Beginning Boolit Casting: My Progress Journal

[358 Yeti]

I've decided to slowly start gathering materials and tooling to start casting my own bullets. From what I've gleaned so far, casting can be a very rewarding process, and very economical at the same time. With my participation in USPSA competitive shooting, I will easily recover my start up costs in a few months. I also have plans for casting heavy 277 pills for subsonic use and various .358 bullets for the 358 Yeti project (Both subsonic and supersonic) I have very little desire to mess with lubricating the bullets so I plan to coat them with either powder coat or Hi-Tek coating.

I'm creating this thread to log my progress, share information to those that may be interested, as well as receive feedback from those more experienced than I (Basically everyone here).

So here we go...

Lead...I know I need lead. I hit the google machine and researched where to find sources of lead that could be rendered for casting. Everyone knows that lead wheel weights are a very common source for this. I also learned that sailboats have a sizable amount of lead in them for keel weights. Being near Lake Michigan, I have several marinas nearby, however they proved fruitless. I was told by most of them that the lead is the first thing to go when they salvage the boats. (This was probably a blessing in disguise since I had no idea how I'd move 800# of the stuff!)

Another interesting source I learned about were 'iso-cores" which sounded cooler than they are. For those than don't know, Iso-cores are beaker shaped containers that radioactive medicines are shipped in that weigh 30-40# a piece. So far I haven't been able to locate these, but I have some friends in the medical field keeping an ear to the ground for me.

Back to the old stand-by, wheel weights. I googled "tire shops" near me and called all 23 of them. The two responses I got were: "We already have a guy," and "We have a contract with [Big name company]" Bummed from the 0-23 whiff, I though to call one more shop near me that works on big rigs. To my surprise they said they had "a few buckets of them" and I'm welcome to pick them up!

On Friday I showed up to the tire shop and met with the manager. He showed me the three 5 gallon buckets by the tire machine. I gave him $40 in exchange for 2 of the buckets. He let me know that there were more out behind the shop if I was interested. I went back and found these so I let him know that I would be back next week for the remaining 6 buckets. When I go back, I plan to find out how fast these things fill up and will plan out a pick-up schedule on the regular.
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm117/Livnoutdoorsxd9/FC4476B0-E503-4AE5-AF33-211A083612CE.jpg (http://s294.photobucket.com/user/Livnoutdoorsxd9/media/FC4476B0-E503-4AE5-AF33-211A083612CE.jpg.html)

I brought my two (HEAVY) buckets home and started sorting them. I used a couple of different methods to sort out the junk. Using a pair of side cutters, I would nip at the weights to see if it would deform, dropping the weights on the concrete and listened to the sound they made, or simply knocking the side cutters on the weight and listen (similar to the 'drop test')

I also separated the stick on weights from the clip ons. My research shows that stick ons are close to pure lead and very soft (good for slugs, buckshot, and hollow points). Half way through the bucket, I found all of these strips of brand new, never-stuck, stick ons. I though that was pretty cool.
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm117/Livnoutdoorsxd9/9ABBC7CC-8506-4CB5-9C0F-42FD701AF494.jpg (http://s294.photobucket.com/user/Livnoutdoorsxd9/media/9ABBC7CC-8506-4CB5-9C0F-42FD701AF494.jpg.html)

After all the sorting, here were my results:
Bucket 1: 65# lead, 60# junk
Bucket 2: 75# lead, 55# junk

So all in all, 140# of lead WW for $40 seems like a pretty good score for my first round. I'll be able to recoup $20-25 for the junk weights and put it towards the next run.

I've got some equipment to pick up before I can start melting it down to usable ingots, but I'm pleased to know that I have a good initial source of the silver stuff!


More to come....

[Pee Wee]

Man That was a Good score and lucky to, getting harder and harder to find Wheel Weights.

[Yodogsandman]

Welcome to the forum, seems like you've been paying attention. You might want to further separate your stick on wheel weights, some are very close to clip on wheel weights in composition. See this sticky with information on it...

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?229666-Stick-On-WW-XrF-Data
(http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?229666-Stick-On-WW-XrF-Data)
Yard sales have been a good resource for smelting items like cast iron dutch ovens, propane turkey fryers, lead ladles, gloves and cast iron 12 cavity corn muffin molds to make ingots. I've seen all of them this year at yard sales.

[358 Yeti]

Thanks for the link! I thought those painted ones seemed a little harder than the rest. I do plan to cull out all the soww (other than the painted ones) and smelt them separately. My better half is a Goodwill addict, so I added some necessary tools to her "watch list" like the pot and spoons. I found a turkey fryer on craigslist (NIB) that I'm haggling on, so hopefully that works out. I'm sure I'll pick up some muffin tins, but there's something alluring about the bar ingots that I like so I think a Lyman ingot mold is in my future too haha!

[Yodogsandman]

You could also have her look for hallmarked pewter items for their tin value. Got to have tin, too.

Get the highest BTU's you can on the turkey fryer, the more BTU's the faster they melt.

I like the idea of using different sized ingot molds to signify different alloy compositions. Just another way to positively identify your alloys once it's in ingot form. I also spray paint the ingots ends different colors. Another way is to use metal stamps or chisels.

[jsizemore]

The sidecutters are the only test you need for determine what to keep. Once you get used to the sight of what's good and not, you'll pick up speed. Depending on your pot size, I'd go with a 10 psi regulator for your smelting. You don't need all those BTU's but their nice to have when the outside temp drops. Good catch on the painted/unpainted SOWW.

Last and foremost rule to scrounging lead. LEAVE NONE BEHIND! Soon as you leave some, the vultures will descend and they'll vanish. And the price will go up. I want the shop owner to say " I got a guy", that way there's no conversation between owner and vulture. I keep a couple hundred in my wallet just in case. If your a volume shooter it pays off in the long run.

[Vinne]

How right you are jsizemore. Last year two of my sources said they can no longer let me have WW due to corporate made a deal to sell them to some battery outfit. Then I had this other shop for two years of dependable buckets for the taking. A few months ago I went there, one worker said there were saved for his gramps to make sinkers. Lost another one and now down to one. Get all you can while you can, one day down the road we will be wishing for the old days.

[7Acres]

Awesome score! I've been known to put the truck in park at a long light to get out and pick up a couple WWs laying on the side of the road. Get any you can!

[MrWolf]

Nice job! I also go to a trucking guy for mine but that has dried up a bit. I was paying $20 a bucket and he loaded it in my car. Love those long hot dog ones, lotta lead and a little steel for the clip.

[Snoozed]

Thanks for starting this thread. I'll be keeping an eye on it as I'm starting to gather stuff to get started myself.

[bangerjim]

Insightful casters on here will be looking for other sources of lead and alloy than the "old stand-by" tire stores!! WW's are drying up fast. I quite messing with the filthy things over 2 years ago.

Check out your local scrap yards, an overlooked source many forget about. There are TONS of lead out there besides WW's!! See if they will sell you lead and alloy ( not WW's). I get all my casting alloys (Pb,Sn,Sb) from yards. Cleaner, easier, faster than messing with melting old WW's over a stinky smoky smelly pot. And there is NO zinc to worry about. And most will GIVE you an x-ray gun analysis of what you are buying. Without that, I do not buy.

Keep a sharp eye!

bangerjim

[Green Frog]

I'd say for a first time buy, the OP did exceptionally well. If he is successful in establishing an on-going relationship with the shop owner/foreman etc. he will have a good source for a while. As others have posted, nothing can be depended on to last forever. If it were me, I might consider showing up at the shop next time right about 11:30 AM with a couple of pizzas or something similar to "sweeten the deal." Good will is priceless in these situations when somebody's "gram paw" wants to move in on you to cast a few fishing sinkers... in fact, those molds are cheap enough you might even want to let it be known that they can get some sinkers (or toy soldiers or whatever) from you to insure your supply is locked in. Just sayin'...

Regards,
Froggie

[358 Yeti]

You could also have her look for hallmarked pewter items for their tin value. Got to have tin, too.


Well, I stopped by GW on the way into work and found a few pieces of pewter. The cup was $.50, the bowl was $3, and the plates were $1 each. I'm not sure if the plates are pweter, but just in case they were, I grabbed them. If those wiser than I say they're not, I'll return them.

The lot:
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm117/Livnoutdoorsxd9/03E90C2E-B79E-41F5-AB93-CC54C4B93659.jpg (http://s294.photobucket.com/user/Livnoutdoorsxd9/media/03E90C2E-B79E-41F5-AB93-CC54C4B93659.jpg.html)

Hallmark on Plates:
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm117/Livnoutdoorsxd9/287D9669-AEAB-4B32-A3E2-F318588B1C72.jpg (http://s294.photobucket.com/user/Livnoutdoorsxd9/media/287D9669-AEAB-4B32-A3E2-F318588B1C72.jpg.html)

Hallmark on cup:
http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm117/Livnoutdoorsxd9/11F766CC-941C-4163-A86C-1ABA9F56AEFA.jpg (http://s294.photobucket.com/user/Livnoutdoorsxd9/media/11F766CC-941C-4163-A86C-1ABA9F56AEFA.jpg.html)

The Hallmark on the bowl was lightly etched so I couldn't get a clear pic, but it said Pewter on it.

EDIT:
Just did a little research and came to find that the plates are Armetale. Unfortunately not pewter. Oh well, I'll return it and hunt for other pieces.

[dsbock]

Sadly, those plates are not pewter. Wilton has been deceiving casters for years. You may want to take a look at this thread on pewter hallmarks (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?127929-Pewter-pictures-and-hallmarks).

It has saved me from making several costly mistakes.

Welcome to the casting club.

David

[Yodogsandman]

Sorry, nope the plates aren't pewter. Probably armetale, shy away from anything made by "Wilton" and "Made in India" and you should be fine. Stick to hallmarked pewter when first starting out. I know, I didn't either and got stuck with junk a few times. It was a cheap lesson. Basically pewter is 92% Sn (tin), 6% antimony (As) and 2% copper (Cu). Compositions differ a bit but, if hallmarked "pewter", you can count on at least 92% Sn. Pewter should melt at about 450*F-460*F so, use a thermometer when melting it down to prevent contamination of your alloy.

[bangerjim]

OMG.......your GW takes returns????????????????????????

[358 Yeti]

OMG.......your GW takes returns????????????????????????
I'm fairly certain they do. IIRC my wife has brought a few items back.

Ah, Good to know. I found a few other pieces there that had hallmarks with no words or "pewter" on them. I'll have to do my best to memorize some of the hallmarks so I can be more discerning on the next trip!

[bangerjim]

If it is REALLY pewter, most times it will say "PEWTER" with or without any hallmarks. There are so many marks you will never remember them all. Just get VERY familiar with the feel, color, weight, and touch of pewter. And what club aluminum and pot metals feels like!

Just like sterling silver. I can spot it clear across a room.

banger

[jsizemore]

It takes a while to build your inventory. Most don't have the opportunities you have chanced upon. I keep my sources' lead buckets and bins empty and pay cash. Your off to a great start. Good Luck.