Lead casting (Lyman Mag 20)

[Swamp Buck]

Last Wednesday afternoon I ventured into casting lead bullets for the very first time. It was great, and I now have about 150 bright shiney brand new 54 cal (.530) round balls to shoot next time I go to the range.

I was very impressed with the Lyman round ball mold. Cast a very good looking ball with a minute flat spot on the ball where the casting sprue is cut off.

The only difficulty I had was with the bottom pour spout on the Lyman Mag 20 furnace.

I had heated up about 15-18lbs of lead in the furnace, added flux and cleaned off the junk that floated to the top. (This was pure lead purchased from a muzzleloading supply company - so it was fairly clean to start with). I had decided to use a casting ladle to pour lead into the mold to make the bullets. Once I was done making my bullets, I used the bottom pour spout on the furnace to try and empty the furnace and make a bunch of lead ingots for use next time.

Anyway, I made the first batch of ingots in the ingot mold with no problem. When I went to make the next batch of ingots - nothing came out of the bottom pour spout. I followed the instructions that came with the furnace to use an end of a paper clip wire to poke up into the bottom pour spout on the furnace to dislodge what was jamming it up but nothing worked. I ended up just shutting off the furnace and letting the lead cool down and remain inside the furnace pot.

Any other tricks or suggestions to make this work properly?????

 

[hepburn4590]

What's wrong with leaving it in the pot? I would have left it all in the pot. You gonna' have to put in back in there to cast bullets next time.

 

[ssettle]

The only time I drain my furnace is when it gets a build up of crap from melting scrap lead. Like it was said you don't really need to drain the pot, unless you are going to a harder mix for a different gun. I don't mold using a bottom pour pot, I use a dipper easier for me because I also mold long 500 grain bullets for my Sharps 45/70. Good luck with you molding I hope it works out well for you. :v Ssettle

 

[jtmattison]

I use a Lee Production Pot IV. I found the hole in the spout was to small and mine would clog up fairly often from gunk in the lead. I drilled my pour hole out just a tad larger and it solved the problem.

The only time I ever drain my pot completely is to clean it every few months. It's better to leave it at least half full of lead to keep the pot from rusting when not in use.

HD

 

[BrownBear]

What's wrong with leaving it in the pot? I would have left it all in the pot. You gonna' have to put in back in there to cast bullets next time.

Probably depends on what else you use the furnace for. I also cast bullets for cartridge guns, and I'm as particular about the alloys for that as I am for using pure lead for muzzleloaders.

Then there's are the scrap crap I melt down for fishing sinkers and jigs. We use everything from 1 to 32 ounces up here, so I go through lots of lead.

Just to eliminate cross-contamination, I always empty my furnace by casting ingots. Of course, I'm real careful about labeling the different types of ingots, too.

 

[Swamp Buck]

I have no problem with leaving the lead in the pot to cool down until the next casting session. I also don't mind using the ladle to pour molten lead into the mold either.

I just wanted to keep the option of using the bottom pour spout at some point in the future. I think next time I heat up the furnace, I'll use a 1/16" pin left over from a gun build project to try and remove the blockage. The paper clip method didn't work out to well.

 

[BrownBear]

I'm betting 1/16" will turn out to be way too big. In my Lee a paperclip is such a close fit that it won't work simply because I don't get it absolutely straight. Lately I've been using a piece of copper wire that's slightly smaller, but just stiff enough to wiggle around and worm up in there.

One thing that also helps is scraping the bottom of the pot once your lead is up to temp, but scraping away from the inner end of the bottom pour spout toward the edges of the pot.

I'm not sure what the gunk is down there, but it doesn't float like the other dross. It will build up around the edges of the pot bottom after a few scraping sessions, and I use a spoon to which I added a wooden handle to dredge it up by scraping up the sides of the pot. The Lee used to be a real stinker about clogging till I started that routine.

 

[Swamp Buck]

Brownbear, thanks for the info - of course when I got the Lyman furnace and installing the pour spout I never even looked down the spout hole to see how big it was. At least it worked once - hopefully it will again soon.

 

[Gus]

I've got the smaller Lee pot (#4?) with the bottom spout and I love it. I always leave it with 3/4" of lead in the bottom because that's where the heating element is, and if I leave the pot full and cold, it takes much longer to heat up with hard lead on top, and a melted pool underneath. Regarding the rust, which is an issue, when I am done for the night and it is almost cool, I rub it down with a beeswax candle to prevent rust. When I crank it up again it smokes, but beeswax being a natural flux is not an issue - plus there is only a thin film.

Regarding the plugging, it happens to me all the time, but I keep a paper clip handy and a good pair of leather gloves, which has worked so far. When I cast crap lead, like from raw wheel weights, sometimes I need to disassemble the whole thing and scrub it down with a brass brush.

So far I've run probably a thousand balls, and its still holding up great. I love doing it, too bad I don't need any right now. My best tip is the flux, Marvelux is by far the best I've used.

gus