Thinking of casting my own

Status
Not open for further replies.
G

grubbylabs

Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2010
Messages
1,856
Location
Hansen Idaho
I have a XD 45.

I am thinking of casting my own and would like to cast 230grn round nose.

What have you used and worked good?

Thanks
 
Lee six cavity molds

Buy the Lee 1 radius none tumble lube six cavity mold.
Buy Rooster Jacket lube
Buy Lee factory taper crimp die.
I use Bullseye for light loads and Clays for major power factor.
No need size bullets, stuff works in my Springfield 1911 and S&W revolvers.
 
I lubed and sized bullets for a custom bullet maker in Tulsa. On one run alone, I ran 30,000 bullets! We used an RCBS lubricator/sizer with a custom blended lube that was heavy with beeswax. We never used tumble lube. People were wild about those bullets and we couldn't possibly make enough of them.

Flash
 
earplug said:
Buy the Lee 1 radius none tumble lube six cavity mold.
Buy Rooster Jacket lube
Buy Lee factory taper crimp die.
I use Bullseye for light loads and Clays for major power factor.
No need size bullets, stuff works in my Springfield 1911 and S&W revolvers.
Click to expand...
What OAL do you use with these 1R boolits?
 
I got started on the cheap with a Lee 2 cavity tumble lube mould (no sizing necessary, so far), a Lyman ladle, a small cast iron pot and a propane camping stove.
 
If your looking for the alloy... I would say straight wheel weights with a small piece of 50/50 solder is perfect @ 12 bhn. If not then a 1:10 (tin:lead) mix will keep you at 11 bhn and that is almost perfect. That will cover the 17,000 to 25,000 psi range.
 
My Lee six cavity 1R bullet I load it at 1.200" LOA
Years ago I used a Lyman sizer luber with various molds. With my Lee set up there is no need.
 
YES

At first if I seated it as long as my LEE 200 grain SWC's the 1R rn would not chamber reliably. I seated them deeper and bought a factory taper crimp die and all is well.
 
@FourDollarBill:
What would you say your ratio of solder to wheel weight is?
I've been thinking of casting for an obsolete round.
 
Not sure of the "proper" ratio, but you need no more than 2% tin added to the mix. Any more is wasting tin. Tid does not appreciably harden the mix, it helps it flow better for better mold fill out and it also lowers the melt temp some.
 
It depends on what you need. An obsolete round sounds low speed. Here are some BHN numbers to ponder.

If your just looking to cast straight WW's you only have to add 50/50 solder if your fill out is rough. In a 20 pound pot I would add not more than 12 ounces. That's about 1% tin and should be more than enough for 12 BHN.

Alloy BHN
Lead 5
WW (stick on) 6
Tin 7
1 to 40 tin lead 8
1 to 30 tin lead 9
1 to 20 tin lead 10
1 to 10 tin lead 11
WW (clip on) 12
Lead Shot* 13
Lyman # 2 15
Water quenched WW 18
Linotype 18 - 19
 
Last edited:
Tin does not appreciably harden the mix, it helps it flow better for better mold fill out and it also lowers the melt temp some.
Click to expand...
Not really...
1 lb of 50/50 and 9lbs of WW will make a close Lyman #2 near 15 bhn. and that is 5% tin.
Also tin will take soft lead from a 5 bhn to 11 bhn.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top