Need help casting bullets.

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I think this is the best forum for this post.

I was given a NIB mould from a friend while over listening to African hunting stories last year during hunting season. I mentioned i had a 577 Snider and he was like hey I have a mold you can have for that.

So I should be getting my brass soon from myticprecision on here, but i have no projectiles.

It is a NEI Mold # 525.586 #247

Takes RCBS handles.

I have done some reading, and watched some videos on the casitng process and it seems like it could be fun but dont currently have the funds to buy a setup.

What I am looking for is someone in the Edmonton to Red Deer corridor, (Preferably in Edmonton) that could show me how to cast one afternoon or evening.

Always willing to bring some beer and reimburse for the lead/materials that we use up.

So yeah anyone around?

Feel free to post casting tips for newbies in this thread as well.
 
along the same lines-I have a 5 gallon pail of wheel weights sittin by my tire machine that will never be used on rims again.Is the lead they're made of too impure to cast bullets with or can it be used...or a percentage of kinda thing?
and +1 on any newbie casting tips!
 
9lbs of wheelweights and 1lb of 50/50 bar solder gives you 10lbs of Lyman#2 mix which is excellent for making lead bullets for rifle or handgun. some use pure wheelweights for handgun bullets, but I find they leave some lead in the barrel because they do not have enough tin.
 
When speaking of wheel weights, one must remember - Clip-ons are hard lead, while the flat stick-ons (for custom rims) are often pure, soft lead. Also, there are some 'non lead' weights in ciculation now = junk.
Don't cast hunting bullets with hard lead, unless you need a 'solid' for African game. They show little expansion on target.
 
BrotherRockeye said:
along the same lines-I have a 5 gallon pail of wheel weights sittin by my tire machine that will never be used on rims again.Is the lead they're made of too impure to cast bullets with or can it be used...or a percentage of kinda thing?
Click to expand...

They are excellent for casting round ball for target use because they melt a lot lower than pure lead (450 F vs 600 F) and also fill the mold more cleanly. They also are excellent or can be cut 50/50 with pure lead for smokeless shooting because they can be tempered up to about 30 on the Brinnell scale. For black powder cartridge shooting you want something around 5% alloy of tin and antimony with your pure lead so you could use a small amount of WW for adding to your mix for your black powder loads.

Going back to the first question, the problem I find with casting mini balls (for a Snider) is if the skirt is to thin and the mold a little cool, the skirt does not fill. Also have problems with shrinkage creating voids at the top of the hollow base

cheers mooncoon
 
Several postings here seem to show information regarding soft lead as wheel weights. I get a lot of wheel weights and almost all of it is so hard it 'rings' if you tap two together. Amongst the pile is a few soft strips of stick on weights which I hoad out for ML or hunting bullets.
Are you guys getting soft lead wheel weights?
 
mooncoon said:
They are excellent for casting round ball for target use because they melt a lot lower than pure lead (450 F vs 600 F) and also fill the mold more cleanly. They also are excellent or can be cut 50/50 with pure lead for smokeless shooting because they can be tempered up to about 30 on the Brinnell scale. For black powder cartridge shooting you want something around 5% alloy of tin and antimony with your pure lead so you could use a small amount of WW for adding to your mix for your black powder loads.

Going back to the first question, the problem I find with casting mini balls (for a Snider) is if the skirt is to thin and the mold a little cool, the skirt does not fill. Also have problems with shrinkage creating voids at the top of the hollow base

cheers mooncoon
Click to expand...

If the mold isn't filling completely - warm up your alloy and leave a much larger sprue on the sprue plate. Having the largest sprue possible gives the mold reserve metal and running the alloy just a bit hotter allows the mold to cool slower and the lead to fill the voids.
 
lead hardness

wheelweight material is one of the better sources for lead if you are going to cast bullets for smokeless powder cartiges or possibly black powder cartriges , due to the fact that there is a little bit of tin and a small amount of antimony already present in them . The tin helps to fill out your mold and the antimony is nessacery if you plan on any kind of " hardening " process and pure lead like plumbers or flashing being the softest you normaly get . Myself , I cast at a reasonably high temp and drop the slugs directly into a 5 gal pail of cold water that causes the lead to jump from about 7 brinnel to 22 brinnel hardness and that would be far to hard to start into the rifling of a traditional M/L barrel , or allow for any expantion on game especialy at normal M/L velocities. On that note for any of the older or traditional type of skirted bullrt types you may want to try dead soft lead with just a little bit of tin to help with flow but still soft enough to upset and cause a good gas seal in the riffleing.
 
Smokepole said:
Several postings here seem to show information regarding soft lead as wheel weights. ?
Click to expand...

I would regard wheel weights as hard lead but for target shooting that does not matter. You could shoot marbles if they were the right size and you were not worried about shattered glass around your targets. If in doubt about the hardness of a batch of lead, drop a large (1+inch) ball bearing from chest high onto the lead and measure the diameter of the dent. Index with your thumb knuckle against your xyphoid process and compare the dent with one in a piece of known pure lead.

cheers mooncoon
 
That 577 mold, is that the 450 grain bullet or the 900 grain bullet or something else not listed. NEI website only shows 2 molds for the 577.
I do allot of bullet casting, only when its warm out. I do all my casting outside in fresh air. I have 20 different bullet molds, 2 lead melting pots. If you can't find somebody in the city, by the time it warms up enough to cast outside. I'll invite you out for an afternoon of casting.
There's allot to bullet casting, prepping molds, lubbing handle hinge points and keeping them lubbed, Fluxing lead with wax or wood chips, recipe of things that go into the pot, to get properly formed bullets. Optimum lead temperature. Finishing touches to the bullet while its hot. Gloves to use.
I probably cast 10000 bullets last year, 6000 - 200grain 45acp SWC bullets alone.
When I first got into casting bullets I requested books from the ED library, on how to!
Its kinda sweet when you get a 2 inch group at 25 yards with your own cast 45acp pistol bullets. Also sweet when you hit a 100 yard 12" X 12" target 6 out of 8 times with the same bullet.
 
Use prue lead for the snider, or soft as you can find. It's for bullet expansion whether it be a solid .590" bullet of a hollow base with a plug.

Pete
 
My advices for casting would be;
wear long sleeve, gloves ,safety glasses, and ballcap...avoid at all cost that a drop of water (rain- sweat...) fall into the molten metal (to you avoid a sort of explosion).
Prepare your mold by smoking it, keep it warm, get casting, drop off your new born onto a soft cloth so they dont get bruised up...recognise the sign of too hot or not hot enough molten lead...maybe check out LEE website...an interesting and rewarding hobby
J
 
tigrr said:
That 577 mold, is that the 450 grain bullet or the 900 grain bullet or something else not listed. NEI website only shows 2 molds for the 577.
I do allot of bullet casting, only when its warm out. I do all my casting outside in fresh air. I have 20 different bullet molds, 2 lead melting pots. If you can't find somebody in the city, by the time it warms up enough to cast outside. I'll invite you out for an afternoon of casting.
There's allot to bullet casting, prepping molds, lubbing handle hinge points and keeping them lubbed, Fluxing lead with wax or wood chips, recipe of things that go into the pot, to get properly formed bullets. Optimum lead temperature. Finishing touches to the bullet while its hot. Gloves to use.
I probably cast 10000 bullets last year, 6000 - 200grain 45acp SWC bullets alone.
When I first got into casting bullets I requested books from the ED library, on how to!
Its kinda sweet when you get a 2 inch group at 25 yards with your own cast 45acp pistol bullets. Also sweet when you hit a 100 yard 12" X 12" target 6 out of 8 times with the same bullet.
Click to expand...

Where are you located (feel free to pm that info)

My understanding is that it is a custom mold, I cant remember the weight (and I dont think it listed it on the box) but I seem to recall the cavity size is .5874 and .5873 and it says when hot bullets cast .001 over. Most conicals and round balls for the snider are actually .590 from the reading I have done

I think, I will check tonight.

Still need to find handles for it (they say RCBS are the ones that fit) but I did find a pair of lymans on sale this weekend so I bought those (no idea if they will work, hoping to check tonigh)

The eventual goal is to cast most of my pistol bullets, and hey I will go check the library and see what they have for books. It seems like everyone has there own "recipie" for lead and fluxing.

Thanks for the great tips everyone keep em coming.
 
Smokepole said:
When speaking of wheel weights, one must remember - Clip-ons are hard lead, while the flat stick-ons (for custom rims) are often pure, soft lead. Also, there are some 'non lead' weights in ciculation now = junk.
Don't cast hunting bullets with hard lead, unless you need a 'solid' for African game. They show little expansion on target.
Click to expand...


And they dont need expansion. If your frontal area is over 75% of bullet dia it'll kill
 
I picked up a 5 gallon can of wheel-weights, melted and cleaned it in a big dutch oven outside and added tin.
The bullets work great, they cast nicely and I get very little if any leading.
 
I know one range that has a lot of wheel weights burried in the berms...........
I like them the best especially for plinking. I don't even waste my time dropping plinkers in water to get them harder unless they are going throught the Marlin's with micro grooving.

PM Sent. Ken.
 
You may want to back up a bit and save some money and aggravation, pure lead(soft) is best by far for the Snider, add tin from solder, to make it 30-1 or so as the tin will help mould fillout. The handles you bought will not work on the NEI molds, you need RCBS handles. If you didn't mind the drive, I would invite you (or anyone else) that wants to see the process. I use 6 diff. sizing machines, and have over 150 molds, including rare and antique molds by all the makers, except Lee, it is a business but, bullet casting is bullet casting, it might help for you to see it. I cast in a shop with proper air extraction fans, and one can see alot of equip. in use and decide which is for them and what is not.
 
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