Report on teaching a teen casting and reloading

[7Acres]

Over the past couple of weeks my wife's cousin has been in town spending time with my in-laws. He's been a volunteer at Old Salem in NC working with the blacksmiths learning the trade there. My in-laws know I cast and reload so they wondered if I'd be willing to have him over and teach him. I haven't had anyone ask me to teach them before but I was more than happy to be a good influence on a teen and give him an appreciation of what all goes into making his own ammunition.*

I didn't know what all we'd have time to get into so I set him up casting 452230. Showed him what to look for when inspecting the bullets. Explained the sawdust flux and its purposes. Showed him how to apply Bullplate and what that helps with. After I saw he was up to speed and properly rejecting any boolits with defects I left him alone a while to let him get a rhythm going. I checked in on him when he was at around 120 rounds finished. He asked if we'd have time to get to reload them. I said to go ahead and make it to 200 boolits and we'll see how much time we have left.

Checked with the mother-in-law (his ride) to see how much longer she wanted to hang out and play with her 1yr old grandson. Short story, plenty of time. He finished casting the 200th boolit. I explained the TL lube groves and we applied 45/45/10. Then I set him up with the sizing die and let him size the boolits he cast. Since the LLA wasn't dry I grabbed a box of some identical ones I had cast months ago to reload.*

Then I got us set up to reload. Showed him some large and small pistol primers; showed him what a couple different powders look like for comparison sake. Then I got out the brass, loaded up a box of primers, put the powder in the hopper with the proper Lee sizer disk in place. I carefully explained the function of each of the 4 dies and loaded up 10 rounds while explaining so he could see how it's done. We had just enough time for him to load up 10 rounds. He followed all instructions very well. Next up? Shoot 'em!

I said, "You get to shoot the 10 you loaded and I'll shoot the 10 I loaded." Down to the pistol cube. I loaded and shot 5 from the 1911 and recovered the brass. Then it was his turn. I was standing a good 10 feet away saying a prayer that all would go well. Sure did! All 5 went bang and he had a pretty good group. I shot my remaining 5. Then I recommended he might just want to shoot 4 so he could put the last one in his pocket as a souvenir. He liked that idea. He'd been in a pretty quiet and serious mood all day but after shooting off the last one I could see this glow come over him! We went up to the house to announce we were done for the day. Then I thought to ask him if he'd like a sampling of each of the unloaded components so he could explain to his Mom how a bullet is made and what all of the components look like unloaded. We went down and popped the primer out of one of the spent brass he shot and gave those to him. And I grabbed an unloaded boolit too. But he didn't want one of the ones I had cast. So we picked out one of the dry ones he had cast. There, all set! He was all smiles as grandma was backing out of the driveway. I tell ya, that was one happy camper!*

And I really enjoyed showing him the ropes!*

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[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

very cool

[w5pv]

Good for you and him,happy casting,shooting,etc

[firefly1957]

Good job he is the future.

[Bloodman14]

Teach 'em young, teach 'em right!

[popper]

Sounds like a great time. Did you warn him about handling lead & primers without washing hands afterwards? I think I would have given him a dummy round to keep.

[7Acres]

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His mom brought him down last Sunday. After church we were talking about lead over lunch (of all things). And I was explaining to him and his mom how you usually want an alloyed lead like COWW for casting for pistol. I told my story about how my mother-in-law couldn't understand why I picked out all the things I did from a lady's estate she was helping with. When my mother-in-law finally asked me why I wanted all that unusual stuff I said, "Because it's made of pewter and I want to melt it all down for the tin to sweeten up my boolits!" She almost made me give it all back because she didn't want it being used for that!*

Anyway, I made a point to share with him and his mother how WW lead is alloyed with small amounts of tin, antimony and arsenic. That was last weekend. This weekend when I was giving him the whirlwind tour of casting I explained how lead is a heavy metal. You can handle it but you don't want to ingest it. You don't want to be eating with your hands if they've got lead residue on them. I also shared how there are certain foods you can eat that will bind with lead and allow it to be removed from your body if they are present. Cilantro is one, which is why I like to use a smelting or casting session as a good excuse to go out and get some Mexican afterward!*

I also made sure he used safety glasses and leather gloves while casting. I explained to him that you don't want to be breathing the fumes coming off the casting pot. You can see my setup in the photo below...

77083

[popper]

Good job. Like the range, for that age it's safety first, fun later. Did you demonstrate the tinsel fairy?

[7Acres]

I didn't demonstrate an actual tinsel fairy event. But I did show him how the moisture in the sawdust will boil off if you push some down in the melt with your ladle. And basically said you only want to mix in carbonized sawdust to keep the alloy from separating. Or to make it re-alloy if it had already began to separate. Actually got to show how that worked.

[Boerrancher]

I hope you set the hook deep while you had him on the line. Usually it doesn't take much with a kid to make them a responsible gun owner and shooter for life. If he left excited you did well. We all need to take this story to heart and pass our hobbies on to younger folks.

Best wishes

Joe

[Cag40Navy]

Good job. Like the range, for that age it's safety first, fun later. Did you demonstrate the tinsel fairy?

Excuse me... Who's (what) is the Tinsel Fairy?

[snuffy]

Excuse me... Who's (what) is the Tinsel Fairy?

The "tinsel fairy" is water that gets under the surface of the molten alloy,(lead), that instantly turns into high energy steam. A miniature explosion under the lead surface will throw about the top half of the alloy out at high velocity to coat everything in in the vicinity of the pot, including you and your bare skin. It resembles the tinsel we use on the Christmas trees, a thin layer of lead all over everything.

The moisture can come from a lead ingot that got wet, the water could be hiding in a crevice. Or a bullet recovered from a berm that has some wet soil on it. Or somebody that thinks you MUST wash range lead that you dig out of berms. Then they don't get it dry enough.

Some say just a drop of sweat on the surface of the melt is enough. Unless it's a big drop of sweat! The water has to go under the surface. A small droplet will dance and sizzle on the surface.

The way to avoid the tinsel fairy is to get things dry before putting them into the pot. Pre-heat wet ingots on the edge of the pot, or use a hot plate to get things above the boiling point of water.

If you have wet lead to smelt putting it into a cold pot will allow you to melt it. Any water present will boil off before the lead turns liquid. Expect a lot of steam to come off the lead as it heats up.

[blackthorn]

It is also possible (if conditions are right) to get her to visit if you plunge a cold ladle under the surface of the molten alloy, or if you pour molten lead onto/into any damp surface, such as an ingot mould that has been sitting in the cold!

[RobS]

....Checked with the mother-in-law (his ride) to see how much longer she wanted to hang out and play with her 1yr old grandson. Short story, plenty of time. He finished casting the 200th boolit. I explained the TL lube groves and we applied 45/45/10. Then I set him up with the sizing die and let him size the boolits he cast. Since the LLA wasn't dry I grabbed a box of some identical ones I had cast months ago to reload.*....


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This isn't a bad thing actually as antimony bullets if that is what you were casting takes time to age harden. Sometimes a freshly cast boolit such as a wheel weight one is quite soft after casting and can swage down in the case upon seating making the diameter smaller than you would want or intended for your firearm.


Glad you both had fun!!!

[Blacksmith]

Excuse me... Who's (what) is the Tinsel Fairy?

Also do a search on "Tinsel Fairy" and you will find some reports of visitation some members have had and some have pictures. You can also get a visit if a live round is accidentally added to the melt.

[popper]

Easy way to demonstrate is to spit or dampen your ladle and immerse it, with proper protection on all. Bryllcream commercial - a little dab will do it. Once they get the idea, proper protection will not be a question. Oh, & dripping Lee pot. You did get a good start. Keep it up.