Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting Need help with trash on top, fluxing and stuff...

I am melting my lead and some scum is rising to the top. Bad stuff...I scoop it off, then put some candle wax ontop and light. It burns and leaves the surface sorta golden in color. I read that you are suppose to stir it to "remix" some of the stuff on the surface with the rest of the melt. My problem is that when I stir after melting and burning the wax the top surface looks like someone put sand on top of it. I have about given up on stirring and just scoop trash off top and cast away. Later after casting a little while I have a lot of trash on the surface again, so I scoop and flux then cast. My question is how much trash build up on top do you get when casting? and am I doing it right!

Hey Blammer,<P> I am by no means an expert but I have done my fare share of casting bullets.<P> Knowing that, I suggest that you stop using candle wax and start using canning paraffin. it has less impurities than regular wax.<P> Also, when you stir your lead concoction you should also scrape the sides of the pot to loosen the rest of the junk that collects on the sides and when it floats to the surface take it off the top. Every time you add lead put in another chunk of paraffin light it off, stir and scoop out the junk after stirring.<P> oh, and to answer your question, the golden stuff on top is the antimony(sp?) it helps make the bullets harder <P>Hope that made sense. if not give me a shout and I'll try harder.<P> Paul

thanks I'll try it, the parrifin. What calibers do you cast for?

Well I haven't cast bullets since I left home and joined the Coast Guard 6 years ago but if I was smart and I'm not I could remember more about the equipment we used. I can tell you what it looked like and maybe you could figure it out?<P> It had a LARGE pot with the cast positioned below the pot. you would move the handle Forward/up and led would fill the cast then you would let it cool for 5 seconds and pull the handle down and the bullets would fall out into a catch pan, we used a 5 gallon bucket of water filled 2/3 full. I was told that this would make the bullets harder. <P> we used about 10-15 Percent mix of tin/antimony as a hardener. We made bullets for, and my father still does, 44, 357, 9mm, 45, and 380. I believe all total we have 35 different molds.<P> My favorite was a 265gr 44 that I loaded with 21.5gr 2400, talk about a knuckle buster, it was great. <P> Now the only time I get to cast is when I visit but I can cast about 500 bullets in an hour and on a normal visit I have plenty of time to make bullets for myself.<P> I think the caster we use was made by magma engineering? not sure. <P> We also used a lyman pot to make ingots out of lead pipe and tire weights. you can pick up tire weights pretty cheap at salvage yards.<P> sorry for being so long winded.<P> Paul

blammer, you can also try some lube if you have it. I use Lyman (black thick stuff) and it seems to burn off the junk well. Also, I'm sure you probably already know this but taking off too much of the "scum" can be bad. Your bullets can end up too soft if you take out too much tin.

Blammer, You have gotten some good advice regarding stirring up the crud on the sides of the pot and getting rid of it. I use a product called Marvelux for fluxing, available from Brownell's. It does a very good job and does not make objectionable fumes (of supreme importance if you live with a wife, mother or other female). With all due respect, many of us have repeated the myth about gravity separation of tin and antimony in alloys. It just isn't true no matter how many times Lyman prints it. According to a metallurgist in the lead alloy business, writing in Handloader a few years ago, lead alloys do not seperate. There are a lot of myths still plaguing us from the bad old days 40 years ago when casting was a close cousin of alchemy. Hope this helps, curmudgeon

Crumudgeon,<P>That's exactly where I got the data...Lymans...and it's a very old manual.<P><BR>Thanks for the new info. and update.

Drop in your flux material (I use beeswax), stir, light and burn, skim.<P>The stirring is to mix the metals. If you skip it, you will skim off the tin and/or antimony. <BR><P>------------------<BR>----------------------------------------<BR><I><B>Critr</B></I><BR> <A HREF="http://www.SaguaroSafaris.com" TARGET=_blank>www.SaguaroSafaris.com</A>

I'm new around here but I've been casting for a few years and as I see some common misconceptions being repeated here I'm going to give ya my 2 cents. <BR> First, metals in an alloy (such as lead/tin/antimony) do not separate under any normal circumstances which could concievably occur while casting bullets. You will not be able to "skim off" any significant amount of tin or antimony.<BR> Second, any source of alloy for your pot will need to be cleaned of impurities, (particulates and metals "mixed" in), by fluxing in order to give good consistent results when casting.<BR> Any source of hydrocarbons will work as a flux. Wax, lube, old candles even sawdust (used by some big foundries). Marvelux also works although you have to be more carefull of corrosion if you use it. But to be effective you need to stir the flux through the alloy thoroughly, scraping the sides and bottom of the melting pot so that the impurities can float to the top, (virtually everything floats in lead). Lighting any fumes which result will consume the smoke, but adds no benefit to the alloy. Burning off the melted hydrocarbons floating on top of the alloy without having stirred them in accomplishes nothing other than making a flame. The gold colored layer on top of the alloy is an oxidation of the alloy and does no harm, especially in a bottom pour pot. The metal oxides in it should be pretty close in proportion to the metals in the alloy. <BR> IMHO flux your initial melt thoroughly, stirring alot and skim off the crud. Then leave it be until you add more alloy. Flux well each time you add alloy and concentrate on your casting meantime.<BR> A couple of reference sources a little newer than Lymans: RCBS Cast Bullet Manual #1<BR>(1986), Veral Smith's "Jacketed Performance with Cast Bullets" (3rd edition 1990). And the cast bullet room on Shooters.com (one of the only rooms at shooters which is still civil, although currently screwed up by a new format). Have fun and sfe casting and shooting! BD<P>------------------<BR>

thanks, i seem to acquire crud on the top of the melt just by stirring! I am not really worried about taking the tin out of the melt 1. because you can't 2. If I do so much the better. I WANT soft bullets for my muzzleloader.

I use Marvelux. Never a problem. Keep scraping the sides and reflux as necc or when you add more lead. <P>armjr<BR>

Hey all,<P>My first post here in Bullet Casting. I have never casted a bullet before. I have casted a plug, a spoon, a worm, a spinner, and about anything I could tie to the end of my pole. But I have never casted a bullet. What do you get to bite on them? How far can you cast them? I don't suppose you use any weight with them either--the weight is sort of self-contained in the bullet, right? Sounds interesting--enjoy! Hope you catch something!<P>Wade

Wade, I once cast a Lyman 429421 keith style 240 grain semi-wadcutter about 15 yards and caught a large squawfish. Launching these projectiles from a Ruger Blackhawk can be done at longer distances, but that is the farthest I have ever scored on a fish. I am claiming attorney-client privelege for that incident! I see from your web site that you are a cribbage player. I was taught by my father and was blessed with one cribbage playing friend. They are both gone, but Fran plays. No wonder I grabbed her-she's the only woman I ever heard of who plays cribbage. Regards, curmudgeon

Curmudgeon,<P>My wife plays crib too! She's good. In fact, we went to some friends' house for a 2-couple super bowl party and played 4-handed crib the whole time. It was fun.<P>(Whoa, we got way off topic here--better watch out or we'll get booted--NOT!)<P>Wade