My first cast bullet!!!

[Goneshoot'n]

Before moving to a bottom pour pot I used a hot plate and (dedicated) kitchen pot. I ran into the same problem as you, where it would cycle the heat and every once in a while my lead would turn to oatmeal. I took it apart and shoved a tiny piece of copper foil between the contacts in the thermal switch. Stays on full blast all the time now, I casted several thousand bullets that way. Looking back that was probably a bad idea, but it worked for me.

 

[Thomasss]

Measure them again in 24 hours. Depending on the lead alloy you used, you may find they shrink a little a day later. In order to prevent
too cold of mold, rest the metal portion on top of your melting pot for 5 to 10 minutes as the lead heats up. It will then be ready when you are ready to cast.

 

[Bfh_auto]

I have heard a lot of complaints about leaking so I was staying away from bottom pour for that reason. Perhaps I should reconsider.

I cast my first bullets tonight. It was a bottom pour. Talk about a slick setup.
I'm totally enabling without trying to. I'm going to be purchasing one soon.

 

[GW Staar]

Looks really fun......but I think I waited too long, when it looks more tiring than it looks fun. Probably the best advice is to not procrastinate if you're thinking about casting........... For you very experienced casters, a question......How do you keep it safe. Not talking about temperature.

 

[WestKentucky]

Looks really fun......but I think I waited too long, when it looks more tiring than it looks fun. Probably the best advice is to not procrastinate if you're thinking about casting........... For you very experienced casters, a question......How do you keep it safe. Not talking about temperature.

That’s a big question I had. The lead melts, not evaporated so there’s not as much in the air as you might imagine. Beyond that, leather is your friend. It doesn’t burn through easily, it doesn’t melt, and it keeps lead off of your hands, feet, etc. Moving fresh air, leather gloves, leather shoes, and a watchful eye are really the big things.

 

[Hooda Thunkit]

Leather gloves and boots, cotton clothing. No synthetics.

 

[blue32]

Welcome to the club. Just don't join the hot sprue wedged between your sock and shoe which burns the tender flesh on your ankle club. That's not a fun club.

It’s harder to navigate and impossible to post a picture.

Insert image (its just a picture left of the film tape icon), select the left "from computer tab" on the dialogue box that appears, click choose file to locate picture on computer. Once selected click on "Upload File(s)," which doesn't look like a button to click. Yeah its wonky.

 

[dh1633pm]

I cast my first over the summer and they looked like crap. I assumed the mold wasn't hot enough because some didn't fill and others looked deformed. I figured the temp was too low or the mold wasn't heated, although I did heat it on a hot plate first. I did manage to case some double oh's with no issue. Bullets nope. Now its winter and its a little cold in the garage. I have plenty of bullets, so I can practice was time allows when things get a little warmer. Bad ones just go back into the pot.

 

[jmorris]

Looks really fun......but I think I waited too long, when it looks more tiring than it looks fun. Probably the best advice is to not procrastinate if you're thinking about casting........... For you very experienced casters, a question......How do you keep it safe. Not talking about temperature.

The book I read before I started https://www.magmaengineering.com/handbook-of-commercial-bullet-casting/ indicated that most important was temp beyond the regular, ventilation, wash hands warnings. I am also a strict no liquid near molten lead guy. When melting down bullets picked out of berms, linotype or buckets of lead, I make darn sure things are very dry or preferably put it all in and heat it so water turns to steam before there is any molten lead to spew. Welders jacket/bib, gloves, face shield and safety glasses, otherwise. I have personally seen lead volcano 19 ft high, distance it traveled to hit the roof of the first building I was melting Linotype in, must have had water based ink on them when added to a melt.


I always looks at casting as something that wouldn’t be fun to me but needed to be done in order to put more bullets down range with the same amount of money spent. If I wiped with $100 bills I would likely shoot nothing but jacketed bullets out of smokeless firearms but unfortunately I don’t have that problem and why I made the machine I did instead.

 

[forrest r]

Glad to see people casting their own bullets. Casting bullets has it's own learning curve as does using/loading/testing them. All of which makes for a well rounded/experienced reloader.

Do yourself a huge favor:
Use a single burner hot plate to preheat the molds. I heat mine to +/- 385*, takes around 10 seconds for the sprue to solidify when I 1st start casting. This allows me to check (give me time) the 1st couple of casts to make sure everything looks good and not have the mold cool down too much. This also allows me to establish a cadence that I can do. Once my cadence is established I can adjust the lead pots temp up or down. Up if the mold cools from a slow cadence, down if the mold gets too hot.

Get a bottom pour pot!! They cast a pile of bullets in a hurry and are extremely simply to use. Get a +/- 20# pot, the larger pots tend to keep even alloy temperature better/longer then the smaller pots. And if you ever use a 4/6/8/10 cavity mold you'll be glad you have the larger pot. The lee "drip" is nothing more than folk lore. Do they drip??? Yes, my 20# pot does on occasion when a piece of crud get's stuck in it. When I get a new lee 20# pot I take the pour stem out and cover the end with 600 grit polishing powder. Insert it back in the bottom pour spout and hand turn it using a little pressure. Doing this mates the 2 surfaces stopping any dripping issues.

Clean your alloy in a different pot/setup and do overkill on the fluxing. This helps keep junk out of your bullets/bottom pour pot. It also allows you access to refills of your +/-20# pot. Typically when I melt scrap lead down I do +/- 100# batches of clean lead and get out a 6/8/10 cavity mold and do a bunch of casting. I do not put the sprue's back into the pot. It doesn't take long for a multiple cavity mold to empty a 20# pot. I simply use a ladle and refill it from the smelting pot.

Back in the day it was nothing to cast +/- 100# of usable 148gr wc's (4500 bullets) from a 10 cavity H&G # 50 mold in 4 to 5 hours. Sounds like a lot but with that 10-cavity mold I'd use 1500gr of lead per pour in bullets and +/- 750gr of lead in the sprues. It would take 3 sets of pours to burn 1# of lead with those large multiple cavity molds.

I sold those heavy steel 6/8/10cavity molds off, got too heavy for these old tired hands. But I still do casting this way with my 4 & 6-cavity molds when I want a pile of bullets in a hurry.

Anyway set yourself up for volume casting 1st, even a lee 6-cavity 148gr wc mold will burn thru 1# of lead in +/- 6 pours in a bottom pour pot. It's nothing to pour 3 pours in 1 minute or empty a 20# pot in +/- 40 minutes casting 700+ bullets. You can always do low volume or specialty casting with this setup.

 

[bullseye308]

I still cast the way I started. I got a cast iron Dutch oven from harbor freight, an old turkey fryer, some Lee molds, a 4# Lee pot, a Lee ladle, and Lee sizers. The first few years I tumble lubed everything but now powdercoat. If you slug your barrel and size properly and match your hardness to pressure/velocity, everything should work out just fine.

Do your first melt in the Dutch oven and flux frequently. I use beeswax for the first 2 fluxes, and fine sawdust for the third. Goodwill provided cheap slotted spoons to stir with, a ladle to pour ingots, and muffin tins to pour the ingots into. Goodwill also provided a toaster oven, extra trays, and small tongs to pick up bullets with. A trip to the dollar store got nonstick aluminum foil and harbor freight provided red powdercoat (no longer offered).

Everything to cast, size, and coat for under 100.00 with little effort. If you have a source for “cheap” lead you can definitely save some $ and if you have the time and enjoy it, a new hobby.

 

[WestKentucky]

I still cast the way I started. I got a cast iron Dutch oven from harbor freight, an old turkey fryer, some Lee molds, a 4# Lee pot, a Lee ladle, and Lee sizers. The first few years I tumble lubed everything but now powdercoat. If you slug your barrel and size properly and match your hardness to pressure/velocity, everything should work out just fine.

Do your first melt in the Dutch oven and flux frequently. I use beeswax for the first 2 fluxes, and fine sawdust for the third. Goodwill provided cheap slotted spoons to stir with, a ladle to pour ingots, and muffin tins to pour the ingots into. Goodwill also provided a toaster oven, extra trays, and small tongs to pick up bullets with. A trip to the dollar store got nonstick aluminum foil and harbor freight provided red powdercoat (no longer offered).

Everything to cast, size, and coat for under 100.00 with little effort. If you have a source for “cheap” lead you can definitely save some $ and if you have the time and enjoy it, a new hobby.

Pretty similar to what I am doing. Dutch oven (actually fondue pot... fancy) from goodwill, Lee molds, 10pound Lee pot. I have a Lee ladle but I’m not using it for much. Scooping out dross with it because I’m using the bottom pour pot. So far it’s the worst wasted money of the setup.

And I scavenged a toaster oven from the kitchen, and just cooked a batch of bullets. Harbor freight white is all that was available so I tried it. Got about what I expected. Not pretty, but it is functional. I will check size once they cool and I may try to coat them a second time and use them in 38sw.