New guy

[Mk42gunner]

Be on the lookout for a steel or cast iron pot to melt your lead in, instead of the aluminum one. Aluminum gets really soft at the temperatures lead is melted, sometimes the bottom falls out of the pan, not good.

By all means keep the small flow of lead going, but you will find the .44 mag will take a lot more than that.

I started with a Coleman stove and the first pot I used was an aluminum sauce pan, then I read of a few misfortunes with the aluminum pan and went to a cast iron one pint sauce pan with and a small soup ladle. It worked, sort of.

Later I found an RCBS lead dipper, it has a fin on the bottom that makes skimming a clean hole to dip from easier than the round bottom of the Lyman.

Later still I bought a Lee 4-20 and could hardly believe just how much easier it is to cast when you don't have all that heat radiating from the hot container of lead.

Good luck and be careful,

Robert

[FISH4BUGS]

Hi folks, new here, new to casting. Have lurked here a bit, looking around.
Have done some casting before but it's been 10+ years and there wasn't much to it, about 150 .36 caliber balls for a pair of blackpowder pistols, then the pistols and tools made their way into a yard sale for an undisclosed (to me) amount of pocket change
There's gotta be a list of all the reasons a wife becomes an ex-wife, right? That should be on there.
A bit over a year ago I came into possession of a Ruger SBH .44 mag. Decided immediately I'm gonna have to roll my own, and figured I may as well cast my own lead while I'm at it. I'm on a tight budget, but can see light at the end of the tunnel so I decided to go ahead and register here. I can see a lot of questions in the future.

Fortunately my ex-wife neer found about the machine gun collection!
Welcome to casting and reloading your own. I also shoot a 44 mag (1956 S&W 5 screw pre Model 29). The gun was purchased without case and tools, and doesn't even have the original coke-bottle grips. That makes is a SHOOTER.
I have had this gun a long time and have shot many thousands of rounds through it. I have been reloading for 40+ years and casting for probably 30 of those years. I shoot probably 1-200+ cast rounds a week in revolvers. S&W 36 3" square butt, a 4 screw Model 28 and the pre 29. I can shoot them cheaper than a 22 these days. I also cast and load thousands of 9mm, 380 and 45 acp.
I am still learning things on this site and hopefully sharing what seemingly little I know.
I would recommend starting with Lee Equipment. It is inexpensive and actually does work. I have had a Lee 20lb pot for 30 years of casting and it still works fine. RCBS makes great quality 2 cavity moulds.
I personally prefer 4, 6 and 10 cavity moulds because of the production. A Star sizer helps in that department too.
For you going slow is a good thing. Learning to cast and load is something based on experience. Start with lighter loads in your 44 (7 gr ww231 [up to 8 gr] is a pleasant 44 mag load with a 250gr bullet)
Start with light loads with your powders and work up. I personally prefer to keep my powder choices to a minimum. I use 231 for standard and mid-range handgun loads, 296 for the magnum handgun loads, and 748 for the 223 and 308 loads.
Be careful......if you start to shoot a fair amount, you might want to step up to higher output with a progressive press and Lyman or Star sizer. If you DO shoot a lot, production becomes key. It also becomes expensive for equipment. Build your equipment inventory slowly.
Feel free to ask questions here. Pretty much SOMEONE has done almost everything here at one time or another....including blowing up guns, shooting themselves accidentally, etc.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Yes, I'll be starting out slowly and with some primitive tools, not just because I think I need to, but also because I'm not a high volume shooter. I just don't have time to get to the range often, so when I do I make it an all day affair. Three pistols (FNS9, LC9s Pro, SBH), then the rifle side of the range with my AK, then the traps. One or more of the kids are usually with me, so I make time for them too. I'm able to do this every couple of months which gives me time to save up some extra range fodder for the 9's, AK, and 20 gauge, but that .44 is KILLER on the wallet!
Every now and then I'll stop on my lunch break and pop off a mag or two at the steel plates with one of the 9's. Thankfully the range is free for me!
Girlfriend and I are looking for a place where we can shoot from the back porch though. THEN I may be stepping up to higher production!

[44man]

OH MY, Please, Please don't use an aluminum pot. You are seconds from disaster. Best is cast iron with stainless next.
When aluminum lets go there is no indication at all, it just GOES. You can actually melt it to destruction before lead melts.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Don't worry, I've melted down all the lead I've got. I won't be using it again, thanks for the heads up y'all. Next time I'm ready to melt, I'll be sure to have cast iron. I'm thinking of a small butter melting pot that has a pour spout on it.

And to think... I was going to use my old steel pot because it was smaller and had a spout. But it was also nicer and a friend of mine wanted it.

Question though. How is it that an aluminum pot can be destroyed when melting lead, but not when I'm cooking beans, the musical fruit? Something to do with the heat capacity of lead?

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Hahaha...
How many bullets y'all reckon I can get out of this? Maybe 6 or so? Lol, I don't think it's big enough to hold even one of my ingots!

It's alright though, just one more reason to take it nice and slow. $1 at a yard sale, plus this cool old clock for another $1? Win!
I'm one of those that can't use battery operated clocks or watches, they go dead. My phone is supposed to get about 12 hours of juice. I average about 3. Even the wind-up clocks and watches run fast around me.

[Scorpion8]

Howdy from South East Alaska.

[Mk42gunner]

I think it would be very hard to get a full dipper out of that pan, even if you were to use a tablespoon.

Since you have a stove to use, I would stop by the local thrift store and buy the cheapest stainless steel sauce pan for around a buck. One or two quarts will be more than enough capacity for casting.

As for why they are safe when cooking beans and not lead, beans cook in water. Beans will not get over 212 degrees Fahrenheit, lead will get to 700+ degrees pretty easily.

Robert

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Ah, that's about what I thought. Like the same reason you can boil water in a paper cup.

I thought the little pot was cute, I'm probably gonna use it for a wax warmer at home, melting some of that scented wax for the smell. I've discovered the little scented blocks just stink like hell once the good smell runs out, so I melt the wax out of the actual candles, pour that into ice cube trays and put them in my wax warmers. But this little lead pot is much more manly looking than the little porcelain doo-dads I've got.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

It's big enough to make about one and a half ingots.
It's gonna get replaced by a ladle and something bigger for sure. Just gonna be too much work, adding lead every few pours. And would need welding gloves, makes me feel like it could get sketchy without the dexterity of my regular work gloves.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Do I need to slug my barrel, or are Ruger Super Blackhawks fairly uniform? I'm ordering a mold Friday, likely a Lee two cavity. I'm seeing where .44 mag molds are marked .429-.430. Haven't noticed other sizes, but that's because I decided to quit shopping and ask questions first.

Mine was made in 1980 and is well used.

[Wayne Smith]

It is the slump temp of aluminium, not the melting point. It is when the metal softens enough to slump that the weight of the lead can penetrate it and create a major mess.

[44man]

Do I need to slug my barrel, or are Ruger Super Blackhawks fairly uniform? I'm ordering a mold Friday, likely a Lee two cavity. I'm seeing where .44 mag molds are marked .429-.430. Haven't noticed other sizes, but that's because I decided to quit shopping and ask questions first.

Mine was made in 1980 and is well used.

I would still slug the barrel. Make sure the slug will slide through the throats. Most SBH's are .430" with larger throats so a .431" to .432" boolit works. Yet I still can shoot a .430" as good.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Thanks! Since I discovered the 8 hours of overtime I was shorted a month ago still hasn't been paid to me as of yesterday's paycheck, I'm in no hurry to find a mold now. That's fine, more time for research.

Oldest stepson picked me up a box of .430" XTPs, 240gr yesterday as a gift when he heard about it.

I'm dusting off my résumé this weekend. Have a great job with a great work environment, but I make less than half the national average for my peers and now I'm fighting them for my overtime? Makes me wonder, with all the 90+ hour work weeks I've pulled in the past 4 years, how much free labor I've provided because I was too damn tired to comprehend my paystub.

[44man]

That is entirely too many hours. I also took overtime but only when I felt like it or to pay something, not mandatory. Time and a half first four and double time after. Never got cheated. We were always asked. Never was a needed thing but could rag you out to take all of it. Bad was 100 miles round trip. Some guys never went home to make as much as they could. Bought expensive homes. Many are gone now.
I don't know where you work but if your skills are good, I hope you can do better.

[fast ronnie]

Welcome aboard. Good advice above.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

I'm a water treatment specialist. The overtime isn't mandatory, they just don't pay worth a damn and I have to make ends meet. There are some great fringe benefits though, that's the only reason I've stayed.

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Welcome aboard. Good advice above.

Thank ya!

[country gent]

The opnly dumb question is the one you dont ask, So start asking. Knowledge is free here you just need to bring the container. Ask away. Csting isnt as much hard as its just the right things and the right order. Welcomne to the forum and enjoy. Good used equipment is a great savings and Sometimes the only way to fiond what you may really want ( discontinied or rare things) Lee equipment can be very useable also. Another is the custom makers Accurate KAL Old West Noe who will make just what you want. Start posting and get started

[SteelHorseCowboy]

Upgraded to a bigger pot. Found it in my dad's garage, of course I got his permission before throwing it in the trunk with his small bucket of wheel weights. It seems he wasted some lead by giving some to a friend of his to turn into fishing weights.

I've got about 50 pounds of lead now.
Have decided I'm still just going to wait on casting. My buddy and I have worked out an arrangement; I send him lead, and he keeps a share for himself in exchange for turning my share into bullets and sending them back to me. Saves me time and money, provides him with material for a hobby he enjoys. All it requires on my end is some labor. I only melt them into ingots to make packaging easier.


I put notches in these to help him identify them as wheel weights rather than the pure lead I usually send him.