New member, first time caster

[ryanmattes]

I've been reloading for years now, for all kinds of calibers. I enjoy the bench time, and since I love the machines, I love making them work better. Over the years friends will hand me a firearm of some sort and tell me they just can't get it working for them, so I'll sight it in and do a number of test loads to find out what it likes. Its a hobby I enjoy, and it's great to have someone tell you that all of a sudden, your hand loads work better than factory ammo.

A while back, someone handed me a Colt 1892 revolver in .38 long colt, and asked if I could load for it. It was a family heirloom, and someone had been shooting .38 spc through it, which he knew was bad, and he couldn't find the right ammo for it anywhere. So I said I'd do a little homework and let him know.

So I did some homework, and it turns out no one really makes .38LC anymore. I'd need to cast my own bullets for it, and I'd never tried that before. So I bought a Lyman pot, started collecting wheel weights, and reading everything I could find about casting. I fluxed, cast bars, and just generally got a feel for how it all works; the temperatures, the timing, how to get the lead clean, etc.

I cast my first batch of bullets tonight. They're not great, but they look like bullets that I think would shoot, and I think I know how to fix them.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/tEv4XtAE9CUWgEDg9
https://photos.app.goo.gl/v6PWGr1V7mQkcSy87

The mold is an old Lyman 429421, the Keith .44 SWC, which I found on eBay.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/4dqgrjKh1N46rw2n8

The lead is WW, no solder added, because I'm just learning now and didn't want to complicate things with alloys yet. I just needed to get started casting lead. I've bought a few other molds as well, the Lyman 358429, both the original Keith .357 with the square lube chanel and the later Lyman with the round channel, as well as the NOE reproduction of the Keith 454424, the .45LC. You might be starting to see a pattern here. I have a .45 wheelgun to start testing some loads on, but I'm not there yet.

I like to do my research first, and understand what I'm doing (both right and wrong) before I go loading things into a 120 year old revolver and blowing things up. What started as a "can you load for this?" project has become a whole new dimension in my reloading hobby. And this seems to be the place to go for info.

So, here I am, ready to learn. I might lurk a lot for a while, or ask questions about the .38LC specifically, but I thought I'd introduce myself because I'm here to stay.

Happy casting,

Ryan

[Nelsonholsters]

Welcome to the forum, I'm new aswell.


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[44Blam]

I've been reloading for years now, for all kinds of calibers. I enjoy the bench time, and since I love the machines, I love making them work better. Over the years friends will hand me a firearm of some sort and tell me they just can't get it working for them, so I'll sight it in and do a number of test loads to find out what it likes. Its a hobby I enjoy, and it's great to have someone tell you that all of a sudden, your hand loads work better than factory ammo.

A while back, someone handed me a Colt 1892 revolver in .38 long colt, and asked if I could load for it. It was a family heirloom, and someone had been shooting .38 spc through it, which he knew was bad, and he couldn't find the right ammo for it anywhere. So I said I'd do a little homework and let him know.

So I did some homework, and it turns out no one really makes .38LC anymore. I'd need to cast my own bullets for it, and I'd never tried that before. So I bought a Lyman pot, started collecting wheel weights, and reading everything I could find about casting. I fluxed, cast bars, and just generally got a feel for how it all works; the temperatures, the timing, how to get the lead clean, etc.

I cast my first batch of bullets tonight. They're not great, but they look like bullets that I think would shoot, and I think I know how to fix them.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/tEv4XtAE9CUWgEDg9
https://photos.app.goo.gl/v6PWGr1V7mQkcSy87

The mold is an old Lyman 429421, the Keith .44 SWC, which I found on eBay.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/4dqgrjKh1N46rw2n8

The lead is WW, no solder added, because I'm just learning now and didn't want to complicate things with alloys yet. I just needed to get started casting lead. I've bought a few other molds as well, the Lyman 358429, both the original Keith .357 with the square lube chanel and the later Lyman with the round channel, as well as the NOE reproduction of the Keith 454424, the .45LC. You might be starting to see a pattern here. I have a .45 wheelgun to start testing some loads on, but I'm not there yet.

I like to do my research first, and understand what I'm doing (both right and wrong) before I go loading things into a 120 year old revolver and blowing things up. What started as a "can you load for this?" project has become a whole new dimension in my reloading hobby. And this seems to be the place to go for info.

So, here I am, ready to learn. I might lurk a lot for a while, or ask questions about the .38LC specifically, but I thought I'd introduce myself because I'm here to stay.

Happy casting,

Ryan

Hey Ryan,

Looks like you have some wrinkels but should be easy to fix. Looks like you either did not have the mold hot enough or there is still oil in the mold.
Either one of these is easily solved by just casting until they come out without wrinkles and throwing the wrinkled ones back...
But to speed up your break in: Scrub the mold with soap and water to get the oil out. (I just got a new Lyman mold for shotgun slugs - it took some work to get it clean.) Then heat it on a hot plate to dry it out before pouring lead in it.
Heat up the mold before pouring lead in - and once the mold is up to temp, it'll start casting good boolits.

[ryanmattes]

Hey Ryan,

Looks like you have some wrinkels but should be easy to fix. Looks like you either did not have the mold hot enough or there is still oil in the mold.
Either one of these is easily solved by just casting until they come out without wrinkles and throwing the wrinkled ones back...
But to speed up your break in: Scrub the mold with soap and water to get the oil out. (I just got a new Lyman mold for shotgun slugs - it took some work to get it clean.) Then heat it on a hot plate to dry it out before pouring lead in it.
Heat up the mold before pouring lead in - and once the mold is up to temp, it'll start casting good boolits.

I've got a hotplate ordered from amazon to address it, should be here in a few days. I'm almost positive the problem is I didn't have the mold hot enough. I was using a torch, mapp gas, to heat up the dipper, but didn't want to put the torch on the mold. I'll set up with an electric hotplate next to my pot, and put both the mold and the dipper on it when I'm not actively using them. Hopefully that will fix the wrinkles. I scrubbed all the mold with a toothbrush and dish soap as soon as I got them, to make sure there's no oil. The NOE mold came with a recommendation to smoke the mold with a bic lighter the first few times, but I haven't used that mold at all yet. Still waiting for the NOE handles.

Hopefully I'll have prettier boolits to show soon.

Ryan

[Ozark mike]

I just dip my mold in the molten lead until it quits sticking to it works like a charm

[Land Owner]

From Glen Fryxell's on-line book (see Sticky From Ingot To Target) it is mentioned to assure the spru plate is sufficiently hot (as well as the mold) or the molten lead going through is cooled prior to reaching the bottom and sides of the mold, contributing to the making of wrinkles. Also, a better alloy than straight WW's is one with ~2% tin added to aid in fill out of the mold. You'll probably pick that up as you move forward in this hobby. Welcome to the Cast Boolit Forums. Your transition in reloading is like that of many of us. We all started at the beginning. Good luck.

[kungfustyle]

Great job and welcome to another hobby to support your hobby. Do add that solder if you have it, just about 1/2 lb or so to a 20 lb pot and you should be good to go. There are lead calculators on this forum http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...oy-calculators if you don't have office you can use openoffice.org.

[sharpshooter3040]

I've been reloading for years now, for all kinds of calibers. I enjoy the bench time, and since I love the machines, I love making them work better. Over the years friends will hand me a firearm of some sort and tell me they just can't get it working for them, so I'll sight it in and do a number of test loads to find out what it likes. Its a hobby I enjoy, and it's great to have someone tell you that all of a sudden, your hand loads work better than factory ammo.

A while back, someone handed me a Colt 1892 revolver in .38 long colt, and asked if I could load for it. It was a family heirloom, and someone had been shooting .38 spc through it, which he knew was bad, and he couldn't find the right ammo for it anywhere. So I said I'd do a little homework and let him know.

So I did some homework, and it turns out no one really makes .38LC anymore. I'd need to cast my own bullets for it, and I'd never tried that before. So I bought a Lyman pot, started collecting wheel weights, and reading everything I could find about casting. I fluxed, cast bars, and just generally got a feel for how it all works; the temperatures, the timing, how to get the lead clean, etc.

I cast my first batch of bullets tonight. They're not great, but they look like bullets that I think would shoot, and I think I know how to fix them.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/tEv4XtAE9CUWgEDg9
https://photos.app.goo.gl/v6PWGr1V7mQkcSy87

The mold is an old Lyman 429421, the Keith .44 SWC, which I found on eBay.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/4dqgrjKh1N46rw2n8

The lead is WW, no solder added, because I'm just learning now and didn't want to complicate things with alloys yet. I just needed to get started casting lead. I've bought a few other molds as well, the Lyman 358429, both the original Keith .357 with the square lube chanel and the later Lyman with the round channel, as well as the NOE reproduction of the Keith 454424, the .45LC. You might be starting to see a pattern here. I have a .45 wheelgun to start testing some loads on, but I'm not there yet.

I like to do my research first, and understand what I'm doing (both right and wrong) before I go loading things into a 120 year old revolver and blowing things up. What started as a "can you load for this?" project has become a whole new dimension in my reloading hobby. And this seems to be the place to go for info.

So, here I am, ready to learn. I might lurk a lot for a while, or ask questions about the .38LC specifically, but I thought I'd introduce myself because I'm here to stay.

Happy casting,

Ryan

Head down to the hardware store and grab a roll of solder. If you have a 10 pound pot cut a couple foot long strips and add it to your wheel weights should give it just enough tim to fill out the mould. Just make sure the solder doesn’t have any zinc in it . Zinc is your enemy and will ruin your day. Happy casting your on the right track


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[Wayne Smith]

I believe the 38LC is the same as the 38 S&W - if I am wrong someone will soon come along and correct me!. If so you probably need a boolit of about .360" diameter - do you have a micrometer and know how to use it? Do a slug of the chamber mouths of the revolver - soft lead slugs forced through and measured. Same with the barrel. Now you know the sizes you have to work with - and the boolit should be a tight fit to the chamber mouths.

[ryanmattes]

Thanks all for the welcome. I plan to start experimenting with alloys, just haven't started yet. I have some 60/40 solder, so I'll work out a recipe for #2.

I believe the 38LC is the same as the 38 S&W - if I am wrong someone will soon come along and correct me!. If so you probably need a boolit of about .360" diameter - do you have a micrometer and know how to use it? Do a slug of the chamber mouths of the revolver - soft lead slugs forced through and measured. Same with the barrel. Now you know the sizes you have to work with - and the boolit should be a tight fit to the chamber mouths.

I slugged the barrel, and that's kind of where all this started. It's actually a .375 diameter barrel and a .375 diameter chamber, which means a heeled bullet. It's old enough that the model was originally cap and ball, but they later started selling them with chambers drilled out for cartridges. This is one of those with the converted cylinders, made in 1899.

Which means whoever was shooting .38 spc was not only tearing up the rifling, they were also getting crazy wild flyers, since the bullet was bouncing around in the barrel.

I found a mold here: https://oldwestbulletmoulds.com/shop...d-crimp-dieset

I found some brass .38 spc cases and cut them down to length for .38 long, and now I just need to learn to cast good boolits.

Once I have those, I'll probably do a smokeless load first, since I'm more familiar with it, and then try a BP load, just to try to give him a period correct cartridge.

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[Minerat]

Welcome to the gang Ryan. Reading old threads and using the search feature can help get answers. If that gets frustrating then just ask your question, since there are no dumb questions here.

The boolits look good a few wrinkles but as noted can clean up with a hotter mould and or alloy. I run my pot at 725 to 750 deg and leave the ladle on the lead as it melts. I began this hobby about 10 years ago after reloading since the early 70's and had many of the questions you had. I'm still learning from the fine members here.

I worried about wrinkles too but found that if the bases were good and the bands mostly good with no major flaws the boolits shot as well as I could aim. I even prefer a little frosting and quit worrying about shiny boolits. I don't make them to be pretty just to shoot, beside once they hit the back stop it doesn't matter. A little tin will help with fill out.

Also, don't smoke that NOE mould. I clean them good with break cleaner and then wash with Dawn blue soap and water first. The brass moulds should be heat cycled 4 times at least to build the pantina. Hot plate works for this. Heat to at least 400 deg and let cool, at the 4th time it will begin to get a tarnish on the brass and from then on it will only cast better. On the aluminum, I wash it and heat cycle the same but find that's not as critical as with the brass. I know Sweed recommends smoking it but I haven't needed to do that to get good boolits from his moulds.

If you have any forum questions just contact one of the moderators and we will help. Good luck with your project and again welcome to Cast Boolits.

[Hanzy4200]

Welcome. Very nice folks around here. Good luck with your first loads. It's to late now, your in trouble. Might want to clear some space for future molds.

[Wayne Smith]

OK, so you know you need a heeled boolit, and you have found Bernie Rawls - congratulations. Get his mold and his modified Lee Crimp die to crimp the heeled boolits and have at it. I shoot a 41LC with the same heeled boolit. Do you have a loading set for the 38LC? You will need to size the cases and seat the boolit before you crimp so that set is necessary.

[ryanmattes]

OK, so you know you need a heeled boolit, and you have found Bernie Rawls - congratulations. Get his mold and his modified Lee Crimp die to crimp the heeled boolits and have at it. I shoot a 41LC with the same heeled boolit. Do you have a loading set for the 38LC? You will need to size the cases and seat the boolit before you crimp so that set is necessary.

I have the Lee dies for .38 long/short. I have a handful of cases prepped, but not as many as I'd like, since a lot of .38 spc tends to be nickel plated.

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[Texas by God]

SO- Colt still made the 1872 Open Top in 1899? That seems strange. I had a Colt DA Army .38 Long Colt and it would shoot .38 HBWC good enough to plink with; anything else- no. I just used .38 Special cases. They fit; there are no throats in a .38 LC cylinder.

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[ryanmattes]

SO- Colt still made the 1872 Open Top in 1899? That seems strange. I had a Colt DA Army .38 Long Colt and it would shoot .38 HBWC good enough to plink with; anything else- no. I just used .38 Special cases. They fit; there are no throats in a .38 LC cylinder.

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From what I can tell, it's an 1892, made in 1899. It was nickel plated later, not sure when, by the owner at the time.


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[ryanmattes]

Made some 454424 tonight, taking the advice I got in the forum, and they came out much better. This time I left the dipper in the pot when I wasn't pouring, and put the bottom of the mould in the lead until it stopped sticking to address the temps. I also put a couple feet (~1/3 oz) of 60/40 solder in the pot and fluxed with wax before I started. Got a couple dozen perfect casts, and about 85 that aren't quite perfect, but I think they'll shoot fine.

Thanks all!

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[44Blam]

Made some 454424 tonight, taking the advice I got in the forum, and they came out much better. This time I left the dipper in the pot when I wasn't pouring, and put the bottom of the mould in the lead until it stopped sticking to address the temps. I also put a couple feet (~1/3 oz) of 60/40 solder in the pot and fluxed with wax before I started. Got a couple dozen perfect casts, and about 85 that aren't quite perfect, but I think they'll shoot fine.

Thanks all!

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Those look good!

[remy3424]

Very nice looking boolits!!

[ryanmattes]

Is this kind of weight variation normal, or is there something I need to do? Flux the pot more often, to keep the tin mixed in?

(These there 1/10th grain columns)

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