Casting bullets

Greenfields

Greenfields

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Lower mainland BC
Hey all, I have just acquired a set of Hensley and Gibbs 4 cavity molds and a whole whack of pre cast bullets. I also have a sizer/luber...I don't know the make of it and it is in rough shape but should clean up.

What is the basic set up for casting your own? I have access to allot of lead so I won't have to use wheel weights.

Thanks
Brian
 
Hensley and Gibbs make a great set of moulds. I pickup up a set myself a couple of weeks back. I've only just started casting, so I'm sure someone else could jump in with better advise than me.

I wish I had your lead supply - I only have a few pound of wheel weights available to me. Real simple process: Melt the lead. pour into mound cavities, once filled, then use a soft hammer on the sprue plate to open the mould and dump the bullets. if you want to make them a little harder, you can quench in water - just keep all water away from your lead pot. I did not start casting perfect bullets until the mould got hot. this took a few time pouring sh*t bullets, but I was making perfect ones soon enough.

The Sizer should be just about as easy. Sometimes you may have to soften-up the lube in the sizer to get it flowing into the groove. I just wave a heat gun on it. Also, you will need to crank down the lube reservoir every few cycles.
Good luck

Greenfields said:
Hey all, I have just acquired a set of Hensley and Gibbs 4 cavity molds and a whole whack of pre cast bullets. I also have a sizer/luber...I don't know the make of it and it is in rough shape but should clean up.

What is the basic set up for casting your own? I have access to allot of lead so I won't have to use wheel weights.

Thanks
Brian
Click to expand...
 
.............i can understand the self satisfaction felt when lobbing one of your homemade bullets down range, but man it sounds messy and alot of trouble for what a fella can buy good plain based hard casts nowadays by the box full.
 
Wheel weights are the most common material and generally work well in almost all applications subject to the experience of the caster. Wheel weights are usually a better bet than 'lead' obtained from other sources as they are made to industry standards. Although there are about 4 differnt breeds of wheel weights the most common clip on type contains nominally, 3.3% antimony and 0.3% tin.

While it is more convenient to buy cast bullets, they are often sized too small and made out of too hard an alloy (such as linotype) just so the seller can provide a consistant product with good cosmetics.

For info on bullet casting; http://www.castbulletassoc.org/
 
Commercial hard cast bullets work well in auto-loaders and some full power revolver loads. Most are too hard for target revolver loads--cause serious leading and there is a poor selection available for rifles. Very few of the commercial rifle bullets are gas-check style which is usually necessary for best performance in .22 through .375 cal. Many larger cal work ok without gaschecks though.

44Bore
 
I have been casting for 4 years very addictive.You can make very specific bullets for whatever you like and you never run out (well almost never).Buy Lymans cast bullet handbook very good info.Magma Engineering also has some very good info see their web site.I always use a break down melting pot to clean W\W and pour into ingots.We also break down the W\W outside.Have fun with it
 
virginian said:
I have been casting for 4 years very addictive.You can make very specific bullets for whatever you like and you never run out (well almost never).Buy Lymans cast bullet handbook very good info.Magma Engineering also has some very good info see their web site.I always use a break down melting pot to clean W\W and pour into ingots.We also break down the W\W outside.Have fun with it
Click to expand...
Just remember: do this under a porch because water and molten lead don't mix without some funny antics like peppering everything/everyone in sight with molten lead droplets...:eek:
Better clean and prepare your primary metal in a big cast iron kettle or dutch oven so you can make significant batches of same quality ingots. For the reason discussed above, keep the kettle lid close and at hand. Leather apron, welder gloves and face mask come in handy.
Another caveat: heat your wheelweights just enough to keep them molten and flux, stir and re-flux often. You need to get your metal looking like mercury before you can begin to transfer it in ingot moulds with a ladle.
NEVER try to move the pot by the handle, it will TIP OVER!
For ingot moulds, you can use cheap Dollarama muffin plates sprayed with Canadian Tire's Motomaster graphite grease. Don't forget to identify each ingot by stamping a code on them.
Good luck and be careful.
PP.:)
 
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