When casting lead balls, do you drop them in water to cool......

[Eterry]

A little common sense goes a long way.

When i was casting magnum pistol bullets i had a 5 gallon bucket half full of water on the floor to the side of my bench. My lead pot was on the bench.
Once the lead solidifies there is near ZERO risk when you drop it into water... if you find the Sweet Spot where the bullet causes little to no splash. I have cast hundreds, nay thousands of 357 and 44 mag bullets then dropped them into water.

I was casting one rainy day and ran low on lead, so i went outside to my stash and grabbed a piece of lead pipe. I wiped it down and stuck one end into the pot. A drop of water inside ran to the bottom of the pot... it was. .a very educational experience....i scraped lead off the walls, floors, tools, molds, etc for quite some time.
I am much more careful, but not paranoid.

If you think having a bucket of water near your molten lead is too dangerous just for a second think about what you carry in your horn or flask, and how close it is to an exploding detonating cap, or flash of exposed blasting powder....
Hmmmmm...

 

[stewart.leach]

I made up a box out of scrap wood about 8 inches wide by a foot long, with one end piece extending 2 inches below the body of the box. Balls drop on a folded piece of old bath towel or burlap at the high end, then roll down to the low end. Random quarter inch holes in low end help air circulation and cooling.

 

[Scoper05]

No.i just drop them on a little bit wet towel and thats only so the towel doesn't burn.