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Posted: 8/23/2010 9:50:39 PM EDT
The other two casting threads have inspired me to post a couple of pics of my methods.
My smelting set up. Propane 2 burner camp stove, tank is behind table, can just see the bottom. The stove was a $20 yard sale find. Ingot molds on right. Smelting is done outside, you stand out of the fumes coming from the pot, just change positions as the wind changes. Wash hands before eating/smoking, just like after reloading, no big deal. I use candle wax to flux the lead, the skim is going into the paint can. Then use a scoop to ladle lead into ingot molds. I have a Lyman and 3 homemade, and a cupcake pan. Some of the lead I'm melting on the table. After I took this pic, I added my other pot to the burner and started melting the sheet (soft) lead in it. 
The results. A rain squall caused me to stop when I was about 1/2 way done. Still, not bad. The large round piece on the upper right is the bottom of one of my melting pots I took into my workshop to cool. (remember is started to rain) 
Another day, casting bullets, no rain. Lee 20# pot, 6 cavity 45 cal molds. Pan to the right of pot where mold is sitting is where I drop the sprues, bullets are dropped into a towel lined pan in rear. Bullets need a soft place to land when they are soft coming out of the mold. 
I recommend a casting thermometer to monitor the temp of the lead. Mine is a Lyman. I try to stay close to 750 degrees, here I am waiting for the heat to come up, Mold in the pic is a 150 gr, .311 mold. AK food. 
Results of 3 casting sessions. 
These are the keepers, I remelt the wrinkled bullets and the ones that don't fill out. Molds above bullets. 
Right to left, 45 cal 200 gr SWC, 45 cal 230 gr RN, .311, 150 gr 2R for 7.62x 39. These sessions were the first time out for the RN and ,311 mold. Waiting for my gas checks to arrive. I'm gonna cast more, then on to sizing and loading. As promised, pics of lubing and sizing. 
My Lyman lube sizer. I have the model with the heater, I use the orange Magic lube. A sharp eyed reader would notice that the lube sizer is bolted to those holes in my bench seen in other pics. Where I bolt a 550 and my SDB's. 
.452 for 45 ACP, 230 gr RN I'm sizing. |
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Great photos - I take it that the (soft) sheet lead is some kind of lead flashing - in what proportion do you mix that in with other lead alloys that you're using? Flat sheet is scrap flashing, the other is from a lead sheathed cable, next to the stove leg. I use the soft lead for casting slugs. 
These were cast about 20 years ago, I plan on getting another slug mold. The diving weights and huge blocks are what I call an "unknown" alloy. A scratch test with my thumb nail suggests it's pretty hard lead. So I will add a couple of ingots of wheel weights to a pot of "unknown" alloy. A cross of a SWAG (scientific wild ass guess) and experience. I don't worry about the hardness for the 45 bullets, I'm only loading them to 750 - 800 fps. The .311 bullets, they need to be hard, I will be adding gas checks and will load to approx 2,000 fps. |
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Awesome post. Thanks! I swore I would never cast my own bullets, but I've enjoyed reloading so much that I just might give it a shot. For the $300 or so dollars it would take to get started, I think it's worth a shot. It really wouldn't take that long to recoupe your money. I just didn't realize that you could run through them so quickly.
How long does it take to size and lube them. This is the part that I don't fully understand. I noted that the OP in the other thread does not size his bullets. I thought this was a necessary step? How is he lubing the bullets? Obviously this would be a big time saver if there isn't a huge trade off somewhere. Thanks again for the post. Very informative. |
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Awesome post. Thanks! I swore I would never cast my own bullets, but I've enjoyed reloading so much that I just might give it a shot. For the $300 or so dollars it would take to get started, I think it's worth a shot. It really wouldn't take that long to recoupe your money. I just didn't realize that you could run through them so quickly. How long does it take to size and lube them. This is the part that I don't fully understand. I noted that the OP in the other thread does not size his bullets. I thought this was a necessary step? How is he lubing the bullets? Obviously this would be a big time saver if there isn't a huge trade off somewhere. Thanks again for the post. Very informative. Lee makes a special die that produces "no size" bullets, and a liquid lube that is applied in a Ziploc bag and bullets dried. Then a second coating. Done. I guess it works, never tried it. 
My Lyman lube sizer. I got the heater to use the "hard" lube. Sizing die, top punch and lube. Works a lot like a single stage reloading press. I will add lubing pics to this thread, probably this weekend. |
| I was just checking out the Magma Star sizer/luber Here on Youtube, that thing looks extremely efficient. I wonder if anybody has any first hand experiece with it? |
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The biggest thing related to casting i've learned in the past month is the wonders of some stuff that's called "Bull plate sprue lube". I got a sample from a local casting buddy. You can buy it on the castboolits website.
Put a couple drops on a Qtip and treat your hot mold about every 5lbs of lead (or so). It makes a huge difference in how the Lee molds I have throw bullets. It comes in a small bottle that will probably last you many many thousands of bullets. I used to lube my molds with beeswax but that stuff built up and made a mess about every other casting I had to clean the molds thoroughly with brake cleaner and a wire brush. This stuff leaves no residue at all if you use it sparingly. |
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I was just checking out the Magma Star sizer/luber Here on Youtube, that thing looks extremely efficient. I wonder if anybody has any first hand experiece with it? Yes, a buddy of mine has one and it is a very slick set up. The only trick to them is to make them work really well, you need the base heater to keep the lube heated and keep cranking down the spring to push more lube in. Once you get it set you just crank away and the lubed bullets just fall into the bucket below, the opposite of the way the Lee works. I was very impressed with the set up. If my "No-Lube" set up had not worked out I was sooooo going to be a buy on this set up. |
Finished my smelting that got rained out in the first post. 
Sheet lead in left pot, large blocks of an unknown alloy in right pot. 
Finished the smelting, this is what I ended up with today. I use a 3/16 stamp set and stamp in what each ingot is. UNK=unknown 50-50=50/50 bar solder Pure lead was the sheet lead, very soft. 
After lunch cast a few .452, 230 gr RN and more 150 gr .311's 
This is what I get from a pot of lead. Took the pic while waiting for the pot to come up to temperature after adding more ingots. I used the UNK, unknown, alloy I smelted earlier in the day. It cast great. |
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Quoted:
I was just checking out the Magma Star sizer/luber Here on Youtube, that thing looks extremely efficient. I wonder if anybody has any first hand experiece with it? Yes, a buddy of mine has one and it is a very slick set up. The only trick to them is to make them work really well, you need the base heater to keep the lube heated and keep cranking down the spring to push more lube in. Once you get it set you just crank away and the lubed bullets just fall into the bucket below, the opposite of the way the Lee works. I was very impressed with the set up. If my "No-Lube" set up had not worked out I was sooooo going to be a buy on this set up. There are a lot of lubes out there that don't require the use of a heater. IIRC, the Orange Magic shouldn't(here anyway, unless it's winter). The Lyman, Saeco, and RCBS lube/sizers do not push through like the lee setup. The Star lube/size machine does, and can be set up with a bullet feeder and an air pressure lube adjuster. I have used an RCBS machine enough to want the Star, simply due to the increased speed of the latter. |
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I made up this pile of .357 ammo this morning with my new LNL AP. 6.5gr Unique and the Lee 158gr TL boolit. About 300 rounds and I figure total cost comes out to around $18. http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh280/Ole1830/DSC00100.jpg Heck with the new/lower cost of primers, $18 estimate may be high.  4 inch GP 100 FTW.
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