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WARNING FOR BULLET CASTERS
bpost
Member Posts: 32,669 ✭✭✭✭
I have read many questions about bullet casting on this site so far. Casting is safe but caution and care are warranted when working with a molten metal that is around 750 degrees. The below is things I have learned from 30 years of casting.
FIRST; Make sure you have proper ventilation, cast in a shed or garage that is not drafty. Wear leather shoes,welding glove for your ladle hand and eyewear. Lead poisioning is cumulitave and deadly. It pays to keep the fumes out of your home.
SECOND; NEVER EVER have a drink or fluids around the molten lead. If molten lead is spilled into liquid it EXPLODES big time. If that happens you will most likely be severely burned. For that reason I preheat my 1 or 5 pound ingots with a propane torch before lowering them slowly into the pot. This makes sure that the block of lead is bone dry.
THIRD; Use clean lead, wheel weights, range lead and the like are good for pistol bullets. The old standard of linotype is just about used up and is hard to find. You can invest in a 50 lb cast iron crucible pot to pre-melt alloy and clean the lead. Phone company linemen may have some streen, a lead flux made from rendered animal fat. Brownells has MARVELUX. It works like magic. If you do not flux your metal you are leaving dirt behind. That dirt is hard on gun barrels. Fluxing also puts the tin and antimony back into solution. Lee makes inexpensive lead ingot molds to make storing the alloy in handy 5 pound blocks.
FOURTH; Bullet molds are delicate, if bullets are hanging up do not whack the mold with a hammer. Use a wood dowel or better yet a rawhide mallet. IMO bullets hang in sharp shouldered molds more than "softer shapes". Iron molds tend to last a lot longer, aluminium molds are cheaper and lighter. Either type works well. Bullet design is more important than mold construction.
FIFTH; Load cast pistol bullets for a MAXIMUM of about 1,000 FPS. This will reduce leading and allow the use of lower alloy bullets for practice. If you want barrel smoking target vaporizing muzzle velocity, buy jacketed bullets, that why they make them. I know you can drive them faster, but we are takling to folks just getting started here. we don't want to break the piggy bank. Life is a learning curve, so is casting bullets. 1,000 FPS in a .44 mag is a fun load to shoot all day.
The LYMAN CAST BULLET HANDBOOK has a wealth of bullet casting information. If you are going to cast bullets you should have it as a reloading and reference bible. It has lead loads for many calibers and bullets.
FIRST; Make sure you have proper ventilation, cast in a shed or garage that is not drafty. Wear leather shoes,welding glove for your ladle hand and eyewear. Lead poisioning is cumulitave and deadly. It pays to keep the fumes out of your home.
SECOND; NEVER EVER have a drink or fluids around the molten lead. If molten lead is spilled into liquid it EXPLODES big time. If that happens you will most likely be severely burned. For that reason I preheat my 1 or 5 pound ingots with a propane torch before lowering them slowly into the pot. This makes sure that the block of lead is bone dry.
THIRD; Use clean lead, wheel weights, range lead and the like are good for pistol bullets. The old standard of linotype is just about used up and is hard to find. You can invest in a 50 lb cast iron crucible pot to pre-melt alloy and clean the lead. Phone company linemen may have some streen, a lead flux made from rendered animal fat. Brownells has MARVELUX. It works like magic. If you do not flux your metal you are leaving dirt behind. That dirt is hard on gun barrels. Fluxing also puts the tin and antimony back into solution. Lee makes inexpensive lead ingot molds to make storing the alloy in handy 5 pound blocks.
FOURTH; Bullet molds are delicate, if bullets are hanging up do not whack the mold with a hammer. Use a wood dowel or better yet a rawhide mallet. IMO bullets hang in sharp shouldered molds more than "softer shapes". Iron molds tend to last a lot longer, aluminium molds are cheaper and lighter. Either type works well. Bullet design is more important than mold construction.
FIFTH; Load cast pistol bullets for a MAXIMUM of about 1,000 FPS. This will reduce leading and allow the use of lower alloy bullets for practice. If you want barrel smoking target vaporizing muzzle velocity, buy jacketed bullets, that why they make them. I know you can drive them faster, but we are takling to folks just getting started here. we don't want to break the piggy bank. Life is a learning curve, so is casting bullets. 1,000 FPS in a .44 mag is a fun load to shoot all day.
The LYMAN CAST BULLET HANDBOOK has a wealth of bullet casting information. If you are going to cast bullets you should have it as a reloading and reference bible. It has lead loads for many calibers and bullets.
Comments
First (addenda): a good exhaust fan (e.g., recycled stove unit) over the casting bench is highly desirable.
Second (clarification): lead into water or water into lead - both can make for a bad day.
Third (addenda): parafin wax will smoke like a b*stid, but works fine for fluxing the pot.
Fourth (addenda): a plastic hammer works well, also. Whatever the instrument, direct the blow to the hinge pin of the handle, *NEVER* the blocks themselves.
Sixth: have the furnace and all the casting apparatus physically distant from the loading equipment / supplies. A loose primer in molten lead will make a bad day.
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