Rookie question concerning Wheel-weights

[OTH]

This is my first post and I hope I'm in the right pew.

I have wanted to try bullet casting for a very long time and think I’m about to jump in, at least my wish list is about complete. Getting serious, I decided I needed to find a forum where I could start asking questions and find relief for my ignorance. Surfing around today I decided this was the place.

The gent who runs the place where I have my car serviced offered to give me a bucket of wheel-weights this coming Monday. So, this maybe a continuing resource for me but my first question is if I melt these WW in a new furnace have I marked it for WW from there on out? Also, is there multiple steps in getting the WW ready for bullet casting like melting it down and cleaning up then making ingots for future casting? Maybe a rookie like me should purchase some hard ball alloy to start and not be messing about with WW. You all have probably been asked this hundreds of time and maybe you can point me to a thread that will explain this line of questioning.

Oh, just in case this will help with the cast alloy I should use, my primary casting will be for a 45ACP S&W 625 revolver I will be using as a Field Pistol in Silhouette events for just fun shooting. The die I’m thinking of getting is Lyman’s #452460 200 gr. SWC.

It’s good to be here and I look forward to starting my schooling. Lots of threads for me to begin reading.

Hope I haven’t opened Pandora’s Box with bullet casting but it looks interesting and a practical investment.

Thanks.

[RogerDat]

Wonderful group of helpful people here. Things I have picked up from them. Read the stickies on fluxing and smelting, when you melt those WW's you will need to flux to pull impurities out and keep the good stuff in. Sawdust or fine wood chips from the pet supply are good, bees wax. But read up on that.

You will probably want a separate pot to melt WW's they are pretty dirty, you will want to keep that crud out of the pot you are going to cast with. Stickies and posts on sorting WW's is something to read. Some are NOT good to melt, some are plain lead some are alloy, you will need to know the difference and how to either sort before you melt or keep from melting the bad stuff into the lead you want to cast.

Enough from me, wife wants to run errands.... Welcome, good luck and have fun.

[MT Chambers]

For initial smelting most use some type of propane cooker and and a large iron pot, I made a melter out of a weed burner. a little electric pot is too small and slow. Stir the melt, flux, stir again, remove impurities from top and then do it again. Get a few ingot molds and fill them, and your ready to cast, you might want to add tin to your mix for better fill out....the mold 452460 is about as good a choice as there is for the .45 auto.......good luck!

[brtelec]

If you want to start casting read the book in this thread below. I found it invaluable.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?110212-From-Ingot-to-Target-A-Cast-Bullet-Guide-for-Handgunners&highlight=fryxell

[jmort]

There are a few YouTube videos worth watching. Check the weights with some cutters to sort out all the lead ones and if you run you pot around 700 degrees, or less, the waste will float to the top.

[kungfustyle]

Welcome aboard. Do what you can afford. Bring the guy at the tire shop some doughnuts or something to keep him happy. Good ww supply is very handy and getting difficult to come across. By the way ww are the way to go: Air cooled they are great for pistols, water quenched or heat treated they can get as hard as you need them. Get a good source for saw dust for fluxing, if not got to Tractor supply they sell 40lb bags of "horse bedding" for $6 and its compressed sawdust. I only have one pot that I smelt and cast with, it works for me. Start out with one, you can always get another later. If you need something post it in the swapping and selling section, These people here are great and will give you a fair price for good equipment. If you have questions ask, again great people here that are more than willing to help. What they say works!!!! Good Luck.

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

OTH, Welcome aboard!

You kind of need to pick your poison and go with it as there is more then one way to skin the cat.

As has already been said, don't smelt your WW in the bottom pour pot.

In fact I'd go one further and say don't buy a bottom pour at all and yes, I have tried them.

I have for many years, since the late 60s or early 70s used an old Coleman gas stove and for quite a few years an old cast iron Dutch Oven type pot that holds 40 - 45lbs of alloy.

Recently because I'm finally getting with it and smelting down my years old WW stash along with some newer scrounge, I bought another pot that likely holds about 70lbs of clean metal, which means I can add enough dirty WW - clips and all - to come up with about 40lbs of smelted WW.

BE AWARE that any recent WW will VERY LIKELY have zinc WW mixed in and you need to either sort them out or keep your smelting temp low enough that the zinc does not melt and foul your WW alloy.

For pouring my bullets, I use a Rowel bottom pour ladle which available from Car Mover Company, Rotometals or Buffalo Arms as well as other suppliers.

Just make your choices knowing that you don't need a bottom pour pot to be a good bullet caster just like you don't need a progressive press to be a good handloader. If you have them and like them, fine, but they are not required to make the team.

Also a good read is the Lyman Cast Bullet handbook. Just like with handloading where reading the front of the book on 2 or 3 good loading manuals BEFORE starting SHOULD be required, reading a bunch on casting will greatly ease the process with bullet casting.

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[bangerjim]

Agree....do NOT melt your WW's in your casting pot! Buy a quality CI pot and turkey fryer. Sounds like you may be getting more, so the investment is a good one you will appreciate and use for years to come.

I vote for a bottom pour Lee 4-20 all the way. Have 2 and they work beautifully. Some moan about drips but if you do NOT melt garbage in it, it should not get plugged and drip. I can fill a 6 cavity mold faster than I can fill my casting ladle! Never use the ladle at all except for some very old molds I have. The 4-20 is the best investment you will make starting out. Once you get going and really get into this habit, you can then decide if you want to mortgage the house and buy one of those high-end melters.

But please do not melt WW's in a casting pot.......EVER. You are only asking for trouble down the line. Only thing you want in that pot is good clean fluxed 3X ingots you made and know are clean and pure!

Welcome to the madness. [smilie=w:

bangerjim :guntootsmiley:

[jmort]

Avoid cast iron smelting pots. Bad idea. Steel smelting pots are far better.

[OTH]

I see RogerDat knows what he's talking about in the wonderful, helpful people here. I see I've fallen in with a grand knowledgeable bunch. Thanks to you all for your input.

Just in the last couple of weeks I started unpacking my reloading gear that has been put away for quite some time. No progressive press in the boxes, just my old standby Rock Chucker, although I have a Lyman T-Mag II that I purchased back in the 90s that's never been out of the box. Thinking I'll test the Lyman out in the near future when I get the shop squared away for a reloading area. Also unpacked a box of books which contained Lyman's Third Edition of Cast Bullet Handbook which I have started to read. I have ordered Lyman's Fourth Edition so I'd be more up-to-date there. Now, with you folks to help keep me straight I should be underway.

Again, thanks for all the quick responses, information, and encouragement. You all have made me feel right at home.

[bangerjim]

Avoid cast iron smelting pots. Bad idea. Steel smelting pots are far better.

NEW CHEAP THIN cast iron pots...........like HF/Walmart/Target.....you must be specific! I have 2 VERY old CI pots (probably from 1880-1910's) that are beautiful over a propane flame! They have been heated countless times with no problems. This new CI garbage will crack from thermal shock where the older quality stuff is much more stable and resilient.

Just do no EVER quench hot CI in water! Any of it will potentially weaken and eventually crack.

Don't pass up an old Dutch oven at a sale!

If you can find a steel container of sufficient size AND strength (!) use that. Some cut apart old pressure vessels......many do not have the expertise of tools to do that.


banger

[jmort]

I have two cut propane tanks and aside from the inherent superior integrity, the rounded bottoms make them even better. You have the expertise to do it, try it and tell me what you think. I expect you will be quite happy with it.

[dikman]

OTH, there is a HUGE amount of info to read on this site! It may seem a bit overwhelming at first, but persevere and read, read, read. You CAN smelt and cast from the same pot (I used a large stainless steel pot at first (over a gas burner)- smelt and cast the ingots, then clean it out and later I re-melted the ingots in it and used a soup ladle for pouring. If you're likely to be doing a lot of casting, however, then a separate pot for smelting (old propane tanks cut in half are great) and an electric temperature controlled pot for casting is a necessity for most people. Bottom-pours aren't for everyone, but I don't regret getting one (#2 is on the way!) they make casting so civilized :smile:.

Just be aware that you may start down this path with the intention of doing it on-the-cheap, but once you get hooked you WILL end up buying/making a smelting pot and getting an electric something.

But, hey, it's all good fun.

[bangerjim]

OTH, there is a HUGE amount of info to read on this site! It may seem a bit overwhelming at first, but persevere and read, read, read. You CAN smelt and cast from the same pot (I used a large stainless steel pot at first (over a gas burner)- smelt and cast the ingots, then clean it out and later I re-melted the ingots in it and used a soup ladle for pouring. If you're likely to be doing a lot of casting, however, then a separate pot for smelting (old propane tanks cut in half are great) and an electric temperature controlled pot for casting is a necessity for most people. Bottom-pours aren't for everyone, but I don't regret getting one (#2 is on the way!) they make casting so civilized :smile:.

Just be aware that you may start down this path with the intention of doing it on-the-cheap, but once you get hooked you WILL end up buying/making a smelting pot and getting an electric something.

But, hey, it's all good fun.

My wife reminds me........"remember that hobby that was going to save us hundreds........is now costing us THOUSANDS!"

I reply with......"well, it keeps me out of the bars and whorehouses!"

(I must say.......our couch is rather comfortable.......)

banger

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

You don't need an electric anything to be a good and proficient bullet caster. It is a choice and even after trying the electric direction, chose to remain with the lead pot and old Coleman gas stove.

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot