Mod42
11-03-2013, 11:42 PM
New guy here, been lurking for about a year and a half and I just wanted to tell everyone what a help this forum has been.
Been loading for about 40 years, and started casting a little over a year ago. I found this form about two years ago and started reading. It didn't take long to figure that this casting thing wasn't rocket science and thought I should give it a try. So, I bought a couple of Lee molds, push through dies, and a melting pot. I manage an auto center so I have a good supply of wheel weights. First project make ingots out of wheel weights. Found out real fast that an Aluminum pan is not a good smelting vessel even if it is a quarter inch thick. Cleaned up the mess on the ground and came to this forum for answers. Next project, make some of those lead muffins into boolits. Poured the lead into the Lee mold, opened it up and was amazed that that lead I just let run into the mold kind of looked like a bullet!! Wasn't so pretty anymore when I got done pounding the bullet out of the mold with a 4 lb hammer. Tried a few more and pretty much the same results, couldn't get the bullet out with out using excessive force. Back to the forum to figure out what to do. Learned all about Lementing, did it on all three molds. Saved them from becoming targets at the rifle range. Next up was lubing, had all of that Alox that Lee was nice enough to send me with the push through dies, so I sprayed it on......back to the forum. I learned about mixing Alox, wax, and mineral spirits into something that actually works!
I had been buying store bought cast boolits for years for the .357, and was expecting a little leading with my home brewed just like the store bought stuff. I was really happy when the .357's worked great, with no leading. So I loaded up 750 .45 ACP's. After about fifty of them the barrel was so badly leaded that I could have opened a mine. I'm getting pretty smart by now so I figure the alloy is to soft ( don't laugh at me I'm still learning). Back to the forum to learn about water dropping and heat treating, didn't help. Good thing I only loaded 200 more. Read a lot about slugging the barrel, but by then I was too smart, I knew that was not going to help. Bought a better cleaning kit, leading was going to happen, I was using lead bullets. Then one night after spending an hour removing lead from my .45, I thought just for kicks I'll pound a slug through the barrel. What I discovered was that I was shooting bullets that were .0015 smaller than the barrel diameter. Back to the forum for answers. Opened the die up to the proper size and no more leading. Then I started to read about lube (by now I was to sophisticated for Lee's Alox), Ben's Red sounded like something I had to have, mixed up a batch. Tried pan lubing after spending a lot of time on the forum reading about it. Made cutters out of old shells. All I am going to say about pan lubing is that UPS brought me a brand new Lyman 4500 two weeks ago.
I mean it with all my hart when I tell you that I would not be casting right now if this forum wasn't here to get me back on track when things went wrong. The volume and quality of the information available here is fantastic. I was able to find answers for each problem that I encountered along the way, and because of that I was able to maintain interest until I actually learned how to cast a decent boolit. Today I can cast a boolit that I am proud to show other shooters, in a mold that I took the "rough edges" off, lubed with a concoction that I mixed up myself. When I get done shooting my barrel just needs a quick wipe and it's clean....life don't get much better!!
Thanks.....bruce
Been loading for about 40 years, and started casting a little over a year ago. I found this form about two years ago and started reading. It didn't take long to figure that this casting thing wasn't rocket science and thought I should give it a try. So, I bought a couple of Lee molds, push through dies, and a melting pot. I manage an auto center so I have a good supply of wheel weights. First project make ingots out of wheel weights. Found out real fast that an Aluminum pan is not a good smelting vessel even if it is a quarter inch thick. Cleaned up the mess on the ground and came to this forum for answers. Next project, make some of those lead muffins into boolits. Poured the lead into the Lee mold, opened it up and was amazed that that lead I just let run into the mold kind of looked like a bullet!! Wasn't so pretty anymore when I got done pounding the bullet out of the mold with a 4 lb hammer. Tried a few more and pretty much the same results, couldn't get the bullet out with out using excessive force. Back to the forum to figure out what to do. Learned all about Lementing, did it on all three molds. Saved them from becoming targets at the rifle range. Next up was lubing, had all of that Alox that Lee was nice enough to send me with the push through dies, so I sprayed it on......back to the forum. I learned about mixing Alox, wax, and mineral spirits into something that actually works!
I had been buying store bought cast boolits for years for the .357, and was expecting a little leading with my home brewed just like the store bought stuff. I was really happy when the .357's worked great, with no leading. So I loaded up 750 .45 ACP's. After about fifty of them the barrel was so badly leaded that I could have opened a mine. I'm getting pretty smart by now so I figure the alloy is to soft ( don't laugh at me I'm still learning). Back to the forum to learn about water dropping and heat treating, didn't help. Good thing I only loaded 200 more. Read a lot about slugging the barrel, but by then I was too smart, I knew that was not going to help. Bought a better cleaning kit, leading was going to happen, I was using lead bullets. Then one night after spending an hour removing lead from my .45, I thought just for kicks I'll pound a slug through the barrel. What I discovered was that I was shooting bullets that were .0015 smaller than the barrel diameter. Back to the forum for answers. Opened the die up to the proper size and no more leading. Then I started to read about lube (by now I was to sophisticated for Lee's Alox), Ben's Red sounded like something I had to have, mixed up a batch. Tried pan lubing after spending a lot of time on the forum reading about it. Made cutters out of old shells. All I am going to say about pan lubing is that UPS brought me a brand new Lyman 4500 two weeks ago.
I mean it with all my hart when I tell you that I would not be casting right now if this forum wasn't here to get me back on track when things went wrong. The volume and quality of the information available here is fantastic. I was able to find answers for each problem that I encountered along the way, and because of that I was able to maintain interest until I actually learned how to cast a decent boolit. Today I can cast a boolit that I am proud to show other shooters, in a mold that I took the "rough edges" off, lubed with a concoction that I mixed up myself. When I get done shooting my barrel just needs a quick wipe and it's clean....life don't get much better!!
Thanks.....bruce