Ladle casting and Lee 6 Cavity Molds

[Chunky Monkey]

New guy to casting here. I've been reading alot of posts here the past few months trying asorb some info.

I think I'm all set to start casting 457 roundballs for my C & B revolver. I thought that would be a good place to start and get my feet wet.

So far I've acquired:

Rowell #1 ladle
6 qt cast iron pot
turkey fryer
beeswax to flux
Lee 457 2 cavity mold
Lee 450 conical mold
50# pure lead (adhesive WW and sheet lead)
50# more pounds of lead from fishhawk (haven't rcvd yet)

I plan on casting round balls right from the cast iron pot for now. Once I get a furnace and start smelting in the cast pot I will only cast from the furnace.

I am accumulating some WW and want to start casting for 45 acp and 44 mag soon. 45 acp will be used for plinking. The 44 mag will be used for plinking and deer hunting. I don't shoot an ton of ammo but a may burn a few hundred every other week. Maybe more in the summer.

I'm on a budget so I planning on getting a Lee magnum melter or a mini-mag and ladle casting.

As far as dies I'm thinking Lee 2 or 6 cavity molds. Can I ladle cast with a 6 cavity or should I go with a 2 cavity to start out?

Next question will the Lee Lube and Size kit be good for my needs. For the price what I'm gonna be using them for and the quantity this seems to be a good deel for me.

Looking for some advice! Criticism will be taken for educational puposes. Thanks!

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Hi, I do not have a Lee 6 cav, but I do cast with gang molds and a ladle from time to time. The way to do it is to pour going "uphill"; starting with the lowest cavity nearest to the melt and work your way up. Its a bit sloppy until you get the hang of it/rythm for moving the stream; you'll get some pretty weird looking sprues and some splashing, but with practice it'll get better. Good casting & shooting. LLS

[Wayne Smith]

Obviously, you don't need size kit for round balls! Yes, casting six from a Rowell #1 is certainly possible, I do it from a Lyman ladle. Have to refill it, but do. I would guess from the #1 you can fill all six round ball cavities.

I would wait until you get some ww to cast boolits. 45 ACP and certainly 44Mag will require more than pure, soft lead. For the 45 I wouldn't want less that half and half ww and lead, the 44Mag you want air dropped ww or water dropped ww. Save your lead for the C&B pistols.

When you get the ww then the Lee lube and size kit is a good beginning and may be all you need. It will require that either you depend on tumble lube (LLA or Wax) or that you pan lube. If you want to go beyond that you will eventually want a lube sizer, and there is a lot of information on this site about the merits of each type. Both lube type and speed will be issues.

I know all about being on a budget. I still use a Coleman 2 burner stove and Lyman 20 lb pot and a couple of old kitchen one quart stainless pots. I ladle pour with a Lyman ladle. 90% of my casting money goes to molds.

Welcome to this particular addiction. It's a lot of fun.

[xr650]

I cast some 38 WC 110 gr in a 6 cav HG the other day. Worked excellent.
The trough in the sprue plate helped.
I was using a Mini-Mag and Lyman ladle.

[mooman76]

If you are casting on a budget, you don't need a furnace unless you really want one. I cast for years over a coleman stove and pot. 6x is certainly doable but I'd do a 2x for awhile to get the hang at least. You can do that with your RBs. 6xs can be a hard way to start when you are new. You need some WWs t least for 44s & 45s. I hope when you said you got more coming that you were talking about WWs. The Lee sizer system is good also. I found it a bit messy so I moved to a Lyman 450 but I still use the Lee system too when I suits me.

[HamGunner]

I started out with a Lee lube and size kit for my .44 and .38 bullets and used that method for years. I punched my bullets through the Lee sizers with a hammer and I pan lubed them in a cookie pan with melted lube and cut them out of the lube with a Lee cutter tool. I had groups as small as a quarter at 25 yards with both bullet calibers so it does not require expensive equipment to make good bullets.
My metal consisted of free WW and tin melted from toothpaste and similar tubes. I saved up and scrounged around in trash dumps to find my tin. Bullets looked and cast just great.

Oh, and I just used a Lyman egg shaped dipper and 10 lb. cast iron pot melted on a coleman stove.

[Chunky Monkey]

Thanks guys!

Yes I am gathering WW for casting my 44's and 45's.

I am currently digging out the back part of my cellar to put in a bullet casting area. I am going to get a furnace so I can cast in there in the winter. Digging out a foot of 100 year old dirt by hand is hard work but it will be worth it.

There is an old window that is boarded up so I am also trying to figure out what kind of exhaust fan to hook up. Maybe an old range hood or bathroom fan. Not sure yet.

This is a addicting as reloading, maybe worse!

[Refraktorius]

There is an old window that is boarded up so I am also trying to figure out what kind of exhaust fan to hook up. Maybe an old range hood or bathroom fan.

I' used an old range hood in my previous workshop

(now I use a homemade construction with a rather scary centrifugal blower that used to live in an industrial power supply. I can cook in a wok under it, without any smell indoors)

Make sure it is a high powered hood and clean/remove the filters. the combination of dust and grease is a serious fire hazard.

Then place it outside on a sunny day to really heat it up, and let the molten grease drip out of it (Yes, it is disgusting!) Blowing with compressed air might help too, but make sure where the grease is blown, or risk eternal damnation from She Who Must be Obeyed.

I tried to take it apart for further cleaning, and wished I had not! It's nasty in there, so just take the big picture, waste no time on the details (Here, the devil is not in the details, he has been scared off by the rancid grease!)

In short, it will do the job. But test how it works with something smoky, to make sure the fumes are actually removed by it!

[mooman76]

An attic fan will probubly work good there. Used to pull the heat out of atic and force it out a vent.

[missionary5155]

Down here I use a table top propane gas burner to cast and smelt. Up in Illinois I use a two burner Coleman I got at a yard sake for $5 or a one burner "Back Pack" Coleman I used for years (another yard sale )and still use off and on. Over the years I have bought 2 Lee electrics Cheap and use those for 30-1 lead and 50/50 WW and Lead.. permanently. Other mixes go on the Colemans in Lyman cast iron pots.