Lead source for casting own bullets...

[HiVelocity]

Casting bullets with wheel weights

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JK in SC
aka HiVelocity

 

[usp_fan]

My local Walmart tire Center was more than happy to give me 3-4 gallons worth for free. I'll I did was ask.

Now I need to find a mold, a cheap way to lube, a makshift heat source--will a coleman stove work?

--usp_fan

 

[MCgunner]

My local Walmart tire Center was more than happy to give me 3-4 gallons worth for free. I'll I did was ask.

Now I need to find a mold, a cheap way to lube, a makshift heat source--will a coleman stove work?

--usp_fan

You can buy a simple lead pot to put on the stove. If you have a gas stove, it'll melt lead. I guess a coleman might work. But, it's a pain because keeping the lead at the proper temperature for casting is a PITA on a stove.

I broke down and bought a Lee electric pot with the spout on the bottom. It was about fifty bucks back when I got it 20 or so years ago and it's still going strong. It has a dial rheostat to control temp and it keeps the lead at the right temp. You don't have to mess with a ladle which, in itself, is hard to keep at the right temp. If you try to cast too cold, you get lots of ripples, non-uniformity. If you try to cast too hot, you get glazing and what looks like little gas pockets in the lead, not good either.

Lee molds work and they're the best values and aluminum molds are easier to use than iron. You'll need to keep the sprue cutter lubed. I just melt a little alox on it from time to time. Also, use a wooden rod or rubber mallet to knock the sprue cutter. Don't use a steel hammer, you'll cause damage to the sprue cutter where you whack it. Set the mold down on something solid before whacking the sprue cutter, will help keep the handles from messing up.

I've taken to annealing my bullets, dropping them from the mold into water. This gives the surface a little more hardness. If you don't wish to anneal, drop 'em on a soft towel or something, not a hard surface. There are instructions in the Lee mold box that will help you.

As for lube/sizing. I try to use tumble lube molds, but have some favorites I bought before the TL molds were even available. TL bullets to not require sizing. You can use Lee liquid alox lube on any design, though, and it's the ultimate in simplicity. I tumble lube, then size my bullets which aren't TL bullets. You can get a lubri-sizer and use stick alox, but it does no better job in my experience and it's more PITA and more investment, especially than doing the TL bullets which need no sizing. I think the Lee liquid alox is the best thing in casting that's come along in a while, myself.

 

[Firehand]

Bought a Lee 10-pound capacity bottom-pour furnace years ago, and I love it for casting!

Wheel weights and old bullets, I generally melt and flux to get the crud and clips out, then cast it into ingots; that way when i need to add to the furnace I just slide a block in.

 

[MCgunner]

Bought a Lee 10-pound capacity bottom-pour furnace years ago, and I love it for casting!

Wheel weights and old bullets, I generally melt and flux to get the crud and clips out, then cast it into ingots; that way when i need to add to the furnace I just slide a block in.

I don't have an ingot mold, but have this old fishing weight mold that casts these HUMONGOUS fishing weights. I just use that. And, bonus, when i wanna run trot lines up the river, I have weights.

 

[cracked butt]

An old cupcake pan makes a good ingot mould. Beware that the lead will solder itself to some of them though and you'll wreck the pan trying to get them out.

If you have a rifle where you can purchase a Lee push through sizer .001" over goove size of your rifle, you're golden, though there are some calibers especially 8mm that lee not only casts undersize but the sizers are undersized. The lee sizer makes the bullets very concentric, and seats gas checks on straight to boot. Lee liquid alox is good stuff- just follow the directions. You can leave this stuff in the bore of your rifle after shooting as well- it makes for a very good protectectant.

 

[MCgunner]

I have a .308 Lee sizer that screws into the press and you push the bullet through, but my .357 and ..452 sizers are hand held. Ypu put the bullet in, put a driver on the bullet, and whack it with a mallet. I tried to find one of those when I bought the .308 sizer, but Lee didn't offer it. I guess they've discontinued 'em in favor of the press mounted system.