first time casting,(ever) muzzle loader

[fireguy715]

I'm getting ready to try casting for the first time. I've got lee REAL 50 and 54 cal bullet molds and a lee pro lead pot. I made some wheel weight ingots and have some old plumbing lead ingots my grandpa made years ago. My questions are: should I use the wheel wieght lead or plumbing lead? Should I quench them in water or let the air cool. Should I lube them or use bore butter on unlubed bullets as I shoot. what should i flux with? Thanks

[docone31]

This is simpler than that.
Keep the wheel weight ingots aside. You might cast for a pistol down the road. You can get lead. R.E.A.L.s like soft lead.
You lube at the range. Take a R.E.A.L. and lube it then load it. I find it a little better if I push a patch in the bore before the R.E.A.L. Seems to point better. At least for me.
You can water drop or not. Soft lead does not harden. I water drop as I have always done that. Bring a small rubber mallet to the range. The R.E.A.L.s can be very tight, some tapping makes it possible. Using the short starter can deform the tip.
When I fired my first loads in my rifle, I used valve lapping compound as lube for the first five loads.
They got easier to load.

[starmac]

Dumb question here, but couldn't a guy size them instead of using the lapping compound??

[P.K.]

Dumb question here, but couldn't a guy size them instead of using the lapping compound??

The REAL's are pretty close to true with the dead soft stuff. I've never needed to do anythig but a quick swipe of lube around one and a tap( sometimes just liberal pressure from my thumb to start) from the mallet and they start. I will try a thin patch the next time I shoot some, worth a try. ;-)

[I'll Make Mine]

Dumb question here, but couldn't a guy size them instead of using the lapping compound??

The lapping compound is to polish the bore, not to size the boolit.

[Sergeant Earthworm]

Definitely use pure or as close to pure lead as you can get for all conicals including the REAL. Wheel weights produce boolits that are too hard for front loaders and would make loading very difficult.

No need to quench pure lead, doing so will not cause it to harden and you wouldn't want harder conicals anyway.

Some shooters have preferred methods of lubing their boolits and there are lots of posts on how they do it. Lubing them with Bore Butter at the time of loading works just fine, make sure you get the lube into the grooves and don't get too much on the base of the boolit because the powder will absorb the excess lube and could foul your charge.

I have always used bees wax for flux, it is all natural which is in keeping with my habit of never using anything petroleum based in or on my Black Powder guns.

A thought: Be careful with recycled plumbing lead. My Dad got hold of some several years ago and the first time he tried to use some it exploded when melted, sending molten lead flying all over the shop. Such an event never happened before and hasn't happened since, so the only thing we can figure is that there was some water trapped in the lead that could not be seen by the naked eye. Good reason to wear protective clothing and never put your body parts directly over the casting pot.