Educate me on casting bullets

[nammac]

Lee bottom pour pots are great, although they've been known to drip... I'd recommend an aluminum pan or aluminum muffin pan to catch the drips. Non-Teflon has worked best for me...

I also prefer an old pair of folded jeans to drop the freshly cast bullets onto, creates minimal damage...

And of course another pair of jeans or a small box to capture the sprues, as you smack the sprue plate back. I use an old dowel for the sprue plate... that's just me...

For new molds, specifically Lee aluminum molds, be sure to carbon the cavities with the flame of a match or candle, blackening them... trust me, this is a necessary step...

 

[Silver Hand]

During the civil wars or trappers headed West in early times, people would cast over a fire for defense or to have rounds for hunting. Start there, it gets better as you learn why or what from there. Have fun, But don't forget to start at the beginning.

 

[K98]

Get yourself a cheap hotplate to set your 6 banger mold on keeping it warm.
If casting for .45acp, the H&G 68 bullet design is time honored. Lee makes a good inexpensive copy.

 

[etrain16]

So that makes me wonder - could an electric hotplate be used to melt lead, say in a cast iron skillet for cleaning out impurities and casting ingots? Can they generate enough heat to do this? Or do you really need a gas burner?

 

[P7M13]

So that makes me wonder - could an electric hotplate be used to melt lead, say in a cast iron skillet for cleaning out impurities and casting ingots? Can they generate enough heat to do this? Or do you really need a gas burner?

Depends on the BTUs the hotplate produces and the shape of your pot. If it loses heat rapidly, you need more BTUs. Edit to add, just try it out and if it works, great!

What do you guys use to measure Brinell Hardness ?

 

[Certaindeaf]

So that makes me wonder - could an electric hotplate be used to melt lead, say in a cast iron skillet for cleaning out impurities and casting ingots? Can they generate enough heat to do this? Or do you really need a gas burner?

Many of them will.. I've been using the same one for about 40 years.. when I'm not using a burner of some sort. They work well on smaller pots of about .25-.5 gallon capacity.

 

[K98]

So that makes me wonder - could an electric hotplate be used to melt lead, say in a cast iron skillet for cleaning out impurities and casting ingots? Can they generate enough heat to do this? Or do you really need a gas burner?

 

[K98]

I started casting on a 10 inch or so, propane burner.
I graduated to a cheap 10 lb lyman electric pot. I'll never go back, & 10 lbs is feeling pretty small now. Well worth the few bucks.

 

[etrain16]

I started casting on a 10 inch or so, propane burner.
I graduated to a cheap 10 lb lyman electric pot. I'll never go back, & 10 lbs is feeling pretty small now. Well worth the few bucks.

I've got a Lyman pot - I'm more interested in having something I can put a old cast iron skillet on to melt down scrap lead, clean it up and use it to pour ingots - I don't want to use the Lyman for that.

 

[K98]

I've got a Lyman pot - I'm more interested in having something I can put a old cast iron skillet on to melt down scrap lead, clean it up and use it to pour ingots - I don't want to use the Lyman for that.

The one I had was used underneath a turkey frier. Should be easy to find.

 

[etrain16]

The one I had was used underneath a turkey frier. Should be easy to find.

Was that electric or gas? I'd like to find an electric option, if there is one that works well enough.

 

[K98]

Was that electric or gas? I'd like to find an electric option, if there is one that works well enough.

It was propane.
This reminds me,I tried an old Coleman pump up, 2 burner, a couple times. Crazy slow. Lol

 

[Certaindeaf]

I've got a Lyman pot - I'm more interested in having something I can put a old cast iron skillet on to melt down scrap lead, clean it up and use it to pour ingots - I don't want to use the Lyman for that.

Well, for smelting, I'd not recommend an electric "hot-plate".
For casting/melting smaller quantities, they do work pretty well.

 

[etrain16]

Well, for smelting, I'd not recommend an electric "hot-plate".
For casting/melting smaller quantities, they do work pretty well.

I noticed a few folks on Cast Boolits that seemed to indicate it worked well, but that seems to be a very subjective assessment. I'd prefer to stick with what's well known to work.

 

[nammac]

I typically do my cleaning melt in my casting pot, completing the blend and fluxing with some alox. That gets poured into ingots and stored for future used.

When done, I clean out the sludge and prep the pot for storage or actual bullet casting. I'm too cheap to have another setup just for smelting and blending...

 

[Silver Hand]

I have used a Natural gas stove, a Colemen stove with pump white gas, a Propain gas burner all with a lead pot and also two electric pots one Lymen and the other says Mould Master xx. Nothing has worked any differently, they all melt lead. Casting Hi quanity, Hi quality comes from the experience and bigger moulds.
Smelting Is a whole different set of pots and pans.

 

[Pickles' Dad]

For Brinell testing I have been using the Lee hardness kit for years - it does a good job without a large investment.
LEE LEAD HARDNESS TESTER w/BALL INDENT/MICROSCOPE - Graf & Sons
When you are looking for alloys don't overlook your local scrapyard (I recently picked up 40 pounds of monotype for $40.00). If you know any plumbers ask them what they do with their scrap from remodels/updating older homes - they pull out 50/50 solder and can't reuse it because of the lead. A friend of mine has so far dropped about 300 pounds in my garage.

 

[AMProducts]

I've been reading a little on the subject,but not enough to feel confident enough to start making purchases.input on melting pots,molds and equipment I'll need would be great.i was leaning more towards a electric pot. Also would like to make it a fast process so I was thinking going to with the multi cavity molds and powder coating instead of lube. Thanks for the info guys. Always seem to get the best here.

So I've done everything from hand casting to commercial casting, start slow. The Lee stuff isn't great, but isn't bad, the molds tend not to last too long, and the "tumble lube" is just a mess. The most important thing is it's a really cheap way to start out. With a set of lee molds, and the lee dipper, you can start making bullets using an old camp stove and a stainless steel cup as a furnace. Your total investment should be <$50 in this setup. You will need a "sizing die" the lee-push through does work. I would recommend looking into pan lubing vs the alox tumble lube, it does pretty much nothing to prevent barrel leading, and makes the bullets stick to everything, smells bad, and attracts dirt. I highly recommend buying a few sticks of lube from magma or ballisticast, these are "hard" lubes and only work with heat, but are much more durable and less messy than SPG, or most of the alox lubes on the market.

Long term, you're going to want better gear, Lyman, RCBS, Magma all make really solid cast-iron molds that will last most people lifetimes. A lyman or a Star lube-sizer is really a must for the dedicated hobbyist, but these are hundreds of dollars.

Bullet casting is not for the faint of heart, it is very much an engineered science practiced as an art. The people over at the castboolit forum can certainly help you more than I have patience for. Best of luck!