I once put a chunk of lead in my pot that apparently had moisture in it's pours the already melted lead erupted , I still have lead splatter stuck to the ceiling of my reloading shed. now I sett chunks of lead on heater to preheat above 230° before adding
Casting roundballs tips? Recommendations?
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flatcreek
45 Cal.
Can borax be used for flux and is it a good choice?
Yes 20 Mule team is a lot cheaper than commercial lead flux and works just as good if not better. When you stir flux into molten lead it will bind with impurities and bring them to the top as dross which should be scooped out so a container to hold the dross is needed.
As far as Lee molds go they will last a very long time if not abused. I have lee molds that have worked just fine for 40-50 years and cast thousands of Boolits and Round balls. Another plus is they don't rust so no oil to clean out.
Joining one of the forums dedicated to casting will help with learning. I consider this to be one of the best.
Cast Boolits
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Don't let sweat from your face drip into the pot of hot lead. It will get your attention really quickly. Thank God I was wearing safety goggles. It burned my beard and mustache though.
Crisco, beeswax, lard and such will make a good flux. Avoid Marvalux flux like the plague. Despite the claims it will crud up your pot and ladle in a hurry. I cast at 750-800 degrees with an electric pot. The hazards associated with lead poisoning from casting bullets are mostly nonsense. I've been at it since the early 70's and I'm still here. Experience is the best teacher and there is some good advice here.
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If you are real cheap you can start cast with not much more than lead and a mold. I started with a camp stove, small steel sauce pan from a thrift store and an old gravy ladle. I had leather gloves and glasses etc. I already had the camp stove too. This was 40+ years ago. I added more molds, an electric pot etc as I could afford it and after I found I enjoyed it. There’s no point in buying tons of stuff and then find you don’t enjoy, don’t shoot enough or have the time.
Sorry if any of this is redundant. Get a leather apron for a few bucks at Harbor Freight. Don't turn off the heat until you check your cast balls so you recast the culls. I dropped my castings into a half filled 5 gal bucket with a towel at the bottom. For a little extra money you can get 1 lb ingots from Rotometals. Yes you can get larger ingots cheaper but the aggravation cutting them up to fit the pot wasn;'t worth it to me. You can also use a BIC lighter to carbon up the mold. Just hold the mold well into the flame like your smooshing it to get the most black. LASTLY: if you ever end up with older balls that get that whitish powdery look, the best way to get it off is to seat it on top of 60g 3f and at send it at 1400 fps. It comes right off 
Agree with previous comments - avoid any moisture around molten lead - we managed to lead plate my friend's garage ceiling not to mention a near new woollen sweater I was wearing totally destroyed! Luckily no significant damage to me or my friend.
Amazon is a good place to find lead that gets delivered quick. Read the reviews and look for recent dates to see what others say about the product. I've only had 1 that wasn't suitable for bullets and free returns is a plus. Just look for deals. I don't have time to go around asking plumbers and roofers for lead scrap. If you find some good lead, buy more. This post reminded me of some good lead i found and was going to share on here but it's now unavailable. That post i bought from was in july.
Trev
40 Cal
You could skip the roofer and buy the lead flashing at Home Depot etc., I'm not sure plumbers use lead anymore, it's been banned in water pipes and even in solder since 1986. Maybe in remodeling some old drains might be removed.
My go to lead supplier is a salvage yard that will sell to the public. If you know what you're looking at, you can get lead at under a buck per pound.
As for moulds- yeah, Lee is cheap, but there's a reason. They're made to a price point and there is no way a cheap Lee mould will last as long as a steel Lyman or RCBS. Even so, that will depend on how much you're casting. Get into it heavy and you'll want a good quality mould. If you're casting minies, a Lee mould is disposable. Be prepared to get a much better mould from somebody else.
Pots- bottom pour or dip, they both work. Bottom pours tend to drip. Don't go cheap- get at least a 20lb pot.
Fluxing- beeswax etc, all work. Another thing to consider is wood shavings from a resinous wood like yellow pine. I have a bag of yellow pine shavings from my shop and it works just as well as the others and cost me nothing.
As for moulds- yeah, Lee is cheap, but there's a reason. They're made to a price point and there is no way a cheap Lee mould will last as long as a steel Lyman or RCBS. Even so, that will depend on how much you're casting. Get into it heavy and you'll want a good quality mould. If you're casting minies, a Lee mould is disposable. Be prepared to get a much better mould from somebody else.
Pots- bottom pour or dip, they both work. Bottom pours tend to drip. Don't go cheap- get at least a 20lb pot.
Fluxing- beeswax etc, all work. Another thing to consider is wood shavings from a resinous wood like yellow pine. I have a bag of yellow pine shavings from my shop and it works just as well as the others and cost me nothing.
Harry Marinakis
40 Cal
Casting your own balls is totally worthwhile. Do it.
Lyman molds are steel and retain heat better than Lee molds, but Lyman molds create longer sprues. You can fix this by removing the sprue cutting plate and sanding down the top of the mold so the sprue is shorter.
Work hot. Heat the mold with a torch. The mold and lead should be hot enough that the pour stays liquid in the mold for 3-4 seconds before the lead begins to solidify. It's a bit of an art, but when you get there you know it. If you keep pouring one ball after another, and the lead is hot enough, you can keep the mold nice and hot just from casting. If the pour starts cooling off too quickly, hit the mold with the torch again.
Let the pour cool to the point that the lead turns white-ish before you whack the sprue cutter. This helps keep the mold clean, and reduces lead build-up under the sprue cutting plate.
Keep water far away from the casting process. Ever see exploding hot lead? I have.
Keep a water bucket accessible in case you get burned.
Take time to periodically clean the mold under the sprue cutting plate while casting. Heat the mold with a torch to soften the excess lead, and then scrub off excess lead with a brass brush.
Don't be afraid of overfilling the mold and getting spillover. Better that then underfilling the molds and getting voids in the balls. You'll get the hang of it. Brush the mold clean when necessary.
If you get an electric pot, you'll need to clean the pour spout periodically during pours. I got a steel shishkebob skewer, sharpened the tip, and then put a 90 deg bend 3/4 inch from the sharp end. You can shove the sharp tip into the pour spout if it begins to clog. DO NOT KNOCK OVER THE ELECTRIC POT WHEN CLEANING THE POUR SPOUT.
When your balls have cooled, weigh them. Pick a 1 to 2 to 3 grain range that is your average, and discard all balls that are outside of this range. The light balls may have voids. Melt down and re-cast the rejects.
Lyman molds are steel and retain heat better than Lee molds, but Lyman molds create longer sprues. You can fix this by removing the sprue cutting plate and sanding down the top of the mold so the sprue is shorter.
Work hot. Heat the mold with a torch. The mold and lead should be hot enough that the pour stays liquid in the mold for 3-4 seconds before the lead begins to solidify. It's a bit of an art, but when you get there you know it. If you keep pouring one ball after another, and the lead is hot enough, you can keep the mold nice and hot just from casting. If the pour starts cooling off too quickly, hit the mold with the torch again.
Let the pour cool to the point that the lead turns white-ish before you whack the sprue cutter. This helps keep the mold clean, and reduces lead build-up under the sprue cutting plate.
Keep water far away from the casting process. Ever see exploding hot lead? I have.
Keep a water bucket accessible in case you get burned.
Take time to periodically clean the mold under the sprue cutting plate while casting. Heat the mold with a torch to soften the excess lead, and then scrub off excess lead with a brass brush.
Don't be afraid of overfilling the mold and getting spillover. Better that then underfilling the molds and getting voids in the balls. You'll get the hang of it. Brush the mold clean when necessary.
If you get an electric pot, you'll need to clean the pour spout periodically during pours. I got a steel shishkebob skewer, sharpened the tip, and then put a 90 deg bend 3/4 inch from the sharp end. You can shove the sharp tip into the pour spout if it begins to clog. DO NOT KNOCK OVER THE ELECTRIC POT WHEN CLEANING THE POUR SPOUT.
When your balls have cooled, weigh them. Pick a 1 to 2 to 3 grain range that is your average, and discard all balls that are outside of this range. The light balls may have voids. Melt down and re-cast the rejects.
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Harry Marinakis
40 Cal
I didn't like the length of the sprue that the Lyman molds created, so I removed the sprue cutting plate and filed and sanded down the top of my mold. I checked my progress with a magnifier, and a true bar to ensure that I was filing the top of the mold flat.
This reduced the length of the resulting sprue.
Here is my casting setup. I roll my welding table outside to cast balls.
Electric pot
Lyman mold
Welding blanket, onto which I drop hot cast balls
Crabapple mallet for whacking the sprue cutting plate
Spoon for removing slag
Sishkebob poker for cleaning the electric pot pour spout
Brass brush for cleaning the mold
Muffin tin for pouring leftover lead
Steel basin for catching cutoff sprues
Not shown is a screwdriver for turning the electric pot valve rod
Also not shown is a MAP torch
With a full pot, I can cast about three hundred .50 cal balls.
A nifty way to keep track of how many balls you have on hand.
This reduced the length of the resulting sprue.
Here is my casting setup. I roll my welding table outside to cast balls.
Electric pot
Lyman mold
Welding blanket, onto which I drop hot cast balls
Crabapple mallet for whacking the sprue cutting plate
Spoon for removing slag
Sishkebob poker for cleaning the electric pot pour spout
Brass brush for cleaning the mold
Muffin tin for pouring leftover lead
Steel basin for catching cutoff sprues
Not shown is a screwdriver for turning the electric pot valve rod
Also not shown is a MAP torch
With a full pot, I can cast about three hundred .50 cal balls.
A nifty way to keep track of how many balls you have on hand.
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Cleans the lead of impurities, referred to as dross.
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Here is a picture of my cheap setup. Notice the old paint can on the ground for dross. I just drop the bullets or balls from the mold on an old cotton t shirt.
Trev
40 Cal
Dross floats without additives, simply because its lighter than lead, and skimming removes it, things I learned at 12 years while melting lead to cover oakum in drain pipes; my question was more of a "what science is behind burning sawdust or wax to make dross?"
If the lead is an alloy, pure lead plus the impurity of tin for example, will the addition of wax remove the tin?
But, of course anything at all that we throw into the pot will become dross or an alloy.
isn't flux to bind the alloy metals to the lead in making hard bullets?
If the lead is an alloy, pure lead plus the impurity of tin for example, will the addition of wax remove the tin?
But, of course anything at all that we throw into the pot will become dross or an alloy.
magic or myth?
isn't flux to bind the alloy metals to the lead in making hard bullets?
You want soft lead because it helps grip the rifling.
With cloth patched round ball, if you pull the ball instead of shooting it you should see the pattern of the cloth threads pressed into your ball. The tight fit means the cloth is being pressed into the rifling, therefore a tight ball & patch combination.
With Minie bullets, of course if they don't expand they won't grip the rifling.
Propane is the absolute most costly way to heat lead. Get the Lee furnace. Mine is 40 odd years old.
I dont do round ball here. I do paper patch conicals and big bore Ranch dogs.
Every 5 years a bunch of us get together and have a ball making weekend. From Friday to Sunday.
I only do 45 cal RB. I bring 25-30 lbs of lead and cast them until I run out of lead. That lasts me for the next 5 years.
Some times we do off year pours when we shoot a lot.
We use 6 gang Lee molds and most of them are from the 90s and still going strong. The trick is to rotate the molds when they get hot.
That way you have some on heat, and some cooling down.
As far as flux, Ive always used Pat Martin's wonder flux which is some kind of wood chips. Bought 20lbs a long time ago, Im set for life.
I dont do round ball here. I do paper patch conicals and big bore Ranch dogs.
Every 5 years a bunch of us get together and have a ball making weekend. From Friday to Sunday.
I only do 45 cal RB. I bring 25-30 lbs of lead and cast them until I run out of lead. That lasts me for the next 5 years.
Some times we do off year pours when we shoot a lot.
We use 6 gang Lee molds and most of them are from the 90s and still going strong. The trick is to rotate the molds when they get hot.
That way you have some on heat, and some cooling down.
As far as flux, Ive always used Pat Martin's wonder flux which is some kind of wood chips. Bought 20lbs a long time ago, Im set for life.
Some sprue plate lube like bullshop is good also. I think some use two stroke engine oil instead . Cotton swab to apply it to a hot mold at plate pivot screw and a lite film on top and bottom of plate helps.
