Wanting to get into casting ball

[fleener]

I usually cast until I get tired or out of lead in the pot.

I too simply use a towel folded over.

Fleener

 

[Rifleman1776]

simply use a towel folded over.

Yep. Towel here also.

 

[Billnpatti]

Whatever you use to heat your lead pot, use caution and practice safety. Lead pots can easily turn over and spill very hot lead all over the place. It may not have happened to everybody but all it has to do is happen to you once. You can be badly burned. I highly recommend wearing a leather apron and good leather gloves. You can find leather aprons and gloves as a set at Harbor Freight for a very reasonable price. Of course, you will also need protective eyewear. With all of this personal protective equipment in use, you will also need to be doing your melting in a place that has good ventilation. Enjoy your casting but be safe. :thumbsup:

 

[tenngun]

Make sure it’s a hundred percent cotton. Modren fabrics can melt or burn under the ball. I dampen mine

 

[Rifleman1776]

Modren fabrics can melt or burn under the ball.

I've never done that. :redface: :rotf:

 

[Elkeater]

I'll get the Lyman ladle and a small heavily built cast iron pot. Other than being old timey, I like the Callahan mold for the custom size to the thousandth inch.

Can purchase .528 and .530 balls, so I'll try a .529 mold. Is there anyone else selling custom sizes?

I've got plenty of egg cartons, thanks to all!

 

[mooman76]

My don't melt but does burn with the heavier bullets like 500gr. Not burn catch fire but scorch really. I use an old towel of coarse and as the R/Bs build up I rake them to the back with the ladle to make room.

 

[Grenadier1758]

Can purchase .528 and .530 balls, so I'll try a .529 mold. Is there anyone else selling custom sizes?

Try Jeff Tanner Ball Molds . His molds fit Lyman handles and are reasonably priced.

Larry Callahan's molds are complete and a quality product. I have several of Larry's molds.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Can purchase .528 and .530 balls, so I'll try a .529 mold. Is there anyone else selling custom sizes?

Try Jeff Tanner Ball Molds . His molds fit Lyman handles and are reasonably priced.

Larry Callahan's molds are complete and a quality product. I have several of Larry's molds.

If you get a Tanner mould, do inspect carefully before use. Mine had a ridge around the edge of the cavities making it near impossible to get the ball out. I spend many tedious hours with the edge of a file scraping away that ridge. I could have returned but shipping costs to the U.K. and time involved discouraged me from doing that. Now that I have fixed it, it is a good mould.

 

[Eterry]

Co Elkeater, I started with a Coleman white gas stove, the cheapest cast iron skillet from a discount store, a Lee mold,a wood stick to cut the sprue and scrounged lead.

Watch out for sweat falling into the lead, not a good thing. I have a large towel I fold, drop the sprues on one corner, the balls in the center. I'm a lefty, using a hand made ladle given me by a left hand gunsmith in 1980. So I have more excess lead on the mold then bottom pour ladle.

Also don't drop the lead balls onto each other, they are still soft and can dent.

If a ball sticks Don't ever hit the mold, hit the pivot point. Goobers on YouTube don't have a clue how to cast balls.

Read a bullet casting manual for complete info. I've been casting since 1980, it's very relaxing for me.

Good luck.

 

[dano2467]

Anyone here in California? what kind of mix are you using for the no lead ban? I saw a bismuth/tin alloy from a place called rotometal, curious if anyone has tried this and how well it worked?

 

[Dr5x]

Oncet Upon a Time,
MMaybe 30 years ago my center fire Wzard of California sent, as a joke, I believe, a powder tester. I can;t remember if it was Flintlock or Percussion. where you would put in a fixed amount of powder, Close it with a spring loaded cover and fire it to see how far the cover was propelled along a curved arc marked with numbers..

Difficult to describe.

Now with so many substitutes for the original BP a device like this might becoming of some value.
It originally was used to compare genuine black powder from different manufacturers..

Now it would be used to compare different substitutes
I haven't seen an ad for one of these in decades but I think they might bear resurrection.
When I was forced, as a public service , to quit shooting there was Goex and Pyrodex and a peculiar powder from South America originally intended for fireworks not ML that was quite dirty,

Today I see references to all sorts of stuff BlackMZ being the most recent.
If anyone has such a curiosity in their collection, Mine disappeared, now would be a good time to bring it out and do a comparison study.

On the other hand, If there is another way to do comparisons of the relative strength of the various products I would like to hear about it. Swiss powder appeared after my exit and is generallyregarded as being an appreciably more zippy than Goex. But has anyone every figured out a way ro measure this?
Enquiring minds want to know, at least this one does.

Dutch Schoultz.

 

[Elkeater]

Co Elkeater, I started with a Coleman white gas stove, the cheapest cast iron skillet from a discount store, a Lee mold,a wood stick to cut the sprue and scrounged lead.

Good luck.

I was thinking of a pot. Is a skillet deep enough?

Thanks

 

[Dr5x]

Forgive me, I forget how old I am.
I did a Google search on Gunpowder tester and Voila! , More than you;d care to know about powder testers with pitcher and voice overs.

The French word for this device was "eprovetter".

Dutch

 

[Dr5x]

I recommend the good ventilation for the casting area. Surprisingly about 20 years ago some folks in the Washington Oregon area became concerned about inhaling lead fumes and had themselves tested to see if they had done any damage to themselves and were delighted to learn there was no trace of lead in their systems. That being said I would still suggest a relatively large area with a lot of ventilation..

 

[Dr5x]

Dan S.
About 4 years ago a landowner in California who raised cattle on half of it and allowed hinters on the other half for a fee was told that he couldn't allow the shooting of lead balls on his grounds less some animal ingest it.
We looked into the bismuth solution and while the balls cast were a tad lighter they seem to work out well enough.
I believe I wrote it up in my book but can no longer see well enough to check that out.
The bismuth was a lot more expensive than lead.
Dutch Schoultz

 

[Zonie]

The idea of using one of those old fashioned powder testers for the modern synthetic black powders won't work very well.

Unlike real black powder which explodes when it is ignited, the synthetic black powders need to be inside a barrel when they are lit.

Like smokeless powder, they all need high pressure to make them burn fast. Just sitting in a semi-open or open place they go "Whooooooooooooooooosh" when they burn.

In other words, outside of a closed chamber they just burn without exploding.

That's why dealers can have bottles of them sitting on a shelf in their stores.

 

[mooman76]

Co Elkeater, I started with a Coleman white gas stove, the cheapest cast iron skillet from a discount store, a Lee mold,a wood stick to cut the sprue and scrounged lead.

Good luck.

I was thinking of a pot. Is a skillet deep enough?

Thanks

A skillet wouldn't be as good but you could still use it. You have to keep allot of lead in it to have it deep enough to dip. A steel or stainless steel pan while not my favorite would still work fine.

 

[Dr5x]

Zonie, If I remember correctly the tester I had required that you put the powder in an enclosed pocket with a spring loaded cover holding it in with an ignition channel leading to it.

It was just a thought because I think it would be interesting to compare the modern substitutes with each other and with Goex.
Comparing one man's experience with another would be a poor way to judge because of other variable that affect results..

Thank you for your reply.

Dutch

 

[Adui]

Wouldn't it be easier to just use a specific measured quantity of each powder being tested under an equal patched ball and fire it over a chrony?

3-5 shots of each powder to be tested would give a usable average to compare.