What's YOUR target Smelt and Casting Temperatures??

[zanemoseley]

I'm about to smelt and cast for the first time this weekend and am reading widely varying temperatures. I bought a RCBS thermometer to target my temps. I'm 95% sure sorted all the zinc and steel weights from my bucket of WW's but in case one made it through I'm going to monitor my temps to avoid melting them. I see solid lead melts at 621 and zinc at 787 but since WW's aren't solid lead they're obviously going to melt at a different temperature. I've seen some people say it melts lower because of the tin (450 melting temp) but I see antimony doesn't melt until 1167 so that will definitely raise the melting point.

I'm curious what you guys target for both smelting and casting. I am going to attempt to cast .45 acp bullets from solid WW's on the first go around. Thanks in advance.

[John Boy]

Ww temp for ingots - 600 degrees
Casting = the pot & mold temp so a 5 second ladle pour, the sprue puddle frosts in 5 seconds
That's all there is to casting except clean mold and rhythm

[Vinne]

Well I smelt at about 700 just in case something slips through. About the 45s, you may want to add about 2% antimony to bring the hardness up. I find WWs need a little help when dealing with hotter loads and some 1911s have a heavy spring.

[RickinTN]

I keep both below 750 degrees. That is the point at which you will start losing tin. I usually cast between 700 and 725 but have made good bullets at 680. On the LASC site it shows wheel weights to be slushy at 463 degrees and molten at 505 so you could smelt at 600 or so. Flux well with sawdust before you remove the clips and again after and you'll remove clean clips and have a good clean alloy. Any oxidized metal will be reduced into your melt at the same time.
Good Luck with your first bullets,
Rick

[Foto Joe]

As far as the smelting is concerned it's my opinion that most folks "over think" the smelting process. If you start off with known lead wheel weights in the bottom of your smelting pot (not the same pot you're going to cast out of) and get them melting then you can add weights by the handful and not have to worry about zinc. When you add a hand full of weights it immediately drops the temperature of the melt and if you keep an eye on the pot you'll know exactly when the lead starts to melt and won't have any worries about zinc. On the other hand if you walk away or don't keep a good eye on things then yes the melt temp can get too high and bite you. Personally I haven't sorted weights for quite a while, I just throw 'em in and scoop out what doesn't melt. I do sort out the soft stick on weights as I'm smelting and keep them separate for alloying purposes.

Regarding 45ACP, those boolits are pretty foolproof. There's no need to use anything other than straight COWW's or 1:1 COWW:SOWW. You will probably find that the casting session itself can be made much easier if you add 2% tin not antimony. If you use the 1:1 alloy try adding 2% tin to the COWW only before adding the SOWW lead. The tin will aid in fillout and might just allow you to use a slightly lower temperature.

I think that you'll find that the temperature that I use for casting in either an aluminum or iron mold more than likely won't be the ideal temperature for your application. Also I've found that ladle pouring I can use a lower temp that I use on a bottom pour, of course your mileage may vary.