Lead Melting Question

[musketman]

I have cast many a roundball over a stove and hot plate, once even on a gas grill's side burner...

I have never done this outside over an open fire or hot coals, how different is it to cast over a bed of coals?

Do you have a longer melt time 'cus of the wind?

Does the mold cool off faster than indoors?

Are there any added dangers to casting balls in the great out doors?

I see the advantage of having a well ventilated area, please list the pros and cons of casting outside...

 

[Rebel]

Pros:
Well ventilated
Can be cooler depending on the weather.
Breeze to wisk away fumes. Less cahnce of starting your house on fire

Cons:
A sudden rain storm
Bird droppings in pot
Bugs landing in pot.
Sudden gusts of wind

 

I cast bullets/balls in my blacksmith shop. It's a closed-in pole barn so is shaded but drafty for ventilation. It's also easy to melt lead in a cast iron pot on a coal forge and the chimney takes the smoke out.

I used to cast underneath a car port, winter or summer, and never saw any difference in the how the mold filled, cooled off faster, etc.

 

[Erzulis boat]

A funny story along those lines.

I was in Seward, Alaska doing some halibut and ling-cod fishing, when lo and behold, there were some characters running lead under an overhang near the docks.

I sauntered on over to check it out and noticed that they had a big pile of lead in curious shapes and painted odd colors.

They were casting half pound fishing weight spheres out of lead that had been used to shield radioactive processes in the medical industry. The odd colors were the markings to denote that not only were they a bio-hazard, but that they had sustained a massive dose of radiation.

There was also a box of those thin plastic sleeved x-ray barriers used at the dentists office. They were dumping the whole thing into the pot, plastic and all!

A puff of gray-green acrid smoke puffed each time one was dropped into the pot.

I just went down the ramp to the boat and went fishing.

 

[cayugad]

I lucked out the other day.. a very good friend, who for years I've been casting R.E.A.L. conicals for at no charge called and told me he was at a garage sale and saw over 200 pounds of clean lead pipe sitting in a pile. He thought of me.. :redface:. Anyway, he asked the guy who was running the garge sale.. how much? The man said he would not take a penny less then $5.00 for it. Well, the deal was made and they loaded it all in my friends truck.

He stopped at my house and asked if I was low on lead which I told him I was. Well I am no longer low on lead. I guess kindness all these years paid off in the long run.

 

[Tumblernotch]

I've done it over a campfire with a forged bag ladle and it worked just fine, just have to be careful that the wood or coals under the ladle are stable so it won't tip over and dump out your lead. And I agree with the aforementioned pros and cons. I've melted chunk and sheet lead in cast into ingots in my forge, but for casting bullets I like the control I have with my Coleman. I can get the lead red hot in the forge. Hot enough to about melt an aluminum mold. The flue does carry out any fumes. The dust from the lead and it's slag is what you really have to watch out for.
:front:

 

[merdean]

I have used many heat sources for melting lead. From the kitchen stove to the camp fire. My first "pot" was a big 1 cup cast iron ladle from an old dutch oven set. Used a miners gas torch for a heat source. First mold was an original Colt .36 Navy two cavity mold, all brass, poor spru cutter. Cast some really poor balls. Then I got a Lee lead pot. 4 pounds of lead at a time. Used a Lyman ladle and RCBS or Lee molds. Finally got that Colt Navy to hit the target. Since then I have cast for lots of pistol and rifle calibers in lots of shapes. I have cast bullets for my cartridge guns in the evening over the Coleman stove, then loaded ammo for the next days shooting. I always carry a small pot and ladle in the vehicle when I go hunting just in case I forget to take any projectiles with me. (Anybody out there ever got to the forest and realize you brought .36 and .50 cal balls and .32 and .54 cal guns?) :crackup: [I didn't think so.] :crackup: So I make sure I take molds for the right caliber along with 4 or 5 lbs of lead. Doesnt take up too much space in the SUV and saves a long drive home for bigger balls! :crackup: One time on a hunt I slid down a mountain side. My bag got caught on a tree root and tore the bottom out. Lost all my ammo. Don't want that to happen again. Anyway, I have everything I need to run some balls. I have cast over the campfire but you really have to have a hot fire and be prepared to singe the hair on your arms and face and head and neck and and and.... :results: :m2c:

 

[musketman]

So do you melt and cast over the coals or flames?

 

[Cruzatte]

I think coals are better. You want steady, consistent heat as much as possible. But you do have to mind the fire and feed it. Casting ball over a fire is a pretty good living history demonstration, come to think of it.

I have cast bullets over the stove indoors. I don't do that anymore. The Missus kinda frowned on that.

I got a used Coleman stove from one of my camping buddies. I've been using that either set up on the back stoop, or if the weather is threatening, out in the garage with the doors open.

Cruzatte

 

[cayugad]

I've casted on wood fires, charcoal fires, camp stoves, in the house on the stove, the gas grill, but the best way is to get a cheap turkey cooker. That gas turkey cooker, I wired a stove burner to the stand and the lead smeltpot sits right on that. I can adjust the burner and keep a constant heat... plus I can do it anywhere, indoor, outdoor, and no mess...

 

but the best way is to get a cheap turkey cooker. That gas turkey cooker,

Ditto on his turkey Cooker Musket Man, For a small mould a bed of coals will work, but the thing is in a state of entropy, so you cant sit there and focus on casting a large quantity because youre heat is dying. For alloying lead 20:1 I use a turkey/fish cooker with the propane bottle. For small quantity of lead for my aluminum moulds 44 cap and ball, I can use a coleman stove to melt pure lead. FOr casting big ole 50 caliber lyman plains or 45 caliber lyman postell (sharps rifle), ive given up on all the primitive ways, and use the fish cooker on a ten pound pot of lead/alloy. ALso, had good results on small moulds with a lee leadpot (electric). Been casting bullets since 1968, old man got me started on his 38 wadcutters. (I was eight years old then). I liked it when Mel Gibson melted the sons toy soldiers in the fire and cast bullets to return to the Brits Dragoons, but I have yet to see a small compact mould like that that would heat up on a small fire. THe lee Aluminum ones might perhaps, but I would be afraid to get grit on the aluminum.

 

[Tumblernotch]

I'm assumin' that you're talkin' about using a light ladle with a handle like the oldtimers did or like Mel Gibson in that movie. If it has a handle you can hold it over the flames, but it's more comfortable and faster to set it on a good bed of coals. You will be surprised at how fast lead will melt over a small campfire in a sheet iron ladle. Much faster than cast iron.
:front:

 

[merdean]

Musketman, I melt over the coals. But you have to have a good bed of coals to do it with and you must keep it hot! That means adding chunks of wood as you go. I try to get a good bed of coals before I start. If I have one, I use a saw to cut a tree branch into slabs about 1" thick. I can stack them around and under a small pot to keep the fire hot. My big ladle has a handle about a foot long. Makes reaching easier. My small pot that I take with me is a Lee pot. Holds about 4 pounds. That is all I normally carry. If I can't kill something with 4 pounds of lead, I shouldn't be in the woods. It takes a while to get the lead to melt but once it does, it usually stays hot. Wood ash does not work as a flux so a dab of lube is needed more often than if I were casting at home. It is fun but I get scorched a lot.

 

[riarcher]

First melting to clean is over coals / wood, then into ingots.
For molding, I like the bottom pourer on electric pots. I feel it's much more faster (and safer, I get rather "clutsy" at times).

 

[bnail]

Hey Musketman:
I just cast up a mess of ladle ingots for my campfire casting activities and I found out some interesting facts.
I didn't flux the lead, I just kept the pot well stocked.
Here's what I discovered:
1. the "slag" rested on top of the molten lead, allowing me to scrape off a good portion of it.
2. the molten lead poured from under the slag. when I finished, there was only crumbly impurities left behind in the pot.
3. the slag that made it into my ingots remained on top after solidification.
4. The Ingots hardened into relatively clean pieces ready for casting.

I realize this isn't ideal for accuracy or consistancy, but for field conditions I discovered that fluxing wasn't as necessary as I first thought. and the ablility of the lead to pour from under the impurities still created relatively clean round-ball.
I guess casting round-ball can conform to the K.I.S.S model. :thumbsup:

of course. . . :results:

 

[daveol]

If I may toss another question into the pot

I've never cast ball before and often thought that it would be an enjoyable ancillary activity that I would like to try soon. I have been looking at .530 molds.
Is there a difference in ease of use /finicky-ness / quality of pour, between a single cavity mold and a double cavity mold?

My initial reaction is "yeah; you can cast them twice as fast.". But upon reflecting on it I figured that there has to be a hitch.
I see that Lyman does not make double cavity molds larger than .495, yet Lee makes doubles up to something like .562.
I am thinking that larger size double cavity molds may be problematic.

Does anyone have experiences with single vs. double?
Thanks.

Dave

 

[Owenbrau]

Another question-
sources for lead besides buying it. While clearing out my Dad's house, I found his old stain-glass supplies, including a couple of pounds of lead channel. It's old and has white corrosion on it in spots. Can I melt it down? I shoot mostly in reenacting, so I won't be using much lead anyway, but I'd like to have what I need to cast ball at the fire for the LH aspects, to give me something to do besides just hang around the fire.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Yes. Cut away any spots with solder on them. The oxidation floats and is easy to skim off. Flux with a pea sized piece of beeswax (it sometimes flares and burns and always smokes profusely) and stir with a steel spoon (held in a gloved hand).

 

[CrackStock]

I have doubles and cannot see any difference in the end result.

CS

 

[rabbit03]

Maybe we should all go to the scrap yard and get what we will need for the future! I went several years ago and bought 400 lbs at .10 per lb. Yeah I had to lay out $40.00 bucks at the time but I should have enough lead for a long long time. I believe that one day if we can't find it at a garage sale or remodel to a shower pan that we will be out of luck! :m2c:

rabbit03