Gunslinger
04-13-2009, 08:02 PM
I spent the Easter casting and smelting. Some with luck... some not!
About a week ago I picked up 350lbs WWs from a new supplier! At my casting buddy's we filled the iron put with a good load of weights and put it on the flames. I fired up the casting pot and started running 2 molds.
The darndest thing happend... weights wouldn't smelt properly. We crancked the heat up a bit and let it stay there for 20 minutes more. By that time the lead had molten though.... the very little you could spot under all the junk weights. And I was like "Hmmmmmmmmm"... I took up a handfull of the weights, no not from the pot, from the buket he he. A lot of zinc... I took it head first in the bucket and started plowing through it like Uncle Scrooge in his money tank :shock:
ALL Zinc, or well.... about 70-80 percent :twisted: I guess I'll have to sort out the lead instead of zinc in those buckets.
By the time we'd removed the junk from the pot I think some of the zinc had melted. There was clean alloy though... but in the melt was also a grainy grey slush that could be skimmed... but seemed to multiply. We threw it all away and put over a pot of weights from a better batch... ended up nice and clean.
And I ended up casting some very nice RCBS 158gr SWC and some Lee 120gr TC's. About 50 pounds total of fine looking boolits :castmine:
AND my pops told me one of the churches in the other hicktown next to our hicktown, was restoring their roof... We went and found a few big pieces. The biggest was 10 inches wide and 3 feet long... probably about 55 lbs... the other piece was a little smaller!! I'll definately go back and ask what they do of all that perfect boolit alloy!
All in all a good easter [smilie=s:
About a week ago I picked up 350lbs WWs from a new supplier! At my casting buddy's we filled the iron put with a good load of weights and put it on the flames. I fired up the casting pot and started running 2 molds.
The darndest thing happend... weights wouldn't smelt properly. We crancked the heat up a bit and let it stay there for 20 minutes more. By that time the lead had molten though.... the very little you could spot under all the junk weights. And I was like "Hmmmmmmmmm"... I took up a handfull of the weights, no not from the pot, from the buket he he. A lot of zinc... I took it head first in the bucket and started plowing through it like Uncle Scrooge in his money tank :shock:
ALL Zinc, or well.... about 70-80 percent :twisted: I guess I'll have to sort out the lead instead of zinc in those buckets.
By the time we'd removed the junk from the pot I think some of the zinc had melted. There was clean alloy though... but in the melt was also a grainy grey slush that could be skimmed... but seemed to multiply. We threw it all away and put over a pot of weights from a better batch... ended up nice and clean.
And I ended up casting some very nice RCBS 158gr SWC and some Lee 120gr TC's. About 50 pounds total of fine looking boolits :castmine:
AND my pops told me one of the churches in the other hicktown next to our hicktown, was restoring their roof... We went and found a few big pieces. The biggest was 10 inches wide and 3 feet long... probably about 55 lbs... the other piece was a little smaller!! I'll definately go back and ask what they do of all that perfect boolit alloy!
All in all a good easter [smilie=s: