How much WW do I need to start

[Chunky Monkey]

I reload but have decided to start casting my own boolits. I know someone who works in a garage and I can get some WW. I won't get a bunch at once but will start saving them in a bucket.

My question is how much do I need or should I have to make smelting ingots worth it? Would one 5 gal bucket be enough or should I have more. I don't want to bother wasting gas heating a pot and only get a few ingots. I would would rather get enough WW them smelt when it will be worth my time. How much do most of you have when you smelt?

I plan on trying to stockpile ingots while I acquire equipment (molds, pot, etc). I have a turkey fryer that I plan on using. Gonna get a cast iron pot at Harbor Freight. Just need ladle, flux, thermometer, some spoons for skimming, and something to pour ingots into. Let me know if I forgot something.

[MT Gianni]

I have no problem smelting as little as a 5-6 gallon bucket at a time. I consider 3-4 buckets to be work. Gianni

[dmftoy1]

One bucket full will give you PLENTY of ingots to get started. Unless you're casting the big monsters a 20lb pot for casting gives you quite a few bullets. 45-70's drain it pretty quickly . .especially in a 6 gang mold. :)

Have a good one,
Dave

[ra_balke]

Why waste yur time smelting the ww metal into ingots ?
It just adds time, and money.

If yu want to start on the cheep, get a stick of lee bullet lube, a lee mould, an old tin can, and melt yur lead on the kitchen stove. For a ladel use a bent spoon.

Don't laugh, I prpobably cast my first 2000 bullets that way. They worked fine.

truth is, yu do not need to size a bullet, just hand lube them.

Keep yur velosity below 1200 fps for plain base bullets, and if yu are doing rifle bullets, go with an old slip on gas check.

If rifle, use 2400 powder with yur lyman slip on gas check, and hand lube them.
if pistol use unique powder, and hand lube them as well.


the plain dirty truth is, your results will be 90% of first class !

[MT Gianni]

Why waste yur time smelting the ww metal into ingots ?
It just adds time, and money.
Clean bullet metal and consistent alloy blending are the first to come to mind. Making a large batch of alloy gives me close to the same results when I want to repeat them. YMMV. Gianni

[Thumbcocker]

My first boolits were cast on a coleman stove in a small iron pot with a lyman dipper. I would add individual wheel weights from a 1 gallon bucket. When I got a Lee 4 pound pot I thought I was in hog heaven. Add weights, flux with boolit lube, cast till pot got low and repeat. I had a lee drive through sizer and a "kake cutter". On a weekend I could cast 350-500 boolits. By the time I sent them down range I had a personal relationship with each of them.

Later I got some small containers and melted ww for the next session. Still I made and shot a bunch of boolits with very little equipment.

[Tom W.]

I used to melt lead on the stove, before I found out that is wasn't the healthiest thing to do, and I blew an element, too. Take the stuff outside and make your ingots. As stated earlier, clean ingots will pay off in the long run.

I make as many as I can in an evenings time, and the next day, after they are cooled, take them to the storage shed. I used to use an old cast iron cornbread cooker for my ingot mold, but I got a but more sophisticated and bought a Lyman ingot mold. They sure stack easier. now!

[JIMinPHX]

I started with a 10-pound pot, a hot plate, 25 pounds of birdshot & a spool of solder. I couldn’t get any wheel weights at the time. I got my first 4 batches out of that 25 pounds of material. I smelted & mixed in the solder using the 10-pound pot, & poured it into ingots. I then cleaned out the pot & cast from the ingots that I had made, as I needed them.

Even 10 pounds is enough to start with. A 5-gallon bucket is a real good start.

[timkelley]

5 Gal is plenty to start, you will most likely get 100 lbs. plus of alloy. If we figure an average boolit at 200 gr., thats 35 per lb. or 3500 plus boolits. You will spend a while shooting the 1st. batch you make.

[trickg]

I guess my Dad just didn't cast and shoot at the same rate as you guys because I only remember him making ingots maybe once or twice a year, a 5-gal bucket or so at a time. That's a pretty fair amount of lead considering he'd do most of his casting ladle dipping out of a pot that would only melt 5-6 one-pound ingots at a time. As I recall, a 5-gal bucket of WW weighs a good 100+ pounds, most of it lead.

I would tend to think that as long as you can get 20 pounds or so of lead out of your WW supply, you should have plenty of lead to get going casting up some good bullets.

[Chunky Monkey]

One bucket full will give you PLENTY of ingots to get started. Unless you're casting the big monsters a 20lb pot for casting gives you quite a few bullets. 45-70's drain it pretty quickly . .especially in a 6 gang mold. :)

Have a good one,
Dave

I will be casting 45 acp 230 grain and 44 mag (probably 240 and up).

Thanks for all the info guys, very much appreciated by the Monkey. I will try and get a 5 gal bucket if I can. I still figure to smelt on my turkey fryer. The cast iron pot is $15 and spoons shouldn't be too much. As far as a ladle I'll need to get one anyhow. I've seen those bottom pour ladles somewhere, anyone got a link?

[JIMinPHX]

I've seen those bottom pour ladles somewhere, anyone got a link?

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=32243

[Chunky Monkey]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=32243

Go it! Thanks!

[Dale53]

Here is the link to the "Antimony Man" ( Bill Ferguson):

http://www.theantimonyman.com/ladles.htm

He handles the Rowell bottom pour ladles and is a fine fellow to do business with. He is a certified metallurgist and can answer most any question you would have about alloying lead, also.

Regarding the amount of lead to start with - I typically only smelt two pots when I am smelting. My pot is small (total capacity of 80 lbs with a "working capacity" of 60 lbs). So, in an hour I end up with 120 lbs of CLEAN ingots with my turkey fryer. That is enough at once for a "fat ol' man".

Dale53

[crabo]

That is plenty to start with, but you will probably want to stay in an eternal hunt for casting material. I think if you took a poll, very few would tell you they have enough to make them comfortable. I've got a ton, but I still feel like I need more.

Casting is a communicable disease spread over the internet by forums like this.

Crabo