Thinking of casting my own round balls

[flconch53]

If you're cast only balls, get free wheel weights from tire shops.

Dead soft lead is not required for balls for target shooting.

Will these balls be used for hunting? Soft lead will go SPLAT and expand.

Wheel weight lead is getting real scarce. More and more garages are using steel. We also are having competion from fishermen that cast there own sinkers and jigs because so many states are outlawing the sale of lead weights etc. The garages all know this so free is alot less common

 

[Loja man]

Lots of good feed back!! Somewhere I have an enameled cast iron pot with a pour spout that I picked up years ago at a thrift store. I was casting my own sinkers for ocean fishing. Unless in the moves I give it to my brother-in-law to use….. I will have to look for it. My plan was to melt the led in that using a camp stove. I will probably forge myself a ladle for pouring.
Any reason I would need to melt the lead down into ingots first? Versus just cutting up pieces and melting as I go to pour the balls?
Aaron

 

[Uncle Miltie]

Lots of good feed back!! Somewhere I have an enameled cast iron pot with a pour spout that I picked up years ago at a thrift store. I was casting my own sinkers for ocean fishing. Unless in the moves I give it to my brother-in-law to use….. I will have to look for it. My plan was to melt the led in that using a camp stove. I will probably forge myself a ladle for pouring.
Any reason I would need to melt the lead down into ingots first? Versus just cutting up pieces and melting as I go to pour the balls?
Aaron

No need to make ingots: just melt and pour.

 

[SmokepoleSam]

If the lead is dirty it is better to clean it first, less chance of getting impurities into the balls as you cast and clean the lead at the same time. When you cast sinkers it doesn't matter if there are impurities in the lead.

 

[Kansas Jake]

If you flux and skim the dross well you’ll be okay. I’ve done it both ways. A lot depends on how dirty the lead is when you start.

 

[Old Grunt]

I usually smelt any scrounged lead in a cheap WM cast iron skillet and make ingots,then cast balls and bullets with a electric pot, but its not necessary to smelt and make ingots,I just feel better knowing if I do end up with Zink melted in my lead I can just get anouther cheap skillet and not have to worry about getting it all cleaned out of expensive electric pot.
A friend gave me a couple big coffee cans of real big fishing weights and had several float to top in first batch in a electric pot so after that any scrounged lead gets smelted in cheap pan first.

 

[Howard Pippin]

Hey all,
Looking for a little bit of feedback. Looking into casting my own round balls. I can get scrap lead from my local scrapyard for $.75 a pound. I can buy as much or as little as I like. I’ve been looking into trying to find it for free, but hasn’t panned out.
They had lead roofing boots and other miscellaneous scrap lead. They also had some ingots. Most of it when dropped on concrete had just a dull thunk with no ring. At $.75 for scrap lead is that reasonable?

I do use one of those bottom Pour Lee lead pots and it doesn't work all that bad. Does take more upkeep, you have to clean it a little more I think, but you're not bothered by something that floats on top as long as you keep it about the same level of fullness. I'm sure not a big time caster, but I do cast a few every year and I do use reclaimed lead which is a part of the game of casting. I did buy some pure lead, but I couldn't tell much advantage and even the wheel weights that I casted seem to work well in my round ball rifle. I would say the main thing is keep it well ventilated wherever you're doing this at. I would suppose that I could have got by just buying Hornaday round balls for as much as I shoot, but then I always thought all this went together if you were a muzzleloader shooter. Otherwise I could just use my unmentionables. If I were to add up the price of the bullet molds, the lead pots, the propane for the camp stove, and the digital scale to double check how good they were, I could have bought a lot of round balls. Probably about the same cost in comparison to my wild meat is per pound compared to just buying good beef. There's little doubt beef would have been cheaper.
Squint

 

[James Dietz]

I have two pots! One for round ball and one for toy soldiers! Only pure lead in the round ball pot and lead mixed with a little antimony for toy soldiers. It makes them a little stronger for handling and soldering pieces together. The most important part for me is what buckleymarka56 mentioned. "Flashing" or "fluxing" the pot with a dab of paraffin wax. It really brings the impurities to the surface. Great advice on not doing it in the house, can lead to divorce!

 

[Loja man]

So talk to me a little bit more about flashing/fluxing with paraffin wax?

 

[Old Grunt]

Paraffin wax, bees wax, I've even used sawdust,mostly I use bees wax,I don't know how or why it works but it does work to float crud to top to be skimmed off.

 

[tenngun]

Are you saying that if you melt a lead/zinc alloy then the zinc will float to the top?

I haven’t found that to work. I do get a lot of brown black stuff on top, but the lead seems as hard after cast

 

[tenngun]

So talk to me a little bit more about flashing/fluxing with paraffin wax?

You drop a small amount in to the hot mix. It makes a lot of nasty smoke then leaves a crud that skims off real easy.
When casting a bunch of ball it seems to make more good ball in a session.
Now what I mean as good ball is for me smooth, not frosted and no visible voids in the sprue. I have never weighed a ball.

 

[Johnny Tremain]

The flux Ive always used is wood chips.
I use Pat Martin's chips, along with just about everything he sold.

 

[Sidney Smith]

If you can easily scratch the lead with your fingernail then the lead is pure enough for round balls, conicals, etc. I would reserve wheel weights for bullets for cartridge guns.

 

[Sidney Smith]

You drop a small amount in to the hot mix. It makes a lot of nasty smoke then leaves a crud that skims off real easy.
When casting a bunch of ball it seems to make more good ball in a session.
Now what I mean as good ball is for me smooth, not frosted and no visible voids in the sprue. I have never weighed a ball.

Simply stirring the lead will release the impurities and allow them to float to the surface. I used to use parrafin wax and all it did was catch fire and no more impurities came out than just stirring the lead. I think fluxing is just an old wives tale.

 

[tenngun]

Could be, I do a lot over a fire without fluxing.

 

[Uncle Miltie]

Simply stirring the lead will release the impurities and allow them to float to the surface. I used to use parrafin wax and all it did was catch fire and no more impurities came out than just stirring the lead. I think fluxing is just an old wives tale.

I concur: I quit fluxing many years ago. It did nothing other than stink up the place. I let the pot run about 45 minutes after the metal melts, stir and remove the dross.

 

[hanshi]

If I didn't cast I likely wouldn't wouldn't shoot. I cast everything I shoot and reload everything modern-wise I shoot. Casting doesn't take that much time or effort....for the most part, but it is sure cheaper than buying ball.

 

[64Springer]

If I didn't cast I likely wouldn't wouldn't shoot. I cast everything I shoot and reload everything modern-wise I shoot. Casting doesn't take that much time or effort....for the most part, but it is sure cheaper than buying ball.

The only ammo I buy is .22LR.

If RCBS, the original green economy, doesn't make a set of dies for it, I don't shoot it.

Gobs and gobs of money saved by reloading.

You are correct about casting. 150 projectiles in an hour and a half is eazy peazy japaneazy. And it's almost fun. Will definitely take your mind off the world for a while. Can't concentrate on two things at once.

 

[Loja man]

Well I have two Lee molds showing up tomorrow. Bought them from a fellow member. They are NITB and even with shipping I still saved $20-$30! Was going to weight a bit but the price was right!