Cast up a bunch of boolits

[swampratt]

I was out of 45acp bullets as i had loaded all my cases .
So i needed to melt some lead and get my boolit mold out.
I made over 800 this morning...Lee 6 cavity..
Those sure make big piles fast.

Had to take a break as i need a sammich.

Ya'll have a good day....
Maybe i will have 2000 by the end of the day

 

[streak]

how many pounds of lead does it take to get 1000 bullets? Also how do you harden them. I really want to start casting my own but really know nothing about it.

 

[swampratt]

I have a lee bottom pour pot(awesome)
after the mold is filled and the lead on top of the sprue cutter cools or frosts over..5-7 seconds .
I open mold and water drop my bullets...They fall into a plastic container with water and a washcloth in the bottom.

7000 grains in 1 pound .. the bullets i cast today actually weigh 208grains
So that is 33.6 bullets for 1 lb
I just did some more...
I got 472 keepers in 1 hour of casting with that 6 cavity mold..
Not going fast....as you will get leading smearing on the cutter and mold, if you go to fast and heat up the mold.

You can have a damp cloth there to lay the mold on to cool every now and then .. but i just go slower instead.

It would take 28.57 lbs of lead to make 1000 200gr projectiles.
I have over 400 lbs of good lead

 

[Old Fart]

Clearly one of the easiest ways to reduce ammo cost, but it is getting harder to find lead wheel weights.
If you haven't now's the time to stock up on tin & antimony before some jack-wagon hordes it all up.

 

[GeneW]

Where do you get lead?

I tried to get old lead wheel weights from some tire shops and they just laughed and said no.

 

[okietom]

how many pounds of lead does it take to get 1000 bullets? Also how do you harden them. I really want to start casting my own but really know nothing about it.

Buy a Lyman bullet casting manual. That is how I learned. The interest didn't exist to me then (1982) and OSA didn't either.

If you use the manual and this forum and the Internet you won't have any problems that you can't get past. Always wear safety glasses and long sleeves. Doing it outside will be safer too. Even outside make sure you have good ventilation.

 

[Blitzfike]

Buy a Lyman bullet casting manual. That is how I learned. The interest didn't exist to me then (1982) and OSA didn't either.

If you use the manual and this forum and the Internet you won't have any problems that you can't get past. Always wear safety glasses and long sleeves. Doing it outside will be safer too. Even outside make sure you have good ventilation.

Also if doing it outside, watch for rain. Water hitting molten lead results in a steam explosion. I have a pretty scar on one arm from that. Didn't take me long to learn that lesson.. Wheel weights are now made from zinc, I guess to satisfy the EPA. Zinc mixed in your molten lead (and it will melt if using a fish cooker to render your scrap lead to cast it into ingots..) will result in a mold that doesn't want to fill out the sharp edges of the bullet. A cast iron mold could be cleaned from the zinc residue with muriatic acid, but that would eat the aluminum mold pretty quickly. Old plumbing lead, lead rom X-Ray facilities when torn down, and scrap lead of other types all form the core of your casting material. I use a Lee Lead Hardness tester when making up my mixes. I usually do about 40 pounds at once. I mix Linotype in to get the hardness I want, but Linotype is getting harder to get also. Pure Tin and Antimony will harden pure lead when added to it. Plumbers Solder has quite a bit of tin in it, and the newer stuff has no lead at all. Good to add to the mix. I have about 600 pounds in ingots at present, and my buddy I cast with has about the same. Good luck and ask all the questions you want. This is a great forum and great bunch of folks here. Blitzfike

 

[swampratt]

I melt my wheel weights at the lowest temp possible.. that way if i have a zinc one in there it will not melt.
Just floats...
This is good info..old but good..I like the bottom of the list on metal hardness..I use this when tempering knife blades.


Melting Points of Common Metals & Tempering Bath Common Salts (Year of 1826)
-38° = mercury (metal)
236° = sulpher (metal)
350° - 450° = babbitt metals (metal)
423° = selenium (metal)
450° = tin (metal)
520° = bismuth (metal)
610° = cadmium (metal)
621° = lead (metal)
715° - 720° = zinc die casting alloy (metal)
786° = zinc (metal)
1166° = antimony (metal)
1204° = magnesium (metal)
1218° = cast aluminum & drawn aluminum (metal)
1562° = barium (metal)
1692° = manganese bronze & phosphor bronze & tobin bronze (metal)
1700° - 1850° = cast red brass & cast yellow brass & drawn brass (metal)
1762° = silver (metal)
1945° = gold (metal)
1981° = cast copper & drawn copper (metal)
2000° = white cast iron (metal)
2100° - 2350° = grey cast iron (metal)
2237° = manganese (metal)
2400° - 2700° = stainless steel (metal)
2400° - 2750° = carbon steel (metal)
2570° = hard steel (metal)
2588° = silicon (metal)
2600° - 2750° = cast steel (metal)
2646° = nickel (metal)
2690° = mild steel (metal)
2696° = cobalt (metal)
2700° - 2750° = wrought iron (metal)
2750° = chromium (metal)
2768° = pure iron (metal)
2820° = palladium (metal)
3090° = zirconium (metal)
3182° = vanadium (metal)
3191° = platinum (metal)
3272° = beryllium (metal)
4352° = uranium (metal)
4532° = molybdenum (metal)
5252° = tantalum (metal)
5432° = tungsten (metal)
6332° = carbon (metal)
563° = solder (9 parts wt. lead & 1 part wt. tin) (metal)
529° = solder (8 parts wt. lead & 2 parts wt. tin) (metal)
504° = solder (7 parts wt. lead & 3 parts wt. tin) (metal)
464° = solder (6 parts wt. lead & 4 parts wt. tin) (metal)
428° = solder (5 parts wt. lead & 5 parts wt. tin) (metal)
374° = solder (4 parts wt. lead & 6 parts wt. tin) (metal)
365° = solder (3 parts wt. lead & 7 parts wt. tin) (metal)
392° = solder (2 parts wt. lead & 8 parts wt. tin) (metal)
421° = solder (1 part wt. lead & 9 parts wt. tin) (metal)
205° = solder (32.0% wt. lead & 15.5% wt. tin & 52.5% bismuth) (metal)
214° = solder (25.8% wt. lead & 19.8% wt. tin & 54.4% bismuth) (metal)
257° = solder (25.0% wt. lead & 15.0% wt. tin & 60.0% bismuth) (metal)
262° = solder (43.0% wt. lead & 14.0% wt. tin & 43.0% bismuth) (metal)
293° = solder (33.3% wt. lead & 33.3% wt. tin & 33.3% bismuth) (metal)
298° = solder (10.7% wt. lead & 23.1% wt. tin & 66.2% bismuth) (metal)
322° = solder (50.0% wt. lead & 33.0% wt. tin & 17.0% bismuth) (metal)
358° = solder (35.8% wt. lead & 52.1% wt. tin & 12.1% bismuth) (metal)
360° = solder (20.0% wt. lead & 60.0% wt. tin & 20.0% bismuth) (metal)
453° = solder (71.0% wt. lead & 9.0% wt. tin & 20.0% bismuth) (metal)
1904° = solder (9 parts wt. copper & 1 part wt. zinc) (metal)
1823° = solder (8 parts wt. copper & 2 parts wt. zinc) (metal)
1706° = solder (7 parts wt. copper & 3 parts wt. zinc) (metal)
1652° = solder (6 parts wt. copper & 4 parts wt. zinc) (metal)
1616° = solder (5 parts wt. copper & 5 parts wt. zinc) (metal)
1508° = solder (4 parts wt. copper & 6 parts wt. zinc) (metal)
1436° = solder (3 parts wt. copper & 7 parts wt. zinc) (metal)
1292° = solder (2 parts wt. copper & 8 parts wt. zinc) (metal)
1076° = solder (1 part wt. copper & 9 parts wt. zinc) (metal)
590° = sodium nitrate (salt)
640° = potassium nitrate (salt)
1480° = sodium chloride (table salt) (salt)
1620° = sodium sulphate (salt)
•
111° = phosphorus (element)
144° = potassium (element)
207° = sodium (element)
235° = sulphur (element)
1490° = calcium (element)
2588° = silicon (element)
•
400° carbon tool steel = faint yellow (flickering) hardening & tempering color
425° carbon tool steel = faint yellow hardening & tempering color
450° carbon tool steel = pale straw hardening & tempering color
456° carbon tool steel = straw hardening & tempering color
500° carbon tool steel = yellowish brown hardening & tempering color
525° carbon tool steel = light purple hardening & tempering color
530° carbon tool steel = purple hardening & tempering color
550° carbon tool steel = deep purple hardening & tempering color
575° carbon tool steel = prussian blue hardening & tempering color
600° carbon tool steel = dark blue hardening & tempering color
625° carbon tool steel = blue-green hardening & tempering color
900° carbon tool steel = red (barely visible) hardening & tempering color
1000° carbon tool steel = black-red hardening & tempering color
1200° carbon tool steel = blood red hardening & tempering color
1400° carbon tool steel = cherry red hardening & tempering color
1600° carbon tool steel = salmon (red turning to yellow) hardening & tempering color
1800° carbon tool steel = lemon hardening & tempering color
2000° carbon tool steel = very light lemon hardening & tempering color
2200° carbon tool steel = white hardening & tempering color