping off the floating tire clips, I use my ladle. For stirring in the flux, I use an old file about 10 inches long.

I find the little mold mallets to be too freakin' small. I bought a hammer handle for about a 3 pound sledge, then cut the bottom end off and rounded it. That's a lot more effective. You'll want a pair of gloves. Well .. actually .. I only wear a glove on the left hand, which is what I hold the mold with, when I'm casting, my right hand which is holds the mallet I keep bare.

I do an instant quench when I'm casting. I take that same 5 gallon bucket I brought my wheelweights home in and fill it about half full of water. I cover the top with a cotton cloth, either an old towel or an old tee shirt, and let it sag down in the middle to hole I've cut ... sort of a cotton funnel. Get that wet, but not dangling into the water. That will keep the water from splashing on the hot lead in the pot creating a steam explosion that throws hot lead on you ... bad deal. to keep the cloth in place, because continually dropping bullets on it makes it shift, I use a long bungee cord.

Some other stuff you'll want ... if you use a bottom-pour lead pot, you'll want a couple big carpet needles to use to clean the spout when (not if!) it clogs. You'll want a pair of pliers to hold those needles with when you do that. You'll want an old screwdriver, preferably with a wood handle. You'll want an old file like I mentioned. I flux my regular pot after adding metal, not just when I'm cleaning a new batch. Some matches. I prefer commercial mold release (Midway) but smoke or a wax candle work ok.

There's just a whole lot of little sh*t.

If I remember, next time I'm getting ready to cast bullets, I'll drop you a line and see if you want to come watch ... sometimes that's better than books.

Tom