Hello,

I have the process of casting down, theoretically anyway.

I have my furnace, my ladle, my pure lead, and my Lee dual cavity mold.

I have shotgun pellets that I'll dump into the pure lead to add hardness.

As I understand it:

1) Melt the lead

2) Toss in a bit of candle wax to flux any bad material to the top; skim.

3) Add the antimony from whatever source you choose. In this case, I'm using shot, but I could use wheel weights (all places are closed) or bar solder, or pretty much any other source of tin (suggestions folks?)

Now, my questions have mostly to do with the Lee dual cavity mold:

1) It says to clean and degrease it. I've done this.

2) It says to lube the pins and plate and all. I've been encouraged to use silicone or graphite. I can just color everything with a pencil, or I can spray the pins with some silicon spray I have around here, etc.

Lubing is what I'm not getting. I need all the lube points, and a common household item that I can use for lube. Out of $$$ til payday. Additionally, how often should I lube it during the casting process???

About smoking the cavities - how often should this be done???

3) Heat the mold in the lead for at least 15 seconds. Pour the alloy through the sprue plate. Turn the mold over onto a wet towel, open the sprue plate, and then open the mold, letting the bullets fall out.

So my main questions are, what can I use as a lube? What are the lube points? How often should I lube? How often should I smoke?

Any answers will be much appreciated.

Thank you,

Josh <><

P.S. I used to be a mechanic, and should have some anti-seize laying around. Would that work for pin lube? Lube points again folks? J.S.

The reason for graphite and silicone is they tolerate high temperatures well. Your anti-seize is a good idea, especially if you have some of the nickel-based stuff rated for nuclear power plant steam fittings, but even the copper should be OK. Just don't get it in the mold cavities. Lube the sprue plate pivot, mainly, and also any mold registration pins. A lot of people touch them with a bit of bullet lube and let it melt in, but you will find your anti-seize or the graphite, or molybdenum disulphide powder will all last longer. You are trying to be sure the mold closes well and completely and that the sprue plate cuts sprues without getting stiff or galling the aluminum unecessarily.

Smoke once. Don't repeat until it comes off or is scraped away.

You will need a wood stick or a mallet to hit the sprue plate with to cut through the bullet sprues. I use a piece of 1 1/4" oak dowel I have wrapped with a layer of leather held on by Nylon wire ties. I strike the plate perpendicular to the rotation axis with the leather just to avoid marking the plate.

P.S. Your description of antimony and tin were rather vague. Chilled lead shot normally runs around 2-3% antimony which is about right for middling hard bullets all by itself, not diluted by any lead. Some magnum shot is as high as 8% antimony according to one maker, but I think that is unusual. What you will get in there with the antimony it is some arsenic, which is needed if you intend to quench-harden the bullets.

Tin helps the metal flow into the mold. Don't let the tin percentage exceed the antimony percentage if you are going to quench harden the bullets or they will tend to age-soften more quickly while sitting on the shelf. 2% or more tin helps flow visibly, IME. Some folks want more than that. I also find about 0.5-1% silver will help that, too. I had a bunch of 4% silver-bearing solder at one time that I used for this. Veral smith thinks it takes even less. He may well be right. I just never tried any less when I had that solder.

Don't forget to allow the quench hardened bullets to age a couple weeks to achieve maximum hardness.

I've shot a lot of Lyman #2 alloy, which is 5% tin and 5% antimony. I made it up when I had a lot of scrap linotype as the starting alloy. Never hardened it. It is an unnecessary expense in this day and age. For most pistol bullets 2% of each is enough, if not quite as pretty and shiney. #2 is used up through rifle velocities, which is why it is overkill for pistol bullets.

I've also shot 10% tin and no antimony. That's what RCBS molds used to be gauged for, though I don't know if that is still true today? Elmer Keith developed the .44 magnum using 20:1 lead:tin (4.75% tin) and 16:1 lead tin (5.9% tin) and no antimony. So figure that even if you don't have enough antimony by some measures, or even none at all, for pistol velocities up to about 1500 fps or so, just Elmer's tin levels can be made to work for you.

Hello,

Thank you for all the answers.

I stumbled across a pound of wire "lead free solder, 95% tin, 5% antimony" with my gunsmithing stuff. I figure I'll use 1/10lb of that to 1lb lead. Does this sound about right?

Thanks again!

Josh <><

That'll put you near 10% tin. It will work, but is more tin than you really need for pistol velocities. Try half that and see how you like the results? You can always add more later, but it is a darn trick to get it out.

Josh
I had an unlimited source of tin,at one time.I still have more then I will ever use.
I prefer 5% tin for most of my shooting.More then that does not improve the bullet,in my opinion,and over 10% actually degrades the bullet.I have some bullets that I cast 30 years ago.They are marked "hi Tin",to alert me to the fact that they cannot be loaded very hot.
You did not mention any manuals that you had read.I strongly suggest that you get,and read thoroughly,the Lyman book.There re others that will serve the purpose,but I prefer the Lyman.
Good luck
Frank

Purdy new caster myself Joshua.

I have only "smoked" my Lee molds once so far. I smoked them well though! Bic lighter with the flame played "up" into where I wanted the soot to go. I made the interior all black on mine.

For "lube" , I used crayon on the pins and hinges. Idea was to keep something between the dis-similar metals used to make the mold.

I keep my molds dry as I can during non-use periods. Zip-Lok bags for that.

Cheezywan

Hello,

Thank you folks.

I have it figured out - I'm heating the second batch up right now.

I'm throwing about half a pound of 95/5 tin/antimony in for every 5lbs or so of lead. Paraffin is raising impurities to the top for skimming.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b191/WabashShootist/Guns/boolitfromfirstbatch.jpg

The above is from the first batch; about 107 were made and lubed. This is a pre-lube pic, taken when I was double checking quality.

I can barely scratch the bullet with my thumbnail, and this is how I like them.

I need to load a dummy to see if I'll need to size these particular bullets. Lee says no, and they don't appear to need it, but you never know.

Thank you,

Josh <><

<table id="post585424" class="tborder" align="center" border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr valign="top"><td class="alt1" id="td_post_585424" style="border-right: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204);"> Does anyone have load data for the 90346 boolit? These do fit a bit loosely in the cases - probably how Lee keeps from having to size them - and so I tweaked my crimp another 1/4 turn.

However, it looks like they want the COL to be at or near 1.750". Any further in, and the crimp would have no effect.

Help here please..?

Thanks,

Josh <><
<!-- / message --> </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="alt2" style="border-style: none solid solid; border-color: -moz-use-text-color rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204); border-width: 0px 1px 1px;"> http://castboolits.gunloads.com/images_acps/statusicon/user_online.gif http://castboolits.gunloads.com/images_acps/buttons/report.gif (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/report.php?p=585424) </td> <td class="alt1" style="border-style: none solid solid none; border-color: -moz-use-text-color rgb(204, 204, 204) rgb(204, 204, 204) -moz-use-text-color; border-width: 0px 1px 1px 0px;" align="right"> <!-- controls --> http://castboolits.gunloads.com/images_acps/misc/progress.gif http://castboolits.gunloads.com/images_acps/buttons/edit.gif (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/editpost.php?do=editpost&p=585424)</td></tr></tbody></table>

There have been concerns raised that the edges of the lube grooves are not sharp. This is how this design is - and I'll probably change to a different mold that will need sizing, in the future, as these fit a little loosely in the case compared to sized bullets.

Here is the cavity:

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b191/WabashShootist/Guns/cavity.jpg
As you can see, this is designed to produce rounded off lube grooves.

I'll play with the mixture some more, but these did fill out nicely and as they should have. Lee just made them a bit on the skinny side.

Thank you,

Josh <><

It looks like you are doing quite well in producing a useful product.
I am not quite sure why you are dropping them on a wet towel. You can lay out some cloth in a small box to cushion the bullets when you drop them out of the mould, but it doesn't have to be wet. The dampness will only lead to problems if you decide to remelt any of the bullets or the sprues and they are not thoroughly dry.

It looks like you are doing quite well in producing a useful product.
I am not quite sure why you are dropping them on a wet towel. You can lay out some cloth in a small box to cushion the bullets when you drop them out of the mould, but it doesn't have to be wet. The dampness will only lead to problems if you decide to remelt any of the bullets or the sprues and they are not thoroughly dry.

I don't think he is dropping his bullets on the wet towel. He is using a lee aluminum mold and using the towel to cool the mold as it begins to overheat. I do agree don't drop your bullets on a wet towel or you will get poor quality bullets. If one is trying to quench harden the bullet has to be submerged.

Actually I was using it for both. Limited work space last night. It's getting expanded later.

Just had to find a place well away from my reloading stuff to do this, and my work table has powder etc on it.

Josh <><

Hello,

I loaded up 10 today. I found another undersized one that fell into the case. Figured out what was happening though: The bottom-most band on the bullet is .452". The others are .445" or so.

In some cases, the bottom band did not fill out all the way. This just means I'll have to play with the heat and mixture until I find one that flows better, though with 10% tin I can't imagine it not flowing.

They shoot nicely over 5.1gn of W231 and CCI Magnum LPP (magnum is all I could find at the time; the usual load is 5.6gn with a standard LPP). Check data; load at your own risk.

I didn't check for accuracy; only function. (I'll likely be able to check for accuracy tomorrow). They all functioned fine, with the exception of one - and that was most definitely the fault of the case, as it had gotten pinched and I had not noticed it. It had one side partially torn away. Regardless. a slap to the bottom of the mag seated it, and after I fired it, I chucked the case. I have no doubt function would have been 100% had it not been for the bad case.

Now I need to find out who has some wheel weights. Most places I called yesterday only use steel or zinc now, so they're not as plentiful as even a year ago. One place is actually melting theirs down and selling it to a redistributor now. Darn.

On the upside, I only got burnt once, and it's a second degree burn on my pinkie: I was on a ladder adjusting the flood light to shine down on my work space, and I touched the back the bulb, where it's metal. LOL

Thanks for the help!

Josh <><

You sure take good pictures Josh. That was a hot mold that made that bullet. No trouble with that. Filled out good.

I'd not drop them on a wet towel though. Uneven cooling would be my fear. Either drop them in water, or don't.

I don't. Just provide a soft landing and air-cool. They can be heat-treated later if your situation needs that. Can batch them that way.

Kinda fun ain't it?

Cheezywan

Kinda fun ain't it?

Cheezywan

I had over 200 turned out before I knew it... four hours had passed as I was going slow, and had to fill the pot with another 5lb ingot.

Now I need to find a better source of lead!

Josh <><