New to casting, so much info to read

[sst04]

So my tools should be here Monday, I have already started melting down WW's into ingots. With all of the info that I have read so far I am still a little confused as how to exactly cast boolits. I will be casting 45 acp and 40s&w.

I have read that some people put some solder in the lead(i guess to make the mold fill out better), some drop the bullets in water and some don't.

Would I need to drop mine in water to make them harder? Even If I dont absolutely need to will it hurt anything If I do?

What kind of solder, if any would I need to add to the lead?

I understand the importance of fluxing and will do regularly while casting.

This is a great sight!

[HeavyMetal]

We add solder to the alloy to get a little tin in it to help with fill out as you've said. I will suggest buying lead free solder to use as a "sweetener" for clip on WW alloy no more than 2% of your pot capacity.

I water drop for a little extra hardening and to get them cool enough to both handle and resist dinging during handling. You don't have to.

Welcome to the site and ask questions as needed!

[Boondocker]

Welcome to the forum sst04. I cant speak for the 40 but the 45 acp I water drop with straight w/w and have very little leading with the velocities of the old war horse. Water dropping will not hurt any lead slug unless you need a softer load for hunting. Man are you going to be hooked for sure once you see the fruits of your labor. Boon:bigsmyl2:

[mdi]

Casting your own is , for me, about as much fun as shooting them! One thing I can say is keep it simple to start. Don't overwhelm yourself with extra processes/steps. Melt lead, pour in mold, lube 'em and shoot'em! Experimenting with alloys and making your own lube can/will come in time. I'm back to plain old wheel weights air cooled, and a simple 4 part lube (when I don't tumble lube).

[cbrick]

Welcome to Castboolits sst04, ask all the questions that will come up, and they will. The only dumb question is the one not asked.

For your 45 ACP you shouldn't need to quench (water drop). I don't use top end loads in mine and mostly use air cooled WW. For HP's in the 45 I use a softer alloy of 50/50 WW/soft lead and they both work well. Top pressure in the 45 is only 21,000 PSI.

For the 40 S&W water dropping could be a benefit if your shooting at or close to top end loads. This cartridge max pressure limit is the same as the 357 Mag at 35,000.

Adding tin isn't mandatory but up to 2% will reduce the surface tension of the melt which aids in well filled out bullets. Use can use solder or as I do, order tin from Rotometals. They can be found right at the top of this page.

Rick

[mooman76]

You don't have to any of these things. I'm not knocking what others have tried and like. If you just melt and use straight WWs you will not get anto any trouble and should be fine til you get your feet wet and then as you gain experience you can try other things. I understand there is allot of information here and for a beginer it probably seems conflickting but in allot of cases there is no absolute one best way.

[Shiloh]

Welcome to the forum.

Yes there is a lot to read, but take it slow. If you try to absorb to much info to fast, it gets overwhelming and can get frustrating.

Heat your pot uo and start casting boolits. If you need to add a bit of tin, do it but not too much. It just makes your boolits more expensive. I Water drop, but try yours both ways. The solder you need to add is 95/5 tin/antimony. Most hardware stores or big box home improvement stores have it.

I water drop to harden as well as going by something I read here on the forum from a blacksmith perspective. If it isn't wet, its HOT.

Shiloh

[BSkerj]

I just started a couple of months ago, mostly on a whim. I found a nice little Lyman pot, a Lee 2x mold at a local gun/pawn shop ...both for a total of 25.00. I cast for my pistols. Great hobby, plus it is fun knowing that you actually built something almost out of nothing ! I am pretty fortunate in having, at least for now, unlimited access to wheel weights but I think that is going to change. My local WW tire store is going to all steel so I am stocking up. I have close to a 1/2 ton of wheel weights now.
I just recently purchased a couple of Lee's 6x molds which I am extremly happy with.

If it wasn't for this site, I would probably be struggling along..these guys are amazing at the knowledge they have and share.
Make sure you pick up a copy of the Lymans Casting Bullet Manual. This has also been very helpful. Make sure you ASK, ASK, ASK..seems like someone has a solution to any problem that is thrown out. Have fun.

[sst04]

Thanks everyone for the replies, yall have cleared up a few things that were on my mind.

Everybody knows how it is when you first start, kinda like starting to reload.

I will go by the hardware store and find some solder, and if it does not hurt anything I will just drop mine in water so they will not be so hot.

Thanks Again everyone, and I am sure I will have more questions when I start the process.

[lwknight]

When you water drop your boolits and find some that are not up to specs, Do not just throw then back into the pot You will get a visit from the tinsel fairy and it will be impressive. Just be sure that are dry, totally dry or start off with a cold pot when you remelt them.

[azrednek]

If I may add my 2 cents to lwknight' post. When you water drop make sure the water is a good distance from the lead pot. Make certain no water splashes into your hot lead pot. Like an explosion the molten lead can literally fly out of your pot from a single drop. I suggest before you spend the 12-15 bux for solder. See what you casting looks like without any tin. If you're casting with clip-on wheel weights you may not need to add any tin. The tin will make your castings bright, shiney and pretty but that doesn't necessarily mean they will shoot better.

[Dennis Eugene]

When I water drop I cover the water with a thick layer of styraphome packing peanuts keeps the splashing down to nil. Dennis P.S. I water drop all my handgun boolits

[armyrat1970]

Welcome sst04. I second the motion about getting the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook. It is a great reference on casting. As others stated, ask away. None of us knew all that we know now when first starting out. I learn more with every session and every question I ask here it seems. There are some guys here that have been casting for almost as many years as I have lived and I'm 58. A lot of knowledge here and the people love to talk shop. Give us a pic of your first cast with any questions.

[Bret4207]

Welcome aboard. As someone else said, don't make it difficult, make it fun. For now just concentrate on casting as close to perfect booits as you can. The water dropping, exotic alloys can come later.

[stephen perry]

For a begining Caster I would buy a RCBS or a Lyman Casting Manual and get used to the fundamentals of Casting. All these side methods of water dipping and adding tin can be added later if you choose to. For now though start with 2 molds one for rifle one for pistol and learn the craft as you refer to your Manuals. All the hot rods in the Casting game all started the same way one bullet at a time.

Stephen Perry
Angeles BR :brokenima

[chris in va]

I recently started casting my own 9mm boolits. One thing I'll add is melt temp is fairly critical for a good mold fill out. Too hot and I get rounded bullet bases. Too cold, partial fills. I should get my Lee Production pot here monday and will probably have a lot fewer issues than ladling like I've been doing.

[jsizemore]

I wouldn't worry about my alloy to start, I'd cast with my WWs.

Most of the problems you will experience will be from a contaminated mold or a cold mold. If you water drop to start, you won't be able to inspect your boolits to see how things are going. You'll be stopping to look at the boolits and you mold will be gettin cold. The hand has to go into the water to fish boolits out and water and molten lead don't mix. Keep it simple. Drop your boolits on an old double folded towel. Drop your frozen boolits and refill that mold right away. Inspect your previous drop while hot lead is in the mold heating it up. MOST ALL YOUR PROBLEMS OF CONTAMINATION AND COLD MOLD WILL GO AWAY BY KEEPING HOT LEAD IN YOUR MOLD. There's no mystery or zoodoo involved. Your job is to control the heat of the mold necessary to produce consistent, filled out boolits.

Please remember this. If you make a mistake, you can throw it back in the pot and start over. I re-cast my first 50lbs of boolits 3 times before I got it right. Well, except for the ones I sent down range. Have fun and try to make your boolits look like the ones on the lasc page. Good luck.

[TAWILDCATT]

if your using lee molds run them hot and just keep casting.once the bullets come out good.I like the lee book and lymans cast bullet manual.also lyman puts out a video and so does RCBS.midsouthshooters.com has them at discount.
I have a cooky shett I got at sallys 75 cents.put an old sheet trippled on it and cast away.

[HORNET]

If you go to the main forum index page, at the top is a section called "Classics and Stickies". If you go there and look down the page a little ways, there's a link to the "Goatlip's Casting Pages" that might help explain things a bit. Lots of pictures.

[Bret4207]

I recently started casting my own 9mm boolits. One thing I'll add is melt temp is fairly critical for a good mold fill out. Too hot and I get rounded bullet bases. Too cold, partial fills. I should get my Lee Production pot here monday and will probably have a lot fewer issues than ladling like I've been doing.

It's not your pot temp Chris, it's your mould temp. Cast faster. The more often the mould is filled with hot alloy the hotter it gets. The longer it sits empty the more it cools.

Many, many millions of perfect boolits have been ladled, the BP won't make up for a cool mould.

[Edubya]

If you go to the main forum index page, at the top is a section called "Classics and Stickies". If you go there and look down the page a little ways, there's a link to the "Goatlip's Casting Pages" that might help explain things a bit. Lots of pictures.
I've been casting for a while and still find that there is a lot to learn and find reading the "Classics and Stickies" worthwhile. They're not only educational but very entertaining.
Realize that you're first boolits are going to be wrinkly and some will not be worth keeping, on the other hand, you'll be able to shoot some not so perfect ones without affecting the gun or the targets.
Another thing, Have you got any means of casting ingots? I remember one fella that tried to cast ingots from his bottom pour and spent a great deal of time and energy cleaning up before he could cast boolits from that pot. Casting ingots is important in cleaning the alloy that we cast boolits from. It also helps in getting consistency of the alloy.
Welcome to the forum, now get to reading the best advise available, "Classics and Stickies"!
EW

[sst04]

Got everything in Yesterday to start casting, even the Lyman casting book came with the "kit" I got.

Hopefully I will have some time to start later this week.

[jakemo]

I too am new to casting; haven't actually done it yet. I had a large amount of dive weights that I melted down (200+ lbs.) with about roughly 10% ww. I made up a bunch of round ingots using a muffin pan. I will be casting 9mm, 40 and 357 mag rounds. I think I will invest in some tin to add a little to my pot just to be on the safe side. I read another thread about using Bullplate lube for my moulds and I have to get some of that.

[Echo]

I too am new to casting; haven't actually done it yet. I had a large amount of dive weights that I melted down (200+ lbs.) with about roughly 10% ww. I made up a bunch of round ingots using a muffin pan. I will be casting 9mm, 40 and 357 mag rounds. I think I will invest in some tin to add a little to my pot just to be on the safe side. I read another thread about using Bullplate lube for my moulds and I have to get some of that.

Make sure you add a LITTLE tin - anything over 3% is wasteful. Get some lead-free solder from Grainger (cheapest I've found) and add one pound for every 40 pounds of lead, or that ratio. This alloy won't be hardenable by water-dropping or oven heat treating, but will be very usable for low-intensity (.38/.45 level, or 30-30, or ANYTHING under 1200 fps). If you go over 1200 fps with the .357, you will be on shaky ground, with that alloy.

IMHO.

[armyrat1970]

Welcome jakemo. If you have more wws and add like 50/50 to your lead mix it should give you enough antimony content to allow harder boolits by water dropping if needed. But as Echo stated you will need to add tin to get good fill out regardless.

[sst04]

I did it, here is some pictures..

What did I do wrong to make the bullets have these marks in the center. Kinda looks porus. Other than that they look pretty good I guess. Some of them look like they might have had some dirt or something in them because the surface looks a little bumpy.

Will they be Ok to shoot. Or would the porus spot in the center cause them to burn.


This one ended up with a hole in it.
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/SSTEASLEY/PB250769.jpg

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/SSTEASLEY/PB250773.jpg
I was thinking what caused this and Maybe I was not letting them cool enough before dropping them.
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/SSTEASLEY/PB250786.jpg
Some of them look Ok
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/SSTEASLEY/PB250787.jpg
This one shows the rough surface of some of them.
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e288/SSTEASLEY/PB250793.jpg

[docone31]

Warm up the mold a little bit more, count six before cutting the sprue.
Your mold is just a little cold.

[Tazman1602]

Pour a generous sprue man then watch the liquid and you'll see it, well, turn from shiney to not shiney, then whack the sprue plate to separate the sprue. You using steel or aluminum molds? Look pretty good for a first attempt to tell the truth, way to go!

Try casting a bit faster too, when you notice the bullets dropping out of the mold looking like they're "frosted" that means your mold is too hot, then you can slow down casting a bit to let your mold stay at the correct temp.

I always keep a wet sponge well away from my melting pot and if I notice the sprue plate smearing lead I just touch it to the sponge and cool it off a bit. Make certain you don't have ANY water on it before you pour more bullets.

Art

[sst04]

Pour a generous sprue man then watch the liquid and you'll see it, well, turn from shiney to not shiney, then whack the sprue plate to separate the sprue. You using steel or aluminum molds? Look pretty good for a first attempt to tell the truth, way to go!

Try casting a bit faster too, when you notice the bullets dropping out of the mold looking like they're "frosted" that means your mold is too hot, then you can slow down casting a bit to let your mold stay at the correct temp.

I always keep a wet sponge well away from my melting pot and if I notice the sprue plate smearing lead I just touch it to the sponge and cool it off a bit. Make certain you don't have ANY water on it before you pour more bullets.

Art

This mold was the Lyman steel mold 230g.

[armyrat1970]

Warm up the mold a little bit more, count six before cutting the sprue.
Your mold is just a little cold.

+1. 'dem boolits don't look bad. You can load and shoot any of them.

[Bret4207]

The hole in the bottom is caused by shrinkage. Pour a more generous sprue puddle and get the mould hotter. With a cool mould the sprue plate/mould junction will solidify a bit sooner than the boolit cavity and the lead get's "sucked" away from the sprue hole causing that hole- or so the theory goes. Just leave a generous dollop of alloy on the sprue holes and it should go away. Keeping the mould a little hotter will give you more complete fillout too.

Other than that- FINE JOB!

[mag44uk]

They look pretty good to me too,well done.
Wise words above too!
Let us know what you shoot them out of and how well they do.
Regards,
Tony

[Tazman1602]

This mold was the Lyman steel mold 230g.

OK man nothing wrong with that, Lyman makes good molds and they cast very well --- actually the bullets you cast don't look all that bad, you could load those and shoot them and they would be OK.....................

.........except now ya' gots "castitis" and you're looking to cast perfect bullets!

Steel molds take a little longer to heat up than aluminum molds do but there ain't as much voodoo to using them as some people would have you believe. Just pour a dozen or so bullets at a good clip then start concentrating on what the guys here have already told you.

1. Pour a generous sprue -- make sure the cavities are full and there is a slab of lead on top of the sprue to be cut off

2. Watch the slab of lead on the sprue and when it "skins" over and turns "dull" in color then knock off the sprue and drop your bullets

3. Take your time, casting is supposed to be fun!

4. If you still have problems, for goodness sakes don't be shy about asking more questions even if you think they are stupid.

The guys here will NEVER belittle you for asking "stupid" questions. This forum is one of the gems of the internet. There ain't no snobs, these guys know what they are talking about, and they will help you out every single time you need help.

Post some pics of your next cast for them, I'm working on a beginners casting video that doesn't put you to sleep, but I'm thinking what wifey is cooking today is going to involve a long nap after which I will get up and eat some more!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Art

[AZ-Stew]

Don't just wait until you see the sprue puddle change from shiny to dull. Wait until you see a dimple form in the sprue puddle over the hole in the sprue plate. This is caused by the metal in the mould shrinking and sucking metal into the mould cavity from the sprue puddle. As the boolit casting cools it shrinks and needs to pull metal into the core of the casting. Otherwise, as shown in your photo, you will get a void. That's what the hole in the base of your boolit is called. Also, cutting the sprue too soon will smear lead across the top of your mould and across the bottom of your sprue plate. Some say this can be eliminated by the use of Bull Plate Lube, but I can't comment because I haven't used it.

For best shooting, be sure the boolits show complete fillout, especially the base corners.

Regards,

Stew

[sst04]

I loaded a few today and shot them.. I was surprised that there was no smoke and they were very acurate.

Loaded them with 5.3g Unique, 1.252 OAL, using the Lyman Orange lube.

[Tazman1602]

I loaded a few today and shot them.. I was surprised that there was no smoke and they were very acurate.

Loaded them with 5.3g Unique, 1.252 OAL, using the Lyman Orange lube.

LOL.............you're hooked now man............<GRIN>

[armyrat1970]

Don't just wait until you see the sprue puddle change from shiny to dull. Wait until you see a dimple form in the sprue puddle over the hole in the sprue plate. This is caused by the metal in the mould shrinking and sucking metal into the mould cavity from the sprue puddle. As the boolit casting cools it shrinks and needs to pull metal into the core of the casting. Otherwise, as shown in your photo, you will get a void. That's what the hole in the base of your boolit is called. Also, cutting the sprue too soon will smear lead across the top of your mould and across the bottom of your sprue plate. Some say this can be eliminated by the use of Bull Plate Lube, but I can't comment because I haven't used it.

For best shooting, be sure the boolits show complete fillout, especially the base corners.

Regards,

Stew

+1 on that. I watch until the sprue changes and see a dimple form before cutting the sprue. It makes a difference in the time depending on mold and alloy temp. If my mold is really hot and my temps are also, after the dimple forms I may wait a little longer before cutting, giving the alloy more time to shrink and pull more metal into the cavity.