lead cast bullets need advice

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laurencen

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been reloading for a year 45auto, allways purchased the bullet but have a large quantity of lead ingots, looking for ideas and advice, purchased bullets have a copper shell or at least I tried melting a couple and lead runs out but leaves a solid case, however if I pour my own out of lead there will be no covering, will a lead bullet I cast be any different to reload, I also assume some sort of lube will be required.

will I see any difference how the lead bullet versus the purchased ones fire?

thanks in advance
 
I don't think you'll see a difference in reloading and yes you'll need a lube for the lead bullets, some guys have been powder coating there lead which replaces the lube by coating the bullet and then baking it at 400 degrees for 30 minutes until the powder coating hardens.
 
Savage78 said:
I don't think you'll see a difference in reloading and yes you'll need a lube for the lead bullets, some guys have been powder coating there lead which replaces the lube by coating the bullet and then baking it at 400 degrees for 30 minutes until the powder coating hardens.
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This, although bake it to what the powder recommends.

Either get a book on casting (Lyman makes a great one) and start reading and or watch lots of youtube videos on casting.
 
You know, you might be further ahead selling off those lead ingots and just continue to purchase your lead bullets in bulk from one of the Canadian suppliers if you don't have to ship them to far. The prices of the bullets from these suppliers is cheap until you have to add shipping to the costs.

On the other hand, you have to spend a lot of money getting a decent set up together to cast/size/lube/melt/pour etc.

I am not trying to discourage you from casting and shooting your own but you should do some due diligence into everything that is entailed in doing so. When it comes to casting for pistol bullets, unless it is something special that isn't available commercially, like hollow base .455 and hollow base 380 diameter bullets I just can't be bothered to go through the time/mess/cost etc of casting thousands of bullets that I can pick up at gun shows from suppliers like Bullet Barn for very similar prices that I can produce them for. Yes, doing it myself saves some money but the time/expense difference between doing it myself and buying good quality tailor mades outweighs what I would call negligible savings.

Casting can be a very good thing though. I cast large diameter bullets for black powder rifles and some antique handguns. It is a good experience and one that everyone should at least become familiar with. Getting cast lead bullets to shoot well can become a nightmare until you look into why they aren't shooting well. That knowledge gets passed onto similar issues with jacketed bullets.

If you want to do it, go for it. I would suggest you find a mentor close by that is willing to walk you through the processes involved in a hands on manner. There is much more to it than just getting a mold and casting up a bunch of bullets and loading them into a case or even stuffing down the bore of a muzzle loader.
 
Glocks are known to not like cast bullets. Some work with them but many will have lead buildup in the barrels because of the type of rifling used. Most any other firearm is usually fine.
If you are using a conventional bullet lube (powder coat doesn't count) you will have more smoke when shooting than normal as some of the lube burns up. Outside it isn't usually noticeable but at indoor ranges it can be annoying.

Buy the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook. It has all the information you'll need to get started as well as a lot of load data. It's $35-40 most places and well worth it if you are interested in casting your own bullets.

To get setup for casting for something like 45ACP you could get by with a $50-70 Lee casting pot, $30 Lee mold, $10 ladle, and $5 bottle of alox lube which you can apply by tumbling the bullets in a plastic container. This is assuming you have electricity, safety glasses, and leather gloves already. If you want to get into higher velocity casting you may need gas checks, a sizing die for your press or a dedicated lubrisizer, and other bits. You can realistically start casting for as little as $100 in equipment. It wont be the best stuff but it'll do the job.
 
Casting isn't as difficult as it might seem at first. And for some as much of a hobby as shooting. You can get a lee mold and melting pot for probly a bit over $100. Do a search for CAST Boolits forum. Lots of information there.
 
Do you have a reloading manual? Surely most manuals mention some of the special considerations that must be given to lead bullets, and the different characteristics they exhibit vs jacketed bullets.

Given the wording of your first post, I am going to say that you have a lot of reading to do before you are ready to turn your ingots into bullets. Look at the manuals you have now, then pick up the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook. These will give you the information you need to get started.
 
Casting is fun, actually is not all that difficult, it can be one of those learn to do by doing - with proper technical guidance from the Lyman book of course! - kind of fun things. After all, soldiers cast bullets for tomorrow's battle around the camp fire tonight for a few hundred years.

You will make lots of mistakes, but you can melt most of them down and re-cast the alloy, and as long as you keep your load in the middle of the road while learning, it is pretty safe. All manuals will warn you not to put damp ingots into molten lead - the resultant steam explosion will scatter molten lead ALL over and it is at the least, painful - tell me about it - and at worst, blinding.

You will hear lots of silliness about lead vapours, but lead does not give off vapour at casting temperatures. Arsenic, a common contaminant of most alloys does, however, so good ventilation is indicated.

Get a good pot, a ladle, molds and handle, a lubrisizer, dies and punches for same, and go for it. Your .45 will gobble 'em up. Unless it is a Glock. Cast bullets don't agree with polygon rifling.
 
Savage78 said:
Sorry it should be 350-375 degrees for 10-15 minutes.
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As I said each powder will provide their own baking instructions. I have some that want 400 for 10min and some that want 375 for 15min etc.

I usually bake at 400 for 15min regardless though.
 
I have cast hundreds of pounds of lead for SCUBA diving weights which I then traded for gear and you would be very smart to place your pot under a fume hood or do it out of doors. Believe when I say that after a few hours of casting will have a very strong and distinct metallic taste in our mouth which I am sure is not healthy.
 
Boulevard said:
I have cast hundreds of pounds of lead for SCUBA diving weights which I then traded for gear and you would be very smart to place your pot under a fume hood or do it out of doors. Believe when I say that after a few hours of casting will have a very strong and distinct metallic taste in our mouth which I am sure is not healthy.
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Really?! Maybe you're doing something wrong. Melting clean lead alloys put virtually nothing into the atmosphere unless you are severely overheating. Do you use a therrmometer? Do you boil your lead? :)

I have cast thousands of pounds of bullets with thousands of hours of exposure and I never got any metallic taste in my mouth, and my blood tests show I'm lead free. I don't use a fume hood. I do my casting in a closed garage in winter and I open the door to let the smoke out only when I flux. And yet I have no level of lead in y body to suggest I'm doing anything wrong.

Smelting and casting dirty contaminated lead is a different story and should not be done in an enclosed area, but that is not because of the lead, it is from the contaminants in the lead that are burning off. Those contaminants can be more dangerous than lead poisoning. That's what you need to be scared of.
 
Find this document. Do not buy anything until read this, I learned so much. Can be a bit dry at times but will help understand the process. Best of all it's free..
From Ingot to Target: A Cast Bullet Guide for Handgunners
 
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