Gonna' start casting bullets, fluxing?

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Decided to finally start casting my own. So, got a Lyman 3rd edition cast bullet handbook and did some reading.
Have gotten, over some time, about everything needed to start I think.
A lee bottom pour pot, Lee mold for 405 gn hollow base 45-70, DGL bullet lube, a little 20:1 lead. This is leading up to casting the first time.
Was reading about fluxing today. Do I have to use a ladel to stir?
Can I use the bullet lube as flux? Will I even need to flux?
Can adding this material to melted lead cause an "explosion" due to steam?
Probably dumb questions for those with experience. But I'm a bit concerned about the first try.
Thanks. I will appreciate any advice.
 
Fluxing techniques and fluxing agents are as varied as the casters using them. Bullet lube works but its expensive compared to canning paraffin or old candle wax. Follow the information provided in the books and you will, over time, gain judgement in how and when to use it. If you are starting with dirty alloy such as scrap lead or wheel weights do the initial melting in a separate container, not in your casting furness, that way you can flux and clean all the dirt, scrap steel, paint residue out before it contaminates your bottom pour furness. You want to keep your final melt, casting melt, as clean as possible. Casting is a continuing education endeavor, we never stop learning, I've been at it since 1956 and love it more now than ever.
 
Thank you gentlemen.
The info about not melting dirty stuff in your bottom pour furnace and the link will no doubt save me many many hours of frustration.
I do appreciate it.

NG
 
I've been casting bullets since 1969, and I'm still learning. I've cast a little over 20,000 bullets this year alone, since my partner and I invested in a Magma Master Caster.

The advice concerning smelting in a separate pot is good. We have a 100 pound pot that we smelt in, and cast into ingots from there. It's amazing what comes out of "lead" when you're smelting.

For fluxing, I've tried about everything and have finally settled on sawdust as the best, though it does produce quite a bit of smoke, but if you use oak, it smells good. It works the best of all I've tried, is readily available and cleans up well.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
NG, a caution for your first time. Wax type flux and some oils will flash to fire if the lead is hot enough. Not an explosion, more like a WUFF! Be ready with a match or BBQ lighter to ignite the smoke, it'll keep the air clearer.

Flux is used to reduce the oxides of lead and tin,(antimony too if it's present), back into the metallic state. It also makes the lead more fluid, so it casts better. Third, it cleans the clinkers, or anything not casting metal from the lead. Almost all dirt will float on the surface of the molten lead. Skim the crap from the surface after stirring the flux while it burns, it's all waste. Be sure to scrape the sides of the pot, lead can hold/trap dirt against the sides and bottom.

You can stir with just about anything that won't melt. A lot of the guys over on www.castboolits.com use wooden sticks. The wood chars which is a good thing, the carbon in any flux is what does the reduction of the oxides. Wood sawdust should be allowed to char to get that beneficial carbon.

The 405-458 HB mold is possibly one of the hardest to get to work. It has to be real hot to have good fill-out of the Hollow Base. Then, it's a nose pour, those are harder to use. Your 20-1 will also have to be quite hot to get good fill-out.
 
Regarding explosions, the concern is water under the surface of the lead. Water on the surface just sizzles and dances.

If you're concerned about it, just let the flux melt on the surface before stirring it in. Or you can look into one of the dry fluxes that you sprinkle onto the melt with a salt shaker or some such.
 
Whatever you use to stir the mix after fluxing, be sure to let it sit on top of the melt for a couple of minutes to heat up and to dry any moisture that might be either on it, or in any residue left over from prior use. If you try to stir with it cold, or moisture laden, you'll get popping and spitting of hot lead. It's not dangerous, per se, but if it surprises you and makes you flinch, your action will spill more lead, and that's the dangerous part.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
Thank you guys,

You have given me a hell of a lot of valuable information that ain't gonna be in a book.
I really appreciate it. No s@$#!
Sounds like I picked a difficult bullet for my first to cast, but all in all with this new info I fell ready to go for it asap.
 
Reloader Fred

Where can a person find a 100 pound smelting pot??"

I've been trying to find an old time "plumber's pot with no luck at all.

any help locating something useable for smelting would be GREATLY appreciated!
 
cheygriz,

Mine was made for me by a friend. It's made from a piece of 10" steel pipe, with 1/4" walls, about 12" deep. He used a piece of 1" thick steel plate for the bottom of the pot, and welded large handles on each side of it. A piece of 3/8" steel for the bottom would work just fine, but all he had was the 1" thick piece at the time. To say it's heavy is an understatement, but it will last a lot longer than I will. I've only estimated how much lead it will hold from the number of ingots we can pour from it. It probably holds much more than 100 pounds if full, but that's an awful lot of molten lead and it's easier to use if about 3/4 full when smelting.

This is my second one built like this. I lost the first one in a divorce, along with everything else I owned at the time.............

If you know a welder, or are one yourself, you can probably pick up what you need from a scrap yard and put it together.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
The best fairly aggressive flux that I've found is lard or tallow, and it doesn't flare up nearly as much as paraffin or old motor oil. (pine pitch is supposed to be even better but I've never tried it.) Sawdust is a good less-aggressive flux, and you can leave it on top of the lead if you have a bottom pour pot and the ash will insulate the lead and also keep oxygen away.
 
My smelting pot is an old 3-gallon stainless-steel cooking pot I found at a junkyard. I heat it with a turkey fryer. I get 75# of lead in one pour which makes nice homogenous lead for ingots. I smelt outside and use my drained motor oil for flux. It does flare up and smoke a good bit but it is free and works very well.

Paraffin wax works good too, I was using the crayons my kids get at restaurants. They leave them in the seats of the truck, I wind up using them as flux. I also found a bunch of old dried-out candle chunks somewhere and use that to lube the moulds and as flux. Freebies, too.

A good friend of mine made his own smelting pot by cutting a 20# propane tank (the kind for gas grills) in half at the original weld line. He's building his own bottom-pour smelter out of a section of Schedule 80 14" steam pipe (Did I mention he's a pipefitter?)

Pretty much anything that will withstand high temperatures and the weight of lead will work (no aluminum pots!)
 
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