I am sorry about my posts on casting

[45man]

I have posted many times on the subject but have come to a conclusion. A friend came to learn to cast RB's and it took me back to all those friends and fellow shooters I have tried to teach. I find it can't be done!
This fellow was maybe the worst. I showed him and he even took a video but when I gave him the mold, he was lost. He could not turn the mold sideways without consideration and by then the sprue plate was cooling. He could not hold a steady pace. I told him to turn the mold up level and tip the ladle off. No good as he dropped his left shoulder and twisted his upper body trying to turn the mold, I told him to turn his hand with his wrist. No go and the mold never was level. Then when he tipped the ladle off he also turned the mold and spilled the sptue off. Now the funny-- he lost track of his right hand and dumped the contents of the ladle in the sprue can. It was like he had puppet strings tied to both hands and could not do one thing with a hand without the other following.
Now I am getting to understand why I never got anyone to do it correctly. I take it if he scratches his butt with one hand, the other has to scratch also. I see why many turn to bottom pour as the brain does not function to do two things at once.
I have wondered why I never got any comments about my posts. I sent him off with a pile of balls but I made most trying to show how easy it is. Just maybe it isn't!

 

[Psycho Mike]

Hehehe...I've never done ladle casting (the .75 cal rb for my Brown Bess needed a lot of lead, so a production pot let me do more than a handful at a time), but I can see where a little coordination would come into it. Now that I'll be working with a "lowly" .58 cal, maybe I'll think about a ladle and smaller pot

 

[ZUG]

I have posted many times on the subject but have come to a conclusion. A friend came to learn to cast RB's and it took me back to all those friends and fellow shooters I have tried to teach. I find it can't be done!
This fellow was maybe the worst. I showed him and he even took a video but when I gave him the mold, he was lost. He could not turn the mold sideways without consideration and by then the sprue plate was cooling. He could not hold a steady pace. I told him to turn the mold up level and tip the ladle off. No good as he dropped his left shoulder and twisted his upper body trying to turn the mold, I told him to turn his hand with his wrist. No go and the mold never was level. Then when he tipped the ladle off he also turned the mold and spilled the sptue off. Now the funny-- he lost track of his right hand and dumped the contents of the ladle in the sprue can. It was like he had puppet strings tied to both hands and could not do one thing with a hand without the other following.
Now I am getting to understand why I never got anyone to do it correctly. I take it if he scratches his butt with one hand, the other has to scratch also. I see why many turn to bottom pour as the brain does not function to do two things at once.
I have wondered why I never got any comments about my posts. I sent him off with a pile of balls but I made most trying to show how easy it is. Just maybe it isn't!

And this person is handling a firearm? - this is a prime example of someone that should NOT be near anything that can cause harm to anyone including himself!

 

[45man]

Most have been around firearms all their lives, good hunters and also shot competition. Some are aircraft and auto mechanics, one works with electronics. It is just casting where they fall down. A few build their own flintlocks and do nice work. One made his from planks but if I borrow a mold, it takes me an hour to clean it up.

 

[ronaldrothb49]

Personally I would say how can they make something so simple so hard to do. But then considering some of the people I have had to deal with over the years I have to wonder if the human race has a future. I mean some of them make a Basset Hound look intelligent.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I grew up around resourceful people and took it for granted that all people were that way. I got a wake-up call when I got out of the Army in 69 and went to the local employment office to try to find a job. The first thing they did was give us an aptitude test with a manual dexterity section. One of the tests consisted of a pile of small washers on the table and picking them up one at a time and putting them up on a dowel that was standing straight up. Piece of cake, it took me about 30 seconds to have the washers on the dowel. The well-dressed preppy looking guy next to me struggled to get any washers on the dowel, he missed the dowel, he drooped the washers and failed the test miserably. A number of people had trouble putting the round pegs in the round holes and the square pegs in the square holes, I did it as fast as I could pick up any of the pegs.

I learned that day that we vary greatly in our manual dexterity ability, you are either born with it or not and there are a lot of nots out there.

 

[azmntman]

Add what Eric said and then add maybe he is petrified of the process? Hot lead on ya can be a day breaker.

 

[hanshi]

I've cast tens of thousands of balls with both ladle and with bottom pour. Not difficult just requires careful attention.

 

[Codger Craig Wilcox]

Never had a lick of trouble, but then I've always been good with my hands. Been building stuff since I was six.
We moved into a house in London that had a small "canal" running around the garden. Got a packing crate (our stuff had been in wooden crates for the sea voyage from the USA to Great Britain), and got busy with Dad's hatchet. Nailed and glued some slats over the joints on the packing crate, and made myself a little (!) boat to sail the canal in. Hey - at least it floated!
Built several boats, worked as a cabinet maker for a few years, learned to fly and built 9 Experimental Aircraft, a few race cars, etc. Now I build ML firearms!
Making little lead balls is fun! Just keep the molds hot.

 

[45man]

From what I see you fellas here make amazes me since I now shake too much at my age. I know many of you are master casters too. But a few need help because they are new to it. I just did not realise how hard it is to explain. I have been pouring lead for something for over 80 years and I was 6 when I made my own sinker mold. I was a fishing nut. Losing sinkers in lake Erie was a fact of life.

 

[Blitz]

Personally I would say how can they make something so simple so hard to do. But then considering some of the people I have had to deal with over the years I have to wonder if the human race has a future. I mean some of them make a Basset Hound look intelligent.

Please do not denigrate Basset hounds, some people are not smart enough to be one.

 

[waksupi]

I won't loan out any of my molds. Too many think they are also hammers and pliers.

 

[JimCunn]

Suggest that he see a neurologist. He may have had a stroke.