Bullet Casting 101

Remember that antimony will not go into suspension at low melt temps, it needs close to 800 degrees, so a good deal of that grey dross is probably the antimony, your main hardening agent. I melt at high temp, stir up the mix, take the clips out using large needle nose pliers, then I flux the mix and stir vigorously and skim. You might be surprised at how much dissolves.
I then cut the temp. to around 700 degrees, start casting, and after the mold reach temp I adjust to maintain nice shiny wrinkle free bullets.
If they start frosting, you are either casting to fast or your melt is to hot. The frost doesn't harm the bullets, it is just a cosmetic thing.
 
Remember that antimony will not go into suspension at low melt temps, it needs close to 800 degrees, so a good deal of that grey dross is probably the antimony, your main hardening agent. I melt at high temp, stir up the mix, take the clips out using large needle nose pliers, then I flux the mix and stir vigorously and skim. You might be surprised at how much dissolves.
I then cut the temp. to around 700 degrees, start casting, and after the mold reach temp I adjust to maintain nice shiny wrinkle free bullets.
If they start frosting, you are either casting to fast or your melt is to hot. The frost doesn't harm the bullets, it is just a cosmetic thing.


Thanks, great stuff....[grin]

Thought this would be worth adding for reference from the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook:

Composition & Hardness of Common Bullet Metals
Alloy.................Lead.........Tin....Antimony......... BHN......BHN w/Heat Treat
Linotype............86%.........3%......11%.............22
#2 Alloy............90%.........5%........5%.............15
Wheel weights...96% .......0.5%.......4%..............9...............27
Pure Lead.........100%.........0%....... 0%.............5

The Lyman handbook gives 2 recipes for mixing 10 pounds of your own #2 Alloy:

9 pounds of wheel weights + 1 pound 50/50 bar solder

4 pounds linotype + 1 pound 50/50 solder + 5 pounds pure lead

[smile]
 
I shoot .30cal rifle bullets at about 1600fps. They're cast from wheel weights and gas checked. I don't get any leading. For the .38/55 I use 3 parts wheel weights and 1 part linotype and get better accuracy at longer range (2-300 yds.). In the .45/70 I use either a gascheck or a plain base and straight wheel weights with no problems. Same with the .45/60WCF.
 
Thanks Gerry.....

I decided to go with the 311291 170 grain gas checked design for my Savage. Got in on the group buy on Cast Boolits and ordered a 5 cavity mold.... Lots of folks seemed to get very good accuracy out of that design in my gun so am hoping it will work for me as well....[smile]

Am planning on casting with the #2 recipe posted above(WW w/ 50/50 solder added) and lubing with Carnauba Red and sized to .310.... With all I've read so far this mix should be pretty optimal for me....

Also got in on the 358429 Kieth 168 grain group buy which I'm hoping will work out with my 357 wheelgun (Colt Trooper III).... This design is less sure but I like the idea of a Kieth design which is plain based..... Am also planning on casting this with the #2 recipe and lubing with Carnauba Red but might have to go harder since I won't have the benefit of a gas check.... Will have to see how the bullets drop to see if I need to size/oven harden but am hoping I can leave them as cast....[grin]

My third mold is a Lee TL452-200-SWC which I plan to cast with straight Wheel weights and lube with ALOX.... Since this is a much slower round I mainly want to use for plinking and such I don't anticipate much of an issue here...[wink]

I shoot .30cal rifle bullets at about 1600fps. They're cast from wheel weights and gas checked. I don't get any leading. For the .38/55 I use 3 parts wheel weights and 1 part linotype and get better accuracy at longer range (2-300 yds.). In the .45/70 I use either a gascheck or a plain base and straight wheel weights with no problems. Same with the .45/60WCF.
 
Wow, that's a big bullet....[shocked]

What are you using for your bullet lube?

Ditto! I get a brinell of 21-23 using lino and have exceeded 2000fps with a 500G G.C. bullet in a 460 Weatherby with minor muzzle leading. That is in a 28" barrel.
 
With the 311291 try Sr4759 and AA5744. The 358429 is a great bullet. I've cast many over the years. It's a long bullet so check the length of your revolver cylinder before you load a bunch. It won't give you any problems with .38Spl brass but it might with magnum brass. Sometimes a harder bullet will lead more than a softer one. Don't be in a hurry to cast harder bullets. The bullet should expand to fill the bore and can't do that if it's too hard.
 
I'm going to start casting bullets for my .500 soon. I've secured a source for wheel weights, and have most of the stuff I need.

Does anybody have a recommendation for a sizing press?

Is the price for the Star justified as compared to the RCBS?

I've used Lyman equipment, for the most part and prefer it over others.
 
... and want to eventually do .270 and .223.

.270 is easily done, but .223 is going to be a pain in the butt. Might be better to go with jacketed bullets there. .223 is a fairly high velocity cartridge, so, at best, you'll be down to .22 Hornet ballistics, and if in an AR, forget functioning, not enough port pressure.

EC,
Can you get velocities low enough to use WW alloy? Even with gas checks the alloy may need to be mostly linotype.

WW alloy doesn't need to be as slow as you may think. Virtually NO pistol bullets need anything better than regular WW's and won't need water quenching.

How fast can you shoot a gas-checked bullet made from wheel weights? I'm looking for something to load mild, say 1400-1500 fps.

1500 fps easily. You can push close to 2000 fps sometimes with them.

You will probably have to heat-treat them or water drop them to get the hardness up to Linotype-like levels. I am a noob with this stuff also so take what I say with a grain of salt.

You may be a noob, but, you're a well read noob, and pretty much right.

Water quenched WW works better than most folks think. Adding some Linotype to WW is the best way to go, but, remember, this is for rifle bullets in excess of 2000 fps. I'm even using straight Linotype in some of my bullets, and that can work to about 2400-2500 fps. I use gaschecks on the rifle bullets.

I shoot .30cal rifle bullets at about 1600fps. They're cast from wheel weights and gas checked. I don't get any leading. For the .38/55 I use 3 parts wheel weights and 1 part linotype and get better accuracy at longer range (2-300 yds.). In the .45/70 I use either a gascheck or a plain base and straight wheel weights with no problems. Same with the .45/60WCF.

Gerry pretty much sums it up.

I've never really mentioned much about it, but, I've been casting bullets for quite some time now, taking breaks from time to time. As some of you know, I'm also kind of "in the ammo business", my father is a manufacturer (small scale, custom ammo, like obsolete stuff). We use cast bullets in some of it, and we know what we're doing. I don't have all the answers, but, I'm well read and I try to stay current.
 
Thanks Gerry..... You offer wise advice....[wink]

With the 311291 try Sr4759 and AA5744. The 358429 is a great bullet. I've cast many over the years. It's a long bullet so check the length of your revolver cylinder before you load a bunch. It won't give you any problems with .38Spl brass but it might with magnum brass. Sometimes a harder bullet will lead more than a softer one. Don't be in a hurry to cast harder bullets. The bullet should expand to fill the bore and can't do that if it's too hard.
 
I shoot .30cal rifle bullets at about 1600fps. They're cast from wheel weights and gas checked. I don't get any leading. For the .38/55 I use 3 parts wheel weights and 1 part linotype and get better accuracy at longer range (2-300 yds.). In the .45/70 I use either a gascheck or a plain base and straight wheel weights with no problems. Same with the .45/60WCF.

What boolit are you shooting in .30cal? What gun are you shooting?
 
Wow, that's a big bullet....[shocked]

What are you using for your bullet lube?

I use either Thompson hard blue or 50/50 Alox-beeswax.
Big bullet for a big case! 134G. H4831 behind the 500G. This is a modified chamber forming an Ackley improved type shoulder in a custom single shot, on a 1917 Enfield action.
 
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The .30 cal bullet is the Lyman 31141 which is a flat point version of the 311291 for use in tubular magazines. The 5 digit # was changed when Lyman changed to all 6 digit numbers. I think the new # is 311041. I shoot it out of an old Winchester 94 carbine, a 1903 Springfield from Remington and a Remington model 700. It shoots just as well as the 311291.
 
Linotype for $1/lb.......

For those of you who are interested in casting or alloying with linotype you might want to check this out......[smile]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=56847

For Sale: 50-65 lb.+ lots of Linotype slugs and spacers. $1.00/lb. + $10.35 per Medium 5.5"x8.5"x11" U.S.P.S. Flat Rate Box. Send PM for net weight of individual boxes.
(Prefer U.S.P.S. M.O. to protect us both)

I have been a caster and a printer for 32+ years. I just acquired well over a ton of Linotype in slugs and spacers. Composition is 84%Pb/12%Sb/4%Sn to the best of my knowledge.
I will tape the Flat Rate box to death with Clear and then Nylon reinforced tape.
 
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Gas Check group buy

Found this group buy if you are casting with gas checks..... Very good pricing....[smile]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=20238

Might also want to check this out if you shoot a 30 cal GC..... Pat has designed (and is selling) a die set to make your own checks... You can either use 0.010 copper sheets/strips or beer can aluminum....[grin]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=37943

Group buy for 0.010 copper sheets here:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=37972
 
Also got in on the 358429 Kieth 168 grain group buy which I'm hoping will work out with my 357 wheelgun (Colt Trooper III).... This design is less sure but I like the idea of a Kieth design which is plain based..... Am also planning on casting this with the #2 recipe and lubing with Carnauba Red but might have to go harder since I won't have the benefit of a gas check.... Will have to see how the bullets drop to see if I need to size/oven harden but am hoping I can leave them as cast....[grin]

The 358429 I have is the Lyman mold and those are the boolits I just cast. According to
Lyman they will drop at 173gr using lino. Mine dropped (average of 13 measured) as follows
with WW.

172.4 (Average Weight)

3.60 (Average Diameter)
 
Gave my Lee Hardness tester a workout yesterday on some SW500 SP bullets I cast last week.... These are WW 20:1 50/50 solder water dropped...

BHN Readings on random bullets were:
14.3
14.3
14.3
14.9
14.9
14.3
14.3

Pretty consistent......[smile]
 
Response from another thread but thought it would be worth adding to this thread as well.....[wink]

No problem..... The trick I mentioned to Fixxah was for boolit casting (not smelting) when using a bottom drop pot..... When the pot is loaded, at temperature and I have skimmed the dross I sprinkle a small amount of boric acid (using an old salt shaker) on the top of the melt.... The boric acid fuses into a thin layer which seals the top of the melt, prevents further oxidation and helps maintain temperature... This also helps keep your alloy consistent since the tin in the alloy is usually the first to oxidize out....

When you want to restock the pot, push the protective layer to the side and refill... Then add more boric acid to reseal the melt...

BTW, when smelting I use candle wax to flux.... I try and get the clips and unmelted WW (Zinc, Aluminum and steel) out as soon as possible and then quickly flux with a marble sized piece of wax.... As soon as it catches I stir well into the melt being sure to scrape the sides and bottom... Remove everything that floats up and then repeat with more flux.... This continues until nothing much comes up and then I fill my smelting molds... Really important to get these small impurities out (looks like coarse ground pepper) as it will impact your boolit mold fill as well as contribute to "leaky pot syndrome" when some of it gets into your drop mechanism... I usually use at least 4 smelting molds so that the first filled have a chance to solidify by the time I've filled the 4th.... Then it's dump and fill for each mold up the line... I am currently using a set of molds that are tig welded out of angle iron but have muffin tins (non stick coated) as well....

Have found that small ingots or ingots that are long that you set vertically in your casting pot work best best for me so that there is minimal drop in temperature when I restock the pot so if you go the muffin tin route get the one for the smaller muffins.... That way you can often continue casting when you do small adds which really helps keep things moving and the boolit mold at temperature... For those of you that cast you know that happiness (and good boolit drop) is a boolit mold at the right temperature....
 
Response from another thread but thought it would be worth adding to this thread as well.....[wink]

No problem..... The trick I mentioned to Fixxah was for boolit casting (not smelting) when using a bottom drop pot..... When the pot is loaded, at temperature and I have skimmed the dross I sprinkle a small amount of boric acid (using an old salt shaker) on the top of the melt.... The boric acid fuses into a thin layer which seals the top of the melt, prevents further oxidation and helps maintain temperature... This also helps keep your alloy consistent since the tin in the alloy is usually the first to oxidize out....

When you want to restock the pot, push the protective layer to the side and refill... Then add more boric acid to reseal the melt...

BTW, when smelting I use candle wax to flux.... I try and get the clips and unmelted WW (Zinc, Aluminum and steel) out as soon as possible and then quickly flux with a marble sized piece of wax.... As soon as it catches I stir well into the melt being sure to scrape the sides and bottom... Remove everything that floats up and then repeat with more flux.... This continues until nothing much comes up and then I fill my smelting molds... Really important to get these small impurities out (looks like coarse ground pepper) as it will impact your boolit mold fill as well as contribute to "leaky pot syndrome" when some of it gets into your drop mechanism... I usually use at least 4 smelting molds so that the first filled have a chance to solidify by the time I've filled the 4th.... Then it's dump and fill for each mold up the line... I am currently using a set of molds that are tig welded out of angle iron but have muffin tins (non stick coated) as well....

Have found that small ingots or ingots that are long that you set vertically in your casting pot work best best for me so that there is minimal drop in temperature when I restock the pot so if you go the muffin tin route get the one for the smaller muffins.... That way you can often continue casting when you do small adds which really helps keep things moving and the boolit mold at temperature... For those of you that cast you know that happiness (and good boolit drop) is a boolit mold at the right temperature....
This would make a great informative video.[wink]
 
This would make a great informative video.[wink]

Agree but alas, beyond my technical capabilities at the moment....[sad2] Videos at the start of this thread are pretty well done though....[wink]

Gotta say I love casting and shooting.... pushes my price per round is way down and doesn't take that much time.... Shooting cast and having them be as accurate as they have been so far is a great feeling...[smile]
 
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