Late night boolit casting...

[PhilB]

We've had a pretty hot summer in Indiana. I do my casting in a 10x14 utility barn that only has one window. Because of this I've been casting boolits late at night. Even with a fan going and the door open, it's just too hot to cast when wearing long sleeves and gloves. Last night I fired up the lead pot after 2am and was out there until 4am. Does anybody else do this or am I the only one? I work swing shift so I'm up late a lot anyway. 36yrs ago I did my casting in the kitchen but since we moved into a new house I figured I better keep it outside. I could just see my wife the first time I fluxed the lead pot. She would probably throw me and all my stuff out of the house.:lol: I don't think I could get my gun safe, reloading equipment and all my clothes in the barn and have room for a cot to sleep on.:smile: BTW I just got back into boolit casting a couple months ago. I quit shooting over 30yrs ago when we had kids and just got back into it a couple years ago. I'm having a ball but the sights on my guns are a lot harder to see than they were in the 70's.:lol:

[RobS]

I've done this sort of thing and in particular when I get in a new mold and only have the chance to play around when the kids are finally asleep and no one around to bother me. Welcome back to the silver stream and to the forum!!!

[Stephen Cohen]

Yes I used to do the same when I had kids, it was the only way to be sure they didnt end up in the pot. Yes can relate to the old eyesight as well.

[adrians]

welcome,,
iv'e been known to cast at odd hours when i can't sleep .:twisted::coffee::evil:

[WildmanJack]

PhilB,
I would go to Home Depot or Lowes and buy a nice window A/c unit and install it asap... Then it don't make any difference when u cast.. Just a suggestion.. LOL I know I have one in my casting shed 12 X 20 and here in SW Florida, if it aunt runnin,I ain't castin!!!
Jack

[Farmall]

I too am a late night caster! Not sure why, but that is the way I have always done it. For some reasonj, I have made an anual ritual of casting on New Years day too. Been doing that for about 7-8 years now. While the rest of the world is sleeping off a hangover, I'm making bullets.
I don't cast much, if at all in the summer, but try to lay in a good supply during the winter months.

[HARRYMPOPE]

I cast until midnight at times to beat the heat.i fore-go the gloves and long sleeve shirt and cast in shorts with no shoes and a t shirt.it 'gits exciting at times but when you need bullets you have to cast.

george

[220swiftfn]

The only problem that I've run into casting at night is that they all look good..... (later, the cull pile gets pretty big......)


Dan

[MikeS]

I too cast at late hours. Actually I do most everything at late hours! I'm naturally a night person, and add to that several years of working 5PM to 5AM, and it pretty well makes sure my natural clock is 12 hours ahead (or behind) the rest of the world! It's normal for me to be in the back yard casting at 3AM or so. I'm currently looking into getting a shed to put in the backyard (If I can, there might be deed restrictions on free standing structures in the backyard), if I do, it will have a portable air conditioner (the type where you run a hose out a window, or cut a 5" hole to put it thru the wall) in it, as during the summer it's just too hot, even at night sometimes to cast properly (with long sleeves, gloves, etc.).

[PhilB]

PhilB,
I would go to Home Depot or Lowes and buy a nice window A/c unit and install it asap... Then it don't make any difference when u cast.. Just a suggestion.. LOL I know I have one in my casting shed 12 X 20 and here in SW Florida, if it aunt runnin,I ain't castin!!!
Jack


I can't put a window A/C unit in my storage barn. For one thing the only window is too small and for another I would have to run a new circuit out to it. I only put a 15 or 20 amp circuit out to it when I wired it up. In my original post I forgot to put in that during the day it is too hot even with a fan but at night it is not bad. I work in a glass factory so if the temp is under 90 in the barn I don't have a problem.:bigsmyl2:

[BCall]

I cast until midnight at times to beat the heat.i fore-go the gloves and long sleeve shirt and cast in shorts with no shoes and a t shirt.it 'gits exciting at times but when you need bullets you have to cast.

george

Dang George, I cast in shorts and t-shirt late at night sometimes, but no shoes? I gotta have shoes. Exciting? Heck I'd be too jumpy to cast without shoes. I gots sensitive feet.:smile:

[PhilB]

The only problem that I've run into casting at night is that they all look good..... (later, the cull pile gets pretty big......)


Dan

I have a big light right over the bench my lead pot sits on. I try and check out all my boolits as I put them into a container to take into the house. I dump the bad ones back into the pot before going into the house. Still find one or two bad ones before I lube them but most of the bad boolits never make it outside the barn.

[HARRYMPOPE]

Dang George, I cast in shorts and t-shirt late at night sometimes, but no shoes? I gotta have shoes. Exciting? Heck I'd be too jumpy to cast without shoes. I gots sensitive feet.:smile:

if you cast with shoes and no socks a chunk of sprue can get caught between your shoe and soft tender foot meat.it leaves a mark i tell you and only a strong man can refrain form dropping a 'f" bomb that wakes the neighbors..That's where i came up with the no shoe policy.

[Rhoa4396]

Hi PhilB,

I know what you mean about it being too hot to cast. It has been a scorcher up here by Chicago this summer. So far, I've been doing my casting in my [air conditioned] basement, usually in the evening, but, I have another 300#'s of wheel weights to smelt and it's been just plain too hot to even think about it. A few weeks ago I tried to do some smelting and ended up with about 75 pounds of ingots that need to be re-smelted. Maybe it'll cool off soon.

Ken

[casterofboolits]

Age has a bunch to do with how you feel the heat. I don't like to cast below 45 or over 80 degrees any more. Time in the heat really wipes me out.

I've been struggling with the 90+ degree heat and high humidity to get some boolits ready for a close friend coming in from Colorado today. Sadly, this could be the last time I supply him with boolits, but they will be ready when he gets here.

[Lizard333]

Dang George, I cast in shorts and t-shirt late at night sometimes, but no shoes? I gotta have shoes. Exciting? Heck I'd be too jumpy to cast without shoes. I gots sensitive feet.:smile:

Barefoot?? That's ridiculous. I least where my flip flops![smilie=l:

[midnight]

The hottest day I remember it was 105º in Milwaukee and my house didn't have air conditioning. I spent the whole day in the basement in my underwear thinking I had nothing to do. Then I spotted my casting pot. I cast bullets all day. Just had to worry about dripping sweat into the pot.

Bob

[redneckdan]

I usually do my casting in the bulk casting in the summer and bulk loading in the winter. Air is so humid here in the summer that getting an accurate throw with the powder measure is near impossible.



I tend to be a late night caster too. Sometimes I just can't get to sleep until teh weee hours of the morning. I love working 2nd shift.

[EDK]

It's been close to 100...or over...for weeks here around Saint Louie. I started casting about 10 PM on the week end. I had to crank up the 44 hollow base wad-cutter mould from MIHEC and the .433 sizer from Lathesmith. (Getting some good groups IF I can keep the sweat out of my eyes!)

Prior to the divorce in '93, I cast out in the garage on the Sunday night before I started 4-to-12 on Monday. I got the biological clock set and made boolits at the same time. She got the house, so no garage now. BUT I have a 12X24 shed that is pretty much done...needs some wiring done before insulation and interior walls.

:cbpour::redneck::Fire:

[Bob Krack]

At home in far Northern Kalifornia it reaches at least 115 degrees each and every summer.

I am a natural early riser and in spite of the 115+ in the daytime, it still drops 40 degrees or so at nighttime. 4:00AM is a great time to start casting for me, even though I am here in Ohio right now. 95-100 in the day time, 70 or so at night. 4:00AM works good.

Bob

[geargnasher]

I recently admitted in another thread to how I cast my boolits in college in the sweltering cauldron of Kingsville, TX, on the coast. Two AM, inside my travel trailer on the gas stove with the vent-hood going, wearing nothing but my skivvies, boots, a leather welder's apron (sheds lead away from the tops of the boots), and a pink fez. Ok, I made that last part up, it wasn't really a fez, it was a t-shirt sleeve worn on my head to keep sweat and hair out of my face, and the way I wore it it kinda looked like one. The only shirt I could afford to cannabalize for the purpose happened to be a pink one some girl left behind. Had to cast about once every two-three weeks to feed my range habit, but I only cast a couple hundred at a time, that ladling got old quick.

Gear

[DrB]

Hey, that's kindof like a stephen king novel, Gear -- you know, one of those horrible images of something you've never actually seen, that nonetheless you'll never be able to get out of your mind.

:)

[JOptionPane]

i cast late at night when the kids and neighbor are asleep and it is a lot cooler here in New Mexico.

[Canuck Bob]

Well you know the Canadian take on global warming, what is taking so long!

I too returned to shooting and the old love sure came roaring back.

Here our nights are always cool. We are close enough to the Rockies and high enough that when the sun drops so does the temperature.

Still I'm a night owl and enjoy my late night puttering in the my garage shop. Sure helps a guy stay sane in an insane world. I'm also the local nut who checks strangers out late night with a flashlight and a short chat, strangers hate it, neighbors love it, go figure.

[Down South]

We've had a pretty hot summer in Indiana. I do my casting in a 10x14 utility barn that only has one window. Because of this I've been casting boolits late at night. Even with a fan going and the door open, it's just too hot to cast when wearing long sleeves and gloves. Last night I fired up the lead pot after 2am and was out there until 4am. Does anybody else do this or am I the only one?
Not me. I wait on cooler weather to cast but that's just me.............

[treadhead1952]

Livin' in Las Vegas, it's pretty much a given that if it isn't January or February, it's hot! At night, cool is 95 degrees. Since I am a crusty old batchelor I can cast in the kitchen under the vent hood with a steel sheet over the burners, a tempered glass at the back and the AC blowin' a breeze. The girl friend has been warned to disturb me when I am in the throws of boolit casting Nirvana in the past so she knows. Most of the time, I just cast when she is not around though.

Long Cuff Leather Welding Gloves, Safety Glasses. long pants, and leather boots is the only way to fly. I value all my parts far too much to want to contend with frying them, burning them off, or any sort of casting related damage.:smile:

[DLCTEX]

My man cave has air conditioning and is well insulated. A small window unit keeps it comfortable, and on the energy saver setting keeps the temp to a max of 80 degrees when I'm not there. If I didn't have a window I'd cut a hole in the wall to fit one in.

[HATCH]

I do all my casting and loading in the spring and fall.
I have only been out to the cave 3 times so far this summer and only once was to load boolits.
I upgraded my PC out there and swapped the monitor for a LCD tv that the computer can hook up to.
I am thinking about building a little greenhouse wall (2x4s with plastic) around my bench area and putting in a window unit.
My shop is 20x20 but I really just use a 1/3 of the space for reloading/casting.

[leadman]

I smelted about 800 or 900 pounds of lead in the last 2 days. The temperature had dipped a little here in Phoenix to around 108', but it still seemed hot! I had the burner set right outside the garage door so I was in the shade but my face still got burnt from the reflection off the pot I think. The shiny lead would almost blind me when I turned toward the inside of the garage.

I do have a swamp cooler in the garage but with the humidity up it isn't cooling very well. In the morning need to do some casting so hope to be up by 5 am.

[PhilB]

I'm also the local nut who checks strangers out late night with a flashlight and a short chat, strangers hate it, neighbors love it, go figure.

I live in a rural area so late night strangers are checked out with a 9mm in my pocket.:smile: Late night strangers around my home either mean car trouble or somebody up to no good. If they have car trouble, I help them out.

[mcyrier]

It's hot here in Texas and with my stockpile of boolits getting low, I had to fire up the pot inspite of the heat. With 3000 new 200 gr SWC, I'm ready to go for another 3 months.

[montana_charlie]

Two AM, inside my travel trailer on the gas stove with the vent-hood going, wearing nothing but my skivvies, boots, a leather welder's apron (sheds lead away from the tops of the boots), and a pink fez.
Reminds me of an old post on a similar topic ...
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?p=188713

[geargnasher]

Gawd, Charlie, I said skivvies, not a thong! Now I really have to go gouge out my mind's eye!

I cast in my drawers during the hot months for almost two years before getting smart and buying a house with air conditioning. It DOES make you a careful caster, even with the apron. I wish I'd known the thong would impress queen Galena into blessing your smelt on a full moon, there was a time before finding all the knowledge of this forum when I would have tried it.

There was another thread involving discussion of wearing Bullwinkle the Moose antlers and a tee shirt that says "the tinsel fairy sucks", but that's another story, right Al?

Gear

[Lizard333]

Gawd, Charlie, I said skivvies, not a thong! Now I really have to go gouge out my mind's eye!

I cast in my drawers during the hot months for almost two years before getting smart and buying a house with air conditioning. It DOES make you a careful caster, even with the apron. I wish I'd known the thong would impress queen Galena into blessing your smelt on a full moon, there was a time before finding all the knowledge of this forum when I would have tried it.

There was another thread involving discussion of wearing Bullwinkle the Moose antlers and a tee shirt that says "the tinsel fairy sucks", but that's another story, right Al?

Gear

Thong?!, I thought they said they were casting in the full nude??

[mac1911]

from 9pm till midnight is the only time "I" have "Me" time the wife is off to work and kids are down...

[63 Shiloh]

I can certainly relate to scorching summers. We had an unusually humid one last summer too.

I am casting now, winter here at the moment.

Gear's description of a sweat rag around the head is exactly how I cast in summer. Found out that sweat on top of a melt does not result in a tinsel fairy visit, it just sizzles on top.

Hope it cools down for you blokes soon.


Mike

[PhilB]

I can certainly relate to scorching summers. We had an unusually humid one last summer too.

I am casting now, winter here at the moment.

Gear's description of a sweat rag around the head is exactly how I cast in summer. Found out that sweat on top of a melt does not result in a tinsel fairy visit, it just sizzles on top.

Hope it cools down for you blokes soon.


Mike


It won't be too many more months you will read posts where we will complain about it being too cold.:lol: I hate it when it's cold enough that the snow squeaks when you walk on it.:bigsmyl2:

[63 Shiloh]

It won't be too many more months you will read posts where we will complain about it being too cold.:lol: I hate it when it's cold enough that the snow squeaks when you walk on it.:bigsmyl2:


Snow ??????

What is that stuff ??

:kidding:


Mike