Armored,
I started casting when I was very young, even before I started reloading I think. My uncle's taught me to cast their fishing sinkers (probably because they were lazy as hell), then after they saw I could handle the hot pot and everything, they moved me on to casting their .38 and .45 bullets. I was probably still in my single digits back then.
Almost 40yrs. ago, come to think of it. Where most would've probably dropped it by the wayside at one point or another, I kept it up, and to date I have a specific ventilated part of my shop to do just that.
The amount of equipment I've accumulated over the years is staggering, and storage is always a problem.
It's a sickness.....for real.
(That Master Caster (Magma) that AH-1 has is very, very nice.......always wanted to get one of those...... see what I mean ?)
Even though I can swage jacketed bullets on my own, I shoot cast bullets in all my handguns 99.9% of the time. Even in hunting loads. There's tips & tricks you'll learn to make even those wheel weights you referred to, work in all but the most demanding situations. My full magnum hunting loads are just water quenched WW's that are hollowpoint gaschecked rounds.
You can start as cheaply as a camp stove, a used mould and sizer, or you can jack it up a bit and buy a Lee pot for about $60+, one of their aluminum gang moulds ( as was mentioned by cracked butt) and a sizer, etc.
Going full tilt right off isn't recommended anyway until you get the feel for what you really need I'd think.
Look for used stuff if you can. Don't buy moulds sight unseen. Used are fine, but inspect them first. Check for cavity imperfections, clean and sharp is what you're looking for (including vent lines). If you find one that's so-so, you can dicker, knowing full well that you can buy the mould rebuild kits later pretty cheaply.
New moulds need a break in time, so don't get discouraged with them right off. It might take a little time to get them casting right. Usually within the first session, they'll come around.
My suggestions (other than the purchase of equipment) would be;
Premelt, clean, and cast those raw WW's into ingots. Find a bulk cast iron pot somewhere that'll hold a good amount, and either with a cast stove (I use an old plumber's furnace), or some other good heat source, melt the WW's down.
Once all the majority of the WW's are liquidous, if you see one lone wheelweight that refuses to melt, skim it off. It's zinc. The normal generic brand of WW will melt in, or around the high 600, to low 700 degree mark. Zinc requires temperatures somewhat above that.....up over 800 or so.
Straight linotype melts at relatively low temps. of around 450-500 degrees due to it's higher antimony content (also why it's harder).
Go the super market and buy yourself a box of canning wax (any type will do). You can use this as a fluxing agent once the WW's are melted. I mix my wax with Vaseline, 1 lb. 50/50. It seems to work better, but you'll get a little burst of flame......nothing big, but comically, it kinda gives you that feeling like your some goofy wizard brewing up something evil
.
Toss a chunk of the wax fluxing agent onto the melt, and as you start to stir it, it'll flame on you. Keep stirring it vigorously, scraping the sides, and using a motion that scoops air to the bottom, and back to the top. What you're trying to do is get the dirt/scum to the surface so that the flux will trap & hold it in suspension.
Never skim anything off of the melt until you have fluxed it first, because, even though the dirt sits there in full view looking like it should be skimmed off, the other beneficial ingredients like tin & antimony are on the surface as well, and they need to be recombined with the mix.
Fluxing does both.......recombines those ingredients back into the mix, and cleans the dirt & scum out of it. Doing it in a separate (preliminary) step, like this, you'll keep the crap out of your casting pot, which will prevent it jamming up a spout (if you have a bottom pour), keep your bullets free from slag & inclusions, and it leaves 99% of all the scum & WW clips outside.
Another tip when you start up your casting pot and dump in those pre-cleaned ingots, use Marvelux, or Frankford Arsenal (sp?) (same stuff), powder flux. For a 20lb. pot, all it takes is a rounded tablespoon full sprinkled over the surface, and again, stirred like before. Yes, you'll get even more dirt to surface, but the flux turns into this black bubbly, gooey foam that traps it. Once it does, you'll see that mirrored surface (just like chrome). Skim it off, and you're ready to go.
Personally, I will degrease my moulds using good old generic automotive brake cleaner (spray away from heat). It's cheap, and it works beautifully. Let the mould air dry (which happens in seconds) an then rest the mould on top of the pot when you go through the process of fluxing it.
After the mould sits for a few minutes, I start in casting. Usually, if the mould has been broken in, it'll start throwing good bullets within a dozen or so casts.
Moulds are like people though, and some are more stubborn than others. With iron moulds, if the mould fails to start filling out after a given amount of casts, I'll do a quick check for blocked vent lines I've missed, then, if it passes that, I'll dip a corner into the melt bringing it's heat up quickly.......this works everytime for me.
You'll see warnings against this by some mould manufacturers, in that it will "warp" the mould blocks. The truth is this warning is for dipping "stone cold" moulds into
molten hot lead. Naturally somethings gonna happen there. Pre-heating your moulds will prevent this. Sometimes their operating temp. takes awhile to reach through normal casting, and rather than going through that pot of lead you just cleaned & prepared, just to heat the mould up, this expedites things by a lot.
To get good "consistent" cast bullets, the mould temperature has to be maintained at a given level. The 3 contributing factors in doing that are;
-Pot temperature
-Casting rate
-Pot Alloy level
By varying one, or more of these, you can maintain a given mould temp. and drop some very nice bullets.
Bullets that are too shiny, with rounded edges.......mould not up to temp., alloy temp. too low, or casting rate too slow.
Bullets that are not too shiny (kind of satin looking), edges sharp & square......usually good casting zone.
Bullets that are visually frosted over their full surface means you're running too hot....slow down your casting rate, or turn down the pot temp, or add more alloy (flux & clean again)
Slight frosting is fine.
Sizing is a whole other area....and I feel I've written a novel already (sorry so long).......if I can be of any help, don't hesitate to ask......
Take care & good luck........fun hobby !.....fer sure.
Bob
