ORIGINAL: bigcountry
Ok, so it looks like I am going to try this.
Wife still thinks I am going to ruin our childs brain with all the lead fumes.
But anyway, I was reading alot about it, and if I use wheel wieghts or lead from any source I can find, it is easy to clean out the garbage? Is it easy to flux and to add tin? For instance, I see you flux or add something to get garbage to float to the top. Then I suppose I add my tin to make my hardness I want. But tin also will go to the top. Do I just mix it good?
BC, you need to p[ay attention to the type of alloy. For example, wheel weights (most of them) run about 9-12 BNH (pure lead is 5.) which is good for bullets up to a MV of perhaps 1500 FPS provided good lubes are used. I prefer Javelina Alox, (NRA formula) or LBT Blue. In addition, wheelweights can be hardened by dropping them hot from the mould into a bucket of cold water. Or you can cook them in the oven at 460-465 degrees for a couple of hours, and then quench in cold water.
CAREFUL!! Don't let any water drops splash into the molten lead if you are using a bucket of water to drop the bullets into!!
To be able to be heat-hardened, an alloy must containtin, antimony and a trace of arsenic in addition to the lead. Wheelweights generally have all three already correctly alloyed. A bullet made from this stuff can be heat treated to be even harder than linotype metal!
I have fired heat-treated bullets at jacketed bullet velocities with good accuracy and no leading.
I recommend that you do your casting in a well-ventilated room, or even outside if ti is warm enough!
When cleaning the melt, I use a piece of candle wax about the size of a pea. Drop it into the melted lead, then stir well. I light a match and burn off the fumes resulting from fluxing. Be careful after fluxing, so as not to skim off the shiney metal that may float up after cleaning out the black crap-that's tin, and you want it to stay! Flux after casting every 50 or so bullets, to keep the alloy uniform for a casting session.