Where to buy bulk lead balls

[Chunky Monkey]

I got an 1858 Remington that prefers 457 balls but I also get good results with 454 balls. I'm tired of buying 100 at a time. Where can I buy bulk 500 0r 1,000 at a time?

I am currently looking to get the equipment to cast my own. Just need to get a thermometer, ladle, mold, and of course pure lead. In the mean time I would just like to buy balls in bulk.

Thanks for any help you guys can tro at me!

[missionary5155]

Greetings Head down to the Swap and Sell area and register your "HUNT" in the WTB section... There has to be someone geared up to help.
If I was in Illinois right now I would have ya fixed right up...

[mooman76]

You could do without the thermometer especially with pure lead. Just crank the heat up all the way. ure lead takes more heat than WWs and it doesn't frost as much. If the lead starts taking too long to solidify in the mould just turn the heat down some. I've been casting for better than 30 years without a thermometer.

[Chunky Monkey]

You could do without the thermometer especially with pure lead. Just crank the heat up all the way. ure lead takes more heat than WWs and it doesn't frost as much. If the lead starts taking too long to solidify in the mould just turn the heat down some. I've been casting for better than 30 years without a thermometer.

Tanks mooman, I'm looking at the Lee double .457 mold. Will that produce .457's or is there shrinkage or anything I should be aware of. A little shrinkage would be OK cause I can use .454's in my 58 Rem.

No thermometer will save me a few $. I plan on using a turkey fryer to heat, a cast iron pot to melt and I am currently looking on fleebay for a ladle.

Then I just need to get some pure lead.

[Jim]

Go to Wally World and buy a gravy ladle. Bend the handle straight with the top of the ladle and you're ready.

[mooman76]

Shouldn't be much shrinkage and sometimes they run a hair big in RB which isn't a bad thing. I'll see what I got tommarow and measure a few.

[northmn]

I never had any problem with LEE molds as far as the quality of the bullt, ball or whatever. They do not produce as fast as a Lyman or RCBS once the heat is up. The 2 ball molds work OK as I used them in rifle ball. A slight addition of tin say 1-50 or so also helps pure lead flow. Too hard of lead for a revolver can cause wear on the frame system, although I doubt if a Remington would be all that much effected, but it can cause Colt replicas to start loosening.

Northmn

[crowbeaner]

For best results with the round balls, LADLE POUR them. The bottom pour spout takes too long to fill the cavity and even with perfect temp and alloy they will not fill out correctly and drive you nuts. The hole in the end of the ladle is about 3x the diameter of the pour spout, and lets the lead slam into the cavity driving the air out. Hold the ladle against the sprue plate a bit longer for the sprue to shear clean and make a perfect RB. I have a single .490 Lyman mould, and it requires a bit of attention for good ones.

[Chunky Monkey]

For best results with the round balls, LADLE POUR them. The bottom pour spout takes too long to fill the cavity and even with perfect temp and alloy they will not fill out correctly and drive you nuts. The hole in the end of the ladle is about 3x the diameter of the pour spout, and lets the lead slam into the cavity driving the air out. Hold the ladle against the sprue plate a bit longer for the sprue to shear clean and make a perfect RB. I have a single .490 Lyman mould, and it requires a bit of attention for good ones.

Thanks crowbeaner, thats currently my plan since I don't have the $$ to buy a furnace right now. Going to get a cast pot at Harbor Freight and heat over my turkey fryer. Got an idea on where I may be able to get a cast ladle. Getting these will is going to be lunch break projects this week at work.

Been looking at lead on Fleebay but I figure that buying balls at $9.00 a 100 is costing me roughly $4.50 right now but if hope to get that down to a $1.00 - $2.00 a pound, not counting my cost in mold, pot, dipper, and gas. Either way it will still be cheaper to pull the trigger.

Thanks for all your help guys. This forum and its members are pretty damned good. :drinks:

[mooman76]

I went out to the garage to check just like I said I would and low and behold, I had two bran new Lee moulds that never meen used. A .454 and a .457 RB that my best friend Drew bought me for Xmas. I couldn't believe that I hadn't at least moulded a few just to see how they would do. Well I couldn't have that so I fired up the pot and got a little busy. The first mould did great and the balls just fell out at .458. The second mould was a little tempermental. Just a few casts and the handles got so tight I could hear the wood crunching when I tried to force them closed so I had to stop and loosen them up. Of coarse by then the mould cooled enough I had to heat it up again. The balls didn't drop out like the usually do with RM moulds but not a major thing. A slight rap and they were out. After about 50 or so I turned the mould over and saw the pins were starting to fall out. Lee hadn't put their little dimple in there to keep them in place. I fixed that in a few seconds also. Those balls dropped out right at .454 except for a few a hair over.
Chunky Monkey, I thinking you haven't moulded bullets before but that's not a big deal. Actually RB's are the easiest to do and a good place to start. You don't have to worry about lube grooves fillinf out correctly because there are none and since they are round they usually fall right out. As far as moulds go pretty much a BR is a RB so who makes the mould doesn't matter too much either, it's just aluminum or steel. The balls don't have to be perfect either even though there isn't much to mess up because they are being pressed to fit anyway. If you can't get pure lead and have to go with WW's I'd use a slightly smaller mould but ypu want pure lead with the revolver if at all possible. A rifle can get buy without pure lead easy enough but they don't have to be pressed in like the pistol.
Check some scrap yards and you might turn up some lead. Also any place that does xrays acumulater lead sheets and if anyone in your area does the stained glass windows, they have lead scrapps too and byt the way if you do get some WWs you can trade to someone that has pure lead. Some times it works out that way where someone that shoots rifles or reglar pistols need harder lead but happens to P/U soft lead and those WW's that stick on rather that clip on(they have a sticky backing) those are softer than the clip on WW's so they are closer to pure!
I forgot to say post in the WTB section and someone might have some soft lead for you!