Want to cast my own round balls, whats the minimum equipment I need?

[lentuk]

I would like to have a setup for my possibles bag to cast round balls, whets the minimum equipment a person can get by with?

[docone31]

A second hand ladle, a small pot for melting, a fire and a mold.
simple that way.

[mooman76]

A coleman stove or turkey frier will work.

[lentuk]

Could ya just melt in the ladle?

[mooman76]

Not really if you want decent RBs. The mould needs to heat up to which is done through repetition of casting. A small steel or cast iron pot is all you need.

[fiberoptik]

Old small cast iron frying pan from thrift shop & leather glove help too!


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[Sasquatch-1]

I started with an old vegetable can, a ladle and a Lee mold. Used the stove in the kitchen. Don't recommend the can, welded seam tends to give out.

[lentuk]

I was trying to keep it small for carry in my bag, is there a small cast iron pot?

[bedbugbilly]

A mold - Lee double cavity works fine - $around $20 from Titan, Midway, etc.

A small cast iron melting pot - sometimes known as a plumber's pot - you can buy new, buy used off fleabay or keep an eye out for one at a flea market, antique shop, etc. - price will vary but I've seen them for anywhere from a couple of dollars up to $20

A ladle - I use a Lyman ladle that is a bottom pour with a spout - ut a cheap Lee ladle will work just fine - I think they are under $10 ?

A source of heat to melt with - I have used wood fires (just as our ancestors did) - get a good bed of coals going. There are various makes of electric melters as wall as propane heaters.

I have cast for over 50 years and have always used a Lyman 10# pot and a Lyman ladle. I use a single propane cast iron hot plate to heat my lead hooked to a 20# propane tank. Works just fine. I am pretty "low tech" - I have two of the10# cast iron pot - one for pure lead for casting all my muzzle loading round balls and minie balls and one 10# for "range lead" that I use to cast my various boolits for 38s, 357s, 45s, 8mm, 30-30, etc.

My suggestion is to make it known to your friends that you want to cast and tell them what you are looking for - i,e. a small cast iron pot, a ladle, etc. Do you know any retired plumbers who might have anything that they would part with?

If you can scrounge up what you need it probably won't cost you much. If you buy "new" - I'm guessing around a $100.00 or so would get you going. Flea markets would be a good place to wander and see what you could come up with but in the end, it's what the seller wants for it that determines if it is worth it to you.

Casting is like any other "hobby" - you can get really wrapped up in it and spend lots of $$ on fancy equipment or you can do it on a budget. Just remember that our ancestors, who cast their own round balls, didn't have all the expensive stuff we have today - they did it with a wood fire and the bare minimum. Regardless, keep safety in mind and always wear a shield or safety glasses, leather gloves, etc. and remember that water/coffee/beer/etc. and lead don't mix. Accidentally spill any into your pot of molten lead and it will instantly turn to steam causing the "tinsel fair" to visit with the possibility of sever injury with molten lead flying in all directions.

Good luck to you!

[Texantothecore]

Look at Track of the Wolf (TOW). They have a folding lead ladle that is forged and it may be designed to melt lead as well as pour it into the mould whereas Rowell ladles are strictly for dipping and pouring into the mold.

TOW also has bag molds which are carried in your possibles bag. Two cheap tools and you are up and running.

[lentuk]

I just watched a video of a gentleman doing just that, used a forged ladle to melt lead with a campfire and pour directly into the mold.

[lentuk]

This ladle is a little big for the bag but Ill look at the one from TOW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB2NTlbCeXA

[lentuk]

Another
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dj3LnWKFZFs

[Texantothecore]

Tow has a number of forged ladles that will work.

Sheet lead was frequently used. Easy to carry and just snip off as much as you need.

If you cut small square pieces of lead from the sheet you can use it as shot for your musket or rifle. Sheet lead is much handier than ingot lead in the outback.

[Geezer in NH]

I would like to have a setup for my possibles bag to cast round balls, whets the minimum equipment a person can get by with?
bag mold in size caliber, small ladle melt lead in ladle pour into mold right at the fire

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I got my start with a borrowed mold , a stainless steel sauce pan from good will for a buck and a rusted soup ladle I dug out of the kitchen drawer and a slotted spoon

I fired up my Colman camp stove put as many wheel weights as I could in the pot , and scooped off the clips with the slotted spoon while wearing my leather welding gloves , a little candle wax , skim with the slotted spoon then use the soup laddle to scoup and pour hot lead in the mold drop the finished on a old towel

it worked I was hooked

now I find my self thinking I should really have a lee 4-20 pot for pure lead and WW lead

I have a 6 cavity lee .490 round ball mold , and think it's time for the same in .440 by the way track of the wolf is the place for these 6 cavity round ball molds , they are great for production but take abit to warm up would not be good for ladle pouring

[Texantothecore]

I think I'm going to get a set up like that. Looks like fun.

[Texantothecore]

TOW has a good number of six cavity Lee molds that I haven't seen elsewhere. Reasonable cost for a six cavity mold.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I was trying to keep it small for carry in my bag, is there a small cast iron pot?

still to big for a bag but lodge makes what they call their sauce pot http://www.walmart.com/ip/22576900?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&adid=22222222227016187835&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=40345192712&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=78310552112&veh=sem

that said if your going to have to carry the lead with you any way , it might as well be in balls rather than sheets or ingots

bag molds made more sense when you might walk from place to place and when you reached the next store or trading post trade for lead then set down and poured a supply of balls that fit your gun with the mold you carried with you made to fit your gun

[Texantothecore]

I suspect that they kept 50 or so roundballs in inventory and after dinner cast as many bullets as they had shot that day.

[bangerjim]

RB's are the easiest thing to cast. I do it all the time. Just pour molten Pb in the holes of the appropriate cal mold. No rocket science needed there.

All it takes is some $$ and your time. I prefer a bottom pour electric Lee pot to messing with an uncontrollable open flame.

[Buckshot Bill]

As some others have stated a mold and a forged ladle is all you need. I forged my own ladle out of copper sheet. It heats up very fast so you can keep production rates up. You're casting from a fire so keeping the mold near the fire will keep it hot. you don't need a pot AND a ladle. I have cast thousands of ball with just a ladle and mold without issue. A bag mold would be the smallest, but a LEE would do well, and it's always nice to have a nice flush sprue cutter. If you're looking at it from a post apocalyptic long hunter standpoint might add a pair of wheel weight pliers to your bag :)

If you have a smoothbore it makes sense to me to keep a small inventory of roundball and then cast as you need them, that way you could also use the lead to create birdshot, buckshot or whatever else may be needed.

If I could only have one ML it would be a smoothbore.

[country gent]

Lee and Lyman used to make a small iron pot for casting on a stove burner that held around 5 -10 lbs of lead. A simple small steel sauce pan could have the handle removed and a bail fitted to it easy enough. Set this in the coals of a wood fire for heat. The mould is your choice. A bag mould is accurate to what you appear to want but the wood insulated handles of a modern mould are much more comfortable. A simple ladle ( lyman would work good) maybe shorten the handle 3"-4" to make it fit in bag better. WHat may work even better is a second possibles bag for just the casting equipment. WHile the original mountain men carried lead powder a mould, Small pot and ladle with them I believe it would have been in a second bag on the pack horse do to weight carried on the person being important. While important equipment the added weight to the possibles bag might have been a problem. Think about adding another 10-15lbs to your possibles bag and how it will hang and set.

[rfd]

on the cheap but good, it's hard to beat a lee round ball mould, add in a small 5# lee ladle melter and a GOOD ladle (NOT the lee ladle!) from rcbs or lyman, and some PURE lead. the actual casting process is too easy.

[Texantothecore]

Www.bagmolds.com has a nice selection. They are Callahan molds sold through TOW.

They have a copper ladle that is very nice.

[Sasquatch-1]

If you insist on carrying this into the field with you, I would suggest you go to the dollar store, get a cheap SS ladle, cut off all but about 2 inches. Drill a couple of small holes in the stem, get a couple of 1.5" to 2" bolts, nuts and washers. When you get into the field find a suitable branch and screw it to the ladle. The ladle is your melting pot and you can pour from it. Personally, I would just carry 25 to 30 balls into the field with me.


I was trying to keep it small for carry in my bag, is there a small cast iron pot?

[Texantothecore]

I was just at TOW and the folding bagmold has a round hole on the back of the handle into which you can jam a 3/8" stick for a nice, cool handle.

[RogerDat]

still to big for a bag but lodge makes what they call their sauce pot http://www.walmart.com/ip/22576900?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&adid=22222222227016187835&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=40345192712&wl4=&wl5=pla&wl6=78310552112&veh=sem

that said if your going to have to carry the lead with you any way , it might as well be in balls rather than sheets or ingots

bag molds made more sense when you might walk from place to place and when you reached the next store or trading post trade for lead then set down and poured a supply of balls that fit your gun with the mold you carried with you made to fit your gun

I also suspect that the mountain men would have little issue with using the cast iron bean & stew pot to melt that lead in. Lead poisoning from ingestion may not have been on their radar.

[Texantothecore]

If you insist on carrying this into the field with you, I would suggest you go to the dollar store, get a cheap SS ladle, cut off all but about 2 inches. Drill a couple of small holes in the stem, get a couple of 1.5" to 2" bolts, nuts and washers. When you get into the field find a suitable branch and screw it to the ladle. The ladle is your melting pot and you can pour from it. Personally, I would just carry 25 to 30 balls into the field with me.
My possibles bag has a Lee Classic Loader, bullets, bp 3fg. I always end up reloading at the range either for load development or because I ran out of ammo. Tickles the heck out of the range officer.

[montana_charlie]

I was trying to keep it small for carry in my bag, is there a small cast iron pot?
This is the Lyman 10-pound castiron melting pot.
It is the 'classic' melting pot ... especially useful to beginning casters on a budget.

http://www.lymanproducts.com/includes/img/lyman/bulletcasting/Lead%20Pot%20Lg.jpg
http://www.lymanproducts.com/lyman/bullet-casting/lead-pot.php
or
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1312.R1.TR11.TRC2.A0.H0.XLy man.TRS1&_nkw=Lyman+iron+pot&_sacat=0

It is all that I ever used for melting of lead to make round ball ... back in my 'muzzleloading period'.

Physically, it's about the size of a very large coffee mug.

[GoodOlBoy]

Best shooter I watched at my first rendezvous had a bag mold, and a cast iron ladle he would just melt in directly in the coals of his camp fire. He had a nice little tapper stick he had made and he would close the mold, pour some lead, lightly tap both sides, drop the ball out on a piece of old tanned leather and repeat until the ladle was empty. Then he would drop another ingot in the ladle and trim the sprues while the next ingot melted. Man had a impressive rhythm I tell you, and buddy he could just plain shoot with that old flintlock.

GoodOlBoy