Any bullet casters out there?(update with pics!)

[cpj]

I am expecting my minnie ball mold for my 50 cal black powder rifle any minute now. I cant wait to mold a few bullets. I have a small amount of pure lead that I am going to use for the minnie balls, and about three to four hundred pound of wheel weights that I plan on using for .357 and for 45/70. (when I get the 45/70) I am going to get the wheel weights tommorrow. Got me a small cast iron pot with pour spouts and a coleman stove for the heat. I am using muffin pans for my ingot molds. Anybody have any suggestions or good web sites for someone who is new to this game?

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Any bullet casters out there?(update with pics!)

I have casted thousands of bullets. 357, 45 acp, 45/70.<br /><br />You will need:<br />VENTILATION!!! the fumes are bad for you.<br /><br />Flux - any good wax to clean up the wheel weights and seperate the clips. I tehn casted them into ingots. I found a plumbers pot and a propane tank shortened the work and it is best done outside.<br /><br />Pure lead for your roundballs (lead flashing works great)<br /><br />Read up on LBT http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting/alloyhardness/index.asp and hardening your bullets for your pistol and rifle.<br /><br />You will need a good sizer but you can get by with the cheap lee sizer. Wheel weights tend to cast small. When you really get involved you will move up to gas checks.<br /><br />I have even used the LBT kit and polished my 45 acp barrels to improve performance and cut back on leading. Don't be tempted to load them too hot or you will lead up bad. The wheel weight bullets DO NOT expand but are great for target and deep penetration on game.<br /><br />I use a small electric furnace, thermometer, and a hardwood stick (old hammer handle) to hit the mold with. Once you get the mold and the lead at the right temperature you gan move along at a good pace.<br /><br />For the 45/70 I have used the Lyman book but be real careful... some of the loads they list will hangfire if not assembled right. E-mail me when you get ready I have a good collection of 45/70 data (mostly for modern rifles and thompson contender. <br /><br />in the beginning you should only expect a handful of good bullets from your early batches. Hand inspect the bullets for sharpness in the lube grooves, measure the bullets with a caliper, weigh the bullets.<br /><br />MidwayUSA (Jefferson City, MO) is a good source of casting equipment and so is ebay.<br /><br />Be patient and it pays off. <br /><br />Experiment with lubes too. I use a blue lube that is so hard I have to keep it heated to get it to work in the sizer. The softer lubes and alox works okay in the beginning (you have been warned but alox smells and is hard to wash off your hands).<br /><br />My method is I go on a major casting spree and cast thousands. Then I size them and store them in plastic containers (they get harder with age). When I load I go like gangbusters and do all I can. Cans of loaded bullets. I am also very precise with my cases. I vibe them all, deprime and size them, vibe a second time, then I load them. <br /><br />Bob

 

[cpj]

Re: Any bullet casters out there?(update with pics!)

Thanks Bob!<br /> No worries about me loading them to heavy, I like all my body parts the way they are. And, Im a cheapskate, I want to get the most rounds out of a pound of powder that I can. Mostly Ill just be plinking, so I see no reason to punish myself with stiff recoil. I ordered my mold from midway, and if the mail man would hurry up, I can get to the garage(well ventilatd, of course) and get to casting some bullets.<br /><br /><br />Do you slug your barrels, and if you do, do you size your mold to the barrel diameter? Or do you just get a bigger mold and them size them down?<br /><br />Ill put up some pics later on, if the mail man wouuld hurry up!

 

[cpj]

Re: Any bullet casters out there?(update with pics!)

Well, I made a few bullets. I guess you could call em bullets.They didnt fill out to good, although they started getting better the more that I did. Ill try later tonight and take more time than I did today. I was in a hurry to try it, ya know its just like Christmas when the mail man brings a box from midway!

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Any bullet casters out there?(update with pics!)

Yes I have slugged my barrels. I have a .459 mold for my 45/70 and when cast I usually get .457 to .458. If they are too small I can tell when they pass through my sizer and back into the melt pile they go!<br /><br />What I meant by loading heavy it causes terrible leading and is a pain to clean the bore. the lead tends to have a decline on accuracy. <br /><br />When your casting one big secret is getting the mold and the lead hot. I have dipped the sides of my molds into the hot lead to bring them up to heat. <br /><br />I bet the first batch looked wrinkled?? That is the sing of a cold mold.

 

[cpj]

Re: Any bullet casters out there?(update with pics!)

No the bullets were not wrinkled, they just didnt have the sharp edges that the mold has. They were more rounded over on the lube grooves. I only had about 8 ounces of lead to start with, so I went to bass pro and bought 5 pounds of pure lead to use. Ill get my wheel weights tommorrow if it doesnt snow us in.BTW, what kind of 45/70 do you have? This is what Im going to get:

<br /><br /><br />Its a H&R buffalo classic. Pretty inexpensive, and they shoot good from what Ive heard. I have a .223 H&R handi rifle that will group an inch at 100 yards. Not bad for a 200$ gun with cheap factory ammo.

 

[dogsdad]

Re: Any bullet casters out there?(update with pics!)

cpj, I think you'd best off getting your hands on the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook. Read the articles in the front. It will give you some definitive answers, and has a lot of good loading data to boot.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Any bullet casters out there?(update with pics!)

I had one of those in 45/70 and I have a ton of great loads for it. I have a 223 H & R in the arsenal and I am probably going to add the 45/70 barrel to it. I also shoot my contender in 45/70 and a Marlin lever in the same. Actually my favorite hunting round is a 405 gr in the 45/70. <br /><br />Most any tire shop will give you the wheel weights but bring along your own bucket. They hate to give up the bucket. I used to keep an old sheet rock bucket in my trunk and just offer to trade.<br /><br />my email is Hotmail.com e-mail me and I will give you my load notes that I have for the 45/70. I know what works and have even used a chronograph on them.<br /><br />Bob

 

[cpj]

Re: Any bullet casters out there?(update with pics!)

Youve got mail!

 

[heycods]

Re: Any bullet casters out there?(update with pics!)

Your getting some good advice. My experience is that the molds take a while to break in the more times you use them the better the bullits will be. I dont think thats experience, I think the heat tempers them or something. I hate to break in new steel molds. I like the alum molds better but they heat up faster ,its best to me to have several molds going at once so when your bullits start looking frosty just start with another mold and let the hot one cool a little. Cold mold will wrinkel and not fill out the groves, hot mold looks frosty.<br /><br /> For what its worth the best turkey load I ever had was a 150gr gc flat rnd nose .308. I loaded it in a 308 win at 1600fps. It was deadly on the turks, using wheel wts. verry little expansion and plent of knock down to 100 yds.<br /><br /> Dont overlook the round balls for the 50 cal.I would put my 50 TC hawken up against any 30/30 I ever saw for accuracy and knockdown with a round ball.

 

[cpj]

Re: Any bullet casters out there?(update with pics!)

Cods, I am trying the minnie balls cause I had problems getting the patched balls in the barrel after two shots. I polished up the bore tonight, so maybe that fixed it. (I could have let it sit to long before I cleaned it)And it could have been to thick of a patch also.(TC prelubed, pre cut, lazy man patches.) Plus those 360 grain minnies ought to put a hurtin on some poor critter.<br /><br />You guys in Texas aint turkey hunters! Anybody that has to hunt turkeys with a 308, needs to learn how to call better and sit still longer. <br />Just kiddin with ya. But here in Missouri, you cant use anything but a shotgun. So ya gotta bring em in to within 40 yards or so.<br /><br />Well, I got about 20 or so poured tonight, and they dont look half bad. It does take some practice to get em right though.And Cods, thanks for the tip about the hot mold and the bullets lookin frosty. I knew what would happen if it was to cold, but didnt know how to know if it was to hot. Im gonna shoot some tommorrow and Ill let yall know how they work.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Any bullet casters out there?(update with pics!)

No, I did not get any mail yet? I keep looking. <br /><br />MO has the best turkey hunting I had ever experianced! Lot's of nive birds have fallen to my 12 ga when I lived there.<br /><br />Bob

 

[Chief101]

Re: Any bullet casters out there?(update with pics!)

cpj, I been casting for many years and learned early on that the first 10-20 casting from a cold mold go back into the pot, with a steel mold. With good quality aluminum molds they start casting good right away. I drop the finished slug from the mold into a pan of water with a towell at the bottom, a soft landing and sort of case hardens the lead. Keep any water away from the pot. Get a sizer/luber and you're ready to go. I've done a tremendous amount of experimenting and even found that I could wrap the high speed rifle bullets with teflon tape instead of lube. Someone mentioned the Lyman book, not a bad idea. just some random thoughts

 

[cpj]

Re: Any bullet casters out there?(update with pics!)

deleted email

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Any bullet casters out there?(update with pics!)

Yeah you can paper patch bullets too. I had heard of the teflon tape but never tried that. <br /><br />CPJ you have mail.

 

[cpj]

Re: Any bullet casters out there?(update with pics!)

duh double post

 

[heycods]

Re: Any bullet casters out there?(update with pics!)

Originally posted by cpj:<br /> Cods, I am trying the minnie balls cause I had problems getting the patched balls in the barrel after two shots. I polished up the bore tonight, so maybe that fixed it. (I could have let it sit to long before I cleaned it)And it could have been to thick of a patch also.(TC prelubed, pre cut, lazy man patches.) Plus those 360 grain minnies ought to put a hurtin on some poor critter.<br /><br />You guys in Texas aint turkey hunters! Anybody that has to hunt turkeys with a 308, needs to learn how to call better and sit still longer. <br />Just kiddin with ya. But here in Missouri, you cant use anything but a shotgun. So ya gotta bring em in to within 40 yards or so.<br /><br />Well, I got about 20 or so poured tonight, and they dont look half bad. It does take some practice to get em right though.And Cods, thanks for the tip about the hot mold and the bullets lookin frosty. I knew what would happen if it was to cold, but didnt know how to know if it was to hot. Im gonna shoot some tommorrow and Ill let yall know how they work.

I just like the knock down on the 308 for turks, Im selective at times I like the young jakes for eating. But its not a problem hunting turks here , we have so many its unbelievable. If I wanted ro make a new sport I could drive through the pasture with someone in the back of the pickup and kill them with a boat oar.<br /><br /> SHORTY just a thought, which way you rap the teflon? if it was a pice of pipe it would be trailing edge away from the threads or you get balled up teflon. do you wrap your teflon with trailing edge away from rifling?

 

[cpj]

Re: Any bullet casters out there?(update with pics!)

All right guys, here are the results of todays range session.The bullets worked very well, even though I had a crappy rest. Yes, that is my excuse. I didnt have a good rest. And since Im not the worlds best rifleman, I need a good rest and whatever else help that I can get. <br />The groups measured just a fuzz over 2 inches at 50 and 100 yards. Thats not to shabby. Well, the 100 yard group had one flyer, so its a 2 shot 2 inch group. It is shooting low, but doesnt have adjustable sites, and Im not ready to get the file after them just yet.<br /><br /><br />This first pic is the possibles bag that I made Friday night out of buckskin. My wife says that it is a purse. I say no, its a possibles bag.<br />

<br /><br /><br />The next one is some of the bullets that I poured last night. Yeah, I know, some still have a few wrinkles.<br />

<br /><br />And the 50 yard target<br />

<br /><br />And the 100 yard target. My little finger is next to the flyer.<br />

<br /><br /><br />The minnies are alot easier than the patched balls for sure. And I cant wait to use up the half a can of black powder that I have so that I can switch to Pyrodex. That bp is nasty stuff.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Any bullet casters out there?(update with pics!)

Look pretty good are they pure lead? Consider that your "flyer" may have been due to the barrel fouling after the group of shots. Either way you would had meat on the table from those groups.

 

[cpj]

Re: Any bullet casters out there?(update with pics!)

Originally posted by Bob_VT:<br /> Look pretty good are they pure lead? Consider that your "flyer" may have been due to the barrel fouling after the group of shots. Either way you would had meat on the table from those groups.

Yep, those were pure lead. I didnt have any rhyme or reason to my cleaning process. I would shoot 2 shots then clean, or 3 shots then clean. I went to try the fourth shot and the bullet started getting hard to push in. I stopped and got my bullet puller out and ended up breaking my wooden ramrod. But there was enough of the brass sticking out that I was able to get a pair of plyers on it and got it out. Heck, 2 inches a 50 yards aint bad for a 100$ muzzel loader with open sights and me shooting it. It is a Springfield Hawken made by Traditions. I bought it about 10 years ago, at bass pro.you cant find that style of gun anymore for less than a couple hundred bucks.(if not more for a good one) It seems as the inline guns have taken over. I dont know why though. I shot several of the inlines and you might as well be shooting a center fire rifle. Takes the fun out of it for me. But to each there own I guess.