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One guys exploration into casting bullets...

mac1911 said:
If you need to make a alloy you can run something like this. It will give you 2% Tin
Another variable we dont know is your roof flashing. It could be pure or have a good amount of Atimony in it.
I had a batch of roof flashing tested and it came back with +3% antimony I have it right on 12 BHN with the pencil test.

View attachment 408765
Click to expand...

Going back over old post to understand them better with my newer found knowledge...
can I use the Muriatic acid to see if it’s pure lead vs lead w antimony? Cause the Muriatic acid had the least reaction on the roofing lead out of all the other alloy runs I had around to test....

A recap:
I had six bars I know are contaminated w zinc
I had about 30 bars I made out of range scrap while adding wheel weights along the way (maybe 20% WW).
I also have about 30 bars that are straigh range scrap.
And then there are about 20 that are just wheel weights. I’m upto about ballpark 200lbs.

My goal is to position myself so I’m not outside smelting in the depths of winter. Winter will be for casting and making friends at tire shops.
 

NewBeige said:
Going back over old post to understand them better with my newer found knowledge...
can I use the Muriatic acid to see if it’s pure lead vs lead w antimony? Cause the Muriatic acid had the least reaction on the roofing lead out of all the other alloy runs I had around to test....

A recap:
I had six bars I know are contaminated w zinc
I had about 30 bars I made out of range scrap while adding wheel weights along the way (maybe 20% WW).
I also have about 30 bars that are straigh range scrap.
And then there are about 20 that are just wheel weights. I’m upto about ballpark 200lbs.

My goal is to position myself so I’m not outside smelting in the depths of winter. Winter will be for casting and making friends at tire shops.
Click to expand...
label the known contaminated ignots and toss them in a dark corner , put the acid away.
200lbs of alloy - 7000 200gn bullets , 10,000+ 124gn bullets? Should keep you busy.
If you think you need more tin use the calculator to get you to 2% with 15-18lbs in the casting pot
IIRC 3-4 oz of Petwer will get you to 2% with 18lbs of wheel weights or scrap. Close enough anyway.
 
Spent an bit of time early this AM and popped out 22lbs of 9mm 125gr. By my calculation that’s a bit over a thousand rounds :) might do this a few more times before I move onto the great cook off w the coating.

Doing all of this in small batches seems like it would drive me nuts so I’m going to try to do big runs and avoid having a ton of crap at different stages. Is that crazy?

I’d include a photo but the software won’t let me anymore. All of the control icons above the reply window are greyed out.
 
There needs to be many Thanks to Mr. Spangler for introducing folks to casting their own bullets.
It's as much of an art as it is a science.

When I first started casting, it was to feed a Browning 1885 45-90 BPCR rifle, hence the screen name.
45 caliber bullets for the Black Powder silhouette game usually weigh over 500 grains.
That's less than 14 bullets per pound of alloy, or there about.

Back in the day, owning an auto repair shop, I used WW and scrounged lead.
Many times I'd end up with polluted alloy, mostly from zinc.
I spent way to much time trying to get consistent alloy.
I tried all the Alchemy I read to get WW, range lead, roofing lead, x-ray walls, and old tooth fillings to produce consistently good bullets and had some, good - luck.
It was never consistent though.

These days I buy known alloy from commercial vendors.
There's a bunch of them out there.
Up front, it's a little more money.
But when you figure in your time and potential frustration dealing with an unknown alloy, to me, it makes sense.
It's one more factor taken out of the equation and more time one can devote to casting when you know what your alloy is.
My UPS driver, my Fed-ex driver and my mailman hate me.
Packages arrive with the comment " what's in this, lead "

I tip them $5 and smile

All that being said, do you think I could cast .457 round balls?
Nope, they all drop looking like rotten blueberries.

Some days your the dog, some days your the hydrant.

IMG_0425-1.jpg
 
NewBeige said:
Spent an bit of time early this AM and popped out 22lbs of 9mm 125gr. By my calculation that’s a bit over a thousand rounds :) might do this a few more times before I move onto the great cook off w the coating.

Doing all of this in small batches seems like it would drive me nuts so I’m going to try to do big runs and avoid having a ton of crap at different stages. Is that crazy?

I’d include a photo but the software won’t let me anymore. All of the control icons above the reply window are greyed out.
Click to expand...

I would go with around a 5# batch for coating. You don’t want to try to coat 30# and screw it up and have to re cast all of them.

45BPCR said:
There needs to be many Thanks to Mr. Spangler for introducing folks to casting their own bullets.
It's as much of an art as it is a science.

When I first started casting, it was to feed a Browning 1885 45-90 BPCR rifle, hence the screen name.
45 caliber bullets for the Black Powder silhouette game usually weigh over 500 grains.
That's less than 14 bullets per pound of alloy, or there about.

Back in the day, owning an auto repair shop, I used WW and scrounged lead.
Many times I'd end up with polluted alloy, mostly from zinc.
I spent way to much time trying to get consistent alloy.
I tried all the Alchemy I read to get WW, range lead, roofing lead, x-ray walls, and old tooth fillings to produce consistently good bullets and had some, good - luck.
It was never consistent though.

These days I buy known alloy from commercial vendors.
There's a bunch of them out there.
Up front, it's a little more money.
But when you figure in your time and potential frustration dealing with an unknown alloy, to me, it makes sense.
It's one more factor taken out of the equation and more time one can devote to casting when you know what your alloy is.
My UPS driver, my Fed-ex driver and my mailman hate me.
Packages arrive with the comment " what's in this, lead "

I tip them $5 and smile

All that being said, do you think I could cast .457 round balls?
Nope, they all drop looking like rotten blueberries.

Some days your the dog, some days your the hydrant.

View attachment 409621
Click to expand...
Thank you for the kind words. Those are some nice looking bullets. The round balls have me stumped though. What type of mould? It almost looks like something was stuck in the mould. Usually if it’s oily you would have wrinkles to go with the voids. So weird.
 
45BPCR said:
There needs to be many Thanks to Mr. Spangler for introducing folks to casting their own bullets.
It's as much of an art as it is a science.

When I first started casting, it was to feed a Browning 1885 45-90 BPCR rifle, hence the screen name.
45 caliber bullets for the Black Powder silhouette game usually weigh over 500 grains.
That's less than 14 bullets per pound of alloy, or there about.

Back in the day, owning an auto repair shop, I used WW and scrounged lead.
Many times I'd end up with polluted alloy, mostly from zinc.
I spent way to much time trying to get consistent alloy.
I tried all the Alchemy I read to get WW, range lead, roofing lead, x-ray walls, and old tooth fillings to produce consistently good bullets and had some, good - luck.
It was never consistent though.

These days I buy known alloy from commercial vendors.
There's a bunch of them out there.
Up front, it's a little more money.
But when you figure in your time and potential frustration dealing with an unknown alloy, to me, it makes sense.
It's one more factor taken out of the equation and more time one can devote to casting when you know what your alloy is.
My UPS driver, my Fed-ex driver and my mailman hate me.
Packages arrive with the comment " what's in this, lead "

I tip them $5 and smile

All that being said, do you think I could cast .457 round balls?
Nope, they all drop looking like rotten blueberries.

Some days your the dog, some days your the hydrant.

View attachment 409621
Click to expand...
Almost seems like a air pocket and it collapsed on itself?
 
NewBeige said:
Spent an bit of time early this AM and popped out 22lbs of 9mm 125gr. By my calculation that’s a bit over a thousand rounds :) might do this a few more times before I move onto the great cook off w the coating.

Doing all of this in small batches seems like it would drive me nuts so I’m going to try to do big runs and avoid having a ton of crap at different stages. Is that crazy?

I’d include a photo but the software won’t let me anymore. All of the control icons above the reply window are greyed out.
Click to expand...
I have had same problems with my phone.
Anyhow
do what you feel comfortable with.
i work in small lots of time. So I might cast bullets over a 3-4 day period for 1:20 each day.
i try to do brass tumbling and sorting in one large batch. i size and lube bullets as needed. If i was to coat bullets i would probably coat what i would use up over a few weeks worth of shooting vs a large run.
 
mac1911 said:
I have had same problems with my phone.
Anyhow
do what you feel comfortable with.
i work in small lots of time. So I might cast bullets over a 3-4 day period for 1:20 each day.
i try to do brass tumbling and sorting in one large batch. i size and lube bullets as needed. If i was to coat bullets i would probably coat what i would use up over a few weeks worth of shooting vs a large run.
Click to expand...

I’m upto 30lb of worthwhile 9mm made (that’s not counting all the remelts). Per Suggestion I’ll go give #5 a coating today mixed in w my other projects. I’m using Hi-Tek gold color. This part seems the straightest fwd to me and the coatings came w instructions... So how hard could it be! Lol
Any tips? I’m using a gas oven that is not used for cooking. The Top burners all failed leaving me w a significant coating tool.
 
NewBeige said:
I’m upto 30lb of worthwhile 9mm made (that’s not counting all the remelts). Per Suggestion I’ll go give #5 a coating today mixed in w my other projects. I’m using Hi-Tek gold color. This part seems the straightest fwd to me and the coatings came w instructions... So how hard could it be! Lol
Any tips? I’m using a gas oven that is not used for cooking. The Top burners all failed leaving me w a significant coating tool.
Click to expand...
Thermometer and a timet?
 
Haven’t gotten to the coating yet. Busy day....

Anyone want to try to ID these bullets I picked up from an estate of a reloader? Some have hollow bases. Any thoughts on if I should smelt them down and convert it all to 9mm in a big batch? BFD2480D-6006-4165-A92E-809F70E1238C.jpeg 8D6948C9-463D-46E2-8F24-30CDCE69B9F6.jpeg
I have about 10lbs of this assortment. 9mm bullet in photo on far end to give you a reference point.

Thanks to everyone!
 
NewBeige said:
Haven’t gotten to the coating yet. Busy day....

Anyone want to try to ID these bullets I picked up from an estate of a reloader? Some have hollow bases. Any thoughts on if I should smelt them down and convert it all to 9mm in a big batch?View attachment 409956View attachment 409957
I have about 10lbs of this assortment. 9mm bullet in photo on far end to give you a reference point.

Thanks to everyone!
Click to expand...
I would melt them down.
All the black powder projectiles should be pure lead.

Lyman and Ideal Mold Descritions

ps-2.kev009.com
This is a good resource to figure out what bullets you might have.
 
NewBeige said:
Haven’t gotten to the coating yet. Busy day....

Anyone want to try to ID these bullets I picked up from an estate of a reloader? Some have hollow bases. Any thoughts on if I should smelt them down and convert it all to 9mm in a big batch?View attachment 409956View attachment 409957
I have about 10lbs of this assortment. 9mm bullet in photo on far end to give you a reference point.

Thanks to everyone!
Click to expand...
left is a full wad cutter. Would not suprise me if it was for 38 super, miniball type , firehydrant one is cool looking, i would save a few just cause they look cool.
 
Hi Tek gold applied:

I seem to have done an acceptable enough job for a first batch to load. This is 3 or 4 coats in photo. I need to back off the amount of Coating I’m doing per batch.
I did the acetone wipe and the smash test. A little flakes off a few of them. Most seem fine. A few batches turned a deeper brown than gold.

I have large toaster overnight set to 400 and tried 8-14 minutes ranges to see what results I got. I settled on 12. How do I know if I have overcooked?

And Ive sized a bunch and some had a little lossage of coating near the base. I’m going to recycle those and load the others. Do I need to wait longer or can I load these today and shoot them this afternoon?
 
NewBeige said:
Hi Tek gold applied:

I seem to have done an acceptable enough job for a first batch to load. This is 3 or 4 coats in photo. I need to back off the amount of Coating I’m doing per batch.
I did the acetone wipe and the smash test. A little flakes off a few of them. Most seem fine. A few batches turned a deeper brown than gold.

I have large toaster overnight set to 400 and tried 8-14 minutes ranges to see what results I got. I settled on 12. How do I know if I have overcooked?

And Ive sized a bunch and some had a little lossage of coating near the base. I’m going to recycle those and load the others. Do I need to wait longer or can I load these today and shoot them this afternoon?
Click to expand...

Double check your temp. If you over bake it will darken and can flake off.
If you apply the first coat too thick and don’t properly dry it before baking (curing) then it can flake off.
Did you use a little lube on them before sizing to see if that helped?

I would load a dummy cartridge and make sure that you don’t run into any issue with the bullet being undersized due to too much neck tensions.

Did you dump them into cold water after the last bake?

You should only need 2 coats. I like 3 thinned coats if possible. It seems to get a more even finish but that’s purely aesthetic.
 
on my way to where the press is and I will tinker w the Dillon and see what results.

If during the hammer test, a little flakes off, does that mean I should melt them down and start from scratch or should I still shoot them and just try for better next time? BTW most of the flaking happens after the first strike. If I wack the bullet three to four times the flaking is apparent.

@pastera is this the controller I should get to keep my Lee pot running at temp better? How about using it in my toaster oven too?
PID Temperature Controller Meter Indicator, Jaybva Digital Programmable Universal Thermostat Fahrenheit and C Display SSR and Alarm Output 25A Solid State Relay Thermocouple Probe Included Amazon product ASIN B07XNQ538PView: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XNQ538P/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_2UbSFbM4NZMXY?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
 
NewBeige said:
on my way to where the press is and I will tinker w the Dillon and see what results.

If during the hammer test, a little flakes off, does that mean I should melt them down and start from scratch or should I still shoot them and just try for better next time? BTW most of the flaking happens after the first strike. If I wack the bullet three to four times the flaking is apparent.

@pastera is this the controller I should get to keep my Lee pot running at temp better? How about using it in my toaster oven too?
PID Temperature Controller Meter Indicator, Jaybva Digital Programmable Universal Thermostat Fahrenheit and C Display SSR and Alarm Output 25A Solid State Relay Thermocouple Probe Included Amazon product ASIN B07XNQ538PView: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XNQ538P/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_2UbSFbM4NZMXY?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Click to expand...
Send pics of the flaking so we can tell.
I would shoot them. Like I said before I had a batch of 9 that flaked pretty bad. They shot fine with zero leading so who knows.
 
NewBeige said:
on my way to where the press is and I will tinker w the Dillon and see what results.

If during the hammer test, a little flakes off, does that mean I should melt them down and start from scratch or should I still shoot them and just try for better next time? BTW most of the flaking happens after the first strike. If I wack the bullet three to four times the flaking is apparent.

@pastera is this the controller I should get to keep my Lee pot running at temp better? How about using it in my toaster oven too?
PID Temperature Controller Meter Indicator, Jaybva Digital Programmable Universal Thermostat Fahrenheit and C Display SSR and Alarm Output 25A Solid State Relay Thermocouple Probe Included Amazon product ASIN B07XNQ538PView: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XNQ538P/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_2UbSFbM4NZMXY?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Click to expand...
few different options here
www.northeastshooters.com

Bullet Casting PID Temperature Controller

This looks interesting: 'MYPIN PID Temperature Controller for Bullet Casting - Demo and Parts List. Using the TA4-SSR PID Controller on my Lee Pro 4 20lb Lead Casting Furnace. These instructions should work equally well for the TA4-SNR and many other Mypin controllers. This setup is not...
www.northeastshooters.com www.northeastshooters.com

no reason why you cant use it for coating.

Have not received/built my pid yet. No rush im well stocked in bullets.
 
NewBeige said:
on my way to where the press is and I will tinker w the Dillon and see what results.

If during the hammer test, a little flakes off, does that mean I should melt them down and start from scratch or should I still shoot them and just try for better next time? BTW most of the flaking happens after the first strike. If I wack the bullet three to four times the flaking is apparent.

@pastera is this the controller I should get to keep my Lee pot running at temp better? How about using it in my toaster oven too?
PID Temperature Controller Meter Indicator, Jaybva Digital Programmable Universal Thermostat Fahrenheit and C Display SSR and Alarm Output 25A Solid State Relay Thermocouple Probe Included Amazon product ASIN B07XNQ538PView: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XNQ538P/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_2UbSFbM4NZMXY?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Click to expand...
Will keep either running at the temp you want.

Was actually going to post a few pictures.
Got the time to put a controller together after spread 10 yards of loam today.

IMG_20201114_173139918.jpg IMG_20201114_173111850.jpg
 
Previously Mike said:
I would load a dummy cartridge and make sure that you don’t run into any issue with the bullet being undersized due to too much neck tensions.

Did you dump them into cold water after the last bake?


I dumped in water some of them. I guess your going to say to bing them Back upto temp and dump them?

Ok so here is the first bullets loaded and then pulled and measured. I made adjustment and got to bullet 3. I’m not sure what direction I should be going in or if I’m close enough to stop.

Bullet1
.357 sized and coated
.383 OD of case flared
.356 bullet Post- separation


Bullet2
.356 sized and coated
.378 OD of case flared
.351 bullet Post- separation


Bullet3
.357 sized and coated
.392 OD of case flared
.374 OD of assembled cart
.356 bullet Post- separation

2E3070EB-174E-4E0B-8171-B451DC3A0724.jpeg


the overall length assembled (COL) is 1.111

768913B7-94F0-4055-A189-04B56C051D35.jpeg
 
NewBeige said:
Previously Mike said:
I would load a dummy cartridge and make sure that you don’t run into any issue with the bullet being undersized due to too much neck tensions.

Did you dump them into cold water after the last bake?


I dumped in water some of them. I guess your going to say to bing them Back upto temp and dump them?

Ok so here is the first bullets loaded and then pulled and measured. I made adjustment and got to bullet 3. I’m not sure what direction I should be going in or if I’m close enough to stop.

Bullet1
.357 sized and coated
.383 OD of case flared
.356 bullet Post- separation


Bullet2
.356 sized and coated
.378 OD of case flared
.351 bullet Post- separation


Bullet3
.357 sized and coated
.392 OD of case flared
.374 OD of assembled cart
.356 bullet Post- separation

View attachment 411342


the overall length assembled (COL) is 1.111

View attachment 411344
Click to expand...
I would try to back off a little more on the crimp and see if you can get a pulled .357” diameter.
If you can’t achieve that then your alloy might need to be water dropped and aged a week or so to let the harden up enough to they don’t undersize.
That being said I would load 20 or so with your current setting and shoot the suckers. See how they do.
 
Michael J. Spangler said:
I would try to back off a little more on the crimp and see if you can get a pulled .357” diameter.
If you can’t achieve that then your alloy might need to be water dropped and aged a week or so to let the harden up enough to they don’t undersize.
That being said I would load 20 or so with your current setting and shoot the suckers. See how they do.
Click to expand...

will do! Aside from accuracy and cycling, what should I look for during my experiment? I’ll go to range tmwr AM.
 

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