New to casting tons of qustions

[Dadswickedammo]

Have been reloading for years. Was at my local tire shop and asked for some scrap lead Phil tells me he has about 1000lb of new unused wheel weights he needs to get out of his shop it;s not legal in Ca, Well Phil pay for my gas and i will haul it off. And haul it off i did. have been collecting casting equpt and i am just about ready and need to know what i need to do to this lead to make 30cal 150 gr to go fast enough to cycle the action 2200fps or so with out gumming up the works. I have the melting pots dipper lee mould gas check crimper lyman lube and sizer just need the sizer dies but figure i can get some lead ready with flux,arsnic,tin, and find a sorce for all that and need to know how much of what to get started just looking for good BOOLITS that are safe to shoot and not fall apart.
Thanx..............

[Bullshop]

Are car batteries illegal in Cal. too? If not why not? From what I understand the batteries are far more dangerous than the WW.

[Dadswickedammo]

Yeah i know we have a bunch of do gooder tree huggers protecting us from ourselfs

[waksupi]

Dad, the best thing you can do at the time, is to take a week, and go through the classic and stickies threads.

[Bullshop]

2200 fps - no problemo.
Fall apart - I ain't see that yet.
Learn well Grasshopper.

[onondaga]

Bullet fit is more important if you already have wheel weight alloy. WW gas checked bullets will certainly handle your target velocity best if you search which powder has the lowest pressure, that, is a plus for an extra margin with cast bullets.

Do start out by slugging your bore and getting a precise measurement of your groove to groove diameter, Bullets gas checked and sized plus .001-.003 from your measurement will put you in good shape. I tumble lube every bullet design I shoot before and after checking/sizing and this has proven good for me with the 45:45:10 mix at velocities over what you are targeting.

You mention"cycling the action", make sure your bullets are not under size in semi-autos as gas jetting from under size bullets sends molten lead down the bore and is very destructive to semi-auto gas operating systems. So, again-bullet fit is very important. Slug the bore and measure with a good micrometer, not a dial gauge caliper.

Also for loading: look up what a Lyman "M" die does. These are terrific for cast bullet loaders and eliminate the most common problems for new cast bullet loaders that actually get their bullets the right size and are headed toward not being unhappy with cast bullets..

Gary

[Dadswickedammo]

Bullet fit is more important if you already have wheel weight alloy. WW gas checked bullets will certainly handle your target velocity best if you search which powder has the lowest pressure, that, is a plus for an extra margin with cast bullets.

Do start out by slugging your bore and getting a precise measurement of your groove to groove diameter, Bullets gas checked and sized plus .001-.003 from your measurement will put you in good shape. I tumble lube every bullet design I shoot before and after checking/sizing and this has proven good for me with the 45:45:10 mix at velocities over what you are targeting.

You mention"cycling the action", make sure your bullets are not under size in semi-autos as gas jetting from under size bullets sends molten lead down the bore and is very destructive to semi-auto gas operating systems. So, again-bullet fit is very important. Slug the bore and measure with a good micrometer, not a dial gauge caliper.

Also for loading: look up what a Lyman "M" die does. These are terrific for cast bullet loaders and eliminate the most common problems for new cast bullet loaders that actually get their bullets the right size and are headed toward not being unhappy with cast bullets..

Gary
Well Hell you guys are fantastic
love all the support now this project has started a few mo back and have been collecting tools and info and like i said just about ready i have made some ingots a few hundred 1lb ers from the above mentioned ww was not sure about the clips used bolt cutters and cut most of the lead off the cilps just to insure 100% ww lead.
I have a lyman lube/sizer and lee mould 30cal 150gr flat rn looking for a lyman top to fit that to push the bullet through the die.
Thanx again

[glicerin]

Don't cut off the clips! Steel just floats to top. I remove all plastic, rubber, paper which may stink or cause cancer. Look up ZINC contamination, either remove or keep heat low enough to avoid melting them(some are marked Zn, and there are pictures available to identify types). Recent analysis shows ww have about 3.5% antimony(good stuff for hardness), 0.5% tin and enough arsenic(trace). Some add a little tin(at most 2%) to improve flow into hard to fill molds. Have fun.

[2wheelDuke]

Well Hell you guys are fantastic
love all the support now this project has started a few mo back and have been collecting tools and info and like i said just about ready i have made some ingots a few hundred 1lb ers from the above mentioned ww was not sure about the clips used bolt cutters and cut most of the lead off the cilps just to insure 100% ww lead.
I have a lyman lube/sizer and lee mould 30cal 150gr flat rn looking for a lyman top to fit that to push the bullet through the die.
Thanx again


Don't worry about the clips. When the lead melts, the steel floats to the top and you skim it away.

[D Crockett]

you are wasting your time cutting the clips off just throw the whole ww in the pot and melt them then what I did I took a speaker magnet and wielded a T handle to it to take the clips out with then put the clips in a bucket of water (not the magnet ) took them off with a gloved hand and let them fall in the water you are going to spend a lot of time in making 1 lb ingots if I were you I would have some ingot moulds made out of angle all my ingot moulds I made if not over filled will dump out the ingot every time and yes I sell them if you need some D Crockett

[lwknight]

Cutting the clips off is a waste of time and effort.
Who does that?

I use a slotted spoon to remove the clips from the melt.

[Jim]

Besides, if you cut the clips off, you still have to skim off the part that is embedded in the WW. Just do it once.

[Dadswickedammo]

Besides, if you cut the clips off, you still have to skim off the part that is embedded in the WW. Just do it once.
Yep I totaly understand the clips will float to the top first smelt of what i think is good lead and did not want to booger it up. As for wasting time if i dident have time on my hands i would not be going through all this for 2cent bullets.
With all that smelting and casting of ingots one thing i did notice is that some of the ingots are very smooth and some are course a figured it was a temp thing?

[Suo Gan]

I would recommend that besides going through the classics and stickies page, you also buy yourself two books, The Cast Bullet Handbook, 4th edition, put out by Lyman, and also Veral Smith's, "Jacketed Performance with Cast Bullets." The Lyman book is an easier read (and includes data for your boolit), and Smith's book is more in depth. Between the two they pretty much cover it all. When you pair them with this sites archive you have a lot of information to digest!

[Suo Gan]

Yep I totaly understand the clips will float to the top first smelt of what i think is good lead and did not want to booger it up. As for wasting time if i dident have time on my hands i would not be going through all this for 2cent bullets.
With all that smelting and casting of ingots one thing i did notice is that some of the ingots are very smooth and some are course a figured it was a temp thing?

By smooth and course, it could be the surface of your ingot mold? Or it could be that you have some impurities or oxides doing that to your ingots. Don't think its a temperature problem. Did you flux your molten alloy with wax, oil, sawdust, or the like and let it be consumed as you stir it with your piece of kindling? Then remove all the black carbon and slag from the surface before you dip any out?

2 cent bullets are non existent anymore. Usually jacketed bullets run anywhere from .20 cents to upwards of .50 cents a piece. I would not give a plugged nickle for most of the commercial cast boolits out there. The premo commercial cast boolits cost about the same as jacketed. You'll find out that lead boolits that you make specifically to fit a particular gun will be something money can't buy at any price.

[onondaga]

The appearance of ingot surface is just an indication of alloy temp/mold temp when pouring and cooling rate when cooling. You haven't changed the alloy even if they all look different when they have come from the same batch.

You haven't mentioned slugging your bore yet. Don't forget that. That is what gives you the measurement you should add plus .002 for the correct sizing die for your bullets.

Hope you get a good start.

Gary