Shiloh Rifle Forums

Figure eights while on the target then take your best bead shot. I was taught that at the Sac/Folsom range years ago and won a good number of matches with 5 or more chickens. Try it it may work for you, it did for me.

I have collected all the equipment I need to try casting. I have the Lee 20lb melter, a supply of US Navy lead, some tin from Amazon, a Lyman 457-125 (500 grain round nose - which is mysteriously 520 grain when I buy the bullets from BACO) mold, the Lee thermometer and a bottom pour ladle on a stick. I also have a few handfuls of hickory sawdust from making my cross sticks for fluxing, a block of SPG lube and an old spoon I stole from the kitchen (ssshhh - don't tell my wife). And a set of pencils.

I chucked about 5lbs of lead into the melter to see if it works - it does.

I really like the BACO bullet hardness - no leading at all so far - so I want to emulate that. My plan is:

1 - Pour out the test lead - hardness unknown
2 - melt some of the BACO bullets that were very light (5 of each 50 seem to be at least 5 grains light). I won't be shooting them anyway.
3 - Make a puddle and let it set, figure out which of my rack of pencils will scratch it.
4 - Put the navy lead back in the melter, add a little tin, make more puddles and test until same as the BACO puddle. Keep records.
5 - Chuck some lead in the mold and see what happens. If lousy, chuck it back in the pot, mess about with temperatures and try again.

Anything else?

Your making it harder than it has to be. Navy.lead? Is that pure or alloy? 20 to 1 goal? Take 10 lbs of lead add 1/2 # of tin you have 20/1, melt stir Flux,,pour into ingots , label 20/1. The idea is to design a repeatable alloy. So then if it is important to you test hardness record results. Cast bullets load and shoot as these are the results that are important. After testing your bullets at the target and you feel they need to be harder or softer make different alloys. Repeatable alloy1st allways.bobw

Yes - using lead of unknown hardness is a complication. I want to use it though because it's free, and I have 150lbs of it salvaged from an old sailing yacht. If I can figure out a formula that works, I have a lifetime supply of material - just add a little tin. What I don't know is how much antimony (if any) is already in the mix.

Keel lead is nearly always pure lead.

Yup - by the pencil test - a newly melted puck of the stuff scratches with a 6B pencil; it's pure lead. I'm going to chuck 10 lbs in the pot with 1/2 lb of tin and see what I get.

You'll get 20 to 1 but before you do that melt the lead, clean and Flux and stir. Want to get any impurities and dross off it. Then alloy. Clean as possible. Makes nice looking consistant bullets is what your after..bobw

What's the best way to cut a lead brick into small pieces for the melter? I tried my sawzall, and even with a lot of oil on the blade, it was sticking like crazy and just about shook my arm off. I managed to hack off about 12 lbs, but I really don't want to go through that again - not to mention the mess of lead sawdust on the floor that I had to clean up, and the fog of oil as the residue burned off the brick pieces in the melter. Is there an easy trick to it?

What are the dimensions of the lead brick? With large chunks of lead that won’t fit my pot I put them in a cheapo stainless pan and put it on my Coleman stove - you can get a fairly big pan for a fairly cheap price. I also have a big propane torch head that I’ll play on that brick as well. When it’s all melted I ladle it into a mini-muffin tin to make smaller ingots that can be handled by the casting pot. Most of the mini-muffin tins all have that Teflon crap on them which will create a dimpled appearance on the ingot as the Teflon fumes gas off from the hot lead - doesn’t really matter but don’t breath that stuff. I took a couple of mini-muffin tins and threw em in a camp fire when fire died down - by morning the hot coals had burned all that crap off. I use them to make bite size ingots from the scrap lead I get from a nearby metals scrapyard.

Just make sure the sides of your stainless pan or pot are high enough to handle the melted volume. Otherwise you’ll have a nice little lead mess to clean up.

That turkey frier burner that you haven't used in 15 years is a great source of heat and a dutch oven obtained at a yard sale for almost nothing is great. I also picked up the muffin tins for ingots. Vary how much lead you fill them with, and you can then fill your lead pot perfectly.

Woody

Crawfish (turkey) burner, one of the smaller cast iron Dutch ovens. I can do 60-65 lb. in a batch. I used to use the ~55 lb. ingots by suspending them over the pot with a manual cable winch and dropping them as the bottom melted.

Clarence

Doug, I'm not sure how old you are but your statement, "I want to use it though because it's free, and I have 150lbs of it salvaged from an old sailing yacht. If I can figure out a formula that works, I have a lifetime supply of material," caught my attention. My first purchase was 890 lb. of underground cable wrap. Next came 1500 lb. of cable stripping in 500 lb. lots. That source dried up and I found another and bought 4 X 500 lb. lots from them. The latest was 200 lb. from a retired shooter in Wisconsin that I trucked home. I have been at this 20 years now and I think that 200 lb. may be a 'life time' supply now. YMMV.

Be well, Paul

If your cast bullet weighs around 530 grains the yield on 150 pounds of lead would be approximately 1980 bullets not accounting for loss due to slag/dross and other minor drag out. I think you’ll find that you burn through that 150 lbs pretty quick.

Wow - I guess you're right about the use of lead. 150lbs is not that much when you're chucking over an ouce of it per shot. I better find a way to process this stuff in the large lumps - I don't want to have to deal with this 5 lbs at a time with the sawzall.