Moulding balls

[Kabulrocks]

Research bag mold

I just received this nice .520” RB bag mold from Larry Callahan. Haven’t had a chance to try it out yet, and I plan to make some leather handle covers for it.

 

[Jedidiah]

You can buy a mold on ebay for usually less than $30. Misway had Lee bottom pour pots on sale for $20 last year. Lead usually runs about $2 a pound. I got lucky and bought 100+ pounds of pure lead chips for $125 on Facebook marketplace.

I have yet to see any mold for $30 nor a pot for $20?? Cheapest Lee electric is around$50 and LEE molds run closer to $40, then there is tax and shipping. If you want a Lyman/Ideal , RCBS or other quality steel mold, its $50, plus handles!, to whatever the market can bear. IMHO YMMV

 

[bronko220002]

I have yet to see any mold for $30 nor a pot for $20?? Cheapest Lee electric is around$50 and LEE molds run closer to $40, then there is tax and shipping. If you want a Lyman/Ideal , RCBS or other quality steel mold, its $50, plus handles!, to whatever the market can bear. IMHO YMMV

You're pretty much calling me a liar. Not very nice. Maybe you're not looking in the right places. Last year MidwayUSA had the Lee bottom pour electric pots on a flash sale for $19.99. I didn't need one but I bought one. I should have bought a couple. Now I have one for pure lead and one for alloyed. If your patient you can find what you want in a mold on Ebay for about $20 or $30
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2560274599...30BPl9mWfXXpoG668m94UUHxCxZn|tkp:BFBMhoKT3e5hhttps://www.ebay.com/itm/3746197634...8xWUQ41Iix5SqEA0efM+KGpdjx|tkp:Bk9SR4aCk93uYQ

 

[tenngun]

A little cast iron pot found in junk stores works on a home stove top. And a big ladle works in a fire.
My very first pot was a Christmas cookie tin

 

[Jedidiah]

You're pretty much calling me a liar. Not very nice. Maybe you're not looking in the right places. Last year MidwayUSA had the Lee bottom pour electric pots on a flash sale for $19.99. I didn't need one but I bought one. I should have bought a couple. Now I have one for pure lead and one for alloyed. If your patient you can find what you want in a mold on Ebay for about $20 or $30
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2560274599...30BPl9mWfXXpoG668m94UUHxCxZn|tkp:BFBMhoKT3e5hhttps://www.ebay.com/itm/3746197634...8xWUQ41Iix5SqEA0efM+KGpdjx|tkp:Bk9SR4aCk93uYQ

I did not realize we were talking "used" equipment. The "flash" sales are few and far between, but can be great if you happen to hit one !

 

[HSmithTX]

Thermometer???? Wrinkle turn up the heat, frosty turn it down,

When you get routine blood work done and the health department shows up at your door demanding an inspection of the premises to determine where your elevated lead levels are coming from, you tell them to take a flying fornication at a rolling donut and they will vacate the property immediately until such time as they return with a warrant, you might change your mind. I did. They and I knew they couldn't get a warrant, but they called and sent letters for a few years.
Wrinkles can be cold melt, cold blocks, or both. Frosty IS hot blocks and hot melt, you can run WAY hot on the melt temp and still get shiny clean bullets/balls and I know this to be fact because I have done it, without a thermometer you are guessing. I don't guess anymore. I didn't need chelation therapy to reduce my lead levels, time and better habits (mainly the thermometer) took care of it but I was within a couple points of starting chelation. I had no health symptoms at all other than constant fatigue until the lead levels got reasonable.

 

[Jedidiah]

When you get routine blood work done and the health department shows up at your door demanding an inspection of the premises to determine where your elevated lead levels are coming from, you tell them to take a flying fornication at a rolling donut and they will vacate the property immediately until such time as they return with a warrant, you might change your mind. I did. They and I knew they couldn't get a warrant, but they called and sent letters for a few years.
Wrinkles can be cold melt, cold blocks, or both. Frosty IS hot blocks and hot melt, you can run WAY hot on the melt temp and still get shiny clean bullets/balls and I know this to be fact because I have done it, without a thermometer you are guessing. I don't guess anymore. I didn't need chelation therapy to reduce my lead levels, time and better habits (mainly the thermometer) took care of it but I was within a couple points of starting chelation. I had no health symptoms at all other than constant fatigue until the lead levels got reasonable.

Thanks for the info, I guess I need a thermometer. At the ripe old age of 72, I do not need any health issues cropping up. So far, I have none and would like to keep it that way!

 

[tenngun]

When you get routine blood work done and the health department shows up at your door demanding an inspection of the premises to determine where your elevated lead levels are coming from, you tell them to take a flying fornication at a rolling donut and they will vacate the property immediately until such time as they return with a warrant, you might change your mind. I did. They and I knew they couldn't get a warrant, but they called and sent letters for a few years.
Wrinkles can be cold melt, cold blocks, or both. Frosty IS hot blocks and hot melt, you can run WAY hot on the melt temp and still get shiny clean bullets/balls and I know this to be fact because I have done it, without a thermometer you are guessing. I don't guess anymore. I didn't need chelation therapy to reduce my lead levels, time and better habits (mainly the thermometer) took care of it but I was within a couple points of starting chelation. I had no health symptoms at all other than constant fatigue until the lead levels got reasonable.

Wow!!!
I cast my first ball about 1974, in the kitchen, using the stove as my heat.
I’ve cast over campfires on treks and at events, and just in my back yard. I’ve used my rendezvous brazer and a cast iron habachi. I’ve used electric pots.
I’ve cast with Lee and Lyman and Callahan
Almost fifty years now and never had health department show up at my door
Never been tested for lead but I’m just shy of my 66th birthday and my blood count and chemistries are right on the mark. I don’t take but one script as with most guys my age I have some enlargement of the prostate.
T levels are normal, cholesterol is normal. Jogged five miles yesterday. Resting heart rate is 48-55, b/p averages 110/60.
Who alerted the health department you were casting?
How would a thermometer have corrected your lead exposure?

 

[Coot]

I have yet to see any mold for $30 nor a pot for $20?? Cheapest Lee electric is around$50 and LEE molds run closer to $40, then there is tax and shipping. If you want a Lyman/Ideal , RCBS or other quality steel mold, its $50, plus handles!, to whatever the market can bear. IMHO YMMV

Two weeks ago I bought a new in the box Lee double cavity roundball mold off Ebay for $20.93 including shipping. It now lives in my mold box with a number of it's different caliber brothers.

 

[Jedidiah]

Wow!!!
I cast my first ball about 1974, in the kitchen, using the stove as my heat.
I’ve cast over campfires on treks and at events, and just in my back yard. I’ve used my rendezvous brazer and a cast iron habachi. I’ve used electric pots.
I’ve cast with Lee and Lyman and Callahan
Almost fifty years now and never had health department show up at my door
Never been tested for lead but I’m just shy of my 66th birthday and my blood count and chemistries are right on the mark. I don’t take but one script as with most guys my age I have some enlargement of the prostate.
T levels are normal, cholesterol is normal. Jogged five miles yesterday. Resting heart rate is 48-55, b/p averages 110/60.
Who alerted the health department you were casting?
How would a thermometer have corrected your lead exposure?

I knew a guy who smoked Camel unfiltered cigarettes his entire life and never had cancer or anything else wrong with him. Lived to be 87 yrs old. I know another guy who was the epitome of health and died from Lymphoma at the age of 46! SO, you may be Ok today, but tomorrow is another day, and one never knows what tomorrow may bring. IMHO. Like you, I take no drugs, my numbers are good, I have the typical enlarged prostate issue, and I don't f'n jog anywhere, since I got out of the Marines decades ago! I'm 72 and going strong. However, I do not kid myself that tomorrow could be a whole new ball game, one just doesn't know.

 

[Jedidiah]

Two weeks ago I bought a new in the box Lee double cavity roundball mold off Ebay for $20.93 including shipping. It now lives in my mold box with a number of it's different caliber brothers.

that was a good find. What caliber?

 

[user 34300]

I second the thermometer. You can not cast consistent balls or bullets unless the temperature is consistent. The casing cadence needs to be consistent too. Heating lead over about 900* will cause lead vapor to be releases. 900* is easy to achieve.

https://oem.msu.edu/images/annual_reports/lead hazards casting and reloading-sept.pdf
Casting on the kitchen stove, where you prepare food is not a good idea. Wherever you cast have decent ventilation. Use an iron, or steel pot. Do not use aluminum pots or tin cans. Those can break and spill lead all over the place.

I cast in the garage and have a box fan the sucks any smoke away from me and out the open door. I have a second door open to provide cross ventilation. I also lay out paper on the work surface and throw it away later. Cleanliness is important. IF you want a shock test your reloading area with lead tester swabs.

Back to the OP, I agree that buying balls is an excellent option.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I second the thermometer. You can not cast consistent balls or bullets unless the temperature is consistent.

Half agree. Temp must be consistent. But thermometer not necessary. Turn heat up until desired results are achieved then get on with it. I have cast enough balls to sink a battleship and never used a thermometer.

 

[HSmithTX]

Wow!!!
I cast my first ball about 1974, in the kitchen, using the stove as my heat.
I’ve cast over campfires on treks and at events, and just in my back yard. I’ve used my rendezvous brazer and a cast iron habachi. I’ve used electric pots.
I’ve cast with Lee and Lyman and Callahan
Almost fifty years now and never had health department show up at my door
Never been tested for lead but I’m just shy of my 66th birthday and my blood count and chemistries are right on the mark. I don’t take but one script as with most guys my age I have some enlargement of the prostate.
T levels are normal, cholesterol is normal. Jogged five miles yesterday. Resting heart rate is 48-55, b/p averages 110/60.
Who alerted the health department you were casting?
How would a thermometer have corrected your lead exposure?

I was smelting quite a bit and casting A LOT in those days, smelting wheelweights for unmentionables mainly. There was reclaim lead from the indoor range I used, I also got a couple shaker conveyors worth of lead shaker weights, two trips worth of those with my 3/4 ton pickup stacked neatly up against the cab and springs nearly on the bump stops got casted and shot in less than 2 years. I was shooting A LOT back then, that is the other potential source for lead ingestion as the particles can become airborne. I cast out of a 6 quart dutch oven to this day, and when I cast I will cast at least a thousand of whatever it is I am making, 4-5K is a normal run for me and I can do it in a few hours.

I had terrible fatigue at the time, and finally went to the doctor, doctor ordered the blood tests, and that is how the lead levels were found. Since probably the 80's lead levels aren't part of a standard blood workup, so most people will never know what their lead levels are unless they ask for a lead test or somehow one gets ordered. Why that doctor ordered a lead test at that time I don't know, I figured it was how they were intending to get ALL of the insurance money they could. Where I was living at the time the doctors office was compelled to alert the health department when they saw elevated levels, not sure if it's law or policy? The health department showed up at my house, when I ordered them off my property they switched to phone calls and letters in the mail. They sent questionnaires to the schools for the admin there to give to my kids, it was a mess. My wife STILL doesn't think it's funny, and that was about 25 years ago.

The thermometer will, and has for me, kept my melt temp at a lower temperature and the lead doesn't get vaporized, which happens at 750 degrees. I had to change my approach to managing the pot and block temps to use the lower melt temp. When I used my old methods my lead temp would be 775-800 pretty much all the time and sometimes get as high as 825, bullets shiny and beautiful because I managed my block temperatures to get perfect shiny bullets. Even at 825 you won't see the lead gassing, but it is, and the only sign I ever saw was short casting runs before the bullets got frosty looking and the blocks needed cooling. I had zero clue my temps were that high until I got the thermometer. It was a simple change with the melt under 750, dumping a few more blocks of wrinkly bullets back into the pot as the blocks came up to temp slower, and taking less heat out of the blocks as I was making a production run to keep them at the right temp. My production rate really didn't change, the lower temp let me cast a bit longer before cooling the blocks vs cooling more often and coming back up to temp faster, it was pretty much a wash. I have cast since then at 725-750, if the temp starts getting toward 750 I will drop an additional ingot or two in the pot and use that to cool the melt, but at a steady rate when casting I run a turkey burner pretty darn hot and consume the lead at a rate fast enough that keeping the pot 2/3 or so full and normal addition of ingots holds the temp down. When I was running way high temps a lot of guys wanted me to help them with casting because my bullets were really really good, consistent in fill and weight and beautifully shiny and accurate, don't use the appearance or quality of the bullet you are casting as a gauge because if you work at it a little bit you can make really good bullets at a temp that is way to hot too. The thermometer is cheap, way too cheap to guess, you may or may not be too hot but there is only one way to know. The guys I helped with the little electric pots had to work at it to get the temps up and if they could cast at all they struggled with waiting for the pot as it reheated from adding lead, but if you use a heat source with some power it can and will get hot fast.

 

[Jedidiah]

I was smelting quite a bit and casting A LOT in those days, smelting wheelweights for unmentionables mainly. There was reclaim lead from the indoor range I used, I also got a couple shaker conveyors worth of lead shaker weights, two trips worth of those with my 3/4 ton pickup stacked neatly up against the cab and springs nearly on the bump stops got casted and shot in less than 2 years. I was shooting A LOT back then, that is the other potential source for lead ingestion as the particles can become airborne. I cast out of a 6 quart dutch oven to this day, and when I cast I will cast at least a thousand of whatever it is I am making, 4-5K is a normal run for me and I can do it in a few hours.

I had terrible fatigue at the time, and finally went to the doctor, doctor ordered the blood tests, and that is how the lead levels were found. Since probably the 80's lead levels aren't part of a standard blood workup, so most people will never know what their lead levels are unless they ask for a lead test or somehow one gets ordered. Why that doctor ordered a lead test at that time I don't know, I figured it was how they were intending to get ALL of the insurance money they could. Where I was living at the time the doctors office was compelled to alert the health department when they saw elevated levels, not sure if it's law or policy? The health department showed up at my house, when I ordered them off my property they switched to phone calls and letters in the mail. They sent questionnaires to the schools for the admin there to give to my kids, it was a mess. My wife STILL doesn't think it's funny, and that was about 25 years ago.

The thermometer will, and has for me, kept my melt temp at a lower temperature and the lead doesn't get vaporized, which happens at 750 degrees. I had to change my approach to managing the pot and block temps to use the lower melt temp. When I used my old methods my lead temp would be 775-800 pretty much all the time and sometimes get as high as 825, bullets shiny and beautiful because I managed my block temperatures to get perfect shiny bullets. Even at 825 you won't see the lead gassing, but it is, and the only sign I ever saw was short casting runs before the bullets got frosty looking and the blocks needed cooling. I had zero clue my temps were that high until I got the thermometer. It was a simple change with the melt under 750, dumping a few more blocks of wrinkly bullets back into the pot as the blocks came up to temp slower, and taking less heat out of the blocks as I was making a production run to keep them at the right temp. My production rate really didn't change, the lower temp let me cast a bit longer before cooling the blocks vs cooling more often and coming back up to temp faster, it was pretty much a wash. I have cast since then at 725-750, if the temp starts getting toward 750 I will drop an additional ingot or two in the pot and use that to cool the melt, but at a steady rate when casting I run a turkey burner pretty darn hot and consume the lead at a rate fast enough that keeping the pot 2/3 or so full and normal addition of ingots holds the temp down. When I was running way high temps a lot of guys wanted me to help them with casting because my bullets were really really good, consistent in fill and weight and beautifully shiny and accurate, don't use the appearance or quality of the bullet you are casting as a gauge because if you work at it a little bit you can make really good bullets at a temp that is way to hot too. The thermometer is cheap, way too cheap to guess, you may or may not be too hot but there is only one way to know. The guys I helped with the little electric pots had to work at it to get the temps up and if they could cast at all they struggled with waiting for the pot as it reheated from adding lead, but if you use a heat source with some power it can and will get hot fast.

OMG, 4-5 thousand??? I would never have the patience for that!

 

[tenngun]

I knew a guy who smoked Camel unfiltered cigarettes his entire life and never had cancer or anything else wrong with him. Lived to be 87 yrs old. I know another guy who was the epitome of health and died from Lymphoma at the age of 46! SO, you may be Ok today, but tomorrow is another day, and one never knows what tomorrow may bring. IMHO. Like you, I take no drugs, my numbers are good, I have the typical enlarged prostate issue, and I don't f'n jog anywhere, since I got out of the Marines decades ago! I'm 72 and going strong. However, I do not kid myself that tomorrow could be a whole new ball game, one just doesn't know.

That’s a trueism. Every morning when you get up look quick at the bedroom corner. If you’re fast enough you will catch a glimpse of the reaper as he muses on if it’s your day or not. You do have to find a balance about not being foolish or not hiding under the bed.
But
I smoke my pipe, Trek alone, eat canned tuna, and drive on regular roads

 

[tenngun]

And I have to say I’m not real logical in my choices. I don’t have a lick of fear if I play with my casting stuff. Won’t cook in an old pot or use an old clay jug as I fear lead might have used in it, or it have a lead glaze.
Butcher without a thought, use the foot control to open the bathroom door at Walmart so I don’t have to touch their door knob, shake hands with any old Joe, wipe grocery cart handles down before I shop.

 

[Jedidiah]

And I have to say I’m not real logical in my choices. I don’t have a lick of fear if I play with my casting stuff. Won’t cook in an old pot or use an old clay jug as I fear lead might have used in it, or it have a lead glaze.
Butcher without a thought, use the foot control to open the bathroom door at Walmart so I don’t have to touch their door knob, shake hands with any old Joe, wipe grocery cart handles down before I shop.

There is a difference between being careful and making intelligent choices then being a germaphobe!

 

[Sun City]

I have no equipment at this time. I don't see it as a benefit to me due to cost. I would need at least 4 mabey6to 7 moulds ,ladle ,furnace and whatever else that might be needed. I would say I most likely will average 200 maybe 300 or so rounds per month.Just don't have that much extra time or energy Between normal everyday running and taking the wife to flea markets and church,, just don't get to shoot that much and I'm taking cold months and bad weather into the equation.Seems to me I would be better off buying the balls. I'm stocking up slowly on caps,, got musket caps too and cap maker for extremes. Powder slowly getting a supply. Lube and patches can be had or made. Anyway just trying to convince myself to just buy the round balls. Anyone else in that situation. Sorry to ramble.

I started casting in 1948! I let Hornady swage for me these days!

 

[Crow#21957]

I may as well get a furnace and 3 or 4 molds.And whatever else I may need. I've got a ladle and 2 or 3 diff cast iron pots and my brother just brought me more lead. According to my digital freon scales I now have over 60 lb of pure soft lead. It comes from 2 different hospitals. In rectangular blocks, they use them for door hold opens. Lol. I believe at my age 60 lb will be more than I will need. My 32,36,40 and 62 won't take much the 62 probably won't shoot more than 200 rb,s. It's gonna be a turkey and squirrel gun I hope. All mine are squirrel guns.