DATE FIRM, May 22nd . . . 2010 Spring Cast Bullet Workshop - Shirley Rod and Gun Club

awesome. thanks man. i need to get an inspection sticker tomorrow. i figure i'll hit a place that changes tires too. i can stand around and shoot the $hit untill i weasel some ww out of someone
 
don't worry if i find a source i'll let you know.

i do have a few pounds of lead shot i used to use for my black powder smooth bore .56 cal

would this be good to melt down and cast?
 
No, the lead shot is most likely to be softer than you'd want for pistol bullets.

BTW, did I mention that I will be bringing my 56 caliber round ball mold? You can cast up some round balls for your gun.

Is it a Thompson Center Renegade? That's the one I have.

Michael J. Spangler said:
don't worry if i find a source i'll let you know.

i do have a few pounds of lead shot i used to use for my black powder smooth bore .56 cal

would this be good to melt down and cast?
Click to expand...
 
I'll be bringing my .533 410 gr. Minnie Bullet mold and a 300 gr. R-E-A-L bullet mold. Both are .54. I suspect the 410 gr. one will be great for deer hunting. Suppose to use pure lead in the minnie mold and all I've got is ingots made from WW that Fixxer gave me.
 
i figured the shot would be soft, but we could use that and alloy it right? or is that not worth it?

i did have a .56 renegade from thompson center. but i gave it to a friend that really wanted to get in to archery or black powder so he could hunt for deer longer. and he loves hunting and eating squirrels, so i figured this would be right up his alley.

now i'm down to my .50 cal hawkens.

i'll probably cast some round balls for the hell of it. they're very hard to find down here in .56 i'm sure he would like to have a few extra.
 
There are supposed to be a few that would be bringing range lead (pure lead), and so you might be able to take home a mix of cast bullets (WW alloy) and round balls (pure lead)....
I'll bring a couple of ingots of pure lead, just to make sure there' enough.

Oh, and a reminder...... we DO NOT NEED 16 smelting pots (with stands and propane) all running at the same time. I know Bob_J will bring one, and I will bring one. Everyone else can leave their pots/stands/gas at home, and just bring molds if you care to. We'll have one pot running with WW alloy, and the other running with range lead (pure lead). That's all we need for making ingots. Just bring your WW or range lead, and we'll make community ingots, and use that to cast through the production pots.

Everyone will take home their 20 pounds as ingots and or as cast bullets.

ArmedMainer said:
I'll be bringing my .533 410 gr. Minnie Bullet mold and a 300 gr. R-E-A-L bullet mold. Both are .54. I suspect the 410 gr. one will be great for deer hunting. Suppose to use pure lead in the minnie mold and all I've got is ingots made from WW that Fixxer gave me.
Click to expand...
 
Comments and Ideas for the last few days before the event:

  • If you bring molds/tools/etc, please be sure to mark them with your initials. It's possible that there would be duplications in some instances. We want you to be able to take your stuff home afterwards.
  • Make a list of what you bring, and check to make sure you have it all.
  • If you bump into any good printed info that you want to share, please print 20 copies and bring it to the workshop. We'll have a table with handouts on it.
  • Does anyone have access to name tags? It might be helpful for some to be able to see the NES name, and your real name. Me, for example. I forget who I am all the time....
  • As mentioned above, we only need two smelting pots, so save room in your vehicle, and just bring your 20 pounds of lead raw materials. Bob_J and I will have the two stands/pots running. One for wheel weight alloy, and the other for range lead.
  • If you bring molds or tools, you should identify them in some way so that you get them back.
  • Make a list of any tools that you do bring, so that you can check your list, and make sure you haven't forgotten anything at the end of the day.
  • Everyone will get a chance to do everything that can get done. Smelting, fluxing, casting ingots, castin bullets, lubing, sizing, making gas checks, swaging bullets. Please be patient and courteous.
  • When using other peoples tools and equipment, please be mindful that this stuff is somewhat expensive, and some of it is precision. Be careful not to drop stuff.

If there are ideas and comments that would be helpful, I would appreciate you posting it. We want everyone to be safe and happy.
 
The alloying is for more advanced casting. The best answer is to use the right raw material for the right purpose for now.
So, wheel weight for bullets, pure lead for round balls.

I know that it;s easy to imagine that it will be difficult to get raw materials. But trust me when I suggest that you can get a lot of wheel weights when you need them. The tougher (to find) resource is the pure lead.

Michael J. Spangler said:
i figured the shot would be soft, but we could use that and alloy it right? or is that not worth it?

i did have a .56 renegade from thompson center. but i gave it to a friend that really wanted to get in to archery or black powder so he could hunt for deer longer. and he loves hunting and eating squirrels, so i figured this would be right up his alley.

now i'm down to my .50 cal hawkens.

i'll probably cast some round balls for the hell of it. they're very hard to find down here in .56 i'm sure he would like to have a few extra.
Click to expand...
 
Zombie has to back out. Pressing legal matters will have him stuck in some cramped musty office for the day. He was going to bring his famous chicken parm sandwich materials. Can whomever was going to bring food just bring a bit more of it, so there's enough?????

The hours are clicking by fast.

Just a reminder for everyone attending. Bob_J and I will bring smelting and production pots, along with molds and various other machines, devices, and tools. Unless you are specifically already scheduled to do otherwise, just bring your lead. We don't want to be trying to process five smelters, six production pots, etc, etc, etc. Everyone will have a hand at running raw materials, molds, etc from the couple of set ups that we will have on hand. We want to keep it simple and manageable.

Bob, not sure how much range lead (in raw form) we have access to, so I will bring a few ingots of pure lead which I smelted from range lead a few weeks ago. It's really nice stuff, showing the lead crystals in the ingot.

I'll be bringing:
  • Propane tank
  • Burner stand
  • Cast iron dutch oven
  • fluxing materials
  • thermometer
  • all the tools for smelting, including extra gloves
  • my 20 # of wheel weights, and a two pound package of range lead (in raw form)
  • a couple o ingots of pure lead from range lead
  • my RCBS Pro production pot
  • various molds
  • Lyman 4500 Lubricizer, with some of the sizing dies.
  • Clamps to hold everything down (cause I'm too cheap to buy those neat metal plates that you use)
  • Couple of power cords (not sure how close to power we'll be)
  • Some of my Odie Lube
  • White label Xlox
  • my new FreeChex III press, with checks samples
  • My swage tool for swaging the 9mm bullets and cores into .40 S&W bullets
  • LOTS of handouts (reading materials)
  • Some Mauser brass I promised Mark

I'll add to the list as I start assembling stuff to loading into the car.

I'm car pooling with Stuart from Weaponcraft Training and CurleyMaple. Ruger_Bob also said that he wanted to come along if he wasn't working. I have PM'd him to find out what's up.

If there are any last minute requests, let me know.

Does anyone have any of those NAME TAG things that they can borrow from work?
 
Last edited:
I can bring more sausages if people want, I think that and the chicken were all the food to begin with. How many and do people wan't rolls. Happy to do it if everyone throws in $2 at Shirley. I will pickup tomorrow so people need to speakup now.
 
Hi Duke,
Was planning on bringing 3 smelting setups but based on your input below will only bring one......

Will also bring the Cabinetree and Lee hardness testers so everyone can get a look at those....

Am planning on bring 3 casting pots (Lee 4-20) and the star sizer (with a fair selection of dies).... The casting pots are currently set up for dead soft, straight WW (rifle and magnum) and 50/50 range lead/WW for everything else....

Will also bring a number of moulds so everyone can (hopefully) work with boolits that they plan to shoot....

Jasper graciously donated (thanks and much appreciated) a half bucket of range lead so will bring the stuff to demonstrate how to process that efficiently....

Am hoping a new mould I ordered comes in before the weekend so I can demonstrate how to prep a mould... if not, I can talk it through....

Can also bring the stuff for and cover slugging a barrel if anyone would like to see it demonstrated...

Will also bring your firelap rounds.....[wink]

Fixxah, have some 40 S&W brass that Patriot asked me to drop off with you....

That's all I can think of but will add stuff if you can think of anything else we need let me know....

As for support, will need power for the star heater/casting pots and a bench that I can bolt the mounting bracket to for the star.....

Really looking forward to this.....


DukeInMaine said:
Zombie has to back out. Pressing legal matters will have him stuck in some cramped musty office for the day. He was going to bring his famous chicken parm sandwich materials. Can whomever was going to bring food just bring a bit more of it, so there's enough?????

The hours are clicking by fast.

Just a reminder for everyone attending. Bob_J and I will bring smelting and production pots, along with molds and various other machines, devices, and tools. Unless you are specifically already scheduled to do otherwise, just bring your lead. We don't want to be trying to process five smelters, six production pots, etc, etc, etc. Everyone will have a hand at running raw materials, molds, etc from the couple of set ups that we will have on hand. We want to keep it simple and manageable.

Bob, not sure how much range lead (in raw form) we have access to, so I will bring a few ingots of pure lead which I smelted from range lead a few weeks ago. It's really nice stuff, showing the lead crystals in the ingot.

I'll be bringing:
  • Propane tank
  • Burner stand
  • Cast iron dutch oven
  • fluxing materials
  • thermometer
  • all the tools for smelting, including extra gloves
  • my 20 # of wheel weights, and a two pound package of range lead (in raw form)
  • a couple o ingots of pure lead from range lead
  • my RCBS Pro production pot
  • various molds
  • Lyman 4500 Lubricizer, with some of the sizing dies.
  • Clamps to hold everything down (cause I'm too cheap to buy those neat metal plates that you use)
  • Couple of power cords (not sure how close to power we'll be)
  • Some of my Odie Lube
  • White label Xlox
  • my new FreeChex III press, with checks samples
  • My swage tool for swaging the 9mm bullets and cores into .40 S&W bullets
  • LOTS of handouts (reading materials)
  • Some Mauser brass I promised Mark

I'll add to the list as I start assembling stuff to loading into the car.

I'm car pooling with Stuart from Weaponcraft Training and CurleyMaple. Ruger_Bob also said that he wanted to come along if he wasn't working. I have PM'd him to find out what's up.

If there are any last minute requests, let me know.

Does anyone have any of those NAME TAG things that they can borrow from work?
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Yes, please bring extras. I'm sure we'll all be happy to pass the hat for food costs. I don't expect that you'd bear the cost of food yourself. That includes NamedPipes (and anyone else buying anything)



Manomet said:
I can bring more sausages if people want, I think that and the chicken were all the food to begin with. How many and do people wan't rolls. Happy to do it if everyone throws in $2 at Shirley. I will pickup tomorrow so people need to speakup now.
Click to expand...
 
Sounds good.

I'm hoping that we have several tables to mount stuff on.

EC, can you give us a sense for table situation???? And, some sense for electrical hookups?

Not sure of the layout of the club.

Bob J said:
Hi Duke,
Was planning on bringing 3 smelting setups but based on your input below will only bring one......

Will also bring the Cabinetree and Lee hardness testers so everyone can get a look at those....

Am planning on bring 3 casting pots (Lee 4-20) and the star sizer (with a fair selection of dies).... The casting pots are currently set up for dead soft, straight WW (rifle and magnum) and 50/50 range lead/WW for everything else....

Will also bring a number of moulds so everyone can (hopefully) work with boolits that they plan to shoot....

Jasper graciously donated (thanks and much appreciated) a half bucket of range lead so will bring the stuff to demonstrate how to process that efficiently....

Am hoping a new mould I ordered comes in before the weekend so I can demonstrate how to prep a mould... if not, I can talk it through....

Can also bring the stuff for and cover slugging a barrel if anyone would like to see it demonstrated...

Will also bring your firelap rounds.....[wink]

That's all I can think of but will add stuff if you can think of anything else we need let me know....

As for support, will need power for the star heater/casting pots and a bench that I can bolt the mounting bracket to for the star.....

Really looking forward to this.....
Click to expand...
 
DukeInMaine said:
Sounds good.

I'm hoping that we have several tables to mount stuff on.

EC, can you give us a sense for table situation???? And, some sense for electrical hookups?

Not sure of the layout of the club.
Click to expand...

No worries. We'll be able to come up with anything we need. We have plenty of tables and electrical won't be a problem (bring some power strips though).
 
I am still planning on attending, but my source for wheel weights just copped out. HELP! If anyone has extra wheel weights I will gladly purchase it from you. Thanks.
 
Hi guys,

This is the first day I have regained access to the site since the servers were out. Fortunately I managed to contact Duke through a friend early in the week to notify him of my last minute need to cancel. I felt it right to let you all know personally as well.

I have been looking forward to this workshop since February when it was first mentioned to me and have already purchased what I needed for food prep and other supplies. However, due to some legal matters that need tending to regarding a family estate I cannot attend. They were supposed to be resolved last weekend but the bank and lawyers had to reschedule all involved parties to this coming weekend.

As I told Duke, I feel terrible b/c I had volunteered a good portion of food and was really looking forward to meeting you guys. But by now arrangements have likely been made and I'm sure you will have a great day.

Look forward to next time!

Steve
 
I would like to join you (especially since it is only three miles from my home. I'm not 100% sure I can make it and a couple of months ago I gave away all my lead. I will try to scrounge some more, however.
 
It's typically EASY to score some lead at the smaller tire shops. The days of FREE are about over though, and you should always offer to pay them for the wheel weights. $20 is about the going rate for a 5 gallon bucket of wheel weights, which will yield you 100+ pounds of ingots. If you're going to make some cast lead bullets (really cheap to reload when you make your own), you should have some lead.

Hope to see you there. I'll add you to the list.

Exousia said:
I would like to join you (especially since it is only three miles from my home. I'm not 100% sure I can make it and a couple of months ago I gave away all my lead. I will try to scrounge some more, however.
Click to expand...
 
Glad the site is back up and running. Yesterday's storms took down a tree down on a family member's garage. As such, I'm going to need to step out of the workshop to help re-roof the garage while the waether's nice.

thanks
 

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