the most expensive boolit you've cast?

[troy_mclure]

what is the most expensive boolit you have cast? in equipment damage, medical bills, material, etc...?

my neighbor wants me to cast him a mag(12) of silver boolits for his xd40.

it will be almost 5oz for 12 165gr boolits. at around $15 an ounce thats like $75! thats a hundred lbs + of lead!

i havent ordered my molds yet, so i told him he has plenty of time to scrounge the silver.

[Crazy4nitro]

I would say My First .358 bullet Cast from WW's.
As my Wife figured the cost of the Smelting set up,Bottom pour Lead pot and Mold..so on so forth...it was about $300

LoL
Now 1000's of Bullets later the cost has swung Full circle.
Now they are Pennys each...

You Might wanna Search the Topic of Silver Bullets before taking on that Task.
Quite Interesting reading.

'Nitro

[Bigjohn]

What's he planning on hunting; Werewolves! :smile:

Personnelly, I think your wasting your time but it would be an interesting project. Please post the results if you do cast them.

John

A LEE 459-500-2R. One only. Don't know where it landed.

[Ole]

I thought about doing a silver slug for my SKS.

No idea what that would cost. I'd probably melt Mercury dimes for it. :mrgreen:

EDIT: Just saw the melting point for AG was a sunny 1700+ F. I might need a better heat source. :)

[d_striker]

does your neighbor have a werewolf problem?

[725]

Hi ho, Silver. Let us know if this project ever really gets off the ground,
Kemosabe.

[Bad Water Bill]

Having cast a few ounces of silver in a previous life I would say do not even think about it with the tools we use. Since silver flows at ove 500 degrees higher than alum you may damage ? a new mould. I f you use anything else, how do you remove the sprue. You could try hitting the plate as usual or try cutting it off with a saw. Either way may destroy the plate if it and the mould did not warp with the higher temp, Now you have to size them And then you can start your own (no information available from me "see my lawyer") data on using one as a projectile. NO I do not think the Lone Ranger used Silver Boolits. JMHO

[Mtman314]

http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/1487


http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t92897.html






buy silver when it becomes worthless you can be the lone ranger

[Bad Water Bill]

Troy Recheck your math. 12 x 165 = 2380. The last time I checked it took 7K Gr to make i Oz so you only need 1 oz to get your limit including sprues. My advice would be to find a school that teaches silversmithing and see what they would charge. Definitely cheaper than loosing a good friend or a lot of equipment.

[Mtman314]

I remember seeing a movie where a guy was using gold to kill folks that shafted him in the cuban war. It supposedly was so soft that it left huge holes, just extremely expensive.

[carpetman]

Bad Water Bill---urr uh check your math. 165 grains times 12 bullets + 1980 grains. There are 7000 grains to the pound and 16 ounces to the pound so divide 16 into 7000 and you get 437.5 grains to the ounce. Now didvide the 1980 by 437.5 and you get 4.526 ounces for the project.

[Slow Elk 45/70]

[smilie=w:

Good Luck, I just use a wooden stake on the werewolves, much cheaper.[smilie=s:

[Tom W.]

Isn't silver weighed in troy ounces???

If so it's 12 ounces to the pound.

I dunno. But Bad Water Bill, I KNOW the Lone Ranger used silver bullets... I watched his t.v. show when I was young!

[archmaker]

From my calculation . . .

12 x 165gr = 1980gr
Add an extra 200grs for sprue = 2180
Then with silver at 12 ounces to a pound you will need 3.73 Ounces of silver.

((2180/7000)*12)=3.73...

:)

I like math, and yes people think I am sick :D

[Shiloh]

More than likely, you will have to cast in wax and then lost wax cast the slugs. You may however get lucky and pull it off in an aluminum mold. If lost wax cast there will be shrinkage from casting and polishing by up to 10%

Shiloh

[hoosierlogger]

[smilie=w:

Good Luck, I just use a wooden stake on the werewolves, much cheaper.[smilie=s:

Or go to church and wait for them to leave the holy water unattended. :-)

[44man]

My grandson is bi-polar and thinks a sword or silver boolits will kill ghosts so there might be another market for them. :bigsmyl2:

[clintsfolly]

or cast from 95/5 will look like silver and be cheaper!! use a iron mould and brass hammer to cut the sprue. good luck clint

[kawalekm]

How about silver solder? Remember now, anything besides pure silver will just convert a werewolf into a lawyer! Be carefull!

[docone31]

Troy, you will need silicone rubber, a vulcanizer, mold frames, sprue former. You will need investment, flasks, vaccum casting unit. Sterling silver flows at 1450*, .999 silver flows at 1630. You will need stainless shot in a vibratory tumbler to polish.
You will need to make waxes to sprue to burn out to cast.
Once you sprue, you will need to vaccum the bubbles off the models.
http://www.shorinternational.com/investmentinstruction.htm
Just a sampling of what is needed to get ready to cast.
It can be done however. You will need 30% more silver to make good castings.
The fun stuff is makeing molds.
http://www.shorinternational.com/Rubber.htm
This is a rough tutorial. It is based on gold, not silver though. With silver the flask is kept cooler for better detail.
http://www.shorinternational.com/lostwaxoverview.htm
I can list my oopsies casting!
The silver fairy has hit a few times, not to mention piles of 1400* piles of investment on my table the vaccum sucked out of the flask before pouring.
I can give you rough instructions if you need them.

[snaggdit]

When I was in college, they had a silly requirement that Engineers had to take a Humanities class. I searched around and ended up taking Art Metals. Turned out to be a fun class. It was all about making jewelry with metals. Brass, copper, silver, gold, hammered, extruded, cut and soldered, and cast. They had the setup to do lost wax. It would take a few dollars to set up for this, but I suppose it would work. You would need investment material and a kiln. Then you would need a centrifigal casting setup (we are resourceful, could be hand made). I made all sorts of stuff out of silver in this class. Probably why when I first saw this hobby I thought "I can do that".

[troy_mclure]

WOW! i never realized it would be so complex.

ill just tell him it takes special molds, and stuff to make silver boolits!

[sqlbullet]

Back to the OP's question...I guess the first one, a few months ago.

Then ran an add to sell some surplus lead, and now I am break even.

[compass will]

I guess mine was my first boolit I cast. Not that that was that expensive but I did have to buy a dutch oven, 45 lee mold, Lee pot, Boolit sizer, dies, punches, etc.
But the Puma 1892 I bought to shoot the first 45's I made, then I got the 32 special mold, or maybe it was that 308 Savage I bought so I could cast a different size boolit. That took 3 molds to get right. Then I had to have molds for the 22-250. Still never got around to buying that hollow base I want for the 45-70.

It's what it all adds up to that cost money.

[Johnch]

The 8% silver bullets I cast a few days back made my freind and his buddies happy

They were a SOB to size down as my 45 mould droped .455 and he needed them .451

A tough alloy for sure

John

[Hipshot]

When I shot and killed my neighbor, it cost me $10,000.00 in lawyers fees and 15 yrs. in prison !

Hip

P.S. The good part is I am a great shot and it cost me only 1 bullet !

[carpetman]

LOL---you are making 165 grain bullets dont matter if lead,silver or whatever they are 165 and their are 437.5 grains per ounce and 7000 to the pound. The sprue gets remelted.

[JW6108]

does your neighbor have a werewolf problem?

Substitute "mental" for "werewolf".

[Cap'n Morgan]

WOW! i never realized it would be so complex.

ill just tell him it takes special molds, and stuff to make silver boolits!


Use ordinary hard cast boolits, and have them silver plated. The werewolves (and your neighbor) will never notice the difference. If he insist on solid silver, the bullets can be made on a lathe - just remember to pick up the swarf afterwards :razz:

[Bill*]

I think the silver solder, being an alloy, might just make a werewolf sick rather than kill em. But it's worth a shot.Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk

[ghh3rd]

I would say that the very first boolit that dropped from my mold was the most expensive. Each one cost less. (unlike fishing in my boat, in which every fish cost about $100)

Randy

[Tom W.]

I brought home some silver solder scraps that I saved from brazing on carbide saw teeth. I put them into my Lee pot and the darn things never melted....

[Bobby Ironsights]

LOL---you are making 165 grain bullets dont matter if lead,silver or whatever they are 165 and their are 437.5 grains per ounce and 7000 to the pound. The sprue gets remelted.

The funniest thing about this mathematical arguing, is that nobody remembered that silver is far less dense than lead, so the cast bullet of reasonable size will be far less than 165 grains.:razz:

[chrismetallica1]

WOW! i never realized it would be so complex.

ill just tell him it takes special molds, and stuff to make silver boolits!

There is plenty of info on casting solid silver bullets on this link

http://www.hurog.com/books/silver/silverbullet6.shtml

Other than a display piece I cant see the point. Imagin the ammount of lead rounds you could make for that price. However your neighbour will be the one having the last laugh when the Werewolves appear :roll:

Happy Casting

[M-Tecs]

Cast them in lead and have them silver plated.:drinks:

[Wayne Smith]

Hey, a friend of mine has one of those kilns he wants to get rid of. He told me half price. Never used, to boot. LMOL tells me I don't need another hobby!