casting balls

BolerPuller

BolerPuller

CGN Regular
Rating - 100%
10   0   0
Location
The Rock
I've just acquired a mould, ladle, and pot, but I've never done this before. I've read plenty on the internet but I've got a couple of unanswered questions.
1. I understand that ingesting or breathing in lead particles in bad, should I also worry about the fumes? Does anyone use a mask?
2. I've heard you shouldn’t use lead tire weights as they will be hard on your barrel. I've also heard they are fine if you add a bit of bees wax and skim off the impurities. Which is right? Does anyone use tire weights?

Thanks!!
 
most of us use tire weights for casting. they can be a bit harder than pure lead allright. if you are casting balls they should be fine. if you are casting for something with a hollow base that needs to expand to take the rifleing, they may not work to good made out of weights.
beeswax works just fine for fluxing, and yes you have to be careful of the lead fumes when casting. well ventilated area as they say
 
I'd worry as much about the non-lead fumes. When you melt down wheelweights, there is a lot of smoke from paint, adhesive, road tar, you name it. I wouldn't consider doing it indoors.

Many people cast ingots first from the weights, and melt down the ingots in their casting pot as needed. Particularly if you have a nice bottom pour pot, there will be lots of junk in the raw wheelweights.

I'm considering doing a lot more of this kind of thing myself, so let me know how it goes.
 
What kind of firearm are you using? If it is a c&b revolver, you want pure, soft lead. If it is a patched ball rifle, pure lead is recommended.
The usual recommendation is to cast in a well ventilated area. Melting down wheelweights will produce a lot of smoke. Outside is best; at the very least, your smoke detectors will be complaining. Fluxing can help skim off impurities, but won't change the basic alloy. Watch for zinc wheelweights - you don't want to mix zinc in with lead based ww alloy.
 
ventilated area, outdoor... A covered area is very important,,,the big thing to watch for is the effect of a drop of water in the molten lead pot...either rain, sweat, overhead melting ice ...any drop of water will create a big mess...sort of an explosion when the liquid vaporises in a micro second... that will splatter molted lead all over...I alway wear protective glasses and a baseball cap that stop sweat...

A fun activity...rewarding to see the transformation process.
 
Does anybody have any ideas for testing lead hardness on the cheap? I've got a huge stockpile of lead at work but I don't know its composition.
 
casting balls.

all muzzle loader balls should be cast with pure lead. wheel weights have a lot of antimony and are too hard. to test for hardness scratch the lead with your fingernail, if it marks easly it can be considered pure lead. muzzleloader balls must be soft so they will expand and fit the rifleing to shoot good. as for fumes like the other guys said any where with good ventilation is just fine.
 
brownie said:
all muzzle loader balls should be cast with pure lead. wheel weights have a lot of antimony and are too hard. to test for hardness scratch the lead with your fingernail, if it marks easly it can be considered pure lead. muzzleloader balls must be soft so they will expand and fit the rifleing to shoot good. as for fumes like the other guys said any where with good ventilation is just fine.
Click to expand...
I don't want to be a #### disturber here but round ball doesn't expand to fit the rifling. RB is patched and the patch contacts the rifling. Wheel weights would be a poor choice for conicals because the skirt on the conicals must expand to contact the rifling.
 
I just did 300 round balls yesterday with a new lee production pot. I used a North half mask that I use while welding on the job. This mask has a two hoses coming off the front, one on each side and they drape over your shoulders to a harness that containes a couple of filters. You are breathing air that is filtered and from behind you. I also use safety glasses, heavy leather gauntletted gloves (welding gloves) and leather on a mastercraft portable bench. I lay a piece of 1/2" plywood on the bench with the leather on that then the production pot on that I have a towel to catch the hot balls when I knock them out of the two ball aluminum mould. I should say that I need to really warm up those moulds before the balls are worth keeping. i run about twenty through the mould before the mould gets warm enough to produce good quality balls. This operation is done outside away from the door and under cover. Also, make damn sure that you get absoulutly no water in that pot from snow or rain!!! I had a snowflake land in the pot of hot lead, there was a violent reaction to that small bit of water with that moulten lead!
there's my two cents worth
 
WoW!!
I posted this before going to bed and I awoke to this! Thanks guys!
I intend to cast .45 balls to use in my Remington BP revolver, which is rifled. I will be casting outdoors, didn't even consider the indoor thing! I'd kind of like to keep it a bit traditional, I'm going camping in March and thought I'd do it on an open wood fire, likely in a campsite a few down from mine. I was thinking of getting a 50lb cannon ball from the fishing section at Crappy tire if the tire weight thing won't work. Are they pure enough?
 
A lot of fishing weights are made of pure lead. Use the thumbnail test.
A fifty lb. weight? Is that a typo? I haven't seen such a thing. Could be a specialty item and more likely to be made of scrap, like WW lead.
 
If you are going to use the balls in a revolver, you will want soft lead. The ball is oversized. It is possible that a slight ring of lead could be sheared off when the bullet is seated. Ramming a hard lead ball might be problematic.
 
.and yes...WEAR SAFTEY GLASSES. i have had one steam explotion melting WWs in the big pot to make ingets. there was probably some traped water in a hole under the steel clip or something like that. i knew it could happen, but i was very supprised about the power/ amount of lead strewn about. had to ditch a set of coveralls because it was all stuck to one leg and couldnt be removed without tearing the fabric
 
tiriaq said:
If you are going to use the balls in a revolver, you will want soft lead. The ball is oversized. It is possible that a slight ring of lead could be sheared off when the bullet is seated. Ramming a hard lead ball might be problematic.
Click to expand...

What he said .
Wheel weight mix is ok in for a patched round ball . Been using it for 38 years.
Soft as you can get for revolvers as , obviously no patch is used.And do it outside......
 
Indoor Casting

Here's my setup in the basement.......
I did a fair bit of testing on fans, ducts, etc to ensure 100% of the air from the lead furnace and all the air around the bench is removed outside.
It uses a 1/4hp industrial vent fan, so I just have to keep my sleeves from getting sucked into it or lead poisoning will be the least of my worries! :eek:

Note the fixed eye shield which I find is better than safety glasses.

LeadShop.jpg
 
Last edited:
Smokepole said:
A lot of fishing weights are made of pure lead. Use the thumbnail test.
A fifty lb. weight? Is that a typo? I haven't seen such a thing. Could be a specialty item and more likely to be made of scrap, like WW lead.
Click to expand...

Nope, not a typo, we used to have them when I commercial fished off Tofino....about 15 years ago...haven't looked for them lately, might not be available at CT but I know they exist. Do you think the smaller one's are more pure? I guess they might be easier to find.

Wow, nice set up Weapontech!
 
MauserMike said:
Does anybody have any ideas for testing lead hardness on the cheap? I've got a huge stockpile of lead at work but I don't know its composition.
Click to expand...

IIRC, Lee makes a hardness tester that goes in the reloading press, for testing bullet hardness.

Comparison is good. Get a sample of pure lead, and compare. It is the softest.

There are a couple sites around that have some decent info on them. Google should find them, or a search over at the castboolits forum.

Cheers
Trev
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom