Melting wheel weights for bullet casting - all you need to know

Wow !!! I'd be honoured if this was turned into a sticky for sure. Thanks for all the pats on the back guys. I just want everybody to have the skills at their disposal if they decide they want to get into bullet casting. The first step is getting the raw lead together to get you started. Without lead, you can have the best equipment in the world and you'll still be nowhere.



browning said:
Is there any chance you will make a play by play for making projectiles now.
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I guess that would be the next step. It would require a lot more photos to show all of the "this is too hot, this is too cold" aspects, but I dont' see why I couldn't do it. It'll have to be a few days before I could get started on it though. Believe it or not, with all of the writing, editing, uploading and linking, I spent about 9 hours getting the post all together. What the heck...if it helps to get you guys shooting more for less money, great !!! :D

Ok. Give me a few days, and I'll get started on it.

Thanks again guys. All of you have been a great help to my learning curve over the years. Glad to return the favour.
 
Nicely done!
I work with smaller quantities myself, and a Coleman propane stove suffices nicely for that. An old stainless steel pot in all I use for the melt, and make the small Lee ingots.
The procedure other than that is exactly the same.

For the uninitiated, the steam explosion in the video, is much more violent when viewed in person. Particularly if you wind up wearing hot lead. It sticks to your hide instantly, and continues to burn until it cools.
Protective clothing is NOT overkill.
 
John Y Cannuck said:
Nicely done!
I work with smaller quantities myself, and a Coleman propane stove suffices nicely for that. An old stainless steel pot in all I use for the melt, and make the small Lee ingots.
The procedure other than that is exactly the same.

For the uninitiated, the steam explosion in the video, is much more violent when viewed in person. Particularly if you wind up wearing hot lead. It sticks to your hide instantly, and continues to burn until it cools.
Protective clothing is NOT overkill.
Click to expand...

Yes, that it is. In the video, I didn't use very much water and the camera was just my crappy old Pentax. When you're there pouring in the weights and a few cups of water go in......MAN.....it is downright scary. When I did my first melt, that was exactly what happened to me. I had just started dumping in the weights, and the Rice Crispies guys came for a visit with their megaphone. SNAP, CRACKLE and POP about a million times. I could feel the lead hitting the side of the bucket about 20 times a second. It probably lasted about 8 seconds, but it feels like a lifetime. Thank goodness I had the nerve to stand there and keep the bucket in place between me and the lead. If I'd dropped it an ran, I would have been pasted pretty badly.

When it was all over, I had lead sprayed 15 to 20 feet in both directions that were 90 degrees to where I was standing. The bucket saved me big time. As the lead was flying out of the pot, the round sides of the bucket deflected it out to the sides. I played around with small quantities of water after that just to see what the heck was happening as this wonderful phenominon (sp) occured. On a very tiny scale like the little demo I did in the video, it's not so bad. On a large scale, it's not something I want to live over again :redface: A full cup of water and 10 lbs of weights going in all at once would easially put that sheet metal cover I had on the pot into the neighbours yard.

I bought a brand new round ball mould for making 000 buckshot today, so I'll get started on the up and coming "How To Cast Bullets" thread by showing how to smoke it. Like I said before guys...it's going to take me a little while to get all the pics and writing done. I'd like to do a really good job for you, so be patient with me :D

BSD.
 
Hey Blacksmithden,
1st time I did it, I figured washing off all the grunge first would make less smoke. After seeing your STICKY I thank her highness and the powers that be for my procrastination between wash and melt. Got off lucky.
Could you edumacate me a bit before my first casting attempt?
 
Only thing that I would change Blacksmithden is to convert the burner over to NG. If you are doing it outside than most likely you will have your gas meter fairly close, a hose and different orifice size(drilled out), a couple of fittings and you will never run out of a heat source again and at less than 1/4 of the cost to run than propane. This is of course if you plan on melting large amounts of lead.

Never thought about doing a how to make a bullet from lead video, right now I am just about done my automatic heat controller for a cheap Lee 10 lb pot. I thought about adding an adjustable timer so that when you get into a rhythm a light will come on telling you to pour the next set of bullets. With a within 10 deg. F regulated lead temperature and an exact time when to pour and dump the bullets, you could really automate the process.
 
zuke said:
A ladle to pour the lead.
A soup spoon with hole's to skim off the steel clip's.
Get'em both at the Dollar store
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Thanks Zuke,
As a greenhorn to both e-comms and this forum, I was trying to encourage blacksmithden to continue this sticky into basic casting lore. Would be a big help to those of us wanting to dive in.
In my case I want to know if I can cast good boolits without a thermometer or additional kit, and if so , how to proceed.

Just blew my whole wad on a webley mk1 45 acp antique, am very eager to let her speak, but, no spare cash for niceties.
I have ww alloy and pure lead to work with.
 
I started with a Coleman stove and a thick aluminum pot so you should be o.k as you are.
I use straight WW for everything,45-70 and 45 WinMag are my mainstay's.
I paper patch the 45-70 and use a LEE Tumble lube design and then actually use Tumble lube on it.
 
Thanks for sharing Blacksmithden.:)
Just wondering if you have ever come across a paperback written by Veral Smith entitled "Jacketed Performance With Cast Bullets"?
It compliments your article very well.
A tonne of info in those pages. I have forgotten where I picked it up but think it came from Dillon Prec. a long time ago.
 
I'm traing to obtain pure lead or ad least anything softer than WW.Is there a safe,good way of removing excess tin from mix?I hope i can save tin for later in case i need it for #2 alloy.
I read i Cast Bullet Handbook that simply raising temperature will cause tin to float to the top in a form of grey ,uniform film on top of lead.Is that right?Have anyone tried this?
 
It ain't the tin that makes the alloy hard. It is the antimony. The tin just allows the antimony and lead to alloy or mix together thoroughly, and cast well. If you can float the tin out - don't know, but it may be possible - you still have the antimony, just it won't behave as nicely.
 
Thanks for the write up.. I have been casting wheelweight bullets for my 45/70 bolt action mauser for over 10 years. I just could not bring myself to pay the cost of jacketed 500 grain bullets. I get excellent performance, I shoot the Lee 500 gr round nosed bullets at about 1800 fps. Yes it kicks like a mule. I have shot one moose with it and it literally picked it out of its tracks. I see no need for jacketed bullets in this velocity.. Nowadays I moly coat them and the inside of the barrel, before I put lube on them. I get less leading. It takes a bit of time to cast, but it is rewarding when you shoot something with bullets you made, or you shoot a good group with bullets you made, I got about 80 lbs of good clean lead weights about 12 years ago, and I shoot that rifle for less than 3 dollars a box.. good clean fun.
 
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