My first cast bullet!!!

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WestKentucky

WestKentucky

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92D66F81-2BDF-4221-84CF-0DCCF765589A.jpeg I had planned for today to be the day for me to melt a few pounds and make a couple hundred of the Lee 358-148 tumble lube wadcutter bullets. I had a plan, I have bought the gear, and it’s time. We just got a new beagle and she got out last night so the time slot allotted for quiet morning casting turned into a search for the critter. My hot plate will technically melt lead, but it doesn’t get hot enough to cast with. In the second or so between pot and mold it cools to where it doesn’t flow well, so the plan was to use an old grill that doesn’t get used for food anymore, but essentially as a small fire pit. Sweet setup except for the rain that moved in. Being hardheaded I decided I was going to do it one way or another and devised a plan involving a Coleman torch, and all the stuff in the garage. Lead heated on hot plate, heated a bit more over the torch and then poured. Way too complicated and cumbersome of a method, but I managed my first usable bullets. I put most of them back in the pot due to the mold being too cold and making ripples on the bullet, but I got enough to pull some measurements and say that I have successfully cast bullets. They drop out at about 144 gr with a .359 diameter. Absolutely usable. Now I need to buy a proper melter because I thoroughly enjoyed the process and the freedom to make that which I cannot easily buy.
 
You'll need a better, more controllable heat source, but you have a good start. I started with a Coleman stove. Worked for a thousand bullets or so. I've heard "The only way to learn to cast boolits is to cast boolits". Keep practicing...

BTW. Your bullets look to be cast a bit cool, not great fill out, round corners.

Go to the castboolits forum, the single best source of casting and everything associated with cast boolits...
 
mdi said:
You'll need a better, more controllable heat source, but you have a good start. I started with a Coleman stove. Worked for a thousand bullets or so. I've heard "The only way to learn to cast boolits is to cast boolits". Keep practicing...

BTW. Your bullets look to be cast a bit cool, not great fill out, round corners.

Go to the castboolits forum, the single best source of casting and everything associated with cast boolits...
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The one on top for sure was a bit cool. It is better than some I have had in purchased bullets though so that was my rationale for whether it it got remelted or not. I’m at CastBoolits but I don’t like their platform. It’s harder to navigate and impossible to post a picture.
 
WestKentucky said:
Yeah, I got talked out of a spare parts AR today so I have some cash to throw in the rabbit hole too. I’m trying to decide what all I want. I’m considering an RCBS easymelt2 even though I know I will never in my lifetime have a need for a 25 lb pot.
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I used a ladle over a gas powered stove for big Turkey pots and crawfish boils. It worked but an electric pot makes things easier and less dangerous. Welcome to casting it's fun and relaxing once you find your grove.
 
A bottom pour pot is nice to have and use. I started with a small pot on a Coleman stove then moved to a small Lee electric pot. Bullets poured with a ladeI.

I still have the Lee pot but have not used it in a long time since I got the bottom pour pot.

A side note, the mold has to be up to temperature as well. I pre-heat the mold but expect the first few bullets will be too cold. They finish getting the mold up to temperature. This process works well with Lee aluminum molds.
 
KYregular said:
Looks good my KY bro, what alloy did you use, straight clip on weights?
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Random trash is probably the most accurate answer. A friend had made some 2 to 6 oz fishing weights a few years back from a pile of lead he had accumulated. I melted down a bunch of those. They started off mainly as wheelweight but there was a lot of other random stuff in the pile too.
 
I bought the lee 20lb bottom pour. As you already know I'm very new to casting but I'm very happy with this purchase. I've got a cast iron dutch oven,turkey fryer burner, and a bottom pour ladle but I'm not quite ready for that yet. That will be for my big melt of what I've accumulated and make ingots.

I haven't noticed any leaking yet and "when" it starts I'm uncertain how detrimental it will be. I'm already finding how fast you can empty a 20lb pot. The cadence I was running wouldn't allow for much drip anyway.
 
Very good, I agree with the above statement that the only way to learn how to cast bullets is to cast bullets. Or boolits. In either event, I have a lee 20# bottom pour pot that was well used before it came to me. Yup...they leak, and I have to fiddle with the adjustment screw from time to time, well several times per session anyway. But I will say this, even with a bit of a drippy dingus, they're very handy. I also though a 20# pot would be overkill, but its not. Casting is like making pancakes, the first few are either underdone, or burned...after a bit you start making good ones, and then very quickly run out of batter......
 
WestKentucky said:
I have heard a lot of complaints about leaking so I was staying away from bottom pour for that reason. Perhaps I should reconsider.
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I get a piece of debris in the valve once in a while, opening it to flush it seems to help.

I keep an ingot mold under the valve while casting. It catches the drips that happen once in a while from the valve after closing the valve at the end of a pour. When the lead pile gets too large, I knock it out of the mold and set it aside to be returned to the pot when I recharge the pot

It is not a perfect system but it is manageable.

A small, shallow aluminum pan would also work as a catch pan.

I have an RCBS melter.
 
WestKentucky said:
I have heard a lot of complaints about leaking so I was staying away from bottom pour for that reason. Perhaps I should reconsider.
Click to expand...

I read the same before I started, wound up making my own bottom pour pot with a stainless needle valve I machined. I keep my pot full and startup, before all is molten is the only time it leaks. I keep an aluminum cup under it during warm up.
 
Congrats! I haven,t casted in awhile. I did a run a couple years ago and still have some. One of the coolest things is melting old clip on WWs and watching the metal clip float on top. Then flux, flame and skim. SSSSSHINEY.
 
I also started with a hot plate, 5" SS pot and ladle. A pot lid will help retain heat and get the lead up to temp. Slow to get there but will maintain temp once there. I now have a Lee 10# Production Pot and it works well. Heats quickly,maintains heat and yes it does leak some. More a drip than a leak so I just keep a pick handy and when I get a good size hard puddle I just "Pick" it and throw it back into the pot. I also keep an aluminum cookie pan under the pot.
 
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