air cooled ww lead bullets

[JAMESGR]

I've always water dropped my cast bullets, slugs and round balls out of the mold. Just read "wolfdog's" last post and he and several others mention air cooling cast bullets. How are y'all capturing your cast bullets out of the mold to prevent them from being damaged???
Thanks for the info
JAMES
JAMESGR

[Elpatoloco]

Drop them in a 5gallon bucket with cotton towels

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[hc18flyer]

I use a rumpled up worn out cotton shirt. I don't worry about dropping them on each other from a couple inches above. Don't think it is any worse than tumble lubing or shake and bake powder coating? Mostly casting for pistols now. hc18flyer

[FLINTNFIRE]

Layers of soft cotton cloth , I use old worn towels with some old shipping mesh cushion underneath , just let them fall out from close not dropped from distance .

My own set up I use the above with a sloped incline for them to roll slowly down to a cushioned catch basin , drop on flat and as they cool roll them down out of way .

[cwtebay]

I drop in a 3 gallon sieve in e 5 gallon bucket of water. No real reason other than convenience.

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[35 Rem]

I've always used a stack of newspaper. About the thickness of the old Sunday editions. The layers tend to separate and hold air between them to some extent and provide more cushioning that you would think. Also it makes for very easy cleanup of small lead chunks that get mixed in with your bullets when you are done. It's very easy to just sweep them up with your hand to dump back in the pot. I chose newspaper since I really started casting in college and there were always piles of the free campus paper laying around.

[Winger Ed.]

Try dropping some on each other right out of the mold.
They cool so fast you kind of have to work at dinging them up.
Or, drop a few a short distance apart, then when ya get several, push them off to the side.

Back in the old days, everybody air dropped onto a towel or something.
Then all of a sudden, a fad came along, (before the powder coating fad) and you had to temper them.

So, after you were done with your batch, you had to put a couple into a oven.
Run the temp up slowly until they 'slumped'. Then back the temp off a little.
Put all your boolits in the oven for awhile, then dump them into a bucket of water- tempering them.

Some of us just started dropping them out of the mold into a bucket of water to get to the same place.
For the shooting I do, I don't know if it matters if they're tempered or not.
I still drop them in the water because it's convienent.

[versa-06]

I always short drop n a folded towel or into a bucket of water, which ever tempering I need. -06

[Elpatoloco]

I should clarify. When I say drop them in a 5 gallon bucket. I have a wadded up towel in the bottom and a towel stretched tight across the top. Bucket is elevated on a stool where I drop them 4 to 6 inches at most. When towel on top starts to sag, I dump them onto the towel in the bottom and repeat.

I ALWAYS water dropped everything before I started powdercoating. Now I try to run everything as soft as I can with plain old range scrap. Waterdropping is way easier. Drop out of the mold and done. I get eaxpansion on game with air cooled softer alloy, but I darn sure hate air cooling. Nothing gets Dinged too much btw.

[jdgabbard]

I have a plastic tray from an old tote box that is about 12x12 with 2" walls. I simply place an old folded up towel over it and drop into that. Sure, I might get the occasional ding. But realistically, I drop on a clear area of the towel, and scoot the boolits over once they've had a little of a chance to cool down a bit. Creating a mound of bullets on one side, and a open spot for them to fall on the other. This isn't rocket science. And for the record, I've NEVER water dropped my boolits. I have water quenched them after heat treating in an oven, or after powder coating. But ever water quenched straight from the mold. In my experience with 50/50+2% it has never been needed.

[Daver7]

I just drop mine in a old wood box. I'm only casting for hand guns and my alloy is around 14 BHN. At one time I dropped them on a damp towel but I'm not seeing the need any more.

[JAMESGR]

Thanks for the replies, a lot of good info here. I like the idea of the inclined towel and will fix some way to try this. This will be a new experience as I've always dropped into a 5 gal bucket filled with water and towels in the bottom. I though I'd try a softer BHN. I've always used WW lead, but I bought some pure lead from BIGOX and though I'd try different ratio mixtures.
Thank you,
James

[JoeJames]

Cardboard box with a cut off folded up leg from a wore out pair of jeans. Not a problem.

[BobT]

I drop mine on a worn out pair of blue jeans folded up in a beer flat.

[cwtebay]

Thanks for the replies, a lot of good info here. I like the idea of the inclined towel and will fix some way to try this. This will be a new experience as I've always dropped into a 5 gal bucket filled with water and towels in the bottom. I though I'd try a softer BHN. I've always used WW lead, but I bought some pure lead from BIGOX and though I'd try different ratio mixtures.
Thank you,
James

My understanding is that the increase in BHN is lost in fairly short order. I cast for boolits I may load - but not fire for a year. Hence the reason I drop into a water filled sieve. What's incredible is the amount of slag I apparently drop while (of course casting perfectly.......) dropping boolits. I recover the lost lead when I empty the 5 gallon bucket.

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[white eagle]

drop mine on a folded towel
works famously
the only trouble is getting out of the house with one
before the wife finds out what you are up to

[hawkeye1]

I’m another one for just dropping from the mold straight to bucket of water. Not really for any other reason than it’s convenient. I have a sifter that I used to use with my tumbler for separating brass from media, that sits in the top of the bucket. Makes recovering bullets from water much easier. Prolly got the idea on this forum years ago.

[Jim22]

Two thicknesses of red shop towel. I put a pencil under each edge to try to prevent the boolits from rolling off when the towels get full.

Jim

[cabezaverde]

Where I cast, I have two paint roller pans cushioned with a towel. Let's me run two different molds and keep things sorted. Also, the angle of the pans has the bullets roll down to accumulate.

[Winger Ed.]

Where I cast, I have two paint roller pans cushioned with a towel. Let's me run two different molds and keep things sorted. Also, the angle of the pans has the bullets roll down to accumulate.

Now that is clever.

When this subject comes up again, and it will, I'm going to suggest that,,,,,,,,,
and since I have no shame,,,, I'll tell everybody I thought of it.