Hunting Washington Forum

Equipment & Gear => Guns and Ammo => Topic started by: Smokepole on February 15, 2015, 07:18:50 PM

Title: Big Batch of Hot Lead
Post by: Smokepole on February 15, 2015, 07:18:50 PM: A neighbor gave me a bunch of barrel weights from his seine nets for making bullets. It was finally some great weather for making some ingots today. I scored the dutch oven at a garage sale for $8... almost too nice to use, but hey. There must be about 100# or better of weights. The BHN of the finished product turned out to be about 10.5, so I'll have to add a few pcs. of linotype when I cast.

Here's a pic of the barrel weights. They get stuck on the lead line and can be hard to remove. It took us a few hours to pull these off the rope.
Title: Re: Big Batch of Hot Lead
Post by: Smokepole on February 15, 2015, 07:21:09 PM: It took quite a while for the crab cooker to melt down huge pots of lead. Glad it's over. Now I can enjoy making some .357 & 44mag bullets when I get time.
Title: Re: Big Batch of Hot Lead
Post by: Smokepole on February 15, 2015, 07:23:19 PM: I found a cup cake tin and a corn bread muffin tin for making ingots. I made some corn shaped ones so I would have some smaller pcs. for mixing alloys. Besides, they look cool. :tup:

I have my molds lubed up & ready, so hopefully in the next few days I'll have time for some casting.
Title: Re: Big Batch of Hot Lead
Post by: Smokepole on February 15, 2015, 07:24:30 PM: Good supply of lead, ready for bullets. Not sure how long it'll last. Been doing a lot of shooting lately. 8)
Title: Re: Big Batch of Hot Lead
Post by: rasbo on February 16, 2015, 04:02:50 AM: good score,we needed some lead the other day for our drill rig and couldn't find any
Title: Re: Big Batch of Hot Lead
Post by: jasnt on February 16, 2015, 06:05:11 AM: Nice score! Last year a friend gave me a 5 gal bucket of wheel weights and another gave me 100lbs of dive weights. Turned out to be about 180lbs in 1lb ingots. It's getting harder and harder to find lead at a decent price let alone free :tup:
Title: Re: Big Batch of Hot Lead
Post by: Smokepole on February 16, 2015, 06:17:25 AM: Quote from: jasnt on February 16, 2015, 06:05:11 AM
Nice score! Last year a friend gave me a 5 gal bucket of wheel weights and another gave me 100lbs of dive weights. Turned out to be about 180lbs in 1lb ingots. It's getting harder and harder to find lead at a decent price let alone free :tup:

Sounds like you are set for a while. Now that I got my stash piled up, I'm looking for my next score. Nice find on the diving weights. Wheel weights are getting to be a pain, wading through all the crap!
Title: Re: Big Batch of Hot Lead
Post by: jasnt on February 16, 2015, 07:56:22 AM: Quote from: Smokepole on February 16, 2015, 06:17:25 AM
Quote from: jasnt on February 16, 2015, 06:05:11 AM
Nice score! Last year a friend gave me a 5 gal bucket of wheel weights and another gave me 100lbs of dive weights. Turned out to be about 180lbs in 1lb ingots. It's getting harder and harder to find lead at a decent price let alone free :tup:

Sounds like you are set for a while. Now that I got my stash piled up, I'm looking for my next score. Nice find on the diving weights. Wheel weights are getting to be a pain, wading through all the crap!
you got that right! At least half the wheel weights these days are steel or zinc.

For hardening I use lead free soder. With the ww I add 1.3oz of soder to 4lbs of lead. I don't have a hardness gauge but that gets me to where I need.
If I remember right that's upping the tin by 2% and a little antamony as well
Title: Re: Big Batch of Hot Lead
Post by: Smokepole on February 16, 2015, 08:27:00 AM: I have some linotype I'm gonna try. I want the hardness around 13, so I'm gonna try 10:1 lead/linotype & see how close it is. I have a hardness tester, so I'll be able to see if I'm in the ballpark.
Title: Re: Big Batch of Hot Lead
Post by: Special T on February 16, 2015, 12:09:01 PM: I use wheel weights for the buckshot i pour. it works prett darn good for that. Most tire weights are mandated to be turned into for recycling since the are considered a Haz Mat.
Title: Re: Big Batch of Hot Lead
Post by: Smokepole on February 16, 2015, 09:44:11 PM: Well I did some casting today with my 44 Keith 429421 mold. I was having trouble keeping the mold hot enough, and breaking it in. It is a mold that was made for NOE Molds. It is aluminum and it was a little cool outdoors today. I got some descent bullets and some marginal ones. Real tough to get this jagged bullet design to break free of the mold, even after smoking it. But it is a good looking bullet. This batch will be good enough for targets.

Then I tried a new mold made by Lee. It is a popular .358 150 grain round nose bullet mold. I smoked it & lubed it with beeswax after cleaning off the oil residue. Every bullet came out perfect -- one after the other. I'm thrilled with this Lee mold. So easy to open & close, and the bullets fall right out. it will be a great target bullet for my wife's Ruger Blackhawk.

Well, it was a short session, so I only got about 125 of each. Gonna try loading a few & seeing how they work!
Title: Re: Big Batch of Hot Lead
Post by: jasnt on February 16, 2015, 09:52:06 PM: They lol good :tup: on the Elmer Keith 429421 one of my favorites! I have 2 of those one Lyman the other I don't remember, both hollow pointed but I've made multipul pins for extra deep hp and non-hp. What lube do you use?
Title: Re: Big Batch of Hot Lead
Post by: Smokepole on February 16, 2015, 10:01:23 PM: I make my own lube. 3 parts beeswax & 1 part full Synthetic 2 cycle oil. Makes good sprue lube, but seems like straight beeswax works best for me.
Title: Re: Big Batch of Hot Lead
Post by: jasnt on February 16, 2015, 10:05:36 PM: I've been using lee's tumble lube and it seems to work ok but I been having a heck of a time with my 9mm. If I keep em slow I'm fine
Title: Re: Big Batch of Hot Lead
Post by: Smokepole on February 16, 2015, 10:11:06 PM: Quote from: jasnt on February 16, 2015, 10:05:36 PM
I've been using lee's tumble lube and it seems to work ok but I been having a heck of a time with my 9mm. If I keep em slow I'm fine

What alloy you using?
Title: Re: Big Batch of Hot Lead
Post by: jasnt on February 17, 2015, 05:32:13 AM: Ww +2% tin water dropped
Title: Re: Big Batch of Hot Lead
Post by: Smokepole on February 17, 2015, 06:13:57 AM: Well I plan to keep these slow. They tested 14 bhn and gonna be harder in a week or two after they cure. I was hoping they would end up around 13, but I guess I added too much lino to the mix. Now comes the fun part, coming up with some loads that work!
Title: Re: Big Batch of Hot Lead
Post by: Special T on February 17, 2015, 07:23:04 AM: Quote from: Smokepole on February 16, 2015, 10:01:23 PM
I make my own lube. 3 parts beeswax & 1 part full Synthetic 2 cycle oil. Makes good sprue lube, but seems like straight beeswax works best for me.
Are you shooting a blackpowder revolver with those bullets or a traditional hand cannon?
Title: Re: Big Batch of Hot Lead
Post by: Jonathan_S on February 17, 2015, 07:30:11 AM: If you thought Montsanto corn was dangerous :chuckle:

Nice score on the lead, time to go splatter some targets :tup:
Title: Re: Big Batch of Hot Lead
Post by: Smokepole on February 17, 2015, 08:06:09 AM: Quote from: Special T on February 17, 2015, 07:23:04 AM
Quote from: Smokepole on February 16, 2015, 10:01:23 PM
I make my own lube. 3 parts beeswax & 1 part full Synthetic 2 cycle oil. Makes good sprue lube, but seems like straight beeswax works best for me.
Are you shooting a blackpowder revolver with those bullets or a traditional hand cannon?

These are for my modern reloads, Special T. Shooting Ruger Blackhawks with smokeless powder.
Title: Re: Big Batch of Hot Lead
Post by: Smokepole on February 18, 2015, 07:38:38 PM: Pan lubed & sized some of the Elmer Keith bullets today. Used 75% beeswax & 25% synth 2 cycle. They didn't turn out too bad for my first casting session with this mold. Looking forward to making up some loads and shooting a few!