Bullet Casting Advise Needed

Lanark Sixgunner

I am just getting into bullet casting and would appreciate any advise. I just bought a Lee Precision Melter and Lyman mold #358429 for my Security Six.

Thanks,

Lanark Sixgunner

jonk

Advice? Hmm. Use hard alloys. Wheelweights are often free and work well, though are often dirty and take awhile to smelt and clean. Use beeswax or bullet lube for flux. Get a copy of Lyman's Cast bullet handbook. Smoke your mold with a bic lighter. Once your alloy is hot and fluxed, and your mold clean, degreased, and smoked, you are ready to cast.

This isn't hard; just pour it into the mold, whack the sprue off with a dowel, and drop the bullet on a piece of cloth and let cool. Continue until you have a nice pile.

Cast bullets need lube. The easiest to apply, and imho one of the best (if goopiest) is Lee's liquid alox. Just drizzle some over the bullets in a plastic dish, roll around, spread on wax paper, and let dry for a day or two.

Past this you'll have to experiment. You will need to generously flare your case mouths to seat the cast bullet without damage, but whether they need sizing or not, depends on how tight your chamber is. If they don't chamber well once seated, you'll have to get a .357 or .358 inch sizer- Lees work fine there, too. Some molds cast a tad fat, it also depends on temp and alloy of the lead.

Great fun, that's all I shoot out of most of my handguns now.

Good luck!

buddyb

#1 rule no liqiud near molten lead.Other than that get the mold good and hot.I usually do that by casting several times and throw the bullets back in the pot.When it gets hot enough you will have complete bullets with no voids.If the bullets start looking frosty,the lead and mold are too hot and the bullets will be brittle.Be careful,have fun and good luck.

bpost

quote:Originally posted by Lanark Sixgunner
I am just getting into bullet casting and would appreciate any advise. I just bought a Lee Precision Melter and Lyman mold #358429 for my Security Six.

Thanks,

Lanark Sixgunner


I've casted hundreds of thousands of bullets. I wore out my first LYMAN CAST BULLET HANDBOOK. It is all dog eared and the pages are loose. If you want it email me your address. I'll send it to you free. It has a wealth of information beyond what you could ever get here.

Frosted bullets are OK, as a matter of fact high tin alloys tend to show some frost when casting at its best. Hot bullets are fragile and need dropped on a soft cloth until they cool.

Highball

Read books on the subject...as mentioned.

Meanwhile...cast in a ventilated area...and NEVER...BUT NEVER allow even a drop of water in that scrap or wheelweight material.

Done safely, it is truly marrrrvoulas...seeing those shiny nearlyfree wonderful bullets sparkling in all their wonder, dropping from that mould....

perry shooter

As others have stated NO LIQUIDS around when you cast do it out side no eating Wash your hansds after you cast Lead is absolved thru the skin and breathing vapors. Make sure mould blocks are up to tempture. Use added tin to alloy metal to make better bullets as needed If you need to size try to find a Star or Magma LUBERSIZER 10 times faster then any other. "PRAISE THE HARD-BALL GUN"

Pearyw

I have about 10 different Lee molds. I recommend coating the mold with a product such as Midways Frankford arsenal mold release agent. I also cast a lot of pistol bullets with straight wheel weight lead and drop them into a bucket of water to harden them.