Fun!!!

[Old Jim]

I like to share my fun with other relativly new casters.

Since I sold my last 44 Mag, I decided to remelt some of the piles of 44 bullets to feed my insatiable 41s. All went well until I dropped about 100 Lee 310 gr gas checked bullets into a hot pot.
FIREWORKS!
I now have little copper cups and little splashes of lead all over my shop. Some of the gas checks flew 20 ft.

Almost as much fun as spitting into a pot to see if the lead is hot.

[waksupi]

Jim, what made it blow? Have some moisture in the checks somehow?

[13Echo]

I suspect tiny amounts of air trapped under the cups expanded and blew the cups off. Could be almost as good as trapped water.

Jerry Liles

[44man]

Old jim, spitting into the pot usually won't do anything. It is water that gets under the surface of the lead that explodes from super heated steam. I have to ask if you had lube on those boolits and what kind. It might have picked up moisture. I have put hundreds of gas checked boolits in the pot with nothing like that happening.

[David R]

Thanks for the warning, I have been putting gas checked boolilts in the hot pot for a long time and never had a problem. Maybe I should throw em in before I fire up the pot.

[Old Jim]

I assumed it was air trapped under the gas check. Almost every one of them popped like corn.
I was using SAECO Green lube.

My spit reference was due to having a drop of sweat fall off the end of my nose into a hot pot. Got lead spatteers on both arms and ruined a t-shirt.

The bullets had been stored setting on their bases,gas checks, in flat boxes in my print shop. We do not have sophisticated air control but we try to keep the humidity down.

By the way, have your local printer find you some "jewelry boxes". We bought some years ago and were never used until I discovered the use as cast bullet storage. I lube and place the bullets in the boxes. Each box will hold app 250 41 cal bullets. The boxes are 3/4" deep and each has a cotton pad. works great.

[44man]

It sure is best to keep all water away from the pot. I have intentionally thrown a few drops in while standing back with protective clothes and a shield on without anything happen except a puff of steam. It all depends on where the water goes. You must have heavy sweat!

[nighthunter]

A few years ago my father, whom was about 70 years old at the time, was going to make himself a new boat anchor. He got an appropriate sized can plus an eye hook with several nuts and washers. Then he got his lead melting. Not looking like enough in the pot he decided to throw in one of his old boat anchors. It was an instant explosion of the lead because of an amount of moisture in the old boat anchor. My mother and an older sister demanded that Dad go to the doctor. Doctor took care of the burns and gave him an order to go get a lead test which he later through in the trash. My older sister whom is a nurse was later asked by the doctor why my Dad didn't just go buy an anchor. Her reply to him was ... "You don't understand .... it's just not done that way."