Bullet Casting Neophyte!

[Unter]

In the last couple weeks I have scrounged enough ww's to make 130# of ingots (cost $17 & 20 miles on the truck) , scored a free 30# lead ingot(neighbor at work) and cast 675 .45 200gr swc's and 175ish 300gr .44 mag.
I KNOW! I WILL GET THE 240GR FOR THE .44! FORGIVE ME PLEASE!

Would like to thank the board for the informative posts on making boolets. And Graff&Sons for the great prices and service on my equipment order.

My only complaint is the Lee 6 cavity molds are too darn fast.
The 20# pot does not drip.
Will complain about the LLA and the cheap Ramshot powder from Midway after I use them:roll: .

Some pics of my excellent adventure.

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u130/Unter44/1-1.jpg

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u130/Unter44/3.jpg

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u130/Unter44/4.jpg

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u130/Unter44/6.jpg

[Jack Stanley]

Doncha feel better about helping recycle and saving the planet and all that ? :-D When I got started I never realized what I was getting into .... just wanted to save a little money on my rifle bullets [smilie=1: Now I don't even count the different calibers I load for , I just enjoy shooting inexpensively :Fire:

Jack

[Unter]

Without recycling, the planet would
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u130/Unter44/03Post.jpg

[Buckshot]

..............Ah, but this is just the beginning! It looks lke you have made a very good beginning too :-)

..................Buckshot

[montana_charlie]

Unter,
How do you like that little burner unit?

By coincidence, I am using a home-made version of the same thing.
I happened upon the cast iron burner (like yours) at the dump...unused and undamaged. After some Googling, I found and called the Customer Service desk for the company...to inquire about how to get the control set. The lady took my name and address...and four days later I had it. No charge!
Using a picture from the internet to figure spacing, I built a frame from 2-inch angle iron to hold the components, and fasioned a trivet from rebar.

Other than the fact that yours is round and mine is square, they are identical...except that I added a master valve (on the end of the pipe) that adjusts, or shuts off, the gas without needing to turn each of those little round knobs.

I use it for smelting newly acquired lead, and for mixing lead/tin alloy in 20 pound batches.

Mine is no taller than yours, and I like the stability of such a low work surface. Being made of welded-together solid steel, mine is probably stronger than yours, but the overall size is small enough to limit the amount that you can pile on it.

Welcome to the world of casting, and it looks like you are starting with useful hardware...
CM

[Unter]

Unter,
How do you like that little burner unit?

I like it, cant wait to fry up some mullet with it. The oil doesn't get hot enough on the stove...

[georgeld]

Unter:
The pictures proove a point I've tried to make many times.

"trash burns, crap floats, what melts makes boolits".

When you get to the point of recycling jacketed bullets from a range pickup.
Keep 'em clean, save 'em in a bucket til it's full. Then sell it for scrap and you'll recover the cost of the whole set up including a few molds. Just keep the melt out of the jackets is the thing the scrap yards bitch about.
Here they won't buy it mixed. But, will pay around two bucks a pound for clean brass. Figure a bucketful will weigh 50-100lbs and that's incentive enough, right?

Welcome to the club, and this board.

By changing to 1lb ingots, you can stack them nicely in those big plastic milk crates. I get 728 ingots per crate. There's no left over space like those muffins you have there. Plus, they slip into the Lee pot just right. Something to think about for the future when you start expanding on the program.

Enjoy yourself,

[USARO4]

Welcome aboard and you also have my condolences. You are showing the first signs of serious addiction, you have already raided your wife's kitchen for useful utensils. I noticed her ladle and spoon in your pictures.

[Unter]

Thanks for the coaching George. Good information.

USAR!... I did see the dismay on her face for a moment, I was just about to excuse myself when "That Look" evolved into her regular cheery face.
She may have realized that I reload all her munitions(she does help at times), Or she might have been wondering what percentage of claim she actually has on the kitchen and the associated utensils. I was not about to ask.
Either way, I seem to have gotten a pass on that one.

John O.

[dromia]

Welcome!

Nice photographs, nice rendering set-up.

Thanks for sharing.

[montana_charlie]

she might have been wondering what percentage of claim she actually has on the kitchen and the associated utensils...
That is never in question at our house.
I am asked/allowed to 'help out' occasionally, and for certain culinary masterpieces I become the temporary 'head chef'. But ownership of the area, and all it encloses, belongs to SWMBO.
CM

[Edward429451]

That is a nice setup. Gotta love those low working surfaces.

Just in case someone is lacking a smelter setup for lack of funds...Buddy up to a Heat & Air shop and get a free one. All those old coal furnaces out there that had been converted to gas are being changed out and the burner assemblies are just slid in place. I scabbed two that way, one round and one rack burner. Solid cast iron. Extra burners can be easily plugged off with orifice blanks (cheap) or plain pipe plugs.

At the most, you may have to haul away the whole old furnace for them or if they're nice they'll save just the burner assembly for you.

I wish I had picture posting capability to show you my setup (free) but do not. Both units have 3/4" pipe stubs and I notched a spline out of old metal milk crates so the crate will sit flat over the gasline upside down and sit my dutch oven on top of that. A standard ballvalve gascock to adjust flow.

[Unter]

Quite the welcome, and thanks for the compliments!

Great ideas on cheap smelter setups, that is truly the best way to get it done. With work and other issues intruding on my play time, I needed my casting therapy quickly. A few online orders and the precious anticipation of the big brown truck of joy gave me the boost I needed. Turned out to be funner than buying a $60 motorcycle.

The bullets I have cast so far from ww's seem to be harder than some very old .45swc's that I had laying around and a little softer than the big ash Cast Performance samples I bought. I am using the calibrated bench vise for my hardness testing and twisting the handle maliciously until something gives. Looks like I am good to go.....

The bullets should have already been loaded and tested in the back yard but human encroachment has me shooting much less in the yard. I am sure many of you have seen big changes in your area too.