Philngruvy
04-19-2009, 09:43 AM
Hi everybody. I have been lurking for a while and I finally got up the nerve to post. I am a newbie to casting and reloading so I have a lot to learn. I have found that this site is very much full of all kinds of useful information and it seems that with every thread I open, more and more questions pop into my head. I have gotten into this venture through a friend who is a total gun fanatic who has had limited experience in reloading but is new to casting as I am.
We are casting 12 ga slugs with the Lee 1oz key mold, 00 buck with the Sharpshooter mold and .38 swc with a Lyman two cavity mold. Our lead source is mainly recovered range lead and some pure lead from old dive weights and other sources. We smelt the lead into ingots in a pot I made, cut out of an old oxygen bottle. At first we just ladled the lead but I was inspired by some the the pots on this site and made it into a bottom pour which will be tested later this week. When filled with water, it has a very slow drip and I hope the the viscosity of lead will keep it from dripping. We use a high wattage hot plate with a pot to melt the ingots and then ladle into the molds. We discovered that it takes good hot lead and a very hot mold to get the fill out.
And yes, the handles on the 00 buck mold do suck! Otherwise, it is wonderful. And this leads up to my first question. We need to tumble the shot to get rid of the sprue scar. What is the best medium to use? Or do you tumble the shot without any medium, just relying on the other shot to do the trick?
BTW, this site seems to be full of really great people full of much knowledge and the willingness to help. And I had the fortune of actually meeting one of the members at the gun show in Tampa on Saturday. We started talking to a man in the entrance line and he mentioned that he reloaded. Well the line moved on in and we went our own ways and then a little later bumped into each other again. It turns out that he mentioned this site which I had been lurking on for some time. His handle is Arcticbreeze from New Port Richey and he is one heck of a nice guy. My wife always says that things happen for a reason and I can't help but think she was right on this one. I look forward to getting together with him again.
Thanks to all of you for this great website.
We are casting 12 ga slugs with the Lee 1oz key mold, 00 buck with the Sharpshooter mold and .38 swc with a Lyman two cavity mold. Our lead source is mainly recovered range lead and some pure lead from old dive weights and other sources. We smelt the lead into ingots in a pot I made, cut out of an old oxygen bottle. At first we just ladled the lead but I was inspired by some the the pots on this site and made it into a bottom pour which will be tested later this week. When filled with water, it has a very slow drip and I hope the the viscosity of lead will keep it from dripping. We use a high wattage hot plate with a pot to melt the ingots and then ladle into the molds. We discovered that it takes good hot lead and a very hot mold to get the fill out.
And yes, the handles on the 00 buck mold do suck! Otherwise, it is wonderful. And this leads up to my first question. We need to tumble the shot to get rid of the sprue scar. What is the best medium to use? Or do you tumble the shot without any medium, just relying on the other shot to do the trick?
BTW, this site seems to be full of really great people full of much knowledge and the willingness to help. And I had the fortune of actually meeting one of the members at the gun show in Tampa on Saturday. We started talking to a man in the entrance line and he mentioned that he reloaded. Well the line moved on in and we went our own ways and then a little later bumped into each other again. It turns out that he mentioned this site which I had been lurking on for some time. His handle is Arcticbreeze from New Port Richey and he is one heck of a nice guy. My wife always says that things happen for a reason and I can't help but think she was right on this one. I look forward to getting together with him again.
Thanks to all of you for this great website.