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Thread: Can you top this? NOPE.

  1. #1
    Boolit Master



    Crash_Corrigan's Avatar
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    Exclamation Can you top this? NOPE.

    Way back when I first started casting boolits I knew less than nothing. I first got a hold of Lymans casting manual and read it cover to cover a couple of times and then went out and got a Lee 4-20 pot and a Lee 148 GR WC 6 Banger mold.

    I had a 586 Smith and Taurus 85 to feed then. I set up the pot and after scrounging some wheel weights went to town. I got a small cast iron pot and put it on a coleman stove and smelted down the weights and fluxed with candle wax.

    It was all going good until I started to mold boolits. I had a pair of leather gloves but that Lee 6 banger was really hot. I got another pair of bigger leather welding gloves and wore them. I now had two gloves on the left hand that held the mold and one glove on the right hand, safety glasses, boots etc. I was covered.

    It was a nasty job making boolits but I kept it up. They turned out pretty good and I was a happy shooter and boolit caster. This went on for two years.

    I guess I made about 6,000 .38 Wadcutter rounds during that time and one day a friend of mine invited me to go to a gun show at Cashman Field here in Vegas.

    I was enjoying looking around and my buddy found my Lee mold with some others on a table. Only this one looked different than mine. It was the same mold but it had a pair of handles on it! Wow! I never knew they came with handles. All this time I was holding the mold in my left hand when I opened it to dump out the boolits and then I put it under the spout on a brick to hold it while I poured alloy into the empty mold and shook my left hand to cool off.

    Needless to say I bought another Lee six banger with a pair of handles that day for $20 and used the handles from the new/used mold on my old mold. They fit just perfect.

    A little knowledge can be dangerous but that had to be the most stupid thing I did for two years was to mold boolits without using the handles that the silly mold was designed for because of lack of complete knowledge.

    If that did not turn me away from this addiction then I guess I am hopeless?
    Last edited by Crash_Corrigan; 01-13-2014 at 08:37 PM. Reason: mispelled manual
    Pax Nobiscum Dan (Crash) Corrigan

    Currently casting, reloading and shooting: 223 Rem, 6.5x55 Sweede, 30 Carbine, 30-06 Springfield, 30-30 WCF, 303 Brit., 7.62x39, 7.92x57 Mauser, .32 Long, 32 H&R Mag, 327 Fed Mag, 380 ACP. 9x19, 38 Spcl, 357 Mag, 38-55 Win, 41 Mag, 44 Spcl., 44 Mag, 45 Colt, 45 ACP, 454 Casull, 457 RB for ROA and 50-90 Sharps. Shooting .22 LR & 12 Gauge seldom and buying ammo for same.

  2. #2
    Cast Boolits Owner



    No_1's Avatar
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    Crash,

    You are one TOUGH dude! Has the feeling come back in that hand yet?

    Robert
    "The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion."
    - Albert Camus -

  3. #3
    Boolit Master




    Cherokee's Avatar
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    Crash - Man I don't see how you did that even with two gloves on !! But I understand for sure. I had no instructor and had to learn on my own (way before this internet stuff) to cast. Same for shooting. It was 20 years of shooting Ruger's before I learned that the SAA & Ruger's should only be loaded with 5.
    God Bless America
    US Army, NRA Patron, TSRA Life
    SASS, Ruger & Marlin accumulator

  4. #4
    Boolit Bub
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    THAT IS HARD-CORE!!!!

    I got started because I wanted to pour up strap weights for my duck decoys. I bought a 405 RF for my 45/70 just to play with. I had so mych fun ladling those big slugs that I bought a 6 cav SWc mold for my 38s. Now I am up to 6 2 cav molds and 3 6-cav. I haven't even shot any of teh first 45/70s because I had a load of ammo loaded already but I am now hunting with my cast 30-30s this year.

    GREAT STORY!!

  5. #5
    Boolit Master

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    You Da Man!!!
    What is amazing, you did so many, so well.
    I am impressed.
    Handles do make a difference though.
    Me? I would have quit after the first few like I did when I was casting cap and ball, balls, with a cold mold years ago.

  6. #6
    Moderator Emeritus
    dromia's Avatar
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    So Crash, after giving both techniques a thorough test which would you reccommend?


    Was there any difference in the quality of the boolits from each method?


    For fine firearms and shooting requisites visit my Web Site by clicking the link below:

    Pukka Bundhooks

  7. #7
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    ..................Gee Crash, casting like that must have been about like driving a truck with a 318 Detroit Diesel. For it to work like it's supposed to you need to drive it completely pissed off. So if you see a truck driver slam his fingers in the cab door, then open it and get in screaming and yelling, you know he has a 318 under the hood

    ..............Buckshot
    Father Grand Caster watches over you my brother. Go now and pour yourself a hot one. May the Sacred Silver Stream be with you always

    Proud former Shooters.Com Cast Bullet alumnus and plank owner.

    "The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president."

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  8. #8
    Boolit Buddy kir_kenix's Avatar
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    Man, not sure I could have made very many boolits like that! I'm very impressed. That is dedication right there!

  9. #9
    Boolit Master
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    Is there some blonde in your background?
    Tom
    μολὼν λαβέ


    Did I ever mention that I hate to trim brass?

  10. #10
    Boolit Buddy SCIBUL's Avatar
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    Wink

    I didn't know that captain hoock learned you to cast boolits
    Very impressing

  11. #11
    Boolit Grand Master


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    This is BARE BONES CASTING ! Talk about Minimum Investment Casting ! This is the feller I want in a tank turret beside me !
    On our M60A1 (ol" portable sewer) we had a pair of asbestos HIGH temp gloves the loader was suppossed to use to flip the hot casings out his hatch... Never used them because they would get dirty and the Bn Co wanted WHITE loader gloves in the rack ??? But I wonder how those would fare ?? Real Hazmat contaminated boolits !!!

  12. #12
    In Remembrance


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    Missionary: that's why you were supposed to use two pair if gloves, one for display, one to actually use. It amazes me that we were able to cast lead soldiers when I was a Kid. I don't recall the lead having any tin, but maybe it did. I do remember warming the mold on the kitchen stove and pouring from the little one pound electric pot. DALE

  13. #13
    Boolit Grand Master


    missionary5155's Avatar
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    Good morning Dale... We had a pair of GI Issue one each leather gloves we kept stuck up above the main gun on the recoil replenisher...

  14. #14
    Boolit Buddy
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    Great story Crash . Thanks for sharing it with us. We've all blundered in some way or another.
    Don't confuse unimfermed with stupid. If you're casting your own there's nothing stupid about it.
    2

  15. #15
    Boolit Grand Master
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    A true believer. Love the mission first outlook... I would suggest, however, to stay out of china shops.

  16. #16
    Boolit Master on Heaven's Range
    Bill*'s Avatar
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    Yeah well,....... I got half a ton of 50/50 solder for free but had to throw it all away as I didn't know which percentage was tin and which was the lead hehehe .....Bill
    "HMMMM.........It wasn't spos'ta do THAT!"

  17. #17
    Boolit Master crabo's Avatar
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    "It was all going good until I started to mold boolits. I had a pair of leather gloves but that Lee 6 banger was really hot. I got another pair of bigger leather welding gloves and wore them. I now had two gloves on the left hand that held the mold and one glove on the right hand, safety glasses, boots etc. I was covered."

    Sounds like there was a little alcohol involved?
    Crabo

    Do not argue with idiots. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

  18. #18
    Boolit Master

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    Laughing with you, Crash.
    None of my misadventures have left a visible scar, yet, so I won't admit them in public.

    Jack

  19. #19
    Boolit Buddy jnovotny's Avatar
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    WOW!!! I don't think I can top that but I once got a buch of WW from a local tire shop, and was smelting them down to ingots. I would grab a handful and slide them into the pot,and then there was a big BANG. Somehow a lone 30-06 round had ended up in the mix of WW. I have a few scars from the experiance but no worse for wear. I damn sure pay attention to what I put into my lead pot now!!!!

  20. #20
    Boolit Master



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    Talking Replies to all----


    Should I be flattered to have had so many replies to my thread? I think not...

    Dromia---yes the early ones we molded with a lot of radiator shop droppings from the floor. My buddy used to have to pay someone to dispose of these toxic metals. When he learned that I was molding boolits he begged me to take some of his solder. I ended up with over 25 5 gallon buckets of this wonderful stuff. They molded great but when smacked against a steel target became instant dust.

    You could say that I was one with the lead alloy after molding without handles for two years. I had very few rejections as I waited long enough for the lead to cool before attempting to dump the boolits. Something to do with pain and heat.

    Tom W--- yes there was a Blonde involved. My wife she had a great rack and could write her name in the snow if you know what I mean.

    Crabo---yes usually. I can recall one smelting session when it was kinda hot. I went through a lot of beer that day and when I woke up the next day I had a very large pile of metal clips and dross on the ground. But I also had over 250 ingots piled up haphazardly in the area. That was 13 years ago and I still have yet to use some of that lead.

    JNOVOTNY---yes I can identify with that 30-06 story. Back in '57 I was only 14 and was put in charge of a fire in which we were burning some trash cleaned out of a an old barn. There was an old shooting jacket thrown into the fire which had belonged to my Grandpa "Uncle Joe". He had been a bootlegger and a bookmaker all his life and unbeknownst to any of us had usually carried a gun for self protection and such. He also had a habit of carrying extra rounds in various pockets in his outerware. Soon after the latest donation to the conflagration we were surprised from the sound of gunshots in the region of the fire.

    I retreated to a safe distance and the noises continued for about a half hour. When all was said and done we found a pile of .22 and .38 casings buried almongst the ashes and burnt stuff.

    No 1---remember that I am left handed. It kinda crimped my sex life for a time.

    I guess that the lure of this addiction has to do with converting those ugly, greasy, dirty and unwanted wheel weights to shiny, new and custom sized boolits which we can shoot from our guns. The best part of it is that we think it is saving us money!
    Pax Nobiscum Dan (Crash) Corrigan

    Currently casting, reloading and shooting: 223 Rem, 6.5x55 Sweede, 30 Carbine, 30-06 Springfield, 30-30 WCF, 303 Brit., 7.62x39, 7.92x57 Mauser, .32 Long, 32 H&R Mag, 327 Fed Mag, 380 ACP. 9x19, 38 Spcl, 357 Mag, 38-55 Win, 41 Mag, 44 Spcl., 44 Mag, 45 Colt, 45 ACP, 454 Casull, 457 RB for ROA and 50-90 Sharps. Shooting .22 LR & 12 Gauge seldom and buying ammo for same.

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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