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Bullet Casting & Coating MegaThread

All though we had a great year for tires 2020 the lead collection was low.
Only positive thing is Zinc seems to have vanished as a source of wheel weights
Stick on are almost all steel now and clip ons are slowly drifting all together.
Lost if newer vehicles do not have a “lip” for the clip ons to clip to.
Plus newer tires/rims are made better
I did a set of 22s with Perrelli tires and the worst one took 2 oz- steel stick ons.

i will be bringing scale and bucket home next week its a small amount
 
This is after a year at the shop 37lbs 7.75oz
Not sorted. I will update as I go. I also list 2 sources of lead. Sadly one past away the other moved south.
i will weigh LP tank before and after and give a little update on what comes out if this small haul. image.jpg
 
mac1911 said:
This is after a year at the shop 37lbs 7.75oz
Not sorted. I will update as I go. I also list 2 sources of lead. Sadly one past away the other moved south.
i will weigh LP tank before and after and give a little update on what comes out if this small haul.View attachment 471535
Click to expand...
You’ll probably end up with 25#. You figure the bucket weight (unless you tared the scale) and I see a bunch of steel in there too.
Sad state of affairs.
 
image.jpg today was a bit better 1lb 5os $7 out the door. Not terrible.
My mom says to me , I to savers on tuesday I save 30% plus any coupons and deals. I told her to keep an eye out for pewter!
Had a conversation with nice lady walking around that worked there. She says theres a lot of pickers and scavengers working for savers and scoring some of the better stuff. Said come back often prices constantly changing. She says shes a big flea market seller and has a guy that pays her $10lb for the junk pewter. I showed her what I had and she said common “junk” get to know makers marks so you dont scrap good pieces.
 
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Michael J. Spangler said:
You’ll probably end up with 25#. You figure the bucket weight (unless you tared the scale) and I see a bunch of steel in there too.
Sad state of affairs.
Click to expand...
When im all done I will reweigh ignots in the same bucket then subtract bucket weight.
Glad I filled my propane tanks last year. Just seen sign at tractor supply $3.56 gallon.
 
Melted down last weeks find and a small piece I found under the truck seat.
Temp was under 500’f
1lb 8.25oz , the small dish I found under the seat IIRC I paid .75c at a yard sale? Or about 3oz.
Call it $8.50 in scrap.
In the video I say 1oz I meant to say 5oz

2AEE516F-601A-416C-8A50-F8F0332A9B41.jpeg
1ED5F404-3B51-450C-9C9B-21EBE9FDF71E.jpeg

View: https://youtu.be/_RPn7MicySo
I mark them with weight and ID
I use aprox 5 oz for 18lbs of wheel weight alloy right in my lee 20lb pot. I usually make small batches of extra tin alloy as Im usually just run straight wheel weights
image.jpg
 
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Little bucket review
1st I made a error, I had the scale display on the bucket when weighing it.
So I already lost 2+ oz !!!
The bucket un sorted.
75D1D77F-E415-406C-9470-6E94135117C1.jpeg
The empty bucket 1lb 13oz 4BB23CB5-FFD2-418C-A3C2-0D3EA5E9F4F5.jpeg
As follows after sorting
COWW - 25lb 1.6iz
Trash/other - 15oz
Fe/Iron - 6lbs 10oz
Zn/zinc -15.25oz
SOWW - 1lb 8oz
Empty bucket - 1lb 13.25oz
I will smelt it down and give a report on that final out come later

there was probably a few onces of dirt/crud also

View: https://youtu.be/pvonlrTr8wg
 
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Anyone seeing prices on scrap wheel weight prices?
Few local places give .10/lb for mixed
.15-.20/lb for lead sorted
I used to get .18-.30/lb for zinc but last year I took about 45# of sorted zinc and they offered me mixed light scrap Guy gave me the per ton price of 225/ton or .12lb
Says they usually give .07/lb

i see alot of scrap yards do this. You dont bring in 2000lbs + you get a much small rate.

the 2 places I go to because I dont have to go out side my normal routes of travel will give ok prices, They dont like to sell back out.
 
BFDX7 said:
I poured some of my wheel weight alloy yesterday with @mac1911 recipe. I used about 17 pounds of lead with 4-5 oz of pewter and what a difference in mold fill out . Tried my new brass MP 8mm mold but I suspect it will need a few sessions to fully season and be a great dropper.
Click to expand...
Not my recipe but yes 2% tin added does show better fill out , slightly lower alloy melt.
100% needed, no. I have shot some ugly bullets and scored well.
It is nice though when you start dropping good slugs and you actually have look for defects.
I run straight wheel weights for a lot of my applications. Im not pushing any thresholds.
I did make a batch of heat treated 308s to see if it shows any differences down range, in the barrel... they are about 20+ bhn
 
Michael J. Spangler said:
Not bad at all.
Click to expand...
Next is fuel to smelt test.
Note: running small batches is definitely a waste if fuel but this is all I got right now.
I have figured it out in the past.
my results are pretty consistent. I can get just over 500lbs smelted on one tank before the tank pressure starts to get to low your wasting fuel. I will use the near empty tanks on the grill until they are empty
 
Last night I measured a few of the above 8mm and they were .326 and weighed 176.6 with a couple a little higher and a little lower but they were pretty consistent. I also took the time to install the lube-a-matic and I started to GC size and lube. I have one bore that is .325 and the other is .328 and I have the .325 sizing die. Pondering what powder I’m going to start the test runs with. I have some 4198, 5744 and some 2400 if anyone has any opinion on the three. Hoping to get some loaded and tested this weekend.
 
BFDX7 said:
Last night I measured a few of the above 8mm and they were .326 and weighed 176.6 with a couple a little higher and a little lower but they were pretty consistent. I also took the time to install the lube-a-matic and I started to GC size and lube. I have one bore that is .325 and the other is .328 and I have the .325 sizing die. Pondering what powder I’m going to start the test runs with. I have some 4198, 5744 and some 2400 if anyone has any opinion on the three. Hoping to get some loaded and tested this weekend.
Click to expand...
5744 had been ok for me
But my cheap side liked 2400 , uses much less.
Its dependent on what your looking to do.
My bore was rough and crusty and I never really achieved anything special
Under 5 moa——thats why I rebarreled it.
 
BFDX7 said:
After doing some readings and looking at “the load” article by C.E. Harris would 16 grains be a good starting point for the 2400 with 180 gr 8mm?
Click to expand...
Yes, see how it does.
just be very careful not to double charge.

trailboss is ok for 50-100 yards very soft shooting.

with the fast twist of the war rifles your only going to be able to push to about 1900 fps

so far of all my wwii surplus rifles 1550-1700ish fps is where im getting my best accuracy.
My testing has not been very exacting as most of my rifles are worn and rough so getting under 3 moa is great for me.
Will be loading up some cast for the type 99 soon
 
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Here are the test results... the 16 gr averaged 1500 FPS while the 17 gr averaged 1600 FPS and was more accurate at the 25. I was shooting them through that M48 that I was having the issues getting the lead out of last summer. I checked and found no lead after shooting the 16 gr but I still have to check the 17gr.
660F4AE2-40FB-4942-A750-53C6352994FF.jpeg
16 gr and the photo posted sideways.
6BBF2675-F959-4693-BB12-4E2613FD64B4.jpeg
These definitely chambered much better then the Lee .324 round nose mold I was using and I was going to ask about the COAL. This MP mold didn’t have a defined crimping groove so am I free to set the depth between the last lube groove and the rounding of the bullet as long as I’m able to chamber the round and not hit the lands. Like @mac1911 pointed out I can increase my COAL a bit. All and all this was a success in my book and those 17 gr shot better at the 25 than the original FMJ factory loads the brass came from. I’m going to stick with the 2400 cause I scored four pounds the other week and now I have to free up some brass so I can experiment some more. I don’t have a ton of 8mm brass. More to follow as I test more but I really appreciate the advise.
 
BFDX7 said:
Here are the test results... the 16 gr averaged 1500 FPS while the 17 gr averaged 1600 FPS and was more accurate at the 25. I was shooting them through that M48 that I was having the issues getting the lead out of last summer. I checked and found no lead after shooting the 16 gr but I still have to check the 17gr.
View attachment 480803
16 gr and the photo posted sideways.
View attachment 480804
These definitely chambered much better then the Lee .324 round nose mold I was using and I was going to ask about the COAL. This MP mold didn’t have a defined crimping groove so am I free to set the depth between the last lube groove and the rounding of the bullet as long as I’m able to chamber the round and not hit the lands. Like @mac1911 pointed out I can increase my COAL a bit. All and all this was a success in my book and those 17 gr shot better at the 25 than the original FMJ factory loads the brass came from. I’m going to stick with the 2400 cause I scored four pounds the other week and now I have to free up some brass so I can experiment some more. I don’t have a ton of 8mm brass. More to follow as I test more but I really appreciate the advise.
Click to expand...
Every surplus rifle that I could not get decent accuracy (under 5 moa) with standard fmj ALWAYS improved with cast loads sized correctly.
As far as COAL , i try to go until it just touches the lands and fits mag plus has close to bore dial into the case. 8mm for example. This is something my dad taught me 30 plus years ago. Said you want the bullet seating in the cade neck ad deep as bullet dia. No reason but seems to work for most bottle neck cases?
 

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