Casting balls and bullets

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TheDr

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Who all here makes their own,and what are your recipes?
Myself,I always hit up roofers when their around tearing off old roofs.
They always give me the old lead skirting that goes around vent pipes.
Couple of those, cleaned up and with mixed with two handfuls of wheel weights,nets me about 300-500 balls for the .50.
The rest gets turned into river sinkers for when chasing blues and flatheads.
 
I use mostly pure lead, I was fortunate enough to score about 300 pounds of lead from an MRI machine as well as 2 50 pound cubes from a different type of imaging machine. It casts nice bullets and the price was right, free.
 
Correct on not adding wheel weights on BP round balls. We may make a haul getting lead only to find it's not that easy getting more. I cast bullets and round balls out doors. It's heavy metal poisoning that's the problem.
 
Bought plumbers lead after trying some scrap "lead" that wasnt near pure.

Casting rounds with unknow alloy make a slightly different diameter. The antimony in WW makes the ball larger and harder.
Harder = Harder to load .

My Thompson Center 1 cavity mold works well, but is a slow process.

Factory swagged round balls may be more accurate then cast and cheaper then buying lead.
https://www.rotometals.com/pure-soft-lead-metal-99-9-5-pounds
 
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Who all here makes their own,and what are your recipes?
Myself,I always hit up roofers when their around tearing off old roofs.
They always give me the old lead skirting that goes around vent pipes.
Couple of those, cleaned up and with mixed with two handfuls of wheel weights,nets me about 300-500 balls for the .50.
The rest gets turned into river sinkers for when chasing blues and flatheads.
I would suggest skipping the wheel weights, round balls should be cast from pure lead IMO.
 
It's a great way to spend an afternoon. In the grand scheme of things by the time you figure the labor, and electricity for the pot it is cheaper to buy swaged balls. But when the lead was free and I am cheap, er frugal, then it becomes worthwhile. Plus it's a good skill to have when the zombie apocalypse comes.
 
I bought a lot of recycled lead at the salvage yard. I still have a bit of that left but have moved and can’t seem to find any salavage yards that will sell it, which may not matter as I’ve been considering Rotometal’s 2% tin as I seem to struggle with fill out in my bullets/conicals. I don’t have a thermometer for that but my Lee pot is set on it’s highest setting anyway.
 
I've been casting for over 50 yrs and had my blood tested when I was Active duty, negative for lead, I practice standard safety precautions. While in the USAF, I worked in the Emergency Dept and saw a few cases of lead toxicity; they were due to heating the lead to practically a boil with a commercial fryer and eating and drinking while casting, ingestion of airborne contaminates or from handling lead is more dangerous than heating lead to it's melting point and casting.
 
Consider this: in the 19th century, canned goods (foodstuffs) were sealed with lead solder. During the Civil War, things like canned peaches were considered luxury goods and were the province of high-ranking officers. Historians now think that some inexplicably bad command decisions during the war can be attributed to chronic lead poisoning on the part of those in command. Same with the Franklin Expedition to find the Northwest Passage, in 1845.

So long-term exposure to lead might not cause cancer, but it might mess with your brain.
 
I have been casting my own bullets for 30+ years and I'm still not crazy. (I heard that) But when casting I either do it outdoors or in the garage with the door open and a fan in front of me to suck away the fumes. Melting the lead isn't what you have to watch. Its getting it to the boiling point that the chances of lead poisoning go up.

You can make bullets and balls for BP from wheelweights if you don't flux the lead. Let it get hot and stir it and the Arsenic and Antimony will float to the top. So will the tin. You can then skim those off and have close to pure lead. There is a formula for measuring the diameter and weight of a round ball and it will tell you how close to pure lead you are. I have posted it here before.

A poster named WyoSmith over on TFL in the BP section stated he liked wheel weight balls because they were a little harder and will shoot all the way through an Elk. Next casting session I am going to cast some 45, 50 and 54 caliber WW balls and give them a try. Maybe 50 of each.

Casting is fun. I scrounged up around 1400 Lbs of lead several years ago. A mix of pure lead, WW lead and around 45 pounds of Linotype. So I am set I think. I don't cast often but when I do I make a 2 day mega run with thousands of bullets cast up. I am all for casting. I had bullets during the last shortage when others didn't At least its a skill to learn and have the stock on hand to do it.
 
Consider this: in the 19th century, canned goods (foodstuffs) were sealed with lead solder. During the Civil War, things like canned peaches were considered luxury goods and were the province of high-ranking officers. Historians now think that some inexplicably bad command decisions during the war can be attributed to chronic lead poisoning on the part of those in command. Same with the Franklin Expedition to find the Northwest Passage, in 1845.

Yes and the old Kings drank wine from lead Gobblets and were nutty. The acid in the wine leached out the lead. The beaver fur was also treated with a Mercury compound that turned the tips of the Beaver fur orange and lead to the expression "Mad as a Hatter" because the people treating the fur were exposed to the fumes. We know the dangers now and with proper caution there is no reason to be exposed or sick.
 
Casting rounds with unknow alloy make a slightly different diameter. The antimony in WW makes the ball larger and harder.
Harder = Harder to load .

Maybe..., maybe not...while the alloyed lead does not shrink as much as all lead, whether or not the ball is harder to load is based on the patching material and thickness. Now if you're casting conicals like Maxi-balls, or Lee REAL bullets, you might just end up with something you can't load.

Consider this: in the 19th century, canned goods (foodstuffs) were sealed with lead solder. During the Civil War, things like canned peaches were considered luxury goods and were the province of high-ranking officers. Historians now think that some inexplicably bad command decisions during the war can be attributed to chronic lead poisoning on the part of those in command. Same with the Franklin Expedition to find the Northwest Passage, in 1845.
Well those "historians" might want to look at the science involved. The Franklin expedition was heating up the food IN the cans directly over the flame thus getting much more lead transfer.., canned peaches in those days were only boil-canned, not even pressure canned, and while there was some lead transferred, you'd need to be eating peaches at every meal for quite some time (or for some reason heating them up over the fire) before building up enough lead from that source....

Couple of those, cleaned up and with mixed with two handfuls of wheel weights,nets me about 300-500 balls for the .50. The rest gets turned into river sinkers for when chasing blues and flatheads.
YES you can use a "sinker alloy" for casting lead bullets, and as I mentioned above, if they are round ball they don't shrink as much when cooling, so you may need to adjust your patches IF you go from all lead to an alloy using a patched, round ball. IF you've been using the alloy from the beginning, you're fine.

Alloyed lead, such as you're making, or wheel weights, or linotype, or if you harvest modern lead bullets from the berm at your local range, give you an advantage..., they will not deform, or deform much less, upon impact with a big game animal, which should give you deeper penetration. Being just a tad lighter than all lead they will give you a few more feet per second in muzzle velocity. Not really anything significant, but the higher speed is there. NOW IF you are shooting a smoothbore, especially if you don't patch the ball..., there's probably no change that you will see at all.

All lead gives you a nice soft projectile that will deform on impact, and normally this increases your wound potential. It must be balanced when going after the really large cervids such as Elk or Moose. Too much deformation at nearly max range and one's ball might actually retard it's path to the point of not doing as much damage as needed.

"It is evident that, of two wounds of equal depth, that which has the larger area will have the most effect on the internal economy of the animal. It will rupture more blood-vessels and nerves in proportion as it is larger than the other, and so produce more sudden blood letting and shock to the [animal's] system. It may, moreover, include a bone or vital organ, such as heart or brain, in its path, which would not be included in the narrower wound, and in practice this will frequently be found to be the case. Penetration, therefore, being equal, or sufficient, in both cases, that projectile which has the largest striking surface is the best for our purpose." Capt. J. Forsyth The Sporting Rifle and Its Projectiles (1867)

So in this quote from a century and a half ago, from a fellow who was hunting large and dangerous game up to and including elephants, even then concluded by direct observation that a larger diameter round ball was better (yes even better than lead conicals), IF it went deep enough, or better yet passed through.

LD
 
As mentioned many times in these pages, I cast what I can find, these days range scrap, and just discovered 1 hundred pounds from my telco days lurking on a bottom shelf in the cellar. I'll reserve that for metallic cartridge loading and shooting. AS far as Round Balls, if I can ram in in the chamber it works. With the 44 and it proves to be hard lead drop to a .451, 36's .375 or .380 whichever goes in with the shaved ring. Punching paper or ringing steel targets, accuracy is the only true consideration.
 
Casting since 1957. Have about eighty moulds. Fan behind me blowing toward a window or open door, face shield, long sleeves, gloves. Two "alloys" I use: pure lead for my muzzle loaders, ww for all else. Played with real linotype years ago and it was wonderful (1" @ 100 in my pre64 m70 30-06). Can't get it cheap now.
 
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Cast on and off since mid 70s, have about 300 lbs, pure lead to lino from an old press
 
I don't own a hardness tester, have a Lee type, good luck with that. Use the old thumb nail test. Unless one absolutely knows the source, how does one know the alloy.
Different alloys will have a duller or brighter shine, will stay shiner longer, more tin will supposedly fill out the mold better, more antimony will make it harder, the Telco lead I used over the years came from new lead sleeves labeled Calcium, what ever that was. I've only been casting about 25 years, bullets that is, worked with lead for covering telco cables and splices for another 25 odd years and I still would not be able to say one lead is this or that. I do know I now stay away from wheel weights, too much of something else in those things, leaves a nasty crust in the electric pot.
 
When I was shooting PPC matches years ago I went through a lot of 38 special. Salvaged wheel weights worked fine for that. But muzzle loading rifles and handguns need the projectile to be soft. The bullet or ball needs to spread a bit and form into the rifling of the barrel for accurate shooting. Pure lead is nice and soft but if you mix a small bit of Tin into it the ball or bullet your casting will fill the mold nicer and you will have fewer rejects. I use a mix of 20 parts lead to 1 parts tin. Some mix at 40 to 1 but I have not seriously tried that ratio but I understand its fine.

You can never know just what was in salvaged lead so I was buying my lead from a mine for a while, but when that became unavailable I found a couple places that were wholesaling metal. My poor UPS girl would deliver it right to my door. . . well not exactly to the door. More than likely it was left on the bumper of my truck in the driveway:) Have not bought any in years. Have hundreds of pounds of both wheel weight and lead ingots under the loading bench.
 
I only use pure lead. Purchased from rotometals or roofing lead i get at the local scrap yard for .80-1.00 a pound. I take some heavy duty sheet metal shears with me and cut the clean peices off for myself. I hate having to clean off roofing tar and sealant from the lead..which also takes up valuble weight when i take it to get weighed for purchase. So far ive only purchased about 300 lbs total from rotometals, the rest is all roofing lead. I cant tell the difference between the roof lead and 99.9 pure lead from rotometals...they both feel the same as far as how "soft" they are.
 
I used to cast bullets commercially. I cast and sold thousands of bullets each year. When you work in that volume scrap lead is not an option. We bought lead and lead alloys from these guys.

http://www.amesmetal.com/index.html

It's been 20 years so I don't know there current pricing but we had good luck with them

IronHand
 
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