I have some heavy .454 sized cast bullets from way back that are lubed with unknown lube. I want to melt these down to make some weight for a bench rest rifle stock but not sure if the lube will give me trouble in the pot. Will cast bullet lubes flash or cause any safety issues when the bullets are melted down? Sorry if this is a stupid question but I have only cast any bullets once and under supervision. Thanks in advance for your knowledgable replies.
Nope, the lube will only help with the fluxing. Might get a little smoky though.
If you have any doubt, boil the lube off, let the bullets dry (because you don't want any water/steam issues)then melt them.
I usually just drop them in, vent well, and then skim off the crap.
Place them all in a cold pot & turn on the heat. Ventilate well.
Yep.
Toss everything in, fire up the pot.
If it gets smoky, try to light the smoke.
Set you pot up outside as the smoke from the lube will run you out of the house and it is a stink that lingers, sure to earn the wife's scorn.
We scrounged thousands of bullets from the berm at the law enforcement range. Most were swaged wadcutters that were pretty soft, we added linotype or wheel weights to bring the hardness up to what we were looking for.
Melt them. Some people use lube for flux. It will spoke a bit so make sure you are well ventilated. Done it a bunch of times.