Made some Boolits!!

[veeman]

Today I made my 2nd attempt at casting, and I'd have to say it was a success! Since my last attempt, I read some stuff and got some stuff, because stuff makes things happen, right? One of the things I got was a hot plate to heat the mold. Worked great! The mold I tried today is an Accurate mold, 51-350CL. The lead is from RMR, the little bullet cores rated about 10BH. Couple weeks ago my wife brings home a garage sale item, a little pot with a heating coil in it that the guy used to make fishing sinkers with. Wasn't real thrilled but when the wife brings home gifts, I smile and give it a try. And much to my surprise it worked real well. Hot plate worked real well too. So I dumped a few handfuls of bullet cores in and in just a few minutes I had lead ready to poor. Got a new wooded mallet as part of my stuff gathering and it functioned flawlessly. In a short time I have 52 new 50/95 bullets ready to size and lube.

Guess I started with ingots left over from last attempt




I measured a bunch latter and most were around .516, largest being .519. Weight 6 and the were between 353 and 356grs. I'm happy with the days work. I think a mold for the 45/75 is in order!

[MarkP]

In the 1970's the neighbor across the street had the same all in one type melter. He made big weighted snagging hooks.

[GregLaROCHE]

Looks like you’ve got the process down quite well.

[slim1836]

Don't stop what you're doing, the boolits look great.

And give the wife a big kiss for supporting your hobby.

Slim

[Landy88]

Nice work.

That electric ladle has my interest and clearly you cast some nice big bullets with it.

[veeman]

Yeah, my wife got that at a garage sale, $8., thinking it would be ideal for small batches, small so as not to be intimidating for a new caster. She sure got that right! I was really surprised at how well it worked. She and the daughter now plan to use it for things like jewelry making and such. We'll see, she may not get it back! I have an old Lyman M66 electric pot to use and another cast iron pot for the camp stove to try. But this little ladle was so much fun, made me want to cast alot more. I have that Accurate 50/95 mold, and a couple Lyman molds in 38-55 and 45 Colt.

[Soundguy]

Looks nice. Those heat in pour ladles work great with super clean lead. just keep the dross off when pouring.

[veeman]

That was a tricky thing to do because those coils take up half the pot! But still made some nice looking boolits.

[RustyReel]

I used one of those to turn 600 pounds of fishing weights into ingots. Took a while but it did the job. Still have it, just never seem to use it anymore.

[Landy88]

One of those Hot Pots would let me cast more often and be good for special alloys. A half of a day to setup with and empty a big pot is neither as easy to find the time for nor do as an hour with such a handy little combo tool.

Your very nice wife made a good find.

[veeman]

Casted 191 45 Colt bullets and 105 38/55 bullets before my little ladle Hot Pot crapped out. Good day!

[Soundguy]

Did it really die or just go into a recoverable thermal cutout?

[veeman]

Fire and sparks from the bottom coil, then dead.

[Landy88]

I was serching for thrift store nearby to hunt for one of these Hot Pots; but found a better than decent deal, not nearly as good as Veeman"s good wife found, on Evilbay. So I ordered it.

While I've only been casting for a few years, myself, I can write that CB is so good for not only what we can learn from the most experienced experts but from the newest sharp eyes. Good casting and a nice niche gadget highlighted, Veeman.

Ps: The newest version has the element outside of the ladle to ease use.

[veeman]

I will be ordering the newer version for sure. Once again something my wife gets me that I wrinkle my nose at turns out to be the greatest thing. You'd think I'd learn.