Beeswax for running ball

Hey guys. So I’ve been trying off and on for about a year trying to cast my own balls and failing miserably. I’ve seen all kinds of crazy nonsense whilst trying my best to produce shootable balls. And tonight I just found out you should mix in beeswax as well as get everything hot enough. I thought I was over cooking my lead but that was issues caused by the lack of wax. So, ok, got it. But what exactly does the wax do?

Helps clean the lead.
I find 800+850 degrees will pour anything I need from an aluminum mold.
Using a 10lb pot I put in a ball of wax around .400 diameter and a stir.
At that temp a flash and burn off most likely will happen. Skim.

It’s just to flux to lead, I’ve used sawdust, those cheap white candles from the dollar store, I don’t use my beeswax, not real easy to come by around here and im just too tight.

Buy a lead thermometer. They don't cost much and will eliminate a lot of your confusion.

+1 on the thermometer. I would also suggest buying a $10 hot plate to preheat your molds. I turn on the hot plate and get the molds heating up before I even start melting the lead. Try to start casting pure around 800, but 800 to 850 seems to work well.

@Dillon W. If you tell us or show us pictures of how the balls are coming out, we may be able to help you figure out what's going wrong.

As stated above, it may be that your lead or mold is not hot enough, or maybe you've gotten lubricant inside the cavities. If you're using a bottom pour pot, maybe the spout is gunked up and not flowing fast enough, that will cause pretty awful results.

Most of the issues people have with casting bullets is that the lead is not hot enough and the mold is not warmed up. A thermometer is nice but not necessary as the bullet will tell you if your mold is at the right temperature. Aluminum molds will pour a good bullet if the mold is "smoked" - soot from a candle is passed around the inside of the mold which allows the lead to flow faster and fill the mold better. This only needs to be done at the start of casting or you find the bullet is sticking in the mold which is not often. I find that a steel mold needs no "sooting" to perform but it does need to be warmed up to get a good pour. Fluxing the pot does help in removing slag and I find it necessary to do every so often. Drop a fingernail size of cheap candle wax into the pot stir it in - it will flame up when the lead is HOT and will burn you if you don't get your hand out of the way while you stir the mix. Once the slag rises to the top skim it off and continue with casting. I do this when ever I add lead to the pot. The larger the pot the more lead it will hold and your temp will stay steady and the less you will have to "fiddle" with the temp control to keep a good casting temp. Hope this helps .

I have two lead pots....the first one that I bought was a Lee bottom pour 10lb pot. Cast many roundball with the Lee. Then I bought a Lyman 20lb Big Dipper pot. I use a ladle to pour the lead. Never used a thermometer, just heated the lead until it pours freely.
Since the beginning, I have used paraffin to flux the lead. Plenty of smoke until the paraffin bursts into flame. I use an old long handled spoon to skim the crud from the top of the pot.
I will place the mold on top of the lead pot to preheat the mold. Usually run 10-15 ball before getting a good, smooth ball with no wrinkles. The wrinkled and malformed balls goes back into the pot to remelt. Then I cast ball until the lead pot gets to the bottom.

To start with make sure your mold is absolutely clean of any contaminants. Before using the mold clean it with acetone, denatured alcohol or lacquer thinner. As stated above it is always good to "smoke" the mold before heating and starting the casting session.

Dillon W. said:

been trying off and on for about a year trying to cast my own balls and failing miserably.

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a common problem is not developing a casting rhythm,,
There is a cadence developed during a casting session. It is NOT cast a ball, fiddle around, stir the pot, add lead, grab a rag,,,,
The act of pour, sprue cut, drop, close, then pour again,, sprue cut, drop, close, pour again,,
Is about 10 seconds at most! And good ball doesn't start to happen until 10-15 ball has been cast
I'm guessing my rhythm is closer to 6-7 seconds each, and then keep that pace for 20-30 minutes.
If you stop to top off the pot or skim,,that's OK, but then you have to start the cadence again,, then again loose the first dozen or so to flaws,,

Waxing/ or fluxing is simply adding a carbon element to the lead mix. It's easier for foreign junk in the mix too attach to a carbon molecule then it is to stay in the alloy.

I also struggled for many months when I first began, there was no-one near to show me. No mentor. I finally broke down and bought a thermometer and it was that, that turned the corner for me. I got to know what the lead and pot where doing and after a few more months I didn't need the thermometer anymore

I used to use a pinch of crisco to bring impurities of the lead to the top and skim off. I just have never had much trouble pouring pure lead, even in the old days of a wood stove and lead pot. Maybe the big secret is pure lead.

necchi said:

a common problem is not developing a casting rhythm,,
There is a cadence developed during a casting session. It is NOT cast a ball, fiddle around, stir the pot, add lead, grab a rag,,,,
The act of pour, sprue cut, drop, close, then pour again,, sprue cut, drop, close, pour again,,
Is about 10 seconds at most! And good ball doesn't start to happen until 10-15 ball has been cast
I'm guessing my rhythm is closer to 6-7 seconds each, and then keep that pace for 20-30 minutes.
If you stop to top off the pot or skim,,that's OK, but then you have to start the cadence again,, then again loose the first dozen or so to flaws,,

Click to expand...

The cadence is a definite thing. The upside is that when you can get into it, you can really churn out the balls. I sat down with my 4 cavity lyman .490 that looked like it had been to the wars (but the cavities were perfect), got into the zone and it was almost hard to stop. When I ran out of lead I had over 700 keepers.

I sure appreciate all the knowledge guys. This has been extremely difficult for me for some silly reason. But after reading all of this and playing around over the past weekend I started producing good product. I guess I need to go shoot a dozen or so to see how they do

They will shoot fine. Get better and you can fine tune things as you go.

I have been casting ball and shooting muzzleloaders for 40+ years. In all that time I have never needed to use beeswax or any thing else to keep down the slag. I scrape the slag off the top of the lead often. The trick is to use a larger lead ladle. I find mine at antique stores. Plumbers used them to seal joints in cast iron pipes. With the larger ladles the clean lead pours out from under any slag that is floating on top. As to lead pots, I have a 20 pound Lyman that used to be bottom pour but I got tired of it leaking so I pulled out all the foofaraw and put a screw in the spout. Keep it Simple