Casting & Reloading on Same Bench in Same Basement Room OK?

[Filibogado]

I have a basement room that used to be a dedicated amateur radio room for N6NSM/4 now KA4ESQ (retired). It has a u-shaped wraparound table that used to carry ham radio equipment. I want to convert it into a combination lead melting pot platform at one corner and brass reloading turret press platform at the other corner, but on the same continuous table surface. I know gunpowder/primer supplies are not on friendly terms with molten lead, but I am going to use an electric pot so there should be no open flame. There is a small window to the outside at ground level that I can install an exhaust fan on to pull any fumes out. The room is fully carpeted.

My question is if I can do this safely and discreetly as I don't want the wife to know that I'm cooking something downstairs as she is deathly scared of explosives and she will never understand how safe this can be. Any suggestions?

Fil

[C.F.Plinker]

You can't do it discreetly enough to hide it from the wife even if she never ventures into the room. If she comes in to the room and sees the press and/or pot she will want to know what they are for. While you won't be heating the lead to a high enough temperature to cause it to fume, whatever you use for flux (sawdust and old candles are often used) they will definitely smoke. The sensitive female nose will detect this right away. If she is away, the odor will linger in the carpet and curtains. The only way I have found to eliminate the smoke is to light it off. Now you have a somewhat controlled open flame it the house. This will be bigger than anything your gas range ever thought of putting out. The only way you extinguish it is to let it run out of fuel. You will drop one or two of your freshly cast boolits on the floor which is carpeted. These are over 400 degrees and will melt into the carpet. Now you will have to cut the carpet in order to remove them. She will see the places where you cut them free. She will also want to know what you are doing downstairs that requires a new vent fan where the window used to be.

The best place to smelt or cast is outdoors in the open where there is good air flow. This can be a covered patio. Second best is in the garage where you can get good air circulation. You are casting where the floor is dirt or concrete and where dropped boolits can rest and cool off before you pick them up. You can also cover the worksurface with a piece of plywood so spatters and drips don't mark the worksurface.

As far as the loading is concerned, a downstairs room is fine. You will however spill powder and drop primers (both spent and new). They are hard enough to find on a smooth floor. The only way to find primers that have dropped onto carpet would be to vacuum them up and retrieve them from the vacuum bag. Perhaps you could cover the area around the press with an old sheet while you are loading.

As far as safety is concerned, yes, smokeless gunpowder is flammable. But so is nail polish remover and cans of spray paint. You will not have a source of ignition around when you are loading. Even when you load the only time the gunpowder is not contained is when you pour it into the hopper in your powder measure. Once the cover is on the hopper it would be very difficult to get a source of ignition to it.

Do any of your friends load and/or cast? Would it be possible to have them show your wife what is involved and discuss here concerns?

[dragonrider]

Yup no way will you hide it from the wife, AND there is no way that I would do any reloading in a room with a carpeted floor. For me gotta be a solid floor, wood, vinyl tile or concrete. Spilled powder, spilled primers get lost in carpet.

[wool1]

No...you can not be discreet enough. Not even close.

[I'll Make Mine]

I agree with the above -- no way you'll hide your activities from SWMBO.

Best I can suggest is to get her educated; irrational fears won't educate away, but ignorance will, and once she understands how hard it is to ignite smokeless powder (do a demo with a match and a small pile on concrete, outdoors) she'll probably calm down quite a bit over your safe storage and use of reloading materials in the basement. Installing a carpet protector (the kind sold to go under a wood stove) or pulling up a section of carpet to be replaced with ceramic tile would preserve the carpet from dropped boolits, allaying fears of both damage to the carpet and accidental fire if a pot full of lead gets spilled.

Work with her, rather than against her, and you might be surprised how well things will go (especially if you can also lock a door to keep kids out of the loading/casting room).

[Muddydogs]

Smelt and flux your lead outside. Inside just cast and when adding lead to the pot use a paint stick to stir the pot and flux. There is not a lot of smoke with just a paint stick. You could use some flexible furnace pipe to make a vent type hood that runs from your pot to the window where you have an exhaust fan sucking everything outside. I just hang the 8 inch or so pipe about 3 inches above the pot and it sucks everything outside. Primers and powder vacuum up just fine, well the wife is still finding shot and spent primers with the vacuum in a second room that I used for reloading about 5 years ago. I casted 1500 bullets today and none hit the floor so if you are careful and maybe lay down some cardboard or a throw rug when casting the carpet should make it with minor damage. As for the powder and primers just store them away from your casting area and not directly above your pot on a shelf.

[mac60]

Why did you give up the HAM radio?

[Charlie Two Tracks]

I had my reloading room down in the basement until I built my 3 1/3 car attached garage and put a dedicated room in it for casting and reloading. Casting in the basement will be hard to do without leaving traces of what you are doing down there. You are going to drop a hot boolit on the carpet. Just the way it goes. I'd reload down there but if you have a garage, you can come up with a setup for casting out there. It doesn't take too long to cast up a bunch of boolits. A fold down table that has one side attached to the wall doesn't take up much room when not in use.