I can get Free Lead !!!! Tell me what I need.

[lgbloader]

I just realized that my best friend is the main guy at a Goodyear and when I spoke to him about lead wheel weights, He said, "How much do you want?"

I asked if I could get away with like 10LBS or so and he said, "****, I can do that on a weekly basis". Which means I am sitting pretty

What else do I need to start casting? I want to make 38/357, 9mm, 45acp, and 30 cal flat point boolits.

Please be specific since I want to do this right.

I am thinking a 20lbs melting pot by Lee, 6 bullet molds but let me hear your advise. Thanks.

 

[CBS220]

The Lee pot is great. Not insulated, but you shouldn't be brushing up against anything that is melting lead anyway!

Many people do start with the 6 cavity molds now, but you'd be surprised how quick a 2 cavity model is. I enjoy casting and often use 2-cav molds. When you are messing with your alloy and trying to get the best fill and best bullets, you may want the lighter, more easily used molds than the long, somewhat-heavy 6 cavity molds.

Find a bullet design you like and buy it. Lee is much, much cheaper than any other mold maker. All of the mold makers make excellent molds. I have seen no real benefit or detriment to using a particular brand other than price, although nicer iron molds do seem to drop good bullets sooner than cheaper ones.

You need-

Flux (Brownell's Marvelux or Frankford Arsenal's works well and is cheap... but other stuff can also be used)
Molds
Bullet Lube- even if you use a tumble lube for your bullets, you need to be able to lube the mold.
A sizer- you can use a Lubrisizer or a push-through sizer with a tumble lube.
More powder- because you're going to shoot a lot more and enjoy it more.

 

[Grump]

Before doing ANYTHING else, equip yourself with good gloves, eye protection, and long sleeves and heavy fabric that insulates well.

1. Good book on casting bullets. I like the publications from Handloader Magazine down in AZ.

2. Patience to read, understand, and do basic math calculations.

3. Flux & ladle.

4. Patience to read, understand, and do everything needed to minimize lead uptake and properly dispose of dross.

5. Tin source. I like 50/50 solder.

6. Antimony source if you want to make bullets above BRN 12 or so. I can't recommend the old Lyman 1:10 tin-lead for rifle bullets b/c it makes them unnecessarily expensive for the benefit and I also believe it lowers the melt point too much.

7. Patience to read, understand, and calculate as needed to mix up batches of alloy. Also DEDICATED ingot molds. Careful with muffin tins if you use them--stamp them as lead hazmat or something for future generations' protection. I like SAECO's multi-ingot mold b/c the bricks are about a pound each.

8. A decision to either use dip-lube and no sizing, or buy a decent lubri-sizer. The Star is THE BEST, worth every penny.

9. Discipline to leave the bullets bare until you're ready to lube and load them. Boxes of "sized and lubed" are messy, the lube can dry out, and other mishaps like dust contamination *will* interfere.

10. Appropriate boxes to catch your sprues and the bullets (separate boxes), and STURDY boxes to hold your handiwork.

The Lee aluminum-block bullet molds, IME, work fine and make good bullets. I did hard-cast Minie-balls years ago just because we had a lotta lead and I had time on my hands and it was...fun. They work OK through that rusty bore, but...

That's all I can think of. YMMV.

 

[GP100man]

visit castboolits.com & let the madness begin!!!!!
never melt lead in an aluminum pot , don`t ask how i know!!!!
i like the 2 cavity , they are`nt as tiring as the larger molds
safety ,safety ,safety
i started with 1 mold ,a pot & a ladle on a stove, i still flux with smelly candle left overs.
if a whell weight floats its zinc get it out before it melts ,it`ll ruin the whole pot of lead !!!


GP100man

 

[fireflyfather]

As for flux, most folks do not buy expensive fluxes. Wax, sawdust, or simply a dry wooden stick work just as well as the expensive stuff.

As for the 6 cavity molds, they are fine for plinking bullets. For absolute best accuracy, you probably want to separate the bullets by cavity they came out of/weight/diameter. In a six cavity mold, you are likely to have at least one that doesn't mic exactly the same as the others. Probably not an issue for most shooting, but for those who want extreme consistency between bullets, it's something to bear in mind.

 

[RugerBob]

Gotta love them bottom pour pots. I use the lee 10 pound bottom pour. One thing I might suggest is Using a different type of pot when making ingots. That way you don't gunk up or have the rod in your way when removing dross or steel parts of the wheel weights. The Lyman master casting kit was my 1st chioce and added the bottom pour pot for just melting ingots and casting bullets. just my 2cents worth. good luck be safe, Bob

 

[Griz44]

All these suggestions are good, but what you really need is a good friend to share all that lead with. <hint, hint> LOL. The Lee pot is a good way to get the casting done at an inexpensive investment. Happy casting!

 

[scrat]

Darn you. first of all collect as much wheel weights as you can. 10lbs is not much. here is a good break down.

If you have a camp stove then your set. if not find one at a yardsale. a turkey fryer also works. Why. you need to clean the lead. simply put you will need a ladle. a large pot, ingot molds and heat source.

First thing to do clean up the lead. put all the WW in pot. let it come to a liquid. Then skim out the metal. The metal will all float to the top. Just keep scooping it out. Once its all out. Then you need to flux. (clean the lead). I take a few soda cans and cut the top off. then take a pea sized amount of candle wax. put it in the lead. Stir up really good. All the dirt, dust, rust will come to the top. Skim it to the corner and scoop it up. This is where i put it in the can. Do this a couple of times. Then you can pour the lead into the ingot molds for easy casting later on.


Now you are going to need a good lead pot. The above way is good for melting the lead into ingots. But does not offer any temp control. So the lead can get really hot. but is possible to cast from. Many people including myself use lee pots. i have a lee production 4. Works really good. however they drip. one cause of the drips is dirt. So its best to keep your lead and pot clean. After you get your heat source you need to buy the molds, then buy a sizer. I have an RCBS lubrisizer. i also use lee sizers. I actually like the lee sizing method better. The lee alox works very well. Plus its so easy to size. On the molds always start out with at least a 2 cavity. 1 cavity molds are a pain. 6 cavity molds are not for beginers. so here is a list of things needed

Molds
heat source to make ingots
ladles both big and small with wooden handles
heat source for casting (cast pot)
Size method. lee sizers or lubrisizer

there is a little more your going to need to know. Some folks will tell you to go check out castboolits.com or handloads.com. However there are some of us that are on this site as well as those.

Here is your job right now. Figure out what you want to get start buying the supplies and collect the wheel weights Once you have done so write us back. I will write up a procedure for you. Im sure plenty others will help also.

 

[Wilburt]

don't know much but thinking of gettin into it too..... I read this recently and it is very well writtin and informative:

http://ezine.m1911.org/casting_frame.htm

I recomend anyone thinking of casting read it. It has basically what everyone is telling you to do in it as well as the procedure writtin out in great detail.

 

[zxcvbob]

I have hundreds of pounds of ingots from scrounged lead; usually I collect about 20 pounds at a time (that's just how my sources pan out) and process two 10-pound batches.

I use a Revereware saucepan, and a $5 electric hotplate. If I wanted to ruin a larger pan I could probably do 20 pounds at a time on the hotplate. I use 2.5 ounce stainless steel "condiment cups" for ingot molds. (they are shaped about like muffins, and make 24 - 28 ounce ingots, and they were cheap)

I store the wheel weight ingots seperate from the scrounged range lead ingots. I also have some pure lead, and some 60:40 bar solder, and some "magnum" lead shot, but I'm saving all those until I need them for something. The range-pickup lead and the WW lead both make good .45 and .38 pistol bullets without any added tin, etc.

 

[TexasSkyhawk]

First things first--

Buy the Lyman's Casting Bullets book and read it three times. When dealing with 700 - 900 degree F molten metal, you don't get many second chances when it comes to safety. Best to know exactly what you're dealing with before you start.

I melt my source lead in a cheap dutch oven I got from Academy Sports for ten bucks. I skim off the clips and trash with a slotted steel spoon I got at the same place for five bucks, and pour the cleaned up lead into the ingot moulds using a shallow ladle steel spoon I also got at Academy.

For flux, I use small chunks of candle after I've skimmed all the trash and clips off the top, then I shave some Ivory Soap (for the stearic acid--a great cleaner) into the mix, and then stir using a pine stick or paint stirring paddle.

Be aware that when you put the candle wax in, you will get a "poof" and a flame--which is good. Let it burn itself out, then add the Ivory soap and stir. Stir, stir, and stir some more--especially going around the sides and across the bottom. Don't "whip" the lead, but stir slowly and evenly. This will bring all the impurities to the top for you to skim off.

For the final skimming, I use a stainless steel putty knife that's about an inch or so in width. It allows me to get every last bit of dirt and slag off the top of the molten lead. The result is I pour VERY clean lead into my ingot moulds, and this helps keep my casting furnace much cleaner. When casting boolits, I have to flux very little--usually only using a pea-sized bit of paraffin or beeswax and some more Ivory soap shavings.

Like some others, I use dedicated ingot moulds. I use the Lyman moulds for my wheel weight ingots, the Lee one-pound moulds for pure lead (plumbers lead, roof sheeting, etc) and the Lee 1/2-pound moulds for linotype ingots.

Some folks use custom made moulds and label their ingots with a magic-marker--works just as well. Just make sure you know which alloy is which after you've poured it into your ingot moulds.

There is no better place on the world wide web than castboolits.com for learning the magic, art and science of casting boolits. That's the place to start above all else.

Jeff

 

[Grump]

Be aware that when you put the candle wax in, you will get a "poof" and a flame--which is good.

AFIK, it not only smells good but makes some of those various metals on top go airborne a bit more than they were a minute beforehand.

Anyway, where does THAT flame thing happen? I've always needed to light it with a match.

I'm at about 1800 ft elevation.

Moved to 800 ft above sea level 12-13 years ago for a while. Fired up the propane barbecue for some hamburger goodness, and the lava rocks burned for more than 20 minutes after I shut the thing off.

It's gotta be the concentration of O2.

Don't ask me about trying to start a fire at 10,500 ft at 10 p.m. on a cold and windy May night. Accellerants are your friends at altitude!

 

[redneck2]

You casters might want to check out this site...

http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletNotes.htm

 

[lgbloader]

10-4, Everybody.

I have my buddy comming over with a bucket full later tonight and I am starting a shopping list. I think I will read the Lyman book a couple times before anything arrives. I will probably wonder over to the local reloading store on my way home from the range tomorrow to pick the book up. other than that, Thanks for all the help and I will be checking in soon with more questions. In the mean time, please feel free to post more advise and product list. I am thinking of going with:

Lee 20Lb Furnace
RCBS Pot
Lyman Ladle
Lee ladle
Lee lube kits / dies for 38/357, 45acp and 30 cal FP (30/30)
I will probably do the Lee upside down press thing that Griz44 did.
Lee Ingot Molds
Lee Molds ( I hear they are good enought)
bullet drop box (thinking H2O / sponge but need to look into this further)

Thanks again Everyone!!!

Cheers...

 

[RustyFN]

I am just starting to cast myself and don't know a lot yet but hopefully this will help. I bought a six quart dutch oven at Harbor Freight for $12, it's a very nice pot. The burner is a a Bayou Classic 186,000 BTU that I bought on line for around $45. It melts the lead fast. I also have a RCBS thermometer so I can keep a good smelting temp.

I made the ingot molds from 3" channel and welded angle on the ends. These ingots will fit in a Lee ten pound pot.



I flux with wax. I bought a cheap slotted spoon to dip out the clips and a solid spoon to skim off the top junk. I bought the Rowell #3 ladle for pouring the ingots.



I bought all of this stuff for around $130 After having my first smelt and first cast I can tell you that you don't want to smelt in you bottom pour pot and then pour. Welcome to casting, hope this helps.
Rusty

 

[Owens]

Just finished up today on refining lead scrap from an indoor shooting range. I can have all I can carry.
Funny to see brass and copper jacket float!
Wound up with 72 1# ingots. Checked with a Lee hardness, they average at 8.5 BHN, Just about a 30:1

 

[jhco]

my grandfather worked as a nurse and when they remodled his hospital years ago they moved the xray room and guess what the walls were lined with thats right about 10000lbs of lead he didnt get all 10000lbs but we still have enough that i dont ever have to worry about finding more and this was 35 years ago he also got some from tire stores too

 

[bfox]

You need something to lube the Lee molds with .
You can't use the liquid alox for lubing the mold.

But the lee stick alox works good .

Bill

 

[scrat]

You casters might want to check out this site...

http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletNotes.htm

Los Angeles Silhouette Club.

Hmm people across the country looking at lasc.

I SHOOOT THERE. Rick is the guy who maintains the site. Small world. LASC is right next to Angeles Ranges where the OP shoots.

 

[dmftoy1]

You've gotten good advice wrt to safety and reading and I second that . . . .WHILE you're doing that accumulate as many wheel weights as you can because I think lead WW's will be an endangered species in the new few years.

These guys have answered all of my questions: http://castboolits.gunloads.com

Have fun!

 

[lgbloader]

Hello THR Crew...

Update, true to his word, my buddy Bob dropped off the first load of wheel weights, 27 lbs worth!!! Even had one of his guys clean them off with break cleaner, not spick & span but cleaner none the less. I figure if I can get 10 lbs a week from him, thats over 500 Lbs a year. Hmmm...is this stuff worth money???... Just kidding LOL

 

[scrat]

worth every ounce of it. Your sitting on a gold mine.

 

[zxcvbob]

It's better to melt them down without cleaning the grease off first -- you'll get more lead that way. The grease and crap will act as a flux, and will also reduce some of the oxides. Just pick out the valve stems and any other bits of rubber, and watch out for zinc weights. If you melt them slowly enough, any zinc weights that you missed should float harmlessly to the top.

(it's worth about 75¢ per pound)

 

[RustyFN]

You definitely want to smelt them out in the fresh air. Melting down the WW's will give you some nasty smelling smoke. Melting the ingots in your casting pot won't be bad.
Rusty