Cast Bullets

[zxcvbob]

You don't need as large a pot as you think. I do about 10 pounds at a time in a smallish Revereware saucepan (1 quart? I don't remember. maybe 1.5 qt) on an electric hotplate. A small dutch oven or soup pot should be able to handle 50 pounds at once.

Don't spill it.

 

[David Wile]

Hey Ohman11,

I agree with Snuffy and Rusty about using a large cast iron dutch oven as shown in their photos. I also agere with Tricky that a turkey fryer provides a really good heat source.

The large Dutch oven allows a large amount of lead to be made into a good sized batch. Small pots waste a lot of time. I first started out on a Coleman stove with a regular casting pot. When they first came out with the turkey fryers, I got one along with a large Dutch oven cast iron pot and realized how much more convenient this setup was. The turkey fryer gets the casting pot up off the ground, yet it keeps it low enough that it is away from your face.

Once I have made my batches of alloy and cast them into ingots, I do my bullet casting with a Lyman bottom pour electric furnace I have had for about twenty years now. The bottom pour furnace is very convenient for me, but I spent the first twenty years or so using a regular flat bottom casting pot and bullet mould pouring ladle.

From the pictures Snuffy and Rusty have provided, it looks like I have the same Dutch oven as they have.

Best wishes,
Dave Wile

 

[dmftoy1]

A good place to find turkey fryers is garage sales this time of year . . .people who bought them for thanksgiving last year are tired of kicking them around in their garage. I've seen them for $5-$15 bucks. FWIW.