Cast Bullet Equipment 101 - ?

[Dale53]

Early in my smelting career I tried a Coleman stove. It put out quite a bit of heat but when I got ambitious and used a larger container, the grill got red hot and collapsed dumping a full pot of molten lead. Not much fun.

You will be MUCH better served with a STURDY Turkey Fryer with a good cast iron Dutch oven.

Dale53

[JohndeFresno]

Guys,

What informative - and hilarious - posts! I didn't see these until right now. I must have failed to check the appropriate box to alert me to answers to my posting; or something.

Based upon what I learned from another thread submitted here at CastBoolits, I have decided indeed to start casting my own creations in my back yard, since it appears to be doable.

Time is limited, but I figure that I can go without sleep a couple of days each week to pursue the hobby and perfect my technique. Sleep is overrated, anyway. And this is just something I have to do!

Thank you for all of your efforts at educating and entertaining this small town handloader.

[Doby45]

The one suggestion I would give you for now is DON'T smelt anything. Buy yourself a box of ingots from one of our reputable vendors for about $50 and see how you like it prior to the whole smelting setup. These ingots you should be able to put right in your pot and not have to worry with tracking down WWs, getting a smelting burner, cleaning up from clips and such. But get you a mold, a Lee 20lb pot and a Lee push through sizer die. Done and done.

[geargnasher]

That's good advice. You can get some isotope lead ingots from Muddy Creek Sam that already have plenty of tin in them, or buy WW ingots from The Captain (Kathie) and add a little bit of silver solder. Blammer does group buys on larger quantities as does leadandbrass.com and Rotometals.

Personally, I'd pm Sam or Kathie about getting a flat rate box full, once you start casting you'll be looking for more before you know it!

You mention all the little things nobody mentions that you'll need when reloading? Here are a few you'll need for casting off the top of my head: Old metal eating spoon or long-handled teaspoon for stirring the pot and skimming dross, Hickory ball-peen hammer handle for tapping mould hinge pin to free boolits, gloves, aluminum pie plate for sprues, culls and pot drips, old fluffy bath towel for dropping the boolits on, a fan, even if casting outside you need it behind you to blow heat/fumes away, safety glasses (the ones you use for reloading should be fine), a wooden dowel or stick for scraping lead flashing from the face of the mould blocks should it happen to get in there, a bottle or two of Bullplate sprue lube or pure silicone spray lube (Sprayway #945) for the mould alignment points and sprueplate, and old tooth brush for cleaning mould cavities, and a can of brake cleaner for the same purpose.

Gear

[jmsj]

JohndeFresno,
Welcome to the madness!!
I agree w/ Doby45 and gearnasher, not having to hunt lead and smelt lead will save you a bunch of time. Personally I kind of enjoy smelting and even building smelters (I have built 3) and the tools (ladles and ingot molds). But It does take a fair amount of time.
If you are from Fresno, Ca., than a double welcome from me. My family's roots are in the Fresno area and I still have many family members in the area.
Good Luck, jmsj

[cbrick]

The last thing I want to do is discourage anyone from getting started in this addiction. Ok, hobby sounds better but it will take only a few shiny new boolits laying there on the bench in front of you and you'll realize quickly which it is . . . Hobby or addiction. Before you know it you'll be buying molds just because you don't have one of those even though you have no firearm to shoot those boolits. But that's not really a problem, buying new guns is fun. My wife told me "one more bullet mold" and she was leaving . . . Then I got three molds for her, best trade I ever made, I kinda miss her.

Some people are frugal and start casting with the basics and somehow manage to pretty much stay with that. Then there is the majority of us . . . Save money casting? Yep, of course.

I've shot many silhouette matches at the Fresno range, Scott Roberts is the Match Director, haven't been there in a few years now but it is a great place to spend the weekend shooting, cast of course.

Welcome to the madness JohndeFresno.

Rick

[JohndeFresno]

Many thanks on the additional welcomes, info, and humor.

I live near Fresno and worked there for many years. I am recently retired.

The Fresno area is located in the infamous Condor Zone, so we must use all-copper bullets to take game; but the anti-gun crowd has not yet stopped us from using lead at the range in the Central San Joaquin Valley. There are rumblings of this being their next move, claiming that lead gets into the ground water. I can't afford to handload a whole lot of Barnes bullets at about a dollar a boolit; so we shall see what we shall see.

My small reloading area holds three different presses - single-stage, turret, and progressive, plus a standalone powder measure - all of which get their share of use. I cannot fit another device on the work bench and have workaround space. But the Lee sizing die seems to be the answer to that dilemma, since I can pop it onto my Rockchucker.

The casting bug started biting me when I read Junior1942's offerings at his "Frugal Outdoorsman" site and here. But as described above, I was concerned about the safety and health issues. I've taken plenty of risks in my earlier life, and I am now a cancer survivor. I've lasted this long, and want to stay around a while longer.

Fitting the bullet to the bore certainly is important. At times, it has indeed been a little difficult to order (from somebody else) the exact size, hardness AND style for a particular caliber.

My latest acquisition, a Ruger New Model Blackhawk, suffered from the endemic tight cylinder throat syndrome on both cylinders (.45 Colt and .45 ACP); so I had them reamed to a consistent .4525" by Mr. G. Castro at www.cylindersmith.com ($64.00 for both which includes shipping is smithing at a bargain!). The turnaround was only a couple of days, by the way; and the job is beautiful.

Here are the three boolits that I am most interested in casting, for starters:
1) Marlin 336 .30-30
.310 or .311 173 gr. Lyman 311041 FP-GC
Running 1700-1800 fps; I uses a few different powders
I really would like to get the Ranch Dog .311 160?/165? grainer,
but I blew it and waited too long to decide that I wanted to cast;
it looks like Ranch Dog is all played out. Well, he made a lot of folks
happy while he was in the game.

2) Taurus 44 Mag SS6
.430 240 gr. SWC-BB Keith style bullet - BHN about 15?
Or - similar flat, wide meplat, sharp shouldered bullet
Currently 1078 fps with 9 gr. Unique,
currently with Magnus #701M moly coated bullet;
but that commercially cast round is actually 18-20 BHN and
works fine - very accurate, no leading.
This is my favorite handgun round of all; but the .45 Colt
will probably steal that honor when I start loading it

3) Ruger New Model Blackhawk .45 Convertible 4 5/8"
.453 265 gr. SWC Keith - BHN possibly 11 (less pressure)
Or - similar wide meplat bullet
To run around 940 fps in this gun with 9 gr. Unique

From your collective comments on this thread, it sounds like the simple Lee sizer die (with Lee Liquid Alox) can handle my two pistol calibers.

But:
1) Will I need to invest in a different sizer than the simple Lee die setup, and use a harder lube material, for the rifle round at 1700-1800 fps? That is, will I have to get something like the Lyman 45 with all of its top punches and size cylinders and so on? Or will the gas check be sufficient to stop barrel leading, given a correct size for the bullet to fit the rifle?

2) Given that Lee molds have smaller ribs made specifically for sopping up the thinner Lee Liquid Alox lube, what is the consensus of Lee Bullet Sizing Die users for pistol rounds? Do you just go ahead and choose a favorite mold, or do you lean more heavily to the Lee molds because of the multiple lube grooves?

For instance, if I used a Lee pistol die for the .45, I'd probably choose the Lee 455-255-RF because its weight and large meplat are what I like in similar commercial rounds. In checking back over a similar posting in another thread, I see that this is what HammerMTB uses.

[Dale53]

JohndeFresco;
The Lee sizers will work fine for whatever you wish to shoot - pistol OR rifle. The process is somewhat slower but will work fine. I MUCH prefer standard lube grooves. I shot BPCR Silhouette for many years. Using black powder bullets with a soft alloy (30/1 lead/tin) I found pan lubing (I used large cake pans from the "second hand" stores and did several hundred at a time) then sizing with the Lee die worked quite well and was not all that slow, after all. In fact, it could be argued that the Lee sizing die represents a SUPERIOR way to lubricate, large, soft lead bullets. Nose first sizing won't bend soft bullets (as sometimes happens with a conventional sizer) and will definitely do critically accurate work with rifles (as well as pistols).

Note: I believe Ranch Dog is getting back into business. Check out his web site.

Dale53

[JohndeFresno]

Tips and information are just what I needed. Thanks, Dale53.

[Dale53]

JOhndeFresco;
You might want to look at this:

http://www.castpics.net/

Look for the article: "Pan Lubing, a Piece of Cake" that I authored some time ago for the Single Shot Rifle Journal.

Dale53

[Fugowii]

Here are the three boolits that I am most interested in casting, for starters:
1) Marlin 336 .30-30
.310 or .311 173 gr. Lyman 311041 FP-GC
Running 1700-1800 fps; I uses a few different powders
I really would like to get the Ranch Dog .311 160?/165? grainer,
but I blew it and waited too long to decide that I wanted to cast;
it looks like Ranch Dog is all played out. Well, he made a lot of folks
happy while he was in the game.

I have the Ranch Dog mould TLC323-170-RF unused. It's yours for $40 which
includes shipping. I was going to cast with it and then decided to go another route.

http://www.ranchdogmolds.com/Ranch_D...ated_0811.html

http://www.ranchdogmolds.com/Ranch_D...Cartridge.html

[JohndeFresno]

I have the Ranch Dog mould TLC323-170-RF unused. It's yours for $40 which
includes shipping. I was going to cast with it and then decided to go another route.

Fugowii, I neglected to set up my "thread notification" and have just now seen this reply; I have not yet had the chance to start casting, so I have not been a very frequent visitor or poster at this forum. Do you still have that Ranch Dog for sale?

[Wayne Smith]

To answer a question posted earlier, yes, the Coleman Propane stoves have adequate energy to melt lead. I've used an old two burner stove my dad had until it started leaking and two years ago bought a new one burner stove - very stable and capable. I switched to a 20 gal tank years ago, refill it about every two years. I've never used a bottom pour pot, I ladle cast everything off the Coleman stove and an RCBS cast iron pot, I have my pure lead in an old 1qt SS kitchen pot and my 50/50 in a similar one.