Casting bullets
 

I am thinking of getting into bullet casting. Is the lee pot an ok pot? I really don't want to invest more than 150 dollars into it right now. I figured with molds, pot, sizer, lube, 150 is about right.

I usually hate lee, but thier molds look affordable too.

RE: Casting bullets
 

I have used a Lee pot for at least 20 years for my bullet casting. Did me okay. You will need to play with the temperature of the lead to see what works best for you plus you should warm up the mold before casting. I did this by putting a corner of the mold into the lead for a few minutes. You get better results if you smoke the interior of the mould by sooting up the cavities in a candle flame.

Sure made shooting a handgun inexpensive.

Ben

RE: Casting bullets
 

I like the lyman molds. Looking for 45-70 405gr and 44mag 240gr semiwad cutters. Are the lee molds good guality?

RE: Casting bullets
 

There are only two Lee products on my loading bench. The Lee primer, and a Lee melting pot. The quality on the Lee melting pot is acceptable, but the small Lyman pot is also a great pot. And the small pot is all that is needed to get started with. Actually the small pot is great for advanced casting as well(the Lee is also acceptable).

As far as molds are concerned I would(I do) avoid Lee molds. I consider Lyman to be the lower end of molds. I also really like the RCBS molds. The RCBS molds work very well. Tom.

RE: Casting bullets
 

BC, the Lee Production (10 pounder) pot is OK. I bought mine in 1970 when I was stationed at Fort B. Harrison, IN., and after a number of years, the bottom-pour spout setup stopped working right. I screwed a small wood screw intothe spout to plug it up, removed the spout plug and handle setup, and have used it with a Lyman dipper ever since!

It melts the lead pretty fast (mine's a 110-volt)and gets hot enough to cast good bullets even with pure lead.

Obviously, they are plenty durable, as mine has been dragged from Indiana to Texas, to NY, to PA, and now back to NY, has been used to cast literally thousands of bullets, and it still works......

This is one Lee product that I can recommend w/o reservation.........

IF I ever need a new pot, it will be another Lee. But the 20 pounder next time.

(Before I got the Lee, I had a Lyman. One day the spout just broke off, and dumped moplten lead all over my carpet. Maybe I should not have been making bullets in my bedroom???)

RE: Casting bullets
 

Holy cow, that sounds like a greek tragedy. About as bad as when I seen a turkey frier dump over.

You know I forgot about you. Your pretty close. Maybe if I pull the trigger, I can stop buy and you give me a tip or two.

RE: Casting bullets
 

Guys is casting bullets a safe thing especially with toddlers in the house?

I know your heating up lead and eventually handling it. But not sure it leeches into your skin just from handling.

RE: Casting bullets
 

Casting should be done in an open, airy room, or better yet, outside. (I now try to do all my casting in the spring & fall, when the weather is cool, but nice. Then I set up my casting operation on the back patio.....

Leadwill not harm anyone unless they ingest (eat) lead fragments or powder that can result from handling the lead objects. It will NOT seep into your system thruyour skin or lungs, unless you directly inhale the fumes off of the lead pot while the lead is molten, such as when fluxing, etc. Don't let kids handle lead items.

You'll be surprised at what you can accomplish with cast bullets.

I recommend getting Veral Smith's handbook, Jacketed Performance with Cast Bullets. (LBT-Lead Bullet Technologies) Good Luck & have fun!

RE: Casting bullets
 

Thanks eld. I want to get into it. Kinda surprised at most prices right now.

RE: Casting bullets
 

Lots of molds available on e-bay if you can stomach their anti-gun policies.................................Harold

RE: Casting bullets
 

I have been watching, but any of them that I want are going for 90% of full price.

RE: Casting bullets
 

I would be very wary about buying used molds off E-Bay. A lot of people screw up molds and do not even know it.

If you are looking for some good deals on used equipment, then I would recommend looking on the "Cast Boolit Forum". There are a great bunch of guys over there. They are full of knowledge. They are willing to help with any problems. And you can find a lot of good used equipment over there. I just bought a used RCBS mold for my 44 magnum from a guy over there. I got a great deal, on an almost unused mold. Tom.

RE: Casting bullets
 

So what should one look for on used molds? How does a person screw one up? I figured lead would be so soft, you should mess em up?

Thanks

RE: Casting bullets
 

There are a lot of things you can do to mess up a mold.
1. The hinges.
2.Sprue plate
3.Sprue cutter too loose
4. Overheat a cheap mold(especially the aluminum ones)
5.Use the wrong cleaner
++++++++++++++

It is difficult to tell a mold is bad from a picture. You have to trust the seller. That is why I recommended the Cast Boolit web site. Tom.

RE: Casting bullets
 

Lee production pots are good, especially when you consider the price.
There are a few caveats and tweaks to using the pot to make it work the best.
-Remove the valve and lap it to its seat at the bottom of the pot- you won't get any drips after doing this, but you are likely to get drips otherwise.
- Render your lead (ie W/Ws) in another pot to keep grit an debris out of your castingpot. A small cast iron dutch oven on a turkey cooker works good, Walmart also sells $8 hot plates that will get hot enough to melt lead (though it will take some time).
-Never run the pot empty. The grit/garbage/ash floats on top of the melt, if you run the pot empty, the grit/garbage/ash is now in your spout/valve. Leave at least 1" of lead in your pot.

Lee moulds range from frustrating to very good. Most of them start out somewhere in between. They need work to get them right- clean out the ventlines, lap and debur the cavities (search for 'leementing' thread on the cast boolits website), and keep the sprue plate lubed ( an alox lube stick touched to the hot mould is plenty). The single cavity moulds are more problematic, the 6 cavity moulds are of much higher quality. The biggest problems I've had with the moulds is them not filling out (can be fixed), bullets sticking badly (can be fixed), and undersized bullets being cast (no easy cure for this one, but it can be helped a bit by judiscious application of aluminum duct tape strips around the cavity to open it up a few thou.).

RE: Casting bullets
 

I have two young ones at home. I do all of my casting in the garage and do a thorough cleanup afterwards. I do most of my casting during the winter months- the air is dryer, and its not as uncomfortable to wear pants, boots, jacket, hat, and welding gloves as it is in warmer months and I can drop my bullets into a bucket of snow. Cover up as much of your exposed skin as possible- burns are no fun. A wide brim hat will give you protection from the inevitable 'lead geyser' if you accidentally introduce moisture into your pot (happened to me once using Marvelux, no longer use that crap with the amount of sawdust I have handy), the hot lead goes nearly straight up and then rains down on you in a blink of an eye.

RE: Casting bullets
 

I have a Lee production pot. Works fine for the most part. Just have to keep the valve clean.

I have a mixture of molds... Lee Aluminum, RCBS and Redding... The steel molds need to be lubricated when not in use due to corrosion. The aluminums dissipate heat quickly whereas the steel will get hot enough to a point of having to stop casting for a bit. It is for this reason many casters will have multiple molds of the same bullet to hop scotch as they are casting to allow cooling.

I recommend a good thermometor or thermocouple to attempt to maintain a constant melt temperature.

I cast with the base material being wheel weight lead. I will add a few % pure zinc to help with mold fill and I water drop out of the mold (lay a towel in the bottom of the bucket) to harden them somewhat. The more antimony you add the harder a bullet will become but at some point (I forget % off the top of my head) the bullet will become brittle.

Wheel weights are getting more difficult to find "cheaply" with the high scrap prices and such... I have a few thousand lbs that I have not melted into ingots and maybe 500 lbs cast into 1# ingots. I am set for a while.

Get yourself a good guide such as the Cast Bullet Handbook from Lyman...

Vapors from lead melt can be harmful if inhaled or concentrated in an enclosed area. Molten lead is also very volitile. If you get so much as a drop of water in the hot melt it'll literally explode all over the place. If it gets on your skin or clothing you'll be pulling it off along with the skin. Very painful... Ask me how I know.

Therefore do not have young ones around. Be in a well ventilated area... wear safety glasses... keep your wits about you and food and drink away from the area...

RE: Casting bullets
 

You must have had a brainfart and meant Tin. LOL.

RE: Casting bullets
 

I sure as heck did....

RE: Casting bullets
 

Talk about a meltdown. Pure zinc would be cool to see.

Thanks guys.

RE: Casting bullets
 

Its possible to cast zinc. If you mix zinc with lead, its completely uncastable. Had it happen once, think I had a zinc W/W get mixed in a pot full of lead W/Ws that I left unattended long enough for it to melt in. The results were 20 lbs of alloy that would only make badly wrinkled or partial bullets no matter what I did. The zinc ones melt at a higher temp and will float on top of molten lead, they are usually marked as 'ZN' or some other marking and usually come off BMWs or Japanese cars. If you can find a bucket full of semi-truck W/Ws, you've found gold- lots of good lead, very little dross/clips.