First casting of bullets (tips plz)

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303 Britman

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Ok im new to bullet casting and ive read a little about it and it seems pretty straight forward :rolleyes: . I bought a Lee bullet mold for my .308 which is a180 gr round nose. Im going to use wheel wieghts as lead and paraffin wax as flux, is it important to remove dirt from the wheel wieghts? Also i will use the cold water method of dropping the bullets to harden them. I have the Lee liquid alox lube for the bullets afterwards. Since this will be my first batch im not expecting top quality, but i also want to be carefull im not going to ruin my new rifle. So is there any casting guru's out there who can give me advise as to what steps i left out? And what kind of reduced powder loads do you guys use, i will be using IMR 4064 powder and no gas checks for right now. Thanks!
 
303 Britman said:
Ok im new to bullet casting and ive read a little about it and it seems pretty straight forward :rolleyes: . I bought a Lee bullet mold for my .308 which is a180 gr round nose. Im going to use wheel wieghts as lead and paraffin wax as flux, is it important to remove dirt from the wheel wieghts? Also i will use the cold water method of dropping the bullets to harden them. I have the Lee liquid alox lube for the bullets afterwards. Since this will be my first batch im not expecting top quality, but i also want to be carefull im not going to ruin my new rifle. So is there any casting guru's out there who can give me advise as to what steps i left out? And what kind of reduced powder loads do you guys use, i will be using IMR 4064 powder and no gas checks for right now. Thanks!
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You should get a copy of the Lyman cast bullet handbook, complete explanation of all steps in bullet casting.
Casting good bullets is an art, I have been doing it for 45 years.
It is vitally important to clean your lead alloy, especially wheel weights.
Parrafin wax will work as flux, drop a pea-sized ball of it in the melt, then light it with a match to burn off the fumes. As it is burning stir the lead gently, top to bottom, the clips and dirt (there will be lots of dirt) will rise to the surface where they can be skimmed off. If flux is not used, the hardeners in the metal will be skimmed off as well, leaving you with very soft metal. Antimony is used to harden wheel weights, though nowadays there isn't much, hence the recommendation for a water quench.
Be very careful with water around molten lead, one drop

will cause the pot to explode on to you. (don't ask how I know this!). And
always where eye protection.
Anyone have any information on .308 cast bullet loads?
OPC X6
 
Thanks for the reply! So you mentioned cleaning the wheel wieghts, how do you go about this? Washing them or do you just wipe them down with a rag? I would think water would be dangerous. Also the instructions that came with the Lee mould said to to lube the mould, but not to use liquid alox lube something about the lube baking on the mould causing it to not close properly, what other lube can i use? Also is there a way to keep the amount of smoke to a minimum, as i dont want to smoke the whole house.
 
303 Britman said:
Thanks for the reply! So you mentioned cleaning the wheel wieghts, how do you go about this? Washing them or do you just wipe them down with a rag? I would think water would be dangerous. Also the instructions that came with the Lee mould said to to lube the mould, but not to use liquid alox lube something about the lube baking on the mould causing it to not close properly, what other lube can i use? Also is there a way to keep the amount of smoke to a minimum, as i dont want to smoke the whole house.
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Re; smoking up the house, best to first melt the wheelweights in the garage or back yard, because it is a messy thing. When it is melted, pour it into ingot moulds. Then you can cast your bullets where you like. Either way, if you cast inside the house, ie kitchen, you are not going to be popular with your better half.
You clean the lead after it is melted by using a flux and stirring, then skimming off the surface of the melt. If you see a gray coloured skim forming on the surface, flux and stir again, that is the antimony/tin in the alloy that you need to keep it hard. By fluxing and stirring, it is returned to the alloy. While casting the antimony/tin will tend to seperate and rise to the surface, changing the composition of the melt. You keep this to a minimum while casting by fluxing the melt frequently, I used 15 min intervals.
OPC X6
 
Well i finished making my first batch! Turned out to be not too bad, i was getting nervous with the amount of smoke it was giving off after i fluxed:eek:
But as it turned out it got less after a few seconds and i made sure there all the windows were open. It all went smoothly except i wasnt sure how much lead to add and ended dripping some all over the mould, also some of the bullets had what looked like hair lines probably no big deal right?. But after a couple of bullets i got the hang of it. Really it was all a fun experience and i think im hooked on this new hobby :D So does anyone have any reciepes for cast bullets? Id like to start off with something on the safe side and work my way up.
 
The bullets with the lines and wrinkles on them are "culls" throw them back to be remelted.
If they have water trapped inside them they must be heated slowly to prevent any steam explosions, which will splash molten lead around (not a good thing).
The best way is to toss them in the cold lead pot, and make them part of the fist melt.
Do you put a towel over your water bucket?

You really should reconsider casting lead in the kitchen. Metalic lead is a pretty low risk substance, but the casting process is not completely clean. Under a covered porch or carport really is best.

For a 180 grain, gas checked bullet, in .308 Win, I had good luck with 25-to-27 grains on 3031, IIRC about 2000 fps, which is pretty fast if you don't have GCs. Start with 7 or 8 grains of Red Dot, that'll be a good plinker.
 
My wax always bursts into flame when i stir. Which scares the S#$T outa me every time.

You'll find a grey powder forms on the top, dont keep skimming this off.
 
buckbrush said:
I have found Lee molds to be the most difficult to cast with. If you can cast good bullets with Lee single cavity molds, you will find the other better makes to be a breeze.
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Try smoking the mould cavity with a match when it is dry, to deposit some soot in it. This will help the lead to fill out without wrinkles.
OPC X6
 
I've sometimes found candle soot a bit oily. The best soot I've found for smokeing moulds or sights is from masking tape. Twist it into a 'string' and light.
I've never tried a carbide lamp, maybe it's better.
 
The Old Man has a set of locking mould handles that cam like a vice grip. I'm absolutely convinced that they are a must have if you want real consistent bullets for BPCR, or anything else for that matter. But if you're just casting for plinking, I wouldn't bother with them.

You should store your mould in a plastic bag well coated with oil. Clean this off before casting with carb cleaner/break free. You'll have lots of junk in your pot when you first melt wheelweights. Skim the ####e off as it melts and flux the melt well. I use Marvellux for BPCR. Skim the surface and it will look like a mirror. Then you're ready to rock. Try to keep your melt under 800 degrees. Consistent mould handle tension, mould temperature and melt temperature will really help you cast good bullets.

Oh yeah, get the hell out of the kitchen with that lead! One of those Home Depot garden sheds with a light rigged into it is perfect for your casting chores. Keeps the splatter off the lino and the mess away from where the kids/dog/cat are.
 
I was having a bit of a prob to,then I read on another forum about fluxing with fine sawdust.Find a sawdust you like the smell of cause its the flux that keeps on giving.Do it once and forget it.I use the old fashion ladle,and the sawdust reforms a light skim as fast as I scoop
 
BigUglyMan said:
The Old Man has a set of locking mould handles that cam like a vice grip. I'm absolutely convinced that they are a must have if you want real consistent bullets for BPCR, or anything else for that matter. But if you're just casting for plinking, I wouldn't bother with them.

You should store your mould in a plastic bag well coated with oil. Clean this off before casting with carb cleaner/break free. You'll have lots of junk in your pot when you first melt wheelweights. Skim the s**te off as it melts and flux the melt well. I use Marvellux for BPCR. Skim the surface and it will look like a mirror. Then you're ready to rock. Try to keep your melt under 800 degrees. Consistent mould handle tension, mould temperature and melt temperature will really help you cast good bullets.

Oh yeah, get the hell out of the kitchen with that lead! One of those Home Depot garden sheds with a light rigged into it is perfect for your casting chores. Keeps the splatter off the lino and the mess away from where the kids/dog/cat are.
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Use mould spray to coat and store your moulds. This is a graphite base spray available from Dillon and many others. If you use breakfree inside the mould cavity it will not cast a good bullet until cleaned out. If the faces of the mould blocks are kept clean they will mate together consistently without undue force.
OPC X6
 
The first use of any mold is far the hardest because they all come covered in oil. Your future sessions should go better.

The object is to have the lead on top the mold harden last. Pour extra lead over the top of the mold for a second or so after the mold fills and leave a puddle. If you see substantial draw down from contraction, you haven't poured long enough.

Also, pour fairly hot - some frosting on wheelweight bullets won't hurt.

If you add about 2% tin to your wheelweigts, your bullet quality will improve quite noticeably - but don't add much more because it won't help and it may prevent your water drop from hardening your bullets.

With a little practice, you should have no problem casting more than 100 good bullets (I weigh mine and reject those that vary more than 0.2gr. from the average) an hour with your single cavity mold - and I suggest if you want the best accuracy you can get that you stick with single cavity molds because any advantage gained by more cavities is lost when you sort the bullets to separate by cavity.
 
Great thanks for the advise, yes i think i missed that step with sooting the mould, probably the cause for the wrinkles. Also i read on a forum elswhere one guy was using potatoes for flux! As far as casting in the kitchen, i better stick to outside casting and fluxing for the wheel weights, man that smell didnt leave the house for 2 days :D But in all, it was a good experience and with time ill make lots of good boolits. Now i just have to get a 303 mould :rolleyes:
 
i have always used lyman dies and have no problems at all and always have plenty of fresh air in your casting area as lead fumes can be very bad over time. i use pure wheel weights to cast my 38 and 357 and and have good results.
 
Soot

I clean the oil from my moulds with brake cleaner (oudoors!) and when they are clean and dry, I first lubricate the hinges and pins: the BIG tip with Lee moulds is LUBRICATE the hinges and ridges!
I often use a Q-Tip with some anti-seize compound and smear those areas then rub them thin BEFORE smoking the moulds.
I smoke them with a butane lighter set at high flame.
The soot from a candle gives off gases when heated and it results in wrinkled bullets. Butane soot is much finer and dry.

As for wheelweights, you'll need to secure a big cast iron pot to melt them the first time.
You'll have to pick them one by one and cull out any zinc and plastic wheelweights from the batch. Zinc is very bad because it will cause the alloy to ball up and mould details will never fill in correctly. The batch will be useless.
Zinc is a light and very bright metal compared to tarnished lead and antimony alloy.
It melts at a slightly higher temperature than wheelweight alloy so, when the temperature is raised slowly, it forms a blob you can spot and skim out before it alloys.
To remove steel clips, I use a big round magnet salvaged from a bass speaker suspended from a chain. I skim the remainder of the dross with a cheap stainless soup ladle with 1/8" holes in the bottom to let the molten metal escape but trap the dross.
I also recommend you get some Marvelux: it doesn't smoke and you can use it inside when dealing with clean and refined metal.
When your metal is free of dross and steel clips, flux and stir and do it again for a while.
When metal looks like mercury, cast small ingots using cheap 1$ store muffin sheets that you have sprayed with Motomaster graphite grease in a spray can. Costs next to nothing and makes more manageable little metal pucks.
Mark all your ingots from the same batch with a punch so you can track each batch in the event you make a bad one.
When using refined metal for your casting you can make a secondary alloy like the Lyman #2 recipe by alloying each 9 pounds of cleaned wheelweight metal to a one pound bar of 50/50 solder. Melt, flux and stir then make another batch of "muffins". Mark that metal accordingly, this will be the metal you melt for your bullet casting.
Do not forget safety: wear a face mask, face shield and a welder's apron.
Use good leather worker's gloves and pull your work shirt sleeves over the gloves cuffs to avoid an accidental splash from dribbling INSIDE the glove :eek:
Avoid dampness like the plague. If you intend washing your wheelweights before, NEVER add some more wheelweights to the molten metal: you'll get a violent steam explosion and permanent lead freckles...
Do one batch at a time and allow cooling before filling the cast iron pot to a heap and doing it again.
In the same vein, do your melting under a car port; a single raindrop from a passing cloud can paint you and the surroundings with lead droplets!
Good luck and wash your hands before even thinking getting a smoke, drinking or eating.
PP.:)
 
You might be able to use the same bullet in .303 as you do in .308, what size are your bullets dropping out at?
And for the record, a few drops (or half-a-cup) of water on the surface of a pot of molten lead will just sizzle and pop. The only time you can get a steam explosion is if you manage to get water below the surface of the lead. Dropping a wet wheel-weight in would do that. And unless you are scooping the water into your mouth with your hands, you can have a drink without washing; but don't leave the glass or water bottle around where you are casting.
 
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