• Mossberg Owners is in the process of upgrading the software. Please bear with us while we transition to the new look and new upgraded software.

Lessons for you who are considering casting your own bullet

nitesite

nitesite

Average Guy
Moderator
"Philanthropist"
I'm going to start searching the interwebz for helpful tutorials that illustrate casting, sizing and lubing your own bullets to greatly save you money on ammunition costs. For example, I can cast my bullets and make my own handgun ammo at around $5/100.

I'll keep adding videos or photo threads as I stumble across them.

Video of how to prepare scrap lead into ingots of clean lead for casting future bullets
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=cas ... FORM=LKVR1

Here is one that I just found and it is pretty well done while keeping it very simple.
http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/bulle ... llets.html

this is text-only but has some good info:
http://www.grantcunningham.com/blog_fil ... 6-926.html

Still haven't fluxed out ALL the impurities but this video shows how simple casting can be done for under $50 start to finish
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=cas ... ORM=LKVR13

THE best lesson on how to use the tumble lube method for your cast bullets. Ya' gotta' lube them things!
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=67654
 
Re: Video(s) for you who are considering casting your own bu

Thank You !!

Midway has a sale going for Lee 124 gr .355 RN , like 18 bucks... what do you think ?
 
Re: Lessons for you who are considering casting your own bul

I have a 2-cavity Lee 124-gr TL RN mould and it does a good job. I just use a lube mix of 45 % Liquid Alox, 45% Johnson Paste Wax, and 10% Mineral Spirits and it is smoke free and dry to the touch. I wish I had a 6-cavity 9mm mould because I already have the handles and the 6-cavity moulds that I do have really crank out a quality bullet and I can make a thousand in very little time!

I say it's a good choice for $18 and change!
 
Re: Lessons for you who are considering casting your own bul

Cool, there has got to be a simple way to figure ratio for tin , lead and antimony (sp?)....I know I have some pure and I have some that is not...one was a drift boat anchor that I made in to some 00 Buck ...it "tinks" unlike the slugs that I know are pure.

Basically I have pure (ex elevator weight), drift boat anchor , 50/50 tin lead(car body work), diving weights, a few rolls of lead tin solder of unknown ratio and some sheet lead that is so soft that has to be pure.......How important is the ratio in 9mm? possibly going to do some 45 acp as well
 
Re: Lessons for you who are considering casting your own bul

Awesome nitesite! I was going to ask this question in the near future, but you got it covered already.
 
Re: Lessons for you who are considering casting your own bul

Added another linkie from Grant Cunningham's site for .38/.357
 
Re: Lessons for you who are considering casting your own bul

oli700 said:
Cool, there has got to be a simple way to figure ratio for tin , lead and antimony (sp?)....I know I have some pure and I have some that is not...one was a drift boat anchor that I made in to some 00 Buck ...it "tinks" unlike the slugs that I know are pure.

Basically I have pure (ex elevator weight), drift boat anchor , 50/50 tin lead(car body work), diving weights, a few rolls of lead tin solder of unknown ratio and some sheet lead that is so soft that has to be pure.......How important is the ratio in 9mm? possibly going to do some 45 acp as well
Click to expand...

Honestly, as long as your 124-gr 9mm bullets are kept under 1100-fps or so I don't think you have to get crazy on bullet hardness. Of course, pure is going to be too soft. The average wheel weight is around 12~16 BHN on the Brinnell hardness scale and that's plenty for 9mm. It's much more important to have a bullet fit snugly against the bore (correctly sized) than having a hard bullet.

I wish I could tell you how hard dive weights are, but that 50:50 lead tin mix is like gold since tin is so expensive!
 
Re: Lessons for you who are considering casting your own bul

thanks. I probably need to get the hardness tested to be sure. The home testers are spendy right ?
 
Re: Lessons for you who are considering casting your own bul

Over at castboolits.com I bet you could find the answer to what kind of lead trove you've got. I don't know any folks personally who have a hardness tester.

If you want to try some straight wheel weights let me know. I'll send you some. :)

Straight WWs are what I use for 90% of my pistol bullets and they work great!
 
Re: Lessons for you who are considering casting your own bul

Cool, you should have seen the mail man when my steel gongs came in the mail , like 80# stuffed in one of those boxes that cost 5 bucks to ship what ever ypou can stuff in it ... he was pissed lol.
I bet that takes a lot of the guess work out of it. Sometimes I am tempted to mix it all together but I never do.
 
Re: Lessons for you who are considering casting your own bul

Just added a quick loading video of how to make lead ingots from scrap wheel weights. It lacks a very important and fundamental step near the end, which is called "fluxing", but we'll cross that bridge soon. The video does a pretty good job of illustrating the basic process of getting scrap lead ready to the point of getting close to pouring into bullet/buckshot moulds.

See how shiny and beautiful it looks in the smelting pot? It's a gleaming silver lake!!!!!!!

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=cas ... FORM=LKVR1
 
Re: Lessons for you who are considering casting your own bul

And here is a guy who didn't lay out the cash for a casting furnace. Not at all. And not a bottom pour version which really is nice.

What he does is use a small ladle to pour enough lead to fill a 2-cavity mould and make a couple bullets every 20-seconds or so (or one shotgun slug) per pour straight from a pot of molten lead over a stove.

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=cas ... ORM=LKVR13
 
Re: Lessons for you who are considering casting your own bul

This is very helpful to see all this! I got sidetracked and pounced on a deal for a 9mm last week instead of buying my reloading equipment like I had planned, but I figured the equipment wasn't going anywhere and that deal wasn't going to last even a few more hours. Now I have to wait for my next payday.
 
Re: Lessons for you who are considering casting your own bul

great stuff sir! this is just what i have been wanting....
 
I have been considering getting in to casting slugs. A friend of mine has two weights from some machine in a factory that I believe are pure lead. Can anyone tell from the picture?

I also am a mechanic that works at a family operated shop, so a regular supply of free wheel weights.
 

Attachments

  • ImageUploadedByTapatalk1332650910.713020.jpg
    ImageUploadedByTapatalk1332650910.713020.jpg
    165.9 KB · Views: 204
Re: Lessons for you who are considering casting your own bul

Scratch the weights with your thumbnail. Lead is soft enough to scratch, alloyed lead won't scratch.
 
Re: Lessons for you who are considering casting your own bul

And lead makes a "thud" when struck against concrete, whereas Zinc and Steel and other non-lead materials make a "tink".

A pointed center punch struck "moderately" lightly with a small ball-peen will make a good indentation. If those counterweights are some kinda weird non-lead alloy you'll know it by the sound and the indent test.
 
Re: Lessons for you who are considering casting your own bul

if it chews up real easy its lead, if it hurts your teeth it has some zink and or tin in it :geek:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top