How do I get the bling in my Boolits?

[tayous1]

So I have been casting for about two years most of my lead had been range scrape or shotgun lead. I'm wanting to know how to make some nice sliver shiny boolits do I add tin or something else? Also the boolits that are on MP Bullet molds web site that are black or dark gray how is that done? Is it moly?

Also is there anything about casting in other metals? Sliver or light weight metals?Can you cast a Aluminum or Zinc boolite? I can play with this all day but want to know if someone as tried or if there is a it's not going to work because?! Thanks

What I want the bling boolits is that I have a friend who is retiring from my PD 25 years and he is a big 1911 shooter and was wanting to give him a box of nice bling boolits HP he always joked that he had every type of bullet but a sliver bullet! Thought it would be nice to give him a box of sliver bullets without the sliver price! The other metals I just want to know about because I love working with metal! Thanks.

[farmerjim]

Try this forum here. Forum: Coatings and Alternatives

[cbrick]

Silver melts at over 1,400 degrees. Aluminum melts at 1220 degrees. Both are well out of the heat range of home lead casting equipment. Zinc is a possibility melting at 787 degrees but casts very poorly at that temp.

Rick

[fecmech]

I believe if you add about 5% tin to your mix and cast with a mold temp that just gives you complete fill out you will have nice chrome looking boolits.

[Charlie Two Tracks]

Really fine steel wool. Load then up and then wipe the tip with the steel wool. Quick and easy.

[bangerjim]

Polish them! Lead takes a real nice "silver" sheen with just a little elbow grease. Then hit them with a VERY light spray of clear shellac to seal the lead from tarnishing. Just be sure they are wrinkle-free or any blemishes will really show up! Shellac will stick well to brass and lead.......lacquer will not and will crack over time.

A good auto rub polish will do just nicely. And will make the cases shine also!

bangerjim

[fredj338]

Try pure tin. As cbrick notes, other metals are not gonna happen at conventional temps for casting. Tin will look like silver & not dull.

[white eagle]

Tin Tin Tin polish

[ShooterAZ]

1/25 cast at 675 makes some really blingy lookin' boolits.

[fryboy]

the low as possible melt temp combined with wiping them off ( paper towel will work as long as they arent frosted too severely ) if you wish them to remain with bling a quick clear coat may not be a bad idea

[lwknight]

Try Nu-Finish from auto supply store.

[savingprivateyang]

If you have a lathe, or know someone who does, you could always turn out some silver bullets.

[digger44]

5 % tin is wasting money. Tin is expensive in relation to lead. 2-3% tin is more than enough.

EDIT .. I reread the OP. I first thought these bullets were going to be shot.

[wyattjames]

Run you melt temp as low as possible and still
Get complete fill,the cooling time left in mold plays into it also .play around with spruce cool time and temp you'll get it

[dikman]

Spray them with chrome paint [smilie=1:.

[boltaction308]

There is a real good web page about an artists SERIOUS attempt at making silver bullets. It was VERY difficult
http://www.patriciabriggs.com/articles/silver/silverbullets.shtml

[Iron Mike Golf]

I'd use some scrap pewter. Set the pot for 500 degrees or so. I'd start with a cold or barely pre-heated mold and just let casting warm it (might hit the HP pin with a torch). I'd want the mold just warm enough to allow a good looking nose. Drive bands and base don't matter for these dummy rounds.

After assembly, polish the entire round with a metal polish, then clear coat the entire round to delay oxidation.

[454PB]

Cast with straight linotype.

[popper]

Silver PAINT!

[Defcon-One]

Really fine steel wool. Load then up and then wipe the tip with the steel wool. Quick and easy.

Better try polishing with a soft cotton towel first. They will be much shinier!

Low Antimony, High Tin is you best bet for the Silver Bullet look. Try 25:1 or 20:1.



Cast with straight linotype.


That is also a good idea. They will take a longer time to gray up then. Harder too. But, you'll still need to polish them with a cotton towel.

[tayous1]

Thanks also if I was going to make them they were going to be able to shoot! Not into making a novelty item just for show the officer is Native American and I thought placing (I'm non native but work on a reservation.) his peoples culture in these boolits would make it special as for the HP I was going to add Sage and Tobacco and seal it off with wax or something like that as his people feel these plants help protect them from the living and what is in the past life and has come back!

I would also be making a few of these boolites for myself just to show off! I have one other officer who was a true blue FMJ for his 1911 fan start come and asking me about lead after he shoot some of my Lee 230gr RN 452. He saw how he could shoot more for less and is starting to think of reloading not to the point of boolites maybe if I get him to reload I will push him to boolites! His hobby is to buy a stock 1911 and upgrade it to make it from a $500 pistol to a $2,500 he has been loving the boolite rounds I have given to him from a Lee 230gr six banger! Some of my first Boolits he tells me work 100% and are accurate tell him the price per round and I can see him thinking! As he spends $25 to$35 a box for Federal ONLY FMJ so him using my Boolits in his $2,500 pistol was a shock to me and when he came back asking for more!

WOW way off topic but I do have a small amount of people near me who might like a Boolite that is pretty as my local VFW awards vets(Yes combat vet here) with old 1911 and M1 in a case but to have a nice looking Boolite in the case with the rifle or pistol would just make it look so much better and that I would do for nothing as my Heroes growing up WWI, WWII, Korea and Nam vets are more then well worth the time and cost to me! Not going to go anymore into that as I know how they feel about the "Heroes"being placed on them! Heroes we are not the true Heroes are the ones who did not make it back home to see there family and loved ones!!

I'm not a Hero "I'm just the lucky SOB who made it back alive!The Real Heroes of the so called Heroes did not!" My guess is 100% of combat vets agree with this!

[dikman]

Ok, forget the paint! Perhaps careful buffing with a soft wheel in a Dremel-type tool might bring up the shine? (I've never tried it, as I've never had a need for polished lead). Whatever you do, though, I reckon they'll need clear-coating otherwise they'll eventually tarnish/oxidise.

Yep, a nice round (or two) would look nice as part of a boxed presentation set.

[MRBACKHAND]

Noticed this post and I realize it's a 4 months old but I had a idea about your bullet bling if you have not finished yet. How about nickel cases and then have your boolits chromed at a chrome shop . Lots of store bought ammo uses copper plated lead so why not chrome them? Part of the chroming process is dipping the metal into copper then coating with the bright shiny stuff.

[gwpercle]

Several years back Jack Lewis and that "interesting" bunch at Gun World Magazine tried to recreate the Lone Ranger's silver boolit's and shoot them. It was quite a chore to get the silver melted and cast into a 45 cal. boolit for loading into a 45 Colt. They managed to do it, load a few but the boolits were very inaccurate and didn't even look pretty. The consensus was it wasn't worth the trouble. Search Gun world Magazine- cast silver bullet and some info will come up.
Be better off turning them on a lathe , at least they would look good.
Gary

[GLL]

Pure lead... No polishing ! :)

BUT they oxidize quickly!

http://www.fototime.com/4CA799194F681DD/orig.jpg

Well I looked it up....and these have 2% tin added.
Jerry

[lwknight]

Pure lead... No polishing ! :smile:

BUT they oxidize quickly!
Clear lacquer.

[hickfu]

or you could buy him some of the real thing... that is if you like him that much

http://silverbulletbullion.com/

Doc

[guncheese]

these are straight SOWW nothing added
right out of the mold
cant get better than that
108400

[Bzcraig]

Go to 'coatings and alternatives' I've seen posts there that some have used 'chrome' powder paint that works good. Pretty sure you could pick up 50 real cheap.