Casting bar

[Griz44Mag]

I don't think this topic is about casting or ingot molds. It's about making trade bars.

So what you are indicating is that a "trade bar" is not made from lead poured in a mold????
And a 1/2# bar from a Lee mold cannot be traded? Or a 1# bar from a Lyman mold is not lead?

 

[Carbon 6]

So what you are indicating is that a "trade bar" is not made from lead poured in a mold????
And a 1/2# bar from a Lee mold cannot be traded? Or a 1# bar from a Lyman mold is not lead?

You're funny, for a Texan

 

[Professor flintlock]

Funny - I have been casting from a bottom pour Lee for decades.
And I weigh all my bullets and balls.
Whoever told you that is not a "master of the game", at least not a master of the cast.......
A properly heated pot and mold does not get "voids" in the bullet, no matter if you are dipping or bottom pouring.
Don't be so gullible.....
If you were getting voids in your bullets, your mold is too cold... PERIOD

You either don't weigh your balls or your bathroom scale is off. It does make a difference. Ask a bench rest shooter that's a consistent winner. It's important to overfill your mold everytime that helps to let your mold burp any air I'm it . Let a full ladle totally empty overflowing lead down the side of the mold. If you bottom pour this is difficult to do. If you don't believe cut a few balls open you'll find voids. Period!

 

[Carbon 6]

It's important to overfill your mold everytime that helps to let your mold burp any air I'm it .

I agree, but if you weigh your balls aren't you are automatically culling out the ones with voids?
This then becomes a question of cull rate. If your cull rate is low, what's the problem with a bottom pour ?

 

[Professor flintlock]

I agree, but if you weigh your balls aren't you are automatically culling out the ones with voids?
This then becomes a question of cull rate. If your cull rate is low, what's the problem with a bottom pour ?

When shooting in completion one ball with a void can eliminate you from the competition. If your just shooting at venison an inch or so either way may not make a difference maybe. Casting properly with a ladle pretty much eliminate s the need to weigh for off hand shooters, not so for the bench shooter.

 

[tenngun]

Might not be real tasty.... maybe that’s where chewed ball comes from

 

[tenngun]

So what you are indicating is that a "trade bar" is not made from lead poured in a mold????
And a 1/2# bar from a Lee mold cannot be traded? Or a 1# bar from a Lyman mold is not lead?

No that’s not what I mean
This is from museums of the fur trade. One is an ingot the other two are simple bars
Ingots are right, this one here is dated as 1779, I’m just wanting to make some bar

 

[Griz44Mag]

No that’s not what I mean
This is from museums of the fur trade. One is an ingot the other two are simple bars
Ingots are right, this one here is dated as 1779, I’m just wanting to make some bar

LOL, I got Mr. Tennessee, I'm just poking at the hard core PC-HC crowd.
I have seen these in a couple of museums....
A lot of folks here probably think I don't give a hoot about history, but I do. I hit almost every museum that I have time for when I travel.
However - I also enjoy being a modern day shooter. I like my truck and all my guns, and don't care if they are not "perfectly" historical.
It's all good. Even the "modern" black powder stuff (well maybe not an in-line, but rest is all good)

 

[Griz44Mag]

Casting properly with a ladle pretty much eliminate s the need to weigh for off hand shooters, not so for the bench shooter.

Horse manure.
I have cast with a ladle and with a bottom pour. I get the same bullet or ball quality either way. If the pot and the mold are both heated up and used properly, there is NO DIFFERENCE.
Casting with a bottom pour - I only allow a 1% deviance in my ball weight. For a typical batch of 300-500, my normal reject rate is less than 1 ball in a hundred.
Keep your molds hot, keep your pot temp consistent - you don't get bad bullets.

 

[Professor flintlock]

One thing I agree is hot lead 850 and hot mold no less than 450 . But to me a 44 at 50 yds sucks for a score. Wish all the guys I shoot against thought like you . It would make life easy.

 

[Carbon 6]

When shooting in completion one ball with a void can eliminate you from the competition. If your just shooting at venison an inch or so either way may not make a difference maybe. Casting properly with a ladle pretty much eliminate s the need to weigh for competition off hand shooters, not so for the bench shooter.

Ok, I see your point, but I think the topic is about bag molds and the lead bars used for that purpose, not competition casting.

 

[Carbon 6]

No that’s not what I mean
This is from museums of the fur trade. One is an ingot the other two are simple bars
Ingots are right, this one here is dated as 1779, I’m just wanting to make some barView attachment 55092

Now you're talking.

 

[Professor flintlock]

Just trying to set some misinformation right.

 

[tenngun]

I have to say I poured my first ball at the kitchen stove with the lead melted in a fruit cake tin in to a Lyman mold in 1975 or 6. In forty odd years I’ve killed a deer or two had me some thumper and rocket j, not got bulwinkle but got his elk cousin, all with hand cast ball. I doubt if I’ve shot a dozen conical so I’ve nought to say about them. But weighing a ball, it is still a future activity for me, I’ve yet to try it.
I did put twenty .ball for my .62 on a scale, they were less then a pound but they were .595.
I can read a mich but never Miched a ball..... maybe some day.

 

[Professor flintlock]

I have to say I poured my first ball at the kitchen stove with the lead melted in a fruit cake tin in to a Lyman mold in 1975 or 6. In forty odd years I’ve killed a deer or two had me some thumper and rocket j, not got bulwinkle but got his elk cousin, all with hand cast ball. I doubt if I’ve shot a dozen conical so I’ve nought to say about them. But weighing a ball, it is still a future activity for me, I’ve yet to try it.
I did put twenty .ball for my .62 on a scale, they were less then a pound but they were .595.
I can read a mich but never Miched a ball..... maybe some day.

For what you are doing, weighing would be a waste of time. It's when .005 makes a difference between winning or losing.

 

[shorthair]

Consider how you are goung to store and use it.
Ingots stack and come in reasonably sized portions.
Dunno about breadsticks.
Personally use muffin tins for wheel weights and ingots for pure lead
Easy to know what i am looking at.

Same here, I've been doing that for years.

 

[tenngun]

I think the thing with thin bars are you can chop off a hunk with a ‘hawk and drop it in a ladle, runnin five ball or so at a time. It’s not as easy with a muffin sized block or an thicker ingot.
It’s not a storage problem. I bought nine pound ingots that are easy to store and stack. It’s only the historic interest, not a practical response.

 

[Griz44Mag]

Consider how you are goung to store and use it.
Ingots stack and come in reasonably sized portions.
Dunno about breadsticks.
Personally use muffin tins for wheel weights and ingots for pure lead
Easy to know what i am looking at.

I put all of mine in 1# ingots, wait a few days and check the hardness with a Cabine Tree hardness tester, then stamp the bar with the BH.
I have never had the need to pour balls at a campsite, but if I did, the small stringer type "traditional" ingots would be just the ticket.

 

[RjSixgun]

I see the usefulness of both, ingots are great for home casting in a large pot, while the stick or bar of lead is good on the while camping, on the trail, at a shoot or rendezvous.

 

[SDSmlf]

One thing I agree is hot lead 850 and hot mold no less than 450 . But to me a 44 at 50 yds sucks for a score. Wish all the guys I shoot against thought like you . It would make life easy.

Curious where you shoot. Your ‘professor’ profile gives us no idea as to where you are located. But then you know that you are hiding your location from us, being a professor and all.