First Day Casting

[vaiger]

I accumulated some wheel weights a couple of months ago and melted them down to ingots. Today, I finally had a chance to cast some bullets. I used a lee 9mm 2 cavity mold and a cheap ($25 or so) electric Lee melting pot (the smallest one they make). I was really pleased with how quickly to pot headed up and recovered after adding lead. I will probably only do 200 - 300 rounds per session, so that small pot should be just fine for me.

I did not have any lee bullet lube, so I lubed the mold with silicone spray. That seemed to work just fine.

The only snag I had was when I set my ladle down too close to the candle that I was fluxing with. When I dipped the next scoop of lead, I got a nice smolder and then the "poof" of flame that follows when you flux. It scared me enough to make me jump with my full ladle of lead, so now I have the first of many burn marks from casting. I thought water had dropped into the pot or something and I was braced for a nice explosion of lead.

Overall, casting was at least as much fun as I thought it would be if not more. I can't wait for my next session.

[Westwindmike]

Remember to be safe when casting. I wear a full face shield, shop apron, heavy gloves and shoes (no flip flops).

Glad to see a new caster get his first "boolits". I suggest that besides hanging out here at TGO, that you also check out CastBoolits.

Cast Boolits - Dedicated To The World Of Cast Bullets!

[Dolomite_supafly]

The bullet lube is for after the casting is done. It is designed to lube the bullets not the mold.

The best way to get the bullets to drop is to "smoke" the mold or at least it has been for me. I have only done about 30 pounds of lead so far so I am new to this as well. I started by casting 12 gauge slugs, then balls, then 9mm and now I will be doing 45 bullets.

I reload everything I shoot so now my 45's are going to cost me about $.04-$.05 a round. 9mm is going to cost about the same as well. Makes shooting so much more guilt free for me. I would cot the top off of cheap 12 gauge rounds and then put the slugs in place of the shot. So slug rounds are costing me about $.30 each.

Dolomite

[vaiger]

The bullet lube is for after the casting is done. It is designed to lube the bullets not the mold.

Dolomite

Yeah, I knew to lube the bullets, but my lee mold instructions say "Warning: do not start casting bullets until your mold has been lubricated." It says to lube with Lee Bullet Lube #90007 and not the liquid alox. I did a quick search and it looked like a lot of folks used cande wax, bees wax, crayon or silicon spray for that.

[vaiger]

Remember to be safe when casting. I wear a full face shield, shop apron, heavy gloves and shoes (no flip flops).

Glad to see a new caster get his first "boolits". I suggest that besides hanging out here at TGO, that you also check out CastBoolits.

Cast Boolits - Dedicated To The World Of Cast Bullets!

Yeah, I have checked out that site over the past few weeks and learned much. I have welding gloves, face shield and all the safety gear (Except a good respirator)....although I did not do as well with keeping my gear on today. I will do better next time.

[myg30]

Stay in a place where you have plenty of fresh air. Dont get into the smoke of fumes from the pot.

My last blood test showed my blood lead level was up to 21. It should be well under 5.

I thought that being at the door of my garage with a fan behind me was ok. The wind must of pushed most of the fumes into the garage anyway.

When you flux the pot, just think if you smell the fumes your breathing lead ! I flux with saw dust, some wax from time to time but saw dust is free and the hickory smell is a give away that im breathing lead.

There are some good pictures on cast boolits of burns from casting accidents that were lack of wearing protection. Flip flops are out when casting. A large bug dropped into a pot and exploded lead showers on another caster. Yellow jackets love the smell of bee's wax if thats what you flux with. A laddle full when a bee lands on you can leed to burns. Heavy gloves, long sleeves,face sheild,apron,shoes,socks !!! OH..saw dust !

Good luck and be safe always.

Mike

[dickenscpa]

Stay in a place where you have plenty of fresh air. Dont get into the smoke of fumes from the pot.

My last blood test showed my blood lead level was up to 21. It should be well under 5.

I thought that being at the door of my garage with a fan behind me was ok. The wind must of pushed most of the fumes into the garage anyway.

When you flux the pot, just think if you smell the fumes your breathing lead ! I flux with saw dust, some wax from time to time but saw dust is free and the hickory smell is a give away that im breathing lead.

There are some good pictures on cast boolits of burns from casting accidents that were lack of wearing protection. Flip flops are out when casting. A large bug dropped into a pot and exploded lead showers on another caster. Yellow jackets love the smell of bee's wax if thats what you flux with. A laddle full when a bee lands on you can leed to burns. Heavy gloves, long sleeves,face sheild,apron,shoes,socks !!! OH..saw dust !

Good luck and be safe always.

Mike

Kinda spooky. I set up to cast the EXACT same way you do at the garage door with fan blowing it away from me. I need to have my blood checked as well.

Brad

[Guest pfries]

Stay in a place where you have plenty of fresh air. Dont get into the smoke of fumes from the pot.

My last blood test showed my blood lead level was up to 21. It should be well under 5.

I thought that being at the door of my garage with a fan behind me was ok. The wind must of pushed most of the fumes into the garage anyway.

When you flux the pot, just think if you smell the fumes your breathing lead ! I flux with saw dust, some wax from time to time but saw dust is free and the hickory smell is a give away that im breathing lead.

There are some good pictures on cast boolits of burns from casting accidents that were lack of wearing protection. Flip flops are out when casting. A large bug dropped into a pot and exploded lead showers on another caster. Yellow jackets love the smell of bee's wax if thats what you flux with. A laddle full when a bee lands on you can leed to burns. Heavy gloves, long sleeves,face sheild,apron,shoes,socks !!! OH..saw dust !

Good luck and be safe always.

Mike

If you can donate blood It helps bring it down. A trick they used at Exide. I used to be a grid caster there (cast the lead grids for inside the batteries).

[dlm37015]

i cast either outside or use a stove vent blower in my reloading shed

[Rickey]

I've got a old stove vent directly over my lead pot with the exhaust plumbed out side. I try to only cast in the winter because of the heat in summer. Last week I cast a 5 gallon bucket of 158gr 38spl bullets. I need one more bucket of them to last me all year.

[I_Like_Pie]

I've got a old stove vent directly over my lead pot with the exhaust plumbed out side. I try to only cast in the winter because of the heat in summer. Last week I cast a 5 gallon bucket of 158gr 38spl bullets. I need one more bucket of them to last me all year.

LOL - Those were the days. I miss shooting a lot like that. Would tell people how much and some folks just wouldn't believe me. Harder to do now that I have a 3 year old.

...still have a 5 gallon bucket full of decapped primers in the shop.

Valger - with practice you will be dropping lead like a pro. Learning curve is a bit overwhelming at first, but you build a rhythm and it gets easy quickly. For the love of all things good - wear protection!!! Sweat from your brow will ruin your day.

[dlm37015]

wait till a bead of sweat drops from you jaw to the lead

[Rickey]

That's the reason I cast in the winter. and I dont stand over my pot I sit beside it. To dangerous if something happens

[Guest canebreaker]

I lube the top and bottom of the sprue plate, top and surface of the mold halfs with a carpenters pencil. Then the hinges with machine oil. Keep all the extra stuff out of reach.

[Caster]

A trick little addition to your casting equipment is a manicurist fan. They are tiny in size but move a LOT of air. When needed I have a couple. I use one to pull air away from you. Don't be tempted to blow air at you, no matter how good it feels:) and when I am casting in the summer I use one to cool the spru. I like to set one fan to draw air away form me, and cast with two or three different molds. Get your molds hot and rotate them. Fill a mold and set it to cool while you fill another. Empty one mold while the other is cooling. You'll need to be pretty into the game before you tackle more than two, but if you get a rhythm going, you can crank out a pile of bullets in no time. When I'm feeling my oats I can go as many as four (2) cavity molds in rotation without letting them get too cool. I much prefer two at a time though, but it depends on the size. Larger bullets take longer to cool and are easier to overheat. I have a two cavity .32 cal ball Lee mold I use as a time gap filler. I use the balls for buckshot, so there's never enough of them. My biggest pet peeve is by the time I get rolling really good, my pot is too low and I have to wait again.

You'll soon discover little idiosyncrasies that are time consuming to type out and explain but save you a ton of time when they're all put together. Like when casting two different molds. Don't use two similar molds. It's easier to separate 45's from .38's later than to separate you .38's from 9mm's. I like to cast one rifle and one pistol at a time, especially when water quenching. When I dump the water and separate them to dry, a .30 cal rifle bullet and a .45 are easily distinguished. Also, don't waste time worrying about each bullet that falls from the mold. Separate the bums later. I usually don't get around to separating the ones with deformities until either lubing/sizing or when I weight match them [rifle]. Don't waste time putting the spru back in the pot either. You'll drop the pot temp and take a chance on contaminates getting in. When you add ingots, dump the sprues back in. I could type for an hour on silly little things like: Stop and give a thought to your hand movements. You should never have to reach for anything but NOTHING should interfere with anything. A tidy layout of your molds and tools will expedite things. Repetition, Doing the SAME EXACT thing EVERY time is also the key to consistency in dropped weights and in turn will give you better accuracy.

Have fun. It's addictive.