Fluxed and ready for the small pot. This was from the last of the wheel weights I had acquired, which is a good thing, and it adds to the pile of ready ingots.
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Fluxed and ready for the small pot. This was from the last of the wheel weights I had acquired, which is a good thing, and it adds to the pile of ready ingots.
one can never have to many ready ingots.
That's great to see…nothing more pleasing than a pile of ready to use ingots. The only thing I would add is, to test them with your BHN or at least a 'pencil test' so you have the advantage of knowing what hardness you are trying to blend in the lead pot and having the opportunity of coming somewhere close.
Attachment 165580
This is the result of 5 batches of lead/lino I blended/smelted in 30 pound batch increments. Each row is from one pot load. I tested one from each batch for BHN and stamped it and the date of their origin. I did this 3 days after making them so that they would age/harden to some extent before testing. Now they get stacked together in rows so that I can pick and choose what I do next…the first row on the left has already been made use of in some 8mm boolits made the other day.
This might be a little 'over the top' for some of you but it works for me just fine.
OS OK
a m e r i c a n p r a v d a
Be a Patriot . . . expose their lies!
“In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” G. Orwell
I used (and still use) a black marker, and mark containers too. Eventually I decided to sink the $10 into a harbor freight stamping kit. I'm using scrap so like you I want to do decent sized batches so I have a pile that is consistent. AND absolutely know for a fact I will NOT remember what the heck that pile or bucket or stack is made from if it is not labeled.
I don't have hardness tester so I don't do BHN I can usually get them tested with XRF eventually so I label them with that information or the source (E.G COWW's) Between getting them made and getting them tested have to label them as a batch, date works as well as anything else. Sometimes I have gotten lazy and just stamped an "A" or a "B" on a batch until tested.
What mold are you using for your 8mm casting? I have a Mauser and bought the Lee .324 mold (short, fat, round nose) but am sort of still looking for what other folks have found works well.
Scrap.... because all the really pithy and emphatic four letter words were taken and we had to describe this source of casting material somehow so we added an "S" to what non casters and wives call what we collect.
Kind of hard to claim to love America while one is hating half the Americans that disagree with you. One nation indivisible requires work.
Feedback page http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...light=RogerDat
http://cowboybullets.com/Lead-Tester_p_57.html
Is that lead tester recommended? I see lee offers a cheaper version as well, just curious. Hadn't bothered to check the BHN yet but I assume as I move to casting rifle bullets I'll need to check.
Roger…I'm using the Lee C324-175-1R and trying to get a thick coat of PC without 'globbing' things up. I first want to see how fast I can shoot the single coat of PC without checks and proceed from there. I'm waiting on some new 8mm cases at the moment, will post results/pictures as I go in this thread...
Yugo M48, Lee mould C324-175-1R…PC or LubeSized (?) Powder (?) Primer (?) 200Yd.
I have modified my approach according to suggestions there involving powder selection but this Lee boolit is recommended by more than one. It's a cheap mold to start with and will go from there depending on whether or not I can meet my objectives.
Derek…Yes and no about recommendations on either the tester brand or whether or not it is even necessary to know the BHN of the lead. Subjective answers fly from both sides of the discussion. I use the Lee, it's a little tough to get used to using but I think it is adequate and for me…it's necessary. I am interested more in the 'hows and whys' of our loading/casting hobby than just making a boat load of plinker quality ammo and being satisfied with that.
OS OK
a m e r i c a n p r a v d a
Be a Patriot . . . expose their lies!
“In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” G. Orwell
Thread on the M48 added to bookmarks. I have not yet gotten past casting a few bullets out of that Lee mold, and buying a few .32 caliber gas checks. Bullet does look a whole lot different than the "normal" j-word bullet for a Mauser.Originally Posted by OS OK
Scrap.... because all the really pithy and emphatic four letter words were taken and we had to describe this source of casting material somehow so we added an "S" to what non casters and wives call what we collect.
Kind of hard to claim to love America while one is hating half the Americans that disagree with you. One nation indivisible requires work.
Feedback page http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...light=RogerDat
I make up a 'big batch' of my main alloy.
which entails me melting down whatever I can get when I get it.
I target a certain alloy with each batch and get 'close-nuff' with what I got.
I keep each batch separated until it's time to big batch everything then I pull it all out and blend everything together into one final ultimate batch of alloy.
if I'm targeting say 1/3 alloy I might end up with some big isotope cores [perfect] or the small ones not so perfect [and neither has any arsenic] so I have to blend them with pure lead and lino-type to get where I want.
I might also have a couple of buckets of ww's and they need some extra tin to get there, but have more arsenic than necessary to kick start water drop hardening.
they all get pretty close to my targeted alloy but are not all the same and will cast differently so I'd have to constantly change what I'm doing to get anything like the same results.
but if I 'big batch' everything by mixing together equal amounts of everything 'close-nuff'
I have everything the same.
this allows me to just adjust the batch to each mold that needs something different to work properly.
and to just make boolits for everything else without having to sweat bhn or diameter from batch to batch.
I do about the same as Runfiverun does. I smelt in batches of around 400 pounds. I keep those ingots as a batch. When the batch gets down to where there is not enough to amount to anything it gets added to another similar batch.
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| BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
| BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
| BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
| C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
| HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
| PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
| LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
| GC | Gas Check |
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