• This Forum is for adults 18 years of age or over. By continuing to use this Forum you are confirming that you are 18 or older. No content shall be viewed by any person under 18 in California.

casting bullets

Lots of good technical advice.

You probably already know this, but I thought I would nevertheless share it with you. Make sure you do not cast in an area without very good ventilation that removes the fumes, so that you don't inhale them. Back in the 80's there was a guy in Western PA that got severe lead poisoning from casting bullets in his basement with no ventilation. The Pittsburgh Press ran an extensive article on it.
 
K22 said:
Lots of good technical advice.

You probably already know this, but I thought I would nevertheless share it with you. Make sure you do not cast in an area without very good ventilation that removes the fumes, so that you don't inhale them. Back in the 80's there was a guy in Western PA that got severe lead poisoning from casting bullets in his basement with no ventilation. The Pittsburgh Press ran an extensive article on it.
Click to expand...
My wife is a stickler for health safety. I’ll be performing any smelting/casting outdoors.
 
  • Like
Reactions: K22
After casting bullets for 35 years I would give you this one piece of advice... sell the lead and buy some bullets.

I cast bullets when I had to do because I couldn't afford factory ammo. I got pretty good with it.

These days, the equipment required and the cost of materials make it quite expensive to get started and not as cool as it once was.

I was able to get wheel weights just for hauling them off from the tire shops. Zero $$. Molds and lead pots lasted forever.

The final straw was when my job required me to move across the country and I had over 2500# of metals that the movers refused to load. It took me years to accumulate all of that and I had to sell it all off. A guy in Phoenix got a GREAT deal on a huge casting/foundry setup.

It's just a different environment now. I wouldn't advise anybody to start casting these days.
 
J_Hensley said:
This seems like a lot of bullets.
View attachment 1760728
Click to expand...
how many pounds of that do you have? 500 quantity 200 grain bullets takes 14 or 15 pounds so you need alot to make many bullets. ive got a little lead ect and thinking same as you. be careful and have good ventilation when casting. a few bullets arent worth lead poisoning. Im thinking id be better off just buying bullets but ill prob alloy the stuff i have at least.
 
kelbro said:
After casting bullets for 35 years I would give you this one piece of advice... sell the lead and buy some bullets.

I cast bullets when I had to do because I couldn't afford factory ammo. I got pretty good with it.

These days, the equipment required and the cost of materials make it quite expensive to get started and not as cool as it once was.

I was able to get wheel weights just for hauling them off from the tire shops. Zero $$. Molds and lead pots lasted forever.

The final straw was when my job required me to move across the country and I had over 2500# of metals that the movers refused to load. It took me years to accumulate all of that and I had to sell it all off. A guy in Phoenix got a GREAT deal on a huge casting/foundry setup.

It's just a different environment now. I wouldn't advise anybody to start casting these days.
Click to expand...
Sage advice.
 
Alex Wheeler said:
Im no casting expert but I have cast and shot a lot of them. If these are just plinking bullets you can get away with bad alloy by hunning the mold hot. I used to use straight wheel weights and if I got the mold hot enough it would fill out and make good bulllets. They were frosted, but shot good.
Click to expand...
Spot on.
It ain't rocket science. Not much required for plinking.

This is all i use;
Gas cooker
Alluminium pot
Mould
Spoon
Ladle
Wax for cleaning the lead
Plenty of ventilation.

Consider powder coating. Hmm
As mentioned have a look at castboolits.
 
Oldbloke said:
Spot on.
It ain't rocket science. Not much required for plinking.

This is all i use;
Gas cooker
Alluminium pot
Mould
Spoon
Ladle
Wax for cleaning the lead
Plenty of ventilation.

Consider powder coating. Hmm
As mentioned have a look at castboolits.
Click to expand...
I've thought about casting at one time or another, pistol plinkers only
so would most likely use a simple setup like you described
IF......I decided to do so at all
I am still of the opinion it is a better use of time to
buy already cast and properly sized bullets from people who do this often but.....
----
let me ask, wax for cleaning the lead?
how does wax clean lead
---
I have never cast bullets so am asking just for info purposes
 
That pipe will be mostly near pure. It will have a little antimony in it to help it when it is extruded. And the joints will have a little tin in them. Make sure to melt it outside initially. It is not the lead itself that is dangerous. It is all the oxides on it and in it where you get in trouble. Keep the dust away that is the main one. The smoke will be contaminates on the lead. They can be just as bad.

Make sure to wash your hands and face. That is actually where you get the exposure from. But it is not that big of a deal anyways. You get more lead exposure from drinking water than you could get from smelting that lead down. It takes years of exposure to do do anything.

Rotometals you can get any alloy you want to make the lead you want. Just don't buy antimony. You will not be able to mix that in. If it is already in the mix then it will alloy into everything else. I would buy 10lbs of superhard and mix it with what you got. It will work for 90% of the pistols out there.

The black powder guys would probably trade you 2lbs for ea lb you have. That type of lead is getting extremly hard to find anymore
 
The wax helps the impurities float to the surface and can be scraped off.

Add:
Eye protection.
Leather gloves

And yes, for most it's just easier to buy them.
 
Last edited:
let me ask, wax for cleaning the lead?
how does wax clean lead
Click to expand...

Wax fluxes the lead, acting as a "reducing agent" by consuming oxygen (by burning) which helps the tin last longer in the melt before turning into an oxide scum that must be removed (tin is expensive, making this discarding of the tin oxide wasteful...in the olden days Linotype operators kept adding tin to the mix to replace the tin lost to oxides, but tin was much cheaper then); you can also use sawdust for this ... I mix sawdust with wax or drain oil and stir that into the melt for this purpose...it will float to the top and turn into a black powder (charcoal) which will "shield" the molten lead and tin underneath from oxygen by slowly being converted into CO2 ... so it works like the cellulose flux on 6010 welding rod, consuming oxygen and creating a layer of CO2 shielding gas...
 
Last edited:
KMW 1954 said:
This is how I got started! The cast iron pan was worthless. Wouldn't generate enough heat to melt.

View attachment 1760911
Click to expand...
I've used a cast iron frying pan like that for melting lead bullets over propane stove ... but you need to be VERYVERY careful using something like that, because with 30# of molten lead in it, once it starts to tilt even a few degrees, the weight differential between the right and left sides of the pan becomes huge, creating torque which can twist the pan right out of your grip and dump a lake of molten lead on your feet...much better off using some kind of pot with a bail on it like a bucket, to keep the CoG directly below the lifting point...but don't use an actual bucket because its soldered joints will melt and leak (and because you don't want the zinc from galvanized bucket in your lead melt)...DAMHIKT
 
Last edited:
J_Hensley said:
A lot of very helpful information!
Thank you so much for the input. I love to tinker, so I will likely find this to be an enjoyable process.

I don't mind the expense, I can purchase components a little at a time. I'll probably start by melting this down, cleaning it up and pouring lead ingots to store until I am ready to go further.

This stuff seems to be almost 100% lead it bends incredibly easily without kinking or cracking.
Click to expand...


Rotometals can provide almost any hardness you desire.

Bullet Casting Alloys - RotoMetals

Find the best prices on metal bullet casting supplies at Rotometals! Our casting lead ingots are high quality & perfect for making bullets. Shop now!
www.rotometals.com www.rotometals.com
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Casting bullets
2
Replies
22
Views
1,987
ebb
Bullet casting (range scrap question)
2
Replies
39
Views
6,765
HighlandLofts
bullet casting questions
2
Replies
28
Views
4,185
gary0529

Upgrades & Donations

This Forum's expenses are primarily paid by member contributions. You can upgrade your Forum membership in seconds. Gold and Silver members get unlimited FREE classifieds for one year. Gold members can upload custom avatars.


Click Upgrade Membership Button ABOVE to get Gold or Silver Status.

You can also donate any amount, large or small, with the button below. Include your Forum Name in the PayPal Notes field.


To DONATE by CHECK, or make a recurring donation, CLICK HERE to learn how.

Classified Ads

Forum statistics

Threads
170,018
Messages
2,286,102
Members
82,485
Latest member
porrick

Share This Page

Back
Top