lead bar moulds

Does anyone know of an outfit that makes long skinny bar moulds of about one pound capacity. The theory is that you can nip off just enough lead for your ladle so you can fill your bag mould. They would be easy to carry too. Any other ideas?

 

[Rebel]

With all the tools you got Dread, why not just make youself a few. Take an iron bar and grind ya a few troughs in it the size you want. You could use a grinding bit on a Dremel even, or a drill press. Just a thought.

 

[Deadeye]

Cut a piece of copper tubing the right length and stick it in a wooden block, pour in your lead, when cool punch it out. Didn't I send you some wads and stuff for your 20 ga. smoothie, how did that turn out?

 

[musketman]

Does anyone know of an outfit that makes long skinny bar moulds of about one pound capacity. The theory is that you can nip off just enough lead for your ladle so you can fill your bag mould. They would be easy to carry too. Any other ideas?

Yea, what about an old cast iron cornpone pan?

Too corny?

 

[ol vern]

I use a old muffin pan, full each mold about half full for a one lb bar

 

[fatboy]

if you got a welder get your self some angle iron maybe 1" cut it to the lenght you need and weld end's on it and put a handle on it you can vary how much lead you pour in it

 

[BS]

Musketman is very close. They also make some in half rounds, and half lenghts [corn bread]. Also look at the mini muffin molds.

 

[CrackStock]

I know of people using a routers 2X4 and I use an end cap for a fence. It has a side opening for the top rail of a chain link fence which I use to insert a wooden handle. This rig throws a Hershey's kiss shaped lead cone. This is also not likely to be accidently used for food prep at a later date.

CS

 

[crockett]

This is probably a dumb idea but if you have a form for the lead, couldn't you depress it in sand, remove it, repeat, and then pour lead into depressions- that is if all you want is lead in a long form. Fast and easy-I do it for decoy weights.

 

[reddogge]

I had my machinist friend make me a lead mold out of an aluminum block which throws a 1/2 cylinder of lead about 1/2" in diameter and 9" long. Something like that would work I imagine.

 

[bnail]

THAT AIN'T FUNNY MUSKETMAN!
I seriously considered that a few months ago :redface:

 

[bnail]

I cast ladle ingots. that way they fit exactly into my lead ladle.

 

[rudy parnell]

I noticed that you introduced the fact that you have a bag mold....I would like to learn more about the whole idea that you're going at. I mean...can you tell me about how you get from a small portable hunk of lead ...to a round ball for shootin? I saw some of what was going on in the movie but, I didn't get much beyond recognizing that the little soldiers, he was melting down, had red coats on um'. So you can imagine...I sure was trying to remember where I last seen the cornbread pan...P.S. if you think you're behind cause you got MUSKETMAN running off and leaving you...just look behind you...way back there...that will I Be!

 

[musketman]

This is probably a dumb idea but if you have a form for the lead, couldn't you depress it in sand, remove it, repeat, and then pour lead into depressions-

Not without danger, the sand must be completely dry...

Sand will hold unseen moisture and water and hot lead do not mix without violent pops of molten lead flying about...

 

[CrackStock]

<<<can you tell me about how you get from a small portable hunk of lead ...to a round ball for shootin? >>>

Rudy,

People carried a ladle, a mold and some convenient bits of lead. A fire is built the mold and ladel heated and lead melted in the ladle. It is then poured into the mold.

We were mostly discussing getting the ways in which the basic lead could be formed into the convenient and/or correct shapes for carrying and using.

There are items which can be used as field expedients and some period methods of shaping the lead. A friend of mine suggests that a trough be gouged or routered into a piece of wood (a 2X4 will work quite well) to make a period correct strip of lead to be carried with a bag mold. It will scorch over time, but it will just gradually get a bit larger over time. It is also not a lot of trouble to make another.

CS

 

[crockett]

Not to shoot down(no pun intended) my own idea but I also was wondering with bits of sand may get embedded into the mix. Just an idea. :front:

 

[CrackStock]

<<<bits of sand may get embedded into the mix.>>>

They will, but they will float to the top where you can skim them.

CS

 

[rudy parnell]

I had to melt down the Linotype keys we used to print checks at American Bank Stationary Company. This was just about 40 years ago, just before I joined up with the Army...so it's been awhile. Well the point is lead will pick-up impurities and get air pockets around those particles. And, yes you can get some violent splatters coming back at you from cooking lead. I think, I'd stay away from the sandbox. It stands to reason that the better the lead you got the better the projectile you're going to come up with. I remember putting some kind of cleaner agent into the molten lead and skimming it off. The stuff would turn green and sandy yellow and come to the top ...that's when you knew it was ready to be poured off. Well that's all I know on the subject of pouring up lead...I do know that I want to get started on making me some lead to shoot under field conditions and I appreciate learning from you fellars. ADIOS!

 

[weirdjack]

All the suggestions are good. Seen many people selling lead in corn-muffin and round-muffin form over the years. And casting 1 or 2 pound ingots for topping off the lead pot during casting sessions is a good idea.
But this brings up a question I've often wondered about....especially when we see all those wonderful romantic photos of modern longhunters running ball around the campfire in the evening (hmmmmmm, sounds like a John Denver song).
Under what circumstances would a hunter carry a bunch of bar lead with him? Would it not be simpler to carry that lead precast in ball form for whatever gun he carried?
I see people carrying lead bars, sticks, even going so far as to smash cast balls into discs which they string like beads...only to recast them back into ball form around the campfire. I can see the bag mold...recasting someone else's ammunition for your own gun, or for reclaiming lead from game. But what's the point of the modern recreator lugging bar lead around in their pouch? Other than just for giggles to run ball around the campfire. If I am going to lug 5 pounds of lead with me into the woods, it will be in the form of .660 round balls ready to use. I can always use that to cast with if I feel the urge.
Jack

 

[Bear Rider]

I am not particularly well read on this subject, but the only instance that I am aware of where someone carried lead was the Lewis and Clark Expedition, where they carried their bulk powder in lead containers. Besides providing sturdy, waterproof powder storage, each empty container would yield enough balls to use up the powder that it once held.