Your smeltdown/casting process

[cmillard]

how hard is linotype or monotype water quenched. not to get off of subject (sorry)

[schmidty]

Thanks cholla. Great websites. I added them to my Favorites list.

[doghawg]

My WW processing center. I started casting to save money but now with 3 casting pots, 3 lube sizers, around 40 bullet molds along with many other gadgets and devices...I should start saving money soon.

[Markbo]

My system is similar to Snyd's though I don't put any plastic pistols on hot bullets. Minor differences like I use a cut propane tank to melt/smelt (the top 1/3 I use as a top to keep heat in) and my ingots are made from 1" angle iron. Drop right close to 4lbs each. I have about 400lbs of ingots that are segregated by batch. I figure I have around 1600lbs of wheel weights. Once I get to a ton I will turn them into ingots too.

[cherokee]

snyd - looks to me like you are doing just fine.

[jsh]

Buckets and drums full of WW look like a lot till yo smelt them down and get all the air space out. FYI don't just pitch the clips scrap is scrap and they add up pretty fast. Between me and two other guys we saved a 55 gallon drum full of clips. Took it to the scrap yard and split it there's ways forget how much we got each but we ate well at the steak house that day. Went to a few local gun shops and recirculated the rest of it lol.
The gent asking about Lino or mono type. I found Lino to shatter when encountering steel targets and not transferring energy to knock them over. I was ate up with Lino for casting when I first started. It was just too easy to make perfect looking bullets. Looks are deceiving as a lot of things in life are. I had issues I didn't think I should have. IMHO Lino is to hard when used in its pure form. There is not as much tin it as I was lead to believe, no pun intended.
As axe or some one mentioned to hard is not always good. You don't have to be a witch doctor to cast either. However you should read as much as possible and preferably books in print. Buddy has an LBT tester and I use it when I make a batch of alloy. Make a recipe card just like cooking to keep track of what you are doing.
Also as mentioned above is to smelt in as big of a batch as yo can. This will help keep a more consistant alloy.
Another of my thoughts is a person really needs to slug. I really think a choke helps. Progressively smaller as it travels forward. There is some proof that you get some bump up from initial ignition but it only happens once. So if you go from small to large and back to small, the slug is not gonna shoot. Seems to be more a problem in revolvers because of the three transformation points.
Some milsurp rifles have this issue from over cleaning from the bore.
A gas check can fix a lot of things but not all. I know some folks shoot a GC type mold with out one. I tried it once in two different guns. Accuracy was sub par and leading was starting. I have less time to clean than I do to shoot. So a gc gets a check. I own no bevel base molds and my plain base are sized properly for application.
Jeff

[Cholla]

My Dad and I smelted a couple of batches yesterday. His first 3 gallon bucket had SO much trash and steel weights in it. That bucket and a few handfuls out of another 3 gallon bucket yielded about 45 lbs. of ingots.

With regards to hardness, the more/longer I cast the less need I see for hard bullets. Softer bullets just seem to be much more forgiving in regards to cylinder throat size, groove diameter, and the pressure of the load. I recently cast some HP's at 9.5 Bhn and gave some to a buddy who is running them a little over 1100 fps out of his S&W 629 .44 Magnum. No leading according to him.

I have quite a mess of linotype and monotype and doubt I'll ever use it.

Cholla

[dale53]

I have been melting lead and casting bullets for over sixty years. I started out with Lyman's little 10# cast iron pot on the kitchen range. I also have done bullet casting with the same pot and a dipper using a wood fired range (Lyman used to make a cast iron "adaptor" for use on the wood burning range).

I have settled on using a fish/turkey fryer with a six quart cast iron Dutch Oven from Harbor Freight for my smelting. A couple of weeks ago a friend helped me smelt several hundred pounds of wheelweights. Here's my set up:



I have "smelted" 92 lb. ingots to make smaller ingots down to WW's and scrap lead. I have done as much as 1000 lbs in a day of scrap lead but about half that is "heavy lifting" as old and decrepit as I am getting to be.

I have a couple of bottom pour RCBS 22 lb. pots that I use for all of my bullet casting. I converted to bottom pour for all of my cast bullets (including the over 500gr bullets for BPCR's) many, many years ago. My first bottom pour was a Lyman 11 lb pot. I used it so long I had to rebuild it. Then, when I upgraded to a larger (RCBS) pot, a feller was only too happy to take it off my hands. I actually did some commercial casting with those RCBS pots. They have done yeoman's work, for sure.

My recommendation, if anybody asks, is to get a Fish/Turkey fryer for smelting and a good bottom pour pot for bullet casting. It takes a bit of learning, but I have taught a number of local people rather quickly how to do it and they are doing just fine (got to keep shooting, reloading and bullet casting going for future generations, don't cha' know?)

With the all out war against lead that is going on, it'll only get harder and harder to do it yourself. That is truly sad what misguided "public servants" can do in the way of damage...

FWIW
Dale53

[alukban]

I have the luxury of casting all year round indoors with a medical grade fume hood

I just did a batch of 255gr SWC so I took a pic for youz'all.

[Paden]

Give a description of the equipment under your hood, please. (I don't recognize the pot on the right).

Is your hood ducted to the outside, or is it a filtration hood?

[alukban]

The pot I use is a 1 0lb cap bottom pour. The pot on the right isn't for ammo. It's for another lead alloy called Cerrobend.

The hood is both filtered and ducted to the outside. There are minimal fumes at casting temps, from what I understand, but it's great for when I flux and - more importantly to me - I really like having the plastic door for the splatter.

[bradshaw]

Snyd... and contributors.... a most excellent thread. Should be read by all.
David Bradshaw