Bullet Casting with a "Lead Still"

[rbertalotto]

Casting Lead bullets with my "Lead Still"....A quick video...

 

[Bobaloo22]

Great video, very informative Thank you for sharing

 

[.38 Special]

I am reminded once again of the definition of "hobby": "Taking a simple process and making it as complicated as you possibly can".

 

[rbertalotto]

" "Taking a simple process and making it as complicated as you possibly can"."..........Fly Fishing!!!!!.....Golf!!!!!..... Bowling!!!!!......Yup, you are 100% correct! Ain't it great!

 

[Bwana John]

Disappointed.
Thought he was going to use the PIDs and multiple pots to “distill” pure lead, and remove tin, zinc, antimony, ect…

 

[rbertalotto]

"Disappointed.
Thought he was going to use the PIDs and multiple pots to “distill” pure lead, and remove tin, zinc, antimony, ect…"

Don't give me any ideas!

 

[Bwana John]

"Disappointed.
Thought he was going to use the PIDs and multiple pots to “distill” pure lead, and remove tin, zinc, antimony, ect…"

Don't give me any ideas!

Shouldn’t be that hard, just use the difference between the melting points of the the different elements

 

[Shooterbob]

I would not use this guy as a role model. If you half to beat on your mold do not hit the mold itself.tap the bolt that holds the handles together.

 

[Thomasss]

I've been casting and "running ball" for over 30 years and I think your video guy has too much time on his hands. I saw too many errors he made in the short video, so I wonder why he is going through all that trouble. 1) I don't see any ventilation inside his room. 2) Two casting pots make some sense if he were casting 6 bullets at a time, but he is only using a 2 bullet mold. So what is the rush? 3) He was hitting the mold to loosen the bullets out. When hitting Lee aluminum blocks and not the handles, he will permanently distort the mold. 4) He put his excess lead in the wrong lead furnace and that will significantly lower his casting temperature that he has so diligently maintained with two lead furnaces. 5) A "frostly" appearance of lead is an indicator that his lead is too hot. He could compensate by adding more alloy to the mix. 6) He should allow a little more hot lead on top of the sprue hole before allowing the lead to cool. Lead will suck up more into the mold as it cools. If there isn't enough to suck up voids can occur in his bullets which will throw off their accuracy.

 

[GooseGestapo]

WOW!
I’ve been getting superior results to his using vastly simpler techniques!
But then I’ve been doing it on the cheap for 49years…
If he’d read Lee’s instructions on using those molds, he wouldn’t be beating them to death and using that Rube Goldberg setup too.

I’ve got that exact same set of molds and can double his rate of production with superior results with half the effort.
But, it’s not a contest…

 

[thump_rrr]

Meh, I just automated a Magma Master Caster.

It now has a touchscreen to control it.
I need to update the video.
It only took me 3 days to design and build during the wuhan lockdown.

 

[jmorris]

I made mine using a couple 555 timer circuits I put together using a 10 turn potentiometer for pour time and two limit switches.

With good molds and using acetylene to smoke them, the bullets fall right out.



I do have some that are sticky though and use brass knockers that hit the carrier not the mold itself.

 

[kmw1954]

Wow, tough crowd!

 

[PWC]

He doesn't have to show you his ventilation system, he was showing HIS PROCESS, which works for him.

When you have spent a nickel on the process, then you have a right to criticize.

 

[.38 Special]

He doesn't have to show you his ventilation system, he was showing HIS PROCESS, which works for him.

When you have spent a nickel on the process, then you have a right to criticize.

I'm of two minds. A pile-up is ungentlemanly, but the fellow's process is a bit unusual. If nothing else, all that time, effort, and expense, and the spout is still running like a faucet. Such stuff is bound to attract some attention.