New to Casting bullets

[dave951]

Where can one find lead to buy? Is lead in a car battery good to use? Thanks

In my area, there's a scrap yard that will sell to the public. You have to know what you're looking at, but old school shower pans are pure lead as is the shielding from X ray rooms. There's always a steady supply there. Avoid wheel weights and any other unknown alloys.

 

[Henry Miles]

DO NOT HAVE ANY WATER NEAR THE LEAD POT !!!
Except for a damp towel to drop the bullets onto...

 

[josie wales]

With a Lee pot you MUST have a screwdriver, pliers and an ingot mold nearby. Try to use pure lead and run your pot as hot as it will go. I have recycled lead from batteries but that is a separate operation and must be done outdoors! The lead used in batteries is NOT pure lead.. It works for handgun bullet casting.

 

[Whitworth]

Clamp your lead pot down to prevent it being pulled over by a jerk on the cord or being knocked over. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[deerstalkert]

In my area, there's a scrap yard that will sell to the public. You have to know what you're looking at, but old school shower pans are pure lead as is the shielding from X ray rooms. There's always a steady supply there. Avoid wheel weights and any other unknown alloys.

though if one were to run on a cheap supply of wheel weights , i would grab them to sell/trade to less fortunate shooters that cast for those other type of firearms. You know, the suppository guns! they will sell their children for good wheel weight lead.

 

[fishmanbeene]

I've know several people who use wheel weights for casting. What is ya'll thoughts on this? If not a good choice where do you suggest getting lead?

 

[morehops52]

Well I am heading down that road, I bought myself a Lee melting pot, mallet, flux compound and a couple of molds to start casting .575 Mini's and .550 Pritchett's. The only problem is, i have no experience in casting lead bullets. Can anyone recommend a good resource, ie book or video for me to gain some knowledge? If this is in the wrong area, my apologies.
[/QUOT
I just did my 1st casting run and got good advice here just like you're getting. I'll pass along a tip or two that was given to me and is worth it.
1. Anchor your pot. I found two old horse shoes in the shed. the open ends will fit right around the heater base. i put on open end on each side so the weight was distributed evenly. Worked great.
2. Put a towel or old rag in bottom of bucket and fill with water. Drop your castings in the bucket for instant hardening. When you miss the bucket and hit the floor, put 'em back in the pot.
3. I got 99.9% pure lead from Midway but had to cut ingots down to size. Not the easiest job in the world. I now bought 1 lb 99.9% ingots from Rotometals. Much easier to deal with.

 

[dave951]

I've know several people who use wheel weights for casting. What is ya'll thoughts on this? If not a good choice where do you suggest getting lead?

Wheel weights are NOT pure lead and have contaminants like zinc. When you are serious about accuracy, you'll control variables and this is a very important one. Different alloys have differing densities, ie weight/mass. Hardness varies as well.

 

[Timber Wolf]

I've know several people who use wheel weights for casting. What is ya'll thoughts on this? If not a good choice where do you suggest getting lead?

Make friends with a roofer. I get all I need (plus) that way. I got 12 pounds of old roof boots from one job a few weeks back. They were nasty, but after knocking off as much tar as I can I run it in my big pot on the Turkey Fryer burner and let the temperature cook off/burn up the remaining crap. I skim the top of the resultant “flux” and go to casting. In fact, I am going to cast some .454 balls tonight.

 

[Whughett]

I've know several people who use wheel weights for casting. What is ya'll thoughts on this? If not a good choice where do you suggest getting lead?

I’m talking strictly percussion revolvers here now. So musket and rifle shooters disregard. With revolvers it’s all about being able to seat the ball/conical bullet into the chamber. The softer the lead the easier that is. I’ve been seating balls cast from unknown hardness of lead for over 15 years, never had one I couldn’t seat. I’ve seen claims here of bending screws or levers, that hasn’t been my experience. I cast roundballs from what ever lead I can find, and I only punch paper so not concerned with expansion. I think diameter is more important that hardness in these circumstances. JMO.

 

[Eterry]

I have used a 50/50 mix of WW& Lead for rifle and musket round ball, and haven't had any issues. I wasn't shooting competition, but wasn't missing very much either. For CNB revolvers and Minie Balls use pure lead.

I started casting with the simplest of equipment. A small cast iron skillet, Coleman stove, a RCBS mold and piece of broom handle.

You've decided to jump in with both feet. I consider casting round ball elementary school level, centerfire bullets College level, and Minie Balls the PHD in casting.
I've been casting minies about 12 years, it's challenging but rewarding.

Btw, wear a cap or sweatband, a tiny drop of sweat can ruin your morning. I almost lost an eye to not wearing glasses. Don't be like me!

Lee's website under FAQ talks about shimming a mold, aka Beagleing. Check it out.

I currently get under 3 MOA with minies if the stars align just right.
Good luck.

 

[deerstalkert]

in one of my bookcases i have a binder with 12 pages of tables created and compiled by a friend that has gone on.
This friend was an engineer and worked for Kelly Johnson of the Skunk Works.
with these tables one can cast 100 units of any one mold , using pure lead and use those certain castings as your control.
Then using that same mold cast 100 units of whatever alloy you have.
average the weight of said alloy casting and go to the tables. the tables will tell you what your Lead, Tin, Antimony percentages are, within 95% accuracy.
I never have the attention span to start with the 100 control units for each mold!
the old friend that created these tables , along with his wife were champion shooters in southern cal during the 50's thru the 70's.
just some ramblings.

 

[Whughett]

in one of my bookcases i have a binder with 12 pages of tables created and compiled by a friend that has gone on.
This friend was an engineer and worked for Kelly Johnson of the Skunk Works.
with these tables one can cast 100 units of any one mold , using pure lead and use those certain castings as your control.
Then using that same mold cast 100 units of whatever alloy you have.
average the weight of said alloy casting and go to the tables. the tables will tell you what your Lead, Tin, Antimony percentages are, within 95% accuracy.
I never have the attention span to start with the 100 control units for each mold!
the old friend that created these tables , along with his wife were champion shooters in southern cal during the 50's thru the 70's.
just some ramblings.

Are those 100 units weighed individually then averaged. ??

 

[deerstalkert]

Are those 100 units weighed individually then averaged. ??

if my foggy memory is correct, the answer is yes.
one would have to do that to get an average, i think?
on my second cuppa so am still fuzzy.

dug the binder out.
my memory was all upscrewed.
the process gets into specific gravity and heavy mathematics!
my mathematics stopped at 38-24-36.
if you have an interest i could scan and post the thing.

 

[Ian Straus]

Where can one find lead to buy? Is lead in a car battery good to use? Thanks

No on the car battery lead.
I have bought lead from Rotometals - it's always good quality but pricey. Look at ingot size: Their big ingots will need to be cut with a cold chisel to get pieces that fit into your pot.

Also on Ebay (look for "soft lead"; most that advertise soft lead are honest). Beware some sellers are absurd on price,so read the shipping cost and quantity carefully: i have found someone trying to sell a single 1 LB ingot for what you would otherwise pay for 20LB.

I have bought lead from junk yards, You can test the lead with your thumbnail but sheet lead and cable sheathing are almost always suitable. The advantages at a junk yard are price and quantity and no shipping. Their lead is often dirty so you will want to melt it, skim the crud off, and pour into ingots. Sometimes it has stinking glue or wooden backing stuck to it, so make sure you are melting that in the open or with plenty of fresh air.. Cable sheathing may need the insulation pulled out, if you don't do that it really stinks when burned. But you can always see and handle what you are buying and that's important. Bring your work gloves.

A friend once bought a junk elevator counterweight, that is A LOT of lead, cheap too, but he had to use a torch to cut it up.

 

[Johnny Tremain]

Not for minies. They're a world different from ball or regular conical.

Funny that that board covers every type of casting. I learned paper patching, smooth sided hollow base pills.
A wee more complicated than minie' which are also hollow based.

 

[Whughett]

if my foggy memory is correct, the answer is yes.
one would have to do that to get an average, i think?
on my second cuppa so am still fuzzy.

dug the binder out.
my memory was all upscrewed.
the process gets into specific gravity and heavy mathematics!
my mathematics stopped at 38-24-36.
if you have an interest i could scan and post the thing.

Thanks but no thanks Math is not my strong point amd for punching paper out to 25 yards the hardness is a moot point. ( my pistols all seem to shoot better than the shooter).

 

[deerstalkert]

Thanks but no thanks Math is not my strong point amd for punching paper out to 25 yards the hardness is a moot point. ( my pistols all seem to shoot better than the shooter).

i have had those formulas for 30+ years. every time i crack the cover my brain starts going "lalalalalalalalalalalalala!" and then i doze off! worse than a boring tv show.

 

[centershot]

This site gives a ton of info on casting bullets, but is primarily for pistol shooters. Still, it's excellent information for anyone who casts. The author, Glen Fryxell, is a highly respected metallurgist who works at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_Contents.htm
This link is to the CastBoolits website, there's more info here than anywhere else on the net regarding casting:

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/
This link is a copy of the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook, 3rd Edition. I just upped it to mirrored.to on 8 different hosting sites, take your pick. Or, search the net, it's available, it's in .pdf format.

https://www.mirrored.to/files/0DT09...Handbook_-_3rd_Edition_-_1980_-_ocr.rar_links
The cast Boolits site will answer any question a caster could have, put on some coffee, there's a LOT of reading ahead!

Good luck and, most of all, BE SAFE! Remember, 800* molten lead is unforgiving if you screw up!!!

 

[stikshooter]

Well I am heading down that road, I bought myself a Lee melting pot, mallet, flux compound and a couple of molds to start casting .575 Mini's and .550 Pritchett's. The only problem is, i have no experience in casting lead bullets. Can anyone recommend a good resource, ie book or video for me to gain some knowledge? If this is in the wrong area, my apologies.

Only thing missing is a hot plate to get and keep mold hot in case you run multiple molds or need to pee !/Ed