Questions about casting

[Guest Travtastik]

I found a lee bottom pour pot and some Linotype over the weekend while cleaning out my father-in-laws home, and I have a few questions.

1- the pot looks to be rusted does this mean it's no good? Can I clean it up and make it useable ?

2- I also got 15 lbs of Linotype. I know I would need to flux, but is there anything else I would need to do?It was in a box with a note that said

Linotype

10% antimony

4% tin

86% lead

My FIL passed away last month so unfortunately this is all I know about this stuff. I think he used it for fishing sinkers since he wasn't a bishaun person. We didn't find molds or anything else related except these. I am wanting to give casting a try so is there anything else I would need besides the mold? I ordered a 9mm mold and I got a 38 wadcutter mold so is there anything else I need to get started?

[Caster]

Fire it up first. See how it heats up. Then play with it. Get a feel for how it works. Then empty it. Get a wire brush or better yet, a wire brush on a grinder and clean it the best you can. It ain;t gotta be perfect, just get the stuff that's likely to flake off.

Linotype is awful hard. You don't wanna use that for wad cutters. Pour that back into ingots and save that for some magnum handgun loads. You might use it for 9mm, but I personally wouldn't. It will work just fine mind you, but I'd save it. For 9mm air cooled wheel weights are fine. If you need a little harder stuff, you can water drop it. For a 38 special, soft lead is fine. Remember, the harder it is, the more pressure it takes to obturate. It MUST seal the bore or it will lead. If it's too hard and the pressures are low like 38 special, it will most likely lead.

There's books to read and all kinds of conversations to have, but honestly, you learn a lot by just making a mess. Just remember to BE SAFE!!!!!!

You will also need am appropriate sizing die and some bullet lube. I suggest Lee's dies and some Lee tumble lube. It's novice friendly and works EXTREMELY well.

[dlm37015]

dont lean over the pot while sweating

[Dolomite_supafly]

dont lean over the pot while sweating

LOL, I have lead spots on my ceiling from the same thing. I have had to pick lead out of my hair. I also have several old shirts that have lead spots. The worst was when a lead ball splattered into a long sleeved shirt and rolled down my arm. I had a nice little red line.

Dolomite

[Caster]

Don't sneeze either. I sneezed once and had a booger fly into the pot. Holy crap I never knew a burning booger would smell so bad. About as bad as getting a hair in it.

[Guest Travtastik]

That was a few things I didn't think about for sure. Thanks for the help I am sure I will be asking more questions as I learn.

[Caster]

That was a few things I didn't think about for sure. Thanks for the help I am sure I will be asking more questions as I learn.

Please do. It's my mission in life to turn every TGO member to the dark side of reloading. I have a growing list of disciples. Join us. We shoot cheaper and it's fun to confuse the couch commandos at the range when they tell you that ridiculous BS about you can't push cast bullets past 1500-1600 FPS and you lay down a consistent string deep in the 2K range; OR the pride of having a whopping $5 in a box (50) of .45 Colt.

[Dolomite_supafly]

I cast everything I shoot except 223. My 45 ACP loads cost me under .07 a round. My 9mm is under .05 a round. My 300 Blackout is running .06 a round. I have pushed the limit with 175g cast loads in my 300 and had ZERO leading.

The key is the lube. Even before I started casting I would tumble lube the bullets I bought. Cast bullets you buy are lubed for looks, not performance. They are also too hard in most cases to make sure the bullets look pretty when they arrive.

Hard for me to not to when it is cheaper than most quality 22 ammunition.

Dolomite

[Clod Stomper]

This ^^^^^

Tumble lubing is the way to go. I have a Lyman Lubrisizer, but I haven't used it in a long time (of course, I also have cast much lately). I've only used Lee Liquid Alox, but I bet Caster or Dolomite might have a homemade recipe.

Will

[Caster]

I use both. I tumble a lot for things and I have my own recipe for standard lube.

If you're not gonna use that Lyman Clod Stomper you oughta send it to me. I'll put it to good use. I sold mine cause it had serious problems. Never got around to buying another. I just pan lube. I need to get me another lubrisizer.

[Clod Stomper]

I use both. I tumble a lot for things and I have my own recipe for standard lube.

If you're not gonna use that Lyman Clod Stomper you oughta send it to me. I'll put it to good use. I sold mine cause it had serious problems. Never got around to buying another. I just pan lube. I need to get me another lubrisizer.

He he. Well, I would, but it's bolted too tightly to my bench

Seriously, I'll probably fire it up again soon. When I cast some .264 and .30 cal boolits. According to my feeble memory, I size and lube my rifle bullets. Tumble my handgun bullets. Sheesh. I looked at my handloading log the other day and it had been just over a YEAR since I have even loaded a single round. I'm pathetic. Have loaded a few since then, though.

Will

[Caster]

Whoa, .264? Sweet! I just bought the stuff to get started casting for my 6.5x55 Norwegian Krag. What are you loading in 6.5mm????

[Clod Stomper]

6.5 Grendel.

I haven't gotten to play with it enough to get the cast loads working right, but I know it can be done. There is a fellow up in the Johnson City area who has gotten some cast loads working through his AR.

It's starting to come back to me now. I did cast some .264 bullets with a Saeco mold. This one. http://www.midwayusa.com/product/109015/saeco-2-cavity-bullet-mold-264-65mm-264-diameter-140-grain-spitzer-point-gas-check Sized to .266", though I don't remember what the cast diameter was. It may not have been any larger than that since that bullet is a "bore-rider". I've never dealt with those before.

Only loaded some test rounds. They were a failure. Too fast a powder with too heavy a bullet. And there was too much leading. And probably several other problems. After that, I got busy with work and never got back to working on it. I really need to. That was the most expensive mold I've ever bought.

Will