Casting my own, any advice?

[uk_biker99]

Evening all.
I'm thinking if starting to cast my own balls but don't really know where to start.
Can anyone recommend any kit or point me in the direcion of any good websites / books?
If anyone has any old kit they want to flog please IM me.
I've got a .44 and use .457 balls.

Cheers,
Keith

[Lansdown]

Hi UK Biker,
Not sure if this helps, but I just got a copy of the latest Henry Kranks catalogue. Included with it was a Lee Reloading catalogue. They have several casting pots and moulds available - might be worth trying to get hold of a catalogue from Kranks.
Regards
Lansdown

[uk_biker99]

Thanks mate, I have got a copy of the Kranks catalogue buy didn't come with the Lee catalogue. Will drop them an email.
Thanks again,
Keith

[slowcoach]

The Lee electric pot with pouring valve/ lever. Used with a double cavity mould is simplicity itself and a very high rate of manufacture can be obtained.
Simple to use, variable temp settings highly recommended. Saves faffing with gas burners, ladels etc. Plug in and go

[Treebone]

Pre-cast a large quantity of your chosen alloy into ingots, that way you can top up your pot safe in the knowledge that the composition of your bullets will be the same and aslo for each casting session and flux regularly using a compound specifically for the purpose
If you have not already got a book, the one from Lyman is excellent.

TB.

[davederrick]

Some links I found a while back -
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...9/ai_98124194/
http://www.tacticoolproducts.com/bulletcasting/

[john paul]

If doing a large quantitiy go with the electric Lee pots.
If like me you only want to make 50 - 100 at a time.

Lee melting pot - about a fiver
x2 camping stoves, 1 to heat up the mould while the pots on the other
mould (I do .36 and .44) mine was about 20 quid
Lee laddle, again about a fiver.
block of beeswax for flux, I only use a piece the size of a pea per pot

I only make my own outside - nice warm day in the doorway of my shed everything under cover in case it should rain. After the lead is melted approx 20 mins skim of waste and start. You will soon build up a stock and save a fortune.
Be careful though use good gardening gloves. Goes without saying lead is very toxic keep your melting sessions to minimum. Myself I wouldn't consider doing indooors.

[davederrick]

Lead fumes should be OK if you carefully control the temperature. The lead will melt around 320C and fumes start at around 480C, so keep it just above 320C & you ought to be OK. (Or at least thats what someone told me )

[markH]

I don't know if Lee make double cavity ball moulds but when I used to cast a lot of .38 and .45 I used to keep both moulds on the go. A double cavity can take a little while to solidify, so if you set one down, grab the other and cast another 2 you get more done. It helps keep the casting session down to a minimum.

I know you're only going to cast one caliber but if you do find you're waiting for the lead to solidify, invest in a second mould.

[uk_biker99]

Thanks for all of the advice guys.
One further question about alloys - I have got a reasonable supply of used roofing lead, what do I want to add to that?
Cheers,
Keith

[davederrick]

For shooting Black Powder, add nothing to it, you want it a bit soft. Only use tin in your lead to harden it if shot in a nitro round.

As a rule of thumb, scratch the final cast ball with a fingernail, if it leaves no marks its too hard. If it leaves a deep gouge, its too soft. If you get a small scratch, its about right.

[Tech7]

Hi, I don't cast anymore but in the 70s/80s I used to make .22 air rifle pellets with a LEM Splitzer mould recycling my old pellets into new "Air Bullets".

A tip I was given then (and that I have seen a few times since on US reloading sites) is to use old wheel weights to make your ingots they have just the right alloy mix for casting your own balls. Just take a trip down to your local tyre shop (the little ones that sell second-hand tyres are a good bet) and for a few beers and a friendly chat you should be able to pick up buckets of the old used weights which get thrown away when a wheel is rebalanced after fitting a new tyre.

Melt the old weights, remove the scrap steel tags and cast ingots ready to use to make your own balls and bullets. Test the ingots by scraping them with your thumbnail, you want to be able to scratch the metal but not to leave a deep gouge. If the mix is to hard add some 100% pure lead to make the alloy softer.

Hope this is of some help, good luck with the casting.

[slowcoach]

Soft is good. That ball gets squeezed down to bore size from the chamber as it's blasted up the tube. Think parrallel sided egg (???). That is what the .44 and .36 'balls' shot from my pistols looked like after being retrieved from a 9ft water filled cattle trough.
Roofing lead is ideal, just de scim the crud after molten with either bees or candle wax added to the pot.

[davederrick]

Most wheel weight these days are zinc.

[Tech7]

If most wheel weights are now zinc, this will be a non starter, it’s a shame as this was an easy source for me, but its been 20+ years since I did any casting and I guess everything changes.

I did try a piece of lead water pipe (old waste pipe), but this was a real job to get to melt down, and produced tons of waste slag, in the end I felt it was not worth the effort.