As others have already said: Cast Boolits
I do the powder coating thing now.
Used to mess with paper patching for BP rifles a lot.
I do the powder coating thing now.
Used to mess with paper patching for BP rifles a lot.
Go easy on me; I haven't cast in ~7 years
- Thread starter Adam in WI
- Start date
Powder coat and never worry about leading again ; )
looking goood...do a search on cast boolits..it is not a .com just part of a site...best cast bullet site around
Those look really good. Size them to your throats. If you do get a little leading and you will it comes right out with a few strands of the pure copper chore girl wrapped around a brush. Be careful and DON'T get the copper plated stainless steel chore girl. All barrels will lead a little until they get seasoned with cast.
I don't own a 45 lc but I do have several 44m which is pretty close. 99 and 3/4 percent is all loaded with 9 grains of Unique under 245-280 bullets I cast .
Your going to have a lot of rewarding fun.
I don't own a 45 lc but I do have several 44m which is pretty close. 99 and 3/4 percent is all loaded with 9 grains of Unique under 245-280 bullets I cast .
Your going to have a lot of rewarding fun.
Bottom Fodder
Silver $$ Contributor
Best I remember frosty comes with wheel wights but in my opinion wheels is the best way to go. but I haven cast in 10 years not sure about todays wheel weights. Like stated hard with shape edges is all that matter to me
JSH
Gold $$ Contributor
I am with a couple of others, I would put a bit more heat to it. Also a good spout flow. Both should help cut your weight variance in half. Don’t be afraid to stir and flux either.
I tried the “lipstick bullets”. I just can’t warm up to them. I never got groups like I did with my FWFL original home made lube. FWFL= Felix’ World Famous Lube, Felix Robbins. He has passed on but I am fortunate to have swapped many emails and a number of phone calls with him.
Lubed cast bullets have shot many a fine score. I have to much lube on hand to switch anyway, same goes for my case cleaning, three five gallon buckets of clean media.
I tried the “lipstick bullets”. I just can’t warm up to them. I never got groups like I did with my FWFL original home made lube. FWFL= Felix’ World Famous Lube, Felix Robbins. He has passed on but I am fortunate to have swapped many emails and a number of phone calls with him.
Lubed cast bullets have shot many a fine score. I have to much lube on hand to switch anyway, same goes for my case cleaning, three five gallon buckets of clean media.
What's your guys' preferred flux? I tried wax, but it seems like it just ignites and flames off quick. Is it doing anything at that point? Should I try charcoal or paint sticks?
Saw dust
I got plenty of that...
It's the only thing I use and it works well.
"Less is more".... old 2 stroke M/C reference concerning fuel-oil ratios.
Some may not want to accept it but,well.... OK,don't. Less velocity/pressure needs "more" lube than jacked up rifle loads. If I used any less lube on my bughole varmint rigs.... it would be none. On the edge of 3k fps and only lube is either JUST the tiny space above GC,or that and one groove.
It's almost exactly like adj a paint spray gun. At handgun velocity/pressure... the lube is being sucked out of the groove,and is why commercial hard lubes are so bad.
Turn up the "volume" in a shouldered,high intensity rifle case.... there ain't any sucking or wicking haha. That chit is being blown WELL ahead of the bullet. So,less lube is doing WAY more work. It gets into hydraulics and a bunch of theory that,like obcessing over BHN numbers,is bogging the caster down IMO. You want to run the least amount of lube,and the lowest BHN that gets the job done.... running "more" isn't just some kind of safety factor. In cast,it actually hurts performance.
Like the "fit" of the bullet.... Goldilocks and the 3 bears. Too small,too large,and what we want... just right. Same with lube and alloy properties.
Some may not want to accept it but,well.... OK,don't. Less velocity/pressure needs "more" lube than jacked up rifle loads. If I used any less lube on my bughole varmint rigs.... it would be none. On the edge of 3k fps and only lube is either JUST the tiny space above GC,or that and one groove.
It's almost exactly like adj a paint spray gun. At handgun velocity/pressure... the lube is being sucked out of the groove,and is why commercial hard lubes are so bad.
Turn up the "volume" in a shouldered,high intensity rifle case.... there ain't any sucking or wicking haha. That chit is being blown WELL ahead of the bullet. So,less lube is doing WAY more work. It gets into hydraulics and a bunch of theory that,like obcessing over BHN numbers,is bogging the caster down IMO. You want to run the least amount of lube,and the lowest BHN that gets the job done.... running "more" isn't just some kind of safety factor. In cast,it actually hurts performance.
Like the "fit" of the bullet.... Goldilocks and the 3 bears. Too small,too large,and what we want... just right. Same with lube and alloy properties.
Be careful of the WW's you get now. Most are zinc. You will have to take a pair of dykes and try to cut each one to see if i is lead or zinc. Zinc it will be like trying to cut steel with them. It won't.
You should take some pin gauges and measure your cylinders. Some revolvers seem to have a problem with tight throats. If they are tighter than your barrel you are not going to have a fun time cleaning out all the lead. Size the bullets 0.454" and you should be good.
And powder coating is the way to go. I have 3 rcbs lubamatics sitting in a box now. Along with about 30 dies and top punches and about 30lbs of wax lube. NEVER AGAIN!!!!!
And try running the mold without smoking it. If the bullets are sticking then there is more than likely a burr somewhere. A new mold needs to be broken in before it cast really well. Get a heat plate and heat cycle that mold about 5x. It needs to get an oxide coating on it to release the bullets. Brass molds are nice but the learning curve on them is a lot longer than alum or iron molds. Most all of my molds come from Accurate Molds. If you want a mold that is custom to what you want then look into them. He can make pretty much anything you want.
The only jacketed bullets I shoot now are in my AR guns. And if I just want to blast I use a powder coated 65gr lead bullet at 2700fps. It will shoot 1.5" groups at 100yds. Plenty fine for shooting steel out to 400yds
You should take some pin gauges and measure your cylinders. Some revolvers seem to have a problem with tight throats. If they are tighter than your barrel you are not going to have a fun time cleaning out all the lead. Size the bullets 0.454" and you should be good.
And powder coating is the way to go. I have 3 rcbs lubamatics sitting in a box now. Along with about 30 dies and top punches and about 30lbs of wax lube. NEVER AGAIN!!!!!
And try running the mold without smoking it. If the bullets are sticking then there is more than likely a burr somewhere. A new mold needs to be broken in before it cast really well. Get a heat plate and heat cycle that mold about 5x. It needs to get an oxide coating on it to release the bullets. Brass molds are nice but the learning curve on them is a lot longer than alum or iron molds. Most all of my molds come from Accurate Molds. If you want a mold that is custom to what you want then look into them. He can make pretty much anything you want.
The only jacketed bullets I shoot now are in my AR guns. And if I just want to blast I use a powder coated 65gr lead bullet at 2700fps. It will shoot 1.5" groups at 100yds. Plenty fine for shooting steel out to 400yds
JSH
Gold $$ Contributor
I flux when the alloy is at oatmeal stage, kinda slushy. It will let the wax melt and go to the bottom of the pot. If you put anything in for flux, and it flashes real quick, your not really fluxing. Keep stirring the whole time until it does flash.
It’s about like case prep, if YOU have luck with it, do it then.
It’s about like case prep, if YOU have luck with it, do it then.
JSH
Gold $$ Contributor
Zinc was just starting to show up the last bunch of WW I smelted. If you get your alloy hot enough to melt zinc I would think you would burn a lot of tin out also?
Nice looking boolits.
If you want to remove zinc, you can flux with a tablespoon of copper sulfate crystals.
The blue crystals will turn white as the zinc is exchanged with copper, then the zinc sulfate crystals are easily skimmed off the top. In my experience, copper in the melt doesn't affect the pour.
Flux: I keep my pot clean, use clean ingots, and don't run it too hot. When my melt is ready, I will remove dross using a steel slotted spoon and do it occasionally as I add sprues or ingot pieces. I don't worry any more about the oxide skin that forms. I've tried oil, crayons, paraffin, kitty litter, and saw dust. Wax and oil stopped the skin forming, but the smoke (and flames) was unacceptable. Sawdust and kitty litter - what a friggin mess. Plus, it's just more crud to spoon off. I never tried lime, as I didn't think it would provide any added benefit.
Modern wheel weights:
A neighbor kid gave me an eighty pound bucket of wheel weights from his work. I took an average sample batch and slowly heated them in my mold kiln up to 2200°F. There was some zinc, less than 20%, some iron (magnetic), but it seemed there was a lot of manganese, as these oxidized to a blackish color as I heated. I didn't check what I deemed as manganese for weak magnetism to confirm, was satisfied with the visual.
If you want to remove zinc, you can flux with a tablespoon of copper sulfate crystals.
The blue crystals will turn white as the zinc is exchanged with copper, then the zinc sulfate crystals are easily skimmed off the top. In my experience, copper in the melt doesn't affect the pour.
Flux: I keep my pot clean, use clean ingots, and don't run it too hot. When my melt is ready, I will remove dross using a steel slotted spoon and do it occasionally as I add sprues or ingot pieces. I don't worry any more about the oxide skin that forms. I've tried oil, crayons, paraffin, kitty litter, and saw dust. Wax and oil stopped the skin forming, but the smoke (and flames) was unacceptable. Sawdust and kitty litter - what a friggin mess. Plus, it's just more crud to spoon off. I never tried lime, as I didn't think it would provide any added benefit.
Modern wheel weights:
A neighbor kid gave me an eighty pound bucket of wheel weights from his work. I took an average sample batch and slowly heated them in my mold kiln up to 2200°F. There was some zinc, less than 20%, some iron (magnetic), but it seemed there was a lot of manganese, as these oxidized to a blackish color as I heated. I didn't check what I deemed as manganese for weak magnetism to confirm, was satisfied with the visual.
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Oddly enough, we've got that too
PhilC
Silver $$ Contributor
Lots of good advice above.
Since WW are all but unobtainium here I buy certified Lyman #2 from Rotometals. I also use lube, White Label's X-lox 2500+ specifically, and it has worked well with my 6.5CM and the first few rounds in my newly built 7BR. Generally lube the opening above the gas check and the first lube groove and have not exeperienced any leading up to 2100fps.
I use sawdust for flux with my bottom pour pot.
Pistol and 30-30 get PC'd with Smoke's powder I wouldn't waste much time with other brands.
Your "boolits" look good to me.
Since WW are all but unobtainium here I buy certified Lyman #2 from Rotometals. I also use lube, White Label's X-lox 2500+ specifically, and it has worked well with my 6.5CM and the first few rounds in my newly built 7BR. Generally lube the opening above the gas check and the first lube groove and have not exeperienced any leading up to 2100fps.
I use sawdust for flux with my bottom pour pot.
Pistol and 30-30 get PC'd with Smoke's powder I wouldn't waste much time with other brands.
Your "boolits" look good to me.
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