It's casting season!!!

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
It is casting season, I am home & do not have to go back to teach till Jan 3,2012.
OH WOE, OH WOE! NO SNOW TO MAKE BOOM BOOM'S SLUSH BULLET QUENCH.
BLAH!
So yesterday I split wood, got 6 boxes loaded up & downstairs for the fire.
Today split & got 6 more in before lunch time.
Guess I could clear out the casting area, & get everything set up for the 1 st real snow.
At end of Nov. we had less than 1/2 of regular snowfall here in UT. & has not snowed since. Cold but no snow, around Provo.:Fire::Fire:

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
Went out & split some more wood got 2 more boxes in.
Then cleaned off casting area of back yard covered deck. I found some ice in some of the 5 gal buckets I have around the house to catch rain water & roof runoff. So I will use that to lower the Quench water to 32*F & keep the water temp. stable.:Fire::Fire:

[williamwaco]

HI,

From Dallas.

I need to cast too but It is just to cold to get out. It is unbearably cold here about 45 degrees this afternoon.

I thought about getting out the Coleman stove to heat up some quench water thinking I could use the steam to defrost my fingers. That didn't work out too well. The wind was so bad it kept blowing out the Coleman stove - even on my covered patio. We had winds of 10 mph with gusts as high as 12 mph. Whew.

Well, when push come to shove, I went into the den and fired up my ceramic gas logs and thawed out my fingers. I did use the Coleman stove though to brew up a pot of hot chocolate. But DAMN! I couldn't find any marshmallows so I had to go back out into the bitter winter weather and drive the two blocks to Krogers. I managed to survive the drive however since my 4x4 SUV has heated seats.

Well, I guess casting will just have to wait for better weather. I will manage OK. I just got my new American Rifleman today. I do hope they have something besides the 1911 this month.

In the mean time, from Texas, Merry Christmas to all, and to all - good night.




.

[zomby woof]

Casting season's over for me. It's now loading season.

[marvelshooter]

HI,

From Dallas.

I need to cast too but It is just to cold to get out. It is unbearably cold here about 45 degrees this afternoon.

In the mean time, from Texas, Merry Christmas to all, and to all - good night.




.

45 degrees is still Harley riding weather and is surely good casting weather. Merry Christmas to you and everyone else here.

[sisiphunter]

Hahahah. Im in Canada. Ive been casting in my garage with a small heater on at about -15 celcius...not too bad really....i guess we just get used to the colder weather...i sure couldnt deal with ur summers down south though.way too hot for me....we had a beautiful evenin last nite so i cast up 200 44keiths. 200 38keiths. And some 38swc105gr for my son to shoot.

Happy holidays to all.....Matt

[Jim Flinchbaugh]

HI,

From Dallas.

It is unbearably cold here about 45 degrees this afternoon.

We had winds of 10 mph with gusts as high as 12 mph. Whew.

.

I guess its all in what you're used to, that would be a warm spring day around here!

[45-70 Chevroner]

BOOM BOOM: We were just in Lehi, spent 6 days for an early Christmas with our daughter and son-in-law and 9 children three of which are married. We left there on tuesday the 20th. Six days with no sunshine (temp. inversion) very cold, came home to Snowflake Az, (very cold in the mid 20s at night and low 30s in the day time) no sunshine for two more days 3" of snow fell last night. It cleared up this after noon, and it looks like it's going to warm up a bit, according to the news. Might be good casting weather, if the wind doesn't blow.

Have a nice Christmas and a happy new year.

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
Got out & set up casting table on the covered deck on the north side of house.
About 30*f, perfect casting temp. Cranked up the Lyman #61 pot,which was already full of lead from last yr. . Carried out wheel wt. ingots then lead/tin alloy ingots, chair, Got broken chunks of ice from rainwater buckets in to quench bucket, & put 1 &1/2 gal of cold water on it. Not the perfect BOOM BOOM'S SLUSH QUENCH but will have to do. went back inside put another layer of sweat pants & 2 layers of sweat shirts on , a hat . Went back out & proceeded to cast 2 pots of 38 cal 180gr Seaco boolits .:grin:
All In all a good day, now have to get more firewood in.:Fire::Fire:

[frkelly74]

Codger " I remember the winter of 77, it snowed and blew and snowed and then the temperature dropped to 40 below."

Whippersnapper " Was that Fahrenheit or Celsius?"

Codger " First one , then the other ."

[roarindan]

I had my wood cut, split;and stacked before the first of May 'cause that starts turkey season. I've done my shell loadin during the wet spring weather . and I've got about 600 lbs of ingits laid up. now its time fer a nap!!

[geargnasher]

As to Texas weather, ye who have not experienced 10 MPH and 45 degrees here have no concept of how miserable it can be, unless maybe you live in either of the upper coastal areas. I was in SW Colorado a few weeks back and enjoyed mid-teen temps and 6-10" of dry powder snow, did lots of outside excursions with a long-sleeved knit shirt and bluejeans, never even came close to getting cold. I also lived in the Dallas area, and it's even worse than here in the SW part of the state due to flatter ground and nothing to break up the icey wind.

I need to do some casting, but mainly reloading! Problem is I'm building a new reloading room and the shop is so full of construction materials and displaced "stuff" that I haven't seen my benches in weeks. It's coming along, though.

Gear

[LUCKYDAWG13]

Casting season's over for me. It's now loading season.

yep i cast in the fall now its loading time

[1Shirt]

Casting/sizing/lubing and loading season is an off again on again 364 day a year proposition! It depends on my mood. Beyond that probably try to do a little of each every day. Don't load/or cast on Christmas.
1Shirt!:coffee:

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
Fall is hunting season, a sacred religious obligation.
Spring is smelting season.
Summer is shooting & firewood gathering season, cut to length & stack. too hot to split.
Winter is splitting time , Christmas break from teaching school is the start of casting season.
Got 6 more boxes in after I cast today, did not have to split any.:Fire::Fire:

[Poodleshooter]

Spent the afternoon turning wheelweights into ingots today. I generally do my casting and most of my reloading during winter, after deer season and co-current with trapping.

[Love Life]

My smelting, casting, and reloading season starts December 1st. I have been busy. 2 coffee cans each of 358477, 358429, Lee 358-125-RF, NOE 360-95-SP (glock loves these), RCBS 115- rn. I finally have an ammo can full of 38 specials loaded with Lyman 358477 over 5 gr of unique. Now to work on the 358429s. I turn into a ghost this time of year. Anything not family related takes a far second place to getting stocked up for the summer.

On top of that add in load developement for the 357 and 8mm Mauser.

[LAH]

West Virginia has casting weather 'bout 10 months a year. Same for firewood, either cutting or splitting. In fact if it wasn't for mid-July thru mid-September weather things would be near perfect weather wise here.

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
Cast up 2 more pots of 38's today.
Yesterday I though up a new twist. I did not really like the boolits dropping from the mold & hitting the chunks of ice floating on top. It worked OK but I thought there was a good chance of putting dings in the hot boolits.
So last night I let a 1-2" sheet of ice freeze in the bottom of the bucket outside. Worked like a charm, put cold water on top while lead melted in pot, sheet of ice stayed on bottom.
Bullets sat on top & held it there till I finished casting.[smilie=w:
So now I have a 2nd method to keep the quench water's temp. consistent & at 32*f And get a bigger difference between the lead temp. & quench temp. so I can get harder boolits.
Guess I will call this method BOOM BOOM'S ICE BUCKET METHOD.:Fire::Fire:

[jandbn]

Just cast a couple hundred in 30-35 temp. The 10-15 mph wind made it miserable. I was just going to cast a "few" to see what a new Lee mold produced after a little Leementing. I couldn't stop casting for some dumb reason. I finally quit when I started to shiver and my toes were cold enough to sting when warming up inside. Nice warm hands while casting though!

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
Cast up 2 more pots of 38's,.
Found out that the sheet of ice will come to the top if you pour in cold water before you melt the last 2 ingots. Darn, will wait longer tomorrow.

[ColColt]

It's just about too cold for this ol' timer to be raising the garage door in order to cast. My set up is in the garage and in the warmer months I raise the door and have a small fan about 15 feet away to whisk away the fumes and smoke out the door. I'm on two blood thinners(Plavis and Warfarin) so, it don't take a lot to get me cold and 45 degrees is too cold. I think I have enough to last me till early Spring but if not, I'll have to bite the boolit(pun intended) and cast anyway and shake and shiver in the process.

[sleeper1428]

This certainly is the casting season! In just under 4 weeks I've cast the following:

1. 380 auto (MiHek) - 500+ solid + 500+ hollow point
2. 9mm (MiHek) - 500+ hollow point
3. 9mm (SAECO) RN - 1000+ solid
4. 9mm (SAECO) TC - 1000+ solid
5. 38/357 (MiHek) - 500+ round hollow point + 500+ penta hollow point
6. 40 cal (MiHek) - 500+ round HP + 500+ tapered pin HP + 500+ penta HP
7. 44 cal (MiHek) - 500+ round HP GC + 250 penta HP GC
8. 44 cal (MiHek) - 500+ Keith design solids
9. 45 cal (MiHek) - 500+ solid + 500+ round HP + 500+ penta HP
10. 45 cal (MiHek) - 500+ 200gr H&G #68
11. 30 cal (NOE) - 202gr RN - 300+ solid

Considering the fact that the (+) following the quantities of each boolit indicates that I cast at least 50 or more extra of each, my total output for the past month is pretty close to 10,000 boolits. Yes, I'll freely admit it, I'm an addict!! I'm retired and I just love casting and learning the quirks of each of my moulds and how to make each one perform to the best of its capability. Still have some more solids to cast, mostly in 40 cal, and then it will be on to lubing, sizing and loading. More fun to come!!

sleeper1428

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
WOW, that's a lot of different boolits, I have been casting the 180gr gc Seaco Sil boolit. All for my 357.
Next will be eather my 38sp boolit, or my 44 Mag boolit .
Still no snow, it is so strange. Very unusual for UT.:Fire::Fire:

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
Today was warmest day on record for 12/29/11. Went out to cast to find the water I had in the bucket had not froze. Luckily I had some more ice still in other buckets, so I used that to cast up 2 more pots of my 357 boolit. It got up to around 50* F, almost too hot to cast.
Tomorrow is suppose to be even warmer. BLAH.:Fire::Fire:

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
Cast 2 more pots yesterday, it got up to at least 51* F,
Today after jujitsu , I cast 2 pots of the 357 boolit, then as my vacation is almost over, I started to cast my 38 sp. Boolit Lyman 158gr. Kieth swc . Got 1 pot done before I got burned out for the day.
Happy New year all.:Fire::Fire:

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
I CAST 30 LBS 0f my 38sp bullet today, So now have 40lbs. of the Lyman 158 gr , Hope it will be enough.:Fire::Fire:
With the 120 lbs of my 357 boolit I hope that will last awhile.:Fire::Fire:
I prefer to use my slush quench , but had to use the ice method on all these as there was no snow.
This method maintaines a constant 32* F temp. in the quench, this will yield a more consistent hardness.
Also the greater the difference between the dropping boolit temp. and the quench H2O yields a faster heat exchange & a harder boolit.
I discovered last yr. when I got Veral Smith's book that he also recommends casting while it is cold. He gets better results. This supports my ideas & experience. 50 *F is almost too warm for me. I much prefer the Temp . range of 30-40* F.:Fire::Fire:

[rintinglen]

I prefer to cast on a real hot day so I can preheat the ingots by sitting them out in the sun.

Buckets of Ice--sheesh. When I left Michigan I put a snow shovel over my shoulder and kept heading south and west until somebody said, "What the heck is that?"