My 1st melt UPDATED

Armored Metal

Armored Metal

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Hey guys. Did my 1st ingots today. This was basicaly a trial run to see if I was comfortable with the process and ended up with 10lbs of mini muffin ingots. The only problem I encountered was that I had to keep stirring the lead or else it would solidify on the edges of my too large pan. I'll either change the pan to a smaller one or get a more powerful camp stove for the next time.

My setup

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Fluxing
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My ingots
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Can't wait do do more and see the end result on target.
 
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Welcome to the club :)

That's 400+ 158gn 38cal boolits you have there.

Looks good. Did you pour directly from the frying pan to the muffin tins?

Wish I could find WW around here.

M
 
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tjsudbury said:
personally, I would want something a lot more stable than that setup. It wouldn't take much of a bump to spill a pan full of melted lead onto you
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I see your concern but I flattened the ground, put 2 concrete slabs at the bottom and 2 at the top of of the milk crates. I tested the stability by putting my weight on it and nothing moved. I would have set up another way if I did not have those slabs.

I'm very conscious of the dangers involved in melting lead so I move around keeping that in mind ☺
 
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Good job! Some tips I learned

Keep the pot as small as possible for the amount you wish to melt. I have a variety of SS pots mostly free from the dump but had for cheap at thrift stores, to accommodate different sizes from a small 20lb melt to a good sized soup pot that holds over a hundred pounds of lead, a propane tank cut in half holds more. Use a lid, safer and quicker, also a wind break might be in order as well, a hot water tank skin makes a dandy one for such applications.

More fire is better, turkey fryers are pretty cheap, and work well provided that they are strong enough. Find an antique plumbers furnace and you are really in action, Burn for hours on $3 dollars worth of premium.

Do at least a half arsed sort of your wheel weights, zinc is a pain.

Nothing says you can't use a SS gravy ladle from dollorama to cast decent bullets, but a bottom pour pot is FaF, budget shooter supply has the lee 20lb for as cheap as you can get it usually.

Don't let your clips and lead oxide scrapings build up, its toxic as hell.

If you ever throw that frying pan out, smash it with a hammer, you never know who might want to try and fry bacon in it.
 
maltextract said:
Good job! Some tips I learned

Keep the pot as small as possible for the amount you wish to melt. I have a variety of SS pots mostly free from the dump but had for cheap at thrift stores, to accommodate different sizes from a small 20lb melt to a good sized soup pot that holds over a hundred pounds of lead, a propane tank cut in half holds more. Use a lid, safer and quicker, also a wind break might be in order as well, a hot water tank skin makes a dandy one for such applications.

More fire is better, turkey fryers are pretty cheap, and work well provided that they are strong enough. Find an antique plumbers furnace and you are really in action, Burn for hours on $3 dollars worth of premium.

Do at least a half arsed sort of your wheel weights, zinc is a pain.

Nothing says you can't use a SS gravy ladle from dollorama to cast decent bullets, but a bottom pour pot is FaF, budget shooter supply has the lee 20lb for as cheap as you can get it usually.

Don't let your clips and lead oxide scrapings build up, its toxic as hell.

If you ever throw that frying pan out, smash it with a hammer, you never know who might want to try and fry bacon in it.
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Thank you Sir. The lid and the wind break are things that I needed but did not have. Won't make that mistake again.
 
I don't cast my own but having worked in a research lab I do have one bit of advice. If you can find a comfortable pair of welding gloves it's a wise decision. We were melting lead once and the guy I was working with had the pan slip out of his hands. Both of us would have had some pretty bad burns if it wasn't for our gloves.
 
Swami said:
I don't cast my own but having worked in a research lab I do have one bit of advice. If you can find a comfortable pair of welding gloves it's a wise decision. We were melting lead once and the guy I was working with had the pan slip out of his hands. Both of us would have had some pretty bad burns if it wasn't for our gloves.
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I wear thick work gloves but I don't move the pan. Too heavy and too risky. I use a laddle to pour my ingots.
 
Smart move. Casting looks like it would be pretty fun but my kids never leave me alone so I'd be too worried they would cause an accident.
 
Swami said:
Smart move. Casting looks like it would be pretty fun but my kids never leave me alone so I'd be too worried they would cause an accident.
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Smart. I made sure my wife was home when I did it and our yougest one (4 years old) recieved very strict instructions to not come and disturb daddy. Showing him the before and after was enough ro satisfy his curiosity and keep him playing elsewhere.
 
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Did you flux the lead at all to remove the impurities? I'd do that before making the ingots, that way you have it done and can just melt the ingots to cast when you're ready. I've only been melting and casting ingots so far, no actual bullets, but I've learned a lot in the past bit, and now have a nice stash of 60 lbs of pure lead ingots waiting for casting time.
 
DRE369 said:
Did you flux the lead at all to remove the impurities? I'd do that before making the ingots, that way you have it done and can just melt the ingots to cast when you're ready. I've only been melting and casting ingots so far, no actual bullets, but I've learned a lot in the past bit, and now have a nice stash of 60 lbs of pure lead ingots waiting for casting time.
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You can see on the 3rd pic I posted when I fluxed. I used some wax from a candle. Can't wait to do another batch and accumulate a stash like you.
 
less than a year ago for me, and it seems sooooo fast.
https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/for...eights-and-some-quot-what-not-to-do-quot-tips

A quick sort, make first melt downwind of anything you care about (it does stink), leave a 1/2" of "known good" in your pot, and it becomes pretty tricky to screw up...
Lots of slung lead, and still a "float" of 80lbs in ingots later I have found the hobby of bullet making, and reloading as pleasurable as shooting.
 
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