Casting Setups

[brewer12345]

Very interesting, cowboy. Thanks.

 

[Sidney Smith]

Yep, exactly as Cowboy said. In my case I normally just use chunks of lead I cut from half pound ingots Ive poured, or pieces of spent lead from the backdrop at the gun club I belong to.

My ladle is home made from a piece of 1/8 inch flat steel that I heated and hammered into a depression I cut into an old 4X4 to make the ladle shape.. My ladle also doesn't have a handle but mine isn't like the usual kind where you place a stick into a rounded end which holds it. I made mine with a pointed end that I insert into a spilt in a green limb. Easy to make. The ladle only holds enough lead to make a few falls at a time but it also only takes a short time to heat the lead as well.

 

[Griz44Mag]

Lastly, I either use a piece of leather to grip the bag mold handles or wear a leather glove.

Here is one I got from a fellow MEMBER here -
I liked the leather handles, but have not tried it yet.

 

[Kansas Kid]

Done a little smelting today.

 

[Griz44Mag]

Done a little smelting today.

Kool!
What was your lead source?

 

[Cowboy]

Your going to town on it, aren’t ya!!

 

[Kansas Kid]

Kool!
What was your lead source?

All of my soft lead was sheeting from X-ray room shielding.

 

[45man]

Fine bunch of balls guys. now to keep them shiny spray them with Barricade.

 

[Griz44Mag]

Picked up an antique IDEAL Minie mold to cast for the recently acquired 3 band Enfield.
Sat down at the casting pot and cranked out a batch.
I had 6 rejects at the beginning of the session (mold not hot enough)
The rest all landed at (+/-) 2gr (.4%) of the 500gr mold design, with most hitting .5gr or less deviation.
As stated previously - I have had tremendous success by rejecting anything at 1% deviation from the heaviest in the lot.
I always use 99.9% pure lead and add about 1oz of tin to every 10# batch of lead. The tin makes them cast smooth and shiney! Dip Lubed with 50-50 Carnauba and olive (all I had on hand). Waiting on the new sizer to show up now.

 

[brewer12345]

TX Griz, I recently acquired a long discontinued minie mold from lyman for 54 cal that I have yet to cast with. Did the bulled drop easily off the pin? Have never cast with a bottom pin hollow base mold before and was wondering how you go about getting the bullets free. Looking forward to trying it in my 54.

 

[Griz44Mag]

TX Griz, I recently acquired a long discontinued minie mold from lyman for 54 cal that I have yet to cast with. Did the bulled drop easily off the pin? Have never cast with a bottom pin hollow base mold before and was wondering how you go about getting the bullets free. Looking forward to trying it in my 54.

I do have several other hollow base and hollow point molds but they use sliding pin assemblies that come in from the side.
The general principal is the same though. After pour and after sprue has hardened I cut the sprue, turn the mold upside down, loosen my grip on the handles and give the wood knob a 10 degree or so turn to make sure it is loose, and open the mood. The bullet drops out of the mold on it's nose - nice and gentle on the padded shop towels. I close the mold with the bottom pin in place and make sure it locks in - mine has a small pin that engages a slot in a keeper screw, flip the mold over, close the spru, and fill it back up. While waiting for the sprue to harden, I use my needle nose to pick up the sprue drop from the last round and drop it back in the pot. I actually found as I got into a nice rhythm that I had to slow the pace to give the mold a little more time to cool in between casts. I was averaging about 2 rounds every 60-80 seconds.
Next time I cast, I will try and get some video to post.
And, you are always welcome to drop by and we will do some casting, it is one of my favorite past-times.
The problem these days is I don't do enough shooting to keep my casting hobby fed....

 

[brewer12345]

Thanks, TX. I am an experienced caster (10k+ bullets cast), but have never tried a hollow point/base mold. When the ice finally melts I have two new conical molds to try out and am on the hunt for a third. Spring target shooting should be interesting.

 

[mooman76]

Mould with a separate pin can be a peta. Trick is to get and keep that pin heated. some tind to work better than others for whatever reason. The ones with pin attached to the mould are way easier because being attached, they heat and keep hot easier.

 

[Juice Jaws]

Here is my simple setup.

 

[mushka]

Juice's picture is just about the same setup that I have. Small bottom pour pot, mould, and wood hammer. Even the same towel setup. Been using the same pot for over 30 years and it still works well. I cast a lot of different bullets for unmentionables, cast mostly in winter, and have to be in the mood for it. Yuma is too hot to cast in summer. My main problem is acquiring good lead.

 

[Griz44Mag]

Juice's picture is just about the same setup that I have. Small bottom pour pot, mould, and wood hammer. Even the same towel setup. Been using the same pot for over 30 years and it still works well. I cast a lot of different bullets for unmentionables, cast mostly in winter, and have to be in the mood for it. Yuma is too hot to cast in summer. My main problem is acquiring good lead.

My son used to work for a famous pistol maker in Texas and as a newbie one of his tasks was to clean the test range every weekend when production was not is session. I would go help help him. We had claim to the wastes. I wound up with several 55 gallon barrels of brass byproducts (unmentionable) along with over 2 tons of lead.
I will never buy alloy the rest of my life. When I need 99+% for black powder rounds, I wind up trading or buying it. Salvage yards and roofing companies are a great place to go lead trading. And there are several reputable dealers on fleabay that sell for around 2 dollars with free shipping on quantity. It's out there, and plentiful, just have to do some searching to find it.

 

[mooman76]

I use a small plastic mallet instead of wood. I learned that from an older gent. It seems to work better at knocking castings loose and yet wont damage the mould.

 

[Ames]

There's a guy I came across a while back. Striping an x-ray room, he stuffs 60 lbs. into a "if it fits, it ships" box. $75 to your door. That's $1.25 a lb., delivered.

 

[Juice Jaws]

Ran some .648 ball today.

 

[mushka]

My Lee .60 RB mould is supposed to get here today. Balls are for a .62- 20 ga smooth bore rifle I recently acquired.