As far as the muffin tin thing goes, just be sure to burn off the non-stick coating before you use it. I used a cupcake pan--still use the same one-- but failed to burn it clean before I poured my first two muffin-ingots.
In trying to beat out the ingots with a hammer, the two cups tore loose and I had to tear out the lead ingots with pliers. I then turned the pan upside down over the two-burner coleman camp stove I use and burned off the coating.
Not one ingot has stuck since, hundreds later. They just flip right out after 5 minutes or so.
With 14 cups now instead of 16, it holds a little over 16 lbs of lead which is all my steel 1 qt. saucepan 'crucible' can hold safely anyway.
Every time I cast ingots I pre-heat the pan over the burners before pouring.
Works out well.
The whole process is cheaper and much easier than I had feared.
I've successfully cast several thousand good bullets over the last year; had a blast and saved money.
I use a 20 lb tank via hose connector to my little stove- I think last time I checked my propane cost per bullet was around .008 cents. My lead is free from the local shooting pits.
(Yeah, it's work gathering it, but I enjoy the time outdoors alone and it's exercise of a sort. What else am I gonna be doing with that time- reading every single post on THR?!
heh.)
I don't even flux when casting ingots because there's so much organic matter in the scrap material - dirt, grass, crap, whatever- that it does the job for me.
--edited to correct and clarify.