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Thread: Casting bullets in a subdivision

  1. #21
    Boolit Master
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    Bit of a pain but washing the wheel weights with a power washer will help
    With keeping the stink down. Buy a medium size plastic storage container drill some holes in the bottom throw in WW and clean them dirty water home down storm drain . Just make sure they're thoroughly dry before smelting.

  2. #22
    Moderator Emeritus


    MrWolf's Avatar
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    Bunch of years back I had posted pics of my setup. Basically convertedca Weber grill to become my smelting station. Nice part of it was the grill cover had a built in thermometer but it also cut way back on the smoke and such. My Mrs Kravitz neighbor saw me and had no idea what I was doing. If she didnt notice, no one will. Good luck

  3. #23
    Boolit Master
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    DocSavage , did you get your name from the adventure book character ?
    Your name gave me a flash back to when I was in grade school

  4. #24
    Boolit Master

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    Assuming you shoot at an outdoor range, do your smelting there.
    ..

  5. #25
    mace2364
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    When I lived in town I used to cast on the back deck-not quite as many prying eyes particularly if you have a fence. Also, you could just tell anyone who asks that you’re making fishing sinkers.

  6. #26
    Boolit Buddy
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    Quote Originally Posted by mace2364 View Post
    When I lived in town I used to cast on the back deck-not quite as many prying eyes particularly if you have a fence. Also, you could just tell anyone who asks that you’re making fishing sinkers.
    True, there are a lot of uses for lead other than projectiles. Go buy some sinkers to show off as examples of your work.

  7. #27
    Boolit Buddy
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    As others have stated if you have a garage that is your best bet. I would not personally smelt . cast or powdercoat indoors such as in house or basement, but that is me.
    Unless you are a really high volume shooter I would actually suggest forgoing the turkey fryer for a smaller pan and smaller batches. You wont use all of the wheel weight ingots at once, and the wheel weights do not go bad sitting in those buckets either. I would get just a small 6qt or so stock pot from a local salvation army or other thrift store, along with a small propane stove , and do batches of 25-35 lbs at a time. It will take you a matter of about 45 minutes or so to smelt, flux and pour 25-35 pounds of wheel weights into ingot molds. The smell and other non desirable attribute would then be kept to a minimum. You could also do this early in the morning or late evening, and you should really be done before anyone really even notices.

    also if you do small batches and really value anonymity , then the fishing sinker story some have suggested really plays well.

  8. #28
    Boolit Buddy Cast_outlaw's Avatar
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    Well I live in a subdivision, it’s an older one but, I smelt in my carport and was fluxing with bearing greas, switched to paraffin wax for both the naboors sake and mine. did not even get a single complaint, even had a conversations with the bylaw enforcements officer about it at the grocery store, so I think you will be fine. a single 5g pail will only take a few hours to do, so I wouldn’t worry, it’s not like you are doing 100gallons worth like I was, witch took many days. Oh and my areas is definitely more left leaning with a hint of redneck here and there

  9. #29
    Boolit Grand Master

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    I have cast a lot of bullets in a garage. A small fan will move the smoke and no one will notice. Smelting will be a different proposition. More smoke and more noise. Do you have a fenced in yard and a porch or patio? How loud is your burner? Can you smelt at a friends house, the rifle range, your hunting club, a dead end timber company road, ect? Moving all of you smelting gear and lead will be lots of extra work.

  10. #30
    Boolit Master
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    Reminds me of the time I was sitting in the back yard making paper cartridges for my .54 muzzleloader. They looked like huge doobies! My neighbor just had to come over and ask. He loves to shoot so it only started a friendly conversation.

    It sounds like your neighbors could use a little exposure to a sane gun owner. Just to contradict the BS their media feeds them.

  11. #31
    Boolit Master
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    Living out in the sticks where I can't see my neighbors sure has it's advantages. You don't say where you live. I suggest that you might find some guy near you who would be glad to help you, I know I would!
    It's all chicken, even the beak!

  12. #32
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by onelight View Post
    DocSavage , did you get your name from the adventure book character ?
    Your name gave me a flash back to when I was in grade school
    Yes I did,I got hooked on the paper back reprints. Dying to see how the proposed Doc Savage movie with Dwayne Johnson will be.

  13. #33
    Boolit Master


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    Quote Originally Posted by djryan13 View Post
    I live half mile east of downtown Austin... 0.018 acre. I cast in garage with door wide open. I have had neighbors tell me my guns kill people. F’ them. Just cast away. None of their business.
    784 sq ft? Damn that's a small lot.
    NRA Benefactor.

  14. #34
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    Bantou's Avatar
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    Everybody that has seen me smelting just assumed I was cooking something. Then again, I live in a town of about 6000 people in rural Texas so nobody bats an eye when I tell them what I’m actually doing.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Happiness is a warm .45

  15. #35
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by DocSavage View Post
    Yes I did,I got hooked on the paper back reprints. Dying to see how the proposed Doc Savage movie with Dwayne Johnson will be.
    My grandmother gave us a sack of books in the early to mid 60s and I got hooked on doc savage and Edgar Rice Burroughs books . I think I bought all I could find , when I had money in my pocket.

  16. #36
    Boolit Master
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    I started casting when we lived in a semi-upscale area in White Rock BC. I set up in my driveway and away I went. No complaints in the 8 years we lived there. That said, when I go shooting I load up the truck and go. Same with anything I do (like melting lead) as long as it is not illegal I make no effort to hide what I am doing. If the neighbors don't like it-----tough! I refuse to hide my head in shame or to placate some idiot Liberal! When we start to do that, we are (in effect) giving them power over us. Not me! YMMV
    R.D.M.

  17. #37
    Boolit Master Thumbcocker's Avatar
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    I have always smelted outside but have no problem casting inside. Clean alloy, cat litter on top of the alloy, no hotter than needed to cast.
    Paper targets aren't your friends. They won't lie for you and they don't care if your feelings get hurt.

  18. #38
    Boolit Master Dapaki's Avatar
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    We moved from a sub-division last year and we learned really fast to use camouflage for smelting and casting. An old Weber with Cowboy charcoal will melt the weights in a pot and also provide charcoal for the flux and smells a lot nicer than WW. Nosey neighbor asked why it smells bad, I said, "I cant barbecue!". He laughed and walked away.

    Pulled the pot out and cast ingots behind the garbage can where no neighbors could see me. Be inventive!

  19. #39
    Boolit Buddy
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    Quote Originally Posted by mrcvs View Post
    I've wanted to cast bullets for a LONG time and now am running critically low.

    I live in a neighborhood, lot size 0.27 acre, too many left leaning neighbors. I don't like answering questions; when I go to the range I sneak my guns in the car.

    I have four 5 gallon buckets of lead wheel weights. From these, I need to make ingots and then cast. I need to buy a turkey fryer but have everything else.

    I have a wife whose olfactory senses are superb and can smell anything off.

    What are my options? I really cannot do this outside because of prying neighbors and really cannot do inside because of smell even in the basement, or so I believe. Also, for safety reasons I would prefer to cast outside.

    Any thoughts or ideas? The solution, of course, is a property with land, but that's a costly proposition around these parts.

    Living in suburbia just plain stinks!
    Do you have a garage? If so, get a blower to vent a tube out the garage and vent fumes. Or keep the door open, and put up a 3' waist high privacy tarp so they cannot see what you are doing.

    Or just say you are melting down Lead for the Cub scouts pine wood derby or for sinkers for fishing.


    Also. I gave up on appearances for neighbors. I rattle can painted my AR on a sunday in my front yard. No one even noticed. And I live right across from a school. I did not flaunt what I was doing, but it was where the sun was shining the brightest for a quick dry.

  20. #40
    Boolit Master
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    Do it in your back yard. Even in liberal, anti gun So California I can keep people out of my back yard. It is legal and it is no ones business what I do in my back yard. My neighbor keeps a SBH close at hand when he is in his garage.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

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