Where our my bullet Casters?

[LordPorter1]

I recently decided to start casting my own bullets for a few calibers. I went in blind but had done my fair share of reading on it. Wanted to know who else is into it and maybe share some tricks of the trade!

Keeping it under 1100 feet per second
Using 2%tin 8% Antimony 92% lead

Pour speed and temp of lead is crucial (I found out)

I am gas checking everything

Lox lubing but moving to powder coating soon and still wax lubing over the powder coating

 

[Rebel_Rider1969]

Sizing the cast bullets?
I bought all the stuff to make45 colt but have not attempted it yet. ....

 

[Ric-san]

Looks like your doing it right…I’ve been casting for a few years, mostly using Lee moulds and lead from all over. Call me old school, I’m not too worried about %’s of tin ,alimony, etc as mine are just to punch holes in paper. So far only pistol calibers cast…for my 45-70 I purchased some cast lead boolits that are also powder coated. I use Harbor Frieght shake-n-bake powder coat method, no leading issues whatsoever.

 

[LordPorter1]

Sizing the cast bullets?
I bought all the stuff to make45 colt but have not attempted it yet. ....

I size and install the gas check in a single step with Lee sizers. They were on sale midway Usa (everything for casting was) I think the resizer die was on sale for $21

 

[LordPorter1]

Looks like your doing it right…I’ve been casting for a few years, mostly using Lee moulds and lead from all over. Call me old school, I’m not too worried about %’s of tin ,alimony, etc as mine are just to punch holes in paper. So far only pistol calibers cast…for my 45-70 I purchased some cast lead boolits that are also powder coated. I use Harbor Frieght shake-n-bake powder coat method, no leading issues whatsoever.
View attachment 285285

Those look great!

 

[LordPorter1]

I am shooting my 45 LC out of a .460 XVR S&W so I want punch with no leading. The .300bkout .200 grain are for a 13” Pistol with a can on it so I am planning on getting them around 900-1000 FPS quiet is the goal for them. So the tin and antimony for hardening was for those purposes. I am not sure what might happen if you make them too hard but I read you can do it. I would like to play with the % of alloys to find a perfect blend. Which leads me to penetration tests between soft lead and hardened lead. Probably can just YouTube it.

 

[LordPorter1]

When I am melting I use borax powder to remove the contaminates from the lead it swells and adheres to the impurities and then I just rake it off with a spoon. It worked surprisingly well. I tried not doing it but when I got low on lead the impurities made voids in the cast bullets. I am one of those guys that has to touch the hot burner to learn for myself lol

 

[fla kid]

I use old wheel weights , no mixing ,just clean with bees wax I might have some molds hanmging around if interested .gitting out of casting after 30 years just PM me

 

[Baddog 0302]

A quickie ,more to follow , if you haven't done it , you should join the Cast Boolit forum.LOTS if good info.
What rifle are you going to shoot your "boolits" in ??
Your pills like like a copy of the old Lyman 311299 ?

https://castboolits.gunloads.com

 

[Baddog 0302]

When I am melting I use borax powder to remove the contaminates from the lead it swells and adheres to the impurities and then I just rake it off with a spoon. It worked surprisingly well. I tried not doing it but when I got low on lead the impurities made voids in the cast bullets. I am one of those guys that has to touch the hot burner to learn for myself lol

Just my $0.02, when you are alloying a large ? amount of metals and fluxing any junk that comes to the surface use a small piece of a candle ,after it melts, set it on fire , this will drive any tin that's in the junk back into your melt
.https://castboolits.gunloads.com search fluxing

 

[LordPorter1]

Just my $0.02, when you are alloying a large ? amount of metals and fluxing any junk that comes to the surface use a small piece of a candle ,after it melts, set it on fire , this will drive any tin that's in the junk back into your melt
.https://castboolits.gunloads.com search fluxing

Awesome tip!

 

[Daezee]

Speaking of tricks, how do manage an alloy that adds up to 102%? ha ha

Be careful and monitor your use of suppressed cast bullets in the Blackout. Even though subsonic, there could be a buildup of lead in the suppressor that could be very hard to remove if too thick. Happened to me, but I caught it early.

For my needs, 20/1 lead/tin and Lyman #2 hardness cover it for me. I buy my gas checks from Sages Outdoors much cheaper than Lyman or Hornady, as in $20 or so cheaper per thousand. For bullet lube I use LS Stuff...MUCH cheaper and they have all styles including bulk for even less $. I buy bulk, melt in a double boiler, and pour into my lube sizers.

I’ve only experimented with the cheaper aluminum gas checks in 44 caliber and found no difference from copper ones in accuracy and impact point. I want to try them on 30 caliber and will do so on my next order.

 

[LordPorter1]

Speaking of tricks, how do manage an alloy that adds up to 102%? ha ha

Be careful and monitor your use of suppressed cast bullets in the Blackout. Even though subsonic, there could be a buildup of lead in the suppressor that could be very hard to remove if too thick. Happened to me, but I caught it early.

For my needs, 20/1 lead/tin and Lyman #2 hardness cover it for me. I buy my gas checks from Sages Outdoors much cheaper than Lyman or Hornady, as in $20 or so cheaper per thousand. For bullet lube I use LS Stuff...MUCH cheaper and they have all styles including bulk for even less $. I buy bulk, melt in a double boiler, and pour into my lube sizers.

I’ve only experimented with the cheaper aluminum gas checks in 44 caliber and found no difference from copper ones in accuracy and impact point. I want to try them on 30 caliber and will do so on my next order.

Yep it’s 6% antimony

 

[LordPorter1]

Here it is, good catch!

 

[LordPorter1]

Speaking of tricks, how do manage an alloy that adds up to 102%? ha ha

Be careful and monitor your use of suppressed cast bullets in the Blackout. Even though subsonic, there could be a buildup of lead in the suppressor that could be very hard to remove if too thick. Happened to me, but I caught it early.

For my needs, 20/1 lead/tin and Lyman #2 hardness cover it for me. I buy my gas checks from Sages Outdoors much cheaper than Lyman or Hornady, as in $20 or so cheaper per thousand. For bullet lube I use LS Stuff...MUCH cheaper and they have all styles including bulk for even less $. I buy bulk, melt in a double boiler, and pour into my lube sizers.

I’ve only experimented with the cheaper aluminum gas checks in 44 caliber and found no difference from copper ones in accuracy and impact point. I want to try them on 30 caliber and will do so on my next order.

That’s a great point I have a Silencerco 300 omega and they are not serviceable so if I leaded it I would be in bad shape. I might need to rethink that……

 

[Daezee]

Your mileage may vary. Back in the day I was BIG into the Blackout. I would be sent items to test and report back on. Don’t remember the origin of the cast and powder coated heavy bullets, but the rifling would cut through the coating, exposing lead and leaving lead in the suppressor after just five shots. Maybe the underlying lead was too soft. Maybe the coating was too thin. My point is check after only firing a few shots just to make sure. After firing quite a few supersonic jacketed rounds it seemed to have removed the lead buildup. Now if you can take the suppressor apart, it would matter much less. My two 30 cal suppressors are not user take apart.

 

[LordPorter1]

Your mileage may vary. Back in the day I was BIG into the Blackout. I would be sent items to test and report back on. Don’t remember the origin of the cast and powder coated heavy bullets, but the rifling would cut through the coating, exposing lead and leaving lead in the suppressor after just five shots. Maybe the underlying lead was too soft. Maybe the coating was too thin. My point is check after only firing a few shots just to make sure. After firing quite a few supersonic jacketed rounds it seemed to have removed the lead buildup. Now if you can take the suppressor apart, it would matter much less. My two 30 cal suppressors are not user take apart.

I am thinking I will switch to the rugged obsidian .45 Can it’s rated to handle the .300 Blk out and would gas better just won’t be as quiet then when I get my hardness right I can go to the unserviceable can and see how it does. I’m real bad about hyper focusing on accuracy and grouping so I needed that call out to bring the other issues with cast bullets back to the front of my dome!

 

[Baddog 0302]

A couple of points , I didn't see a casting themomter , a good item to have and especially with the Lee pots and Alum molds.


6% antimony , that equals to about a 16 to 16.5 BHN . This alloy needs ( BHN x 1422 )= 22752 MIN. psi to obtuse. And , if you are not sizing to .001 over your chambers throat Dia. Try recovering some of the bullets and see if they are not gas cut even a little.

 

[LordPorter1]

Will they gas cut even with slower velocity that soft? If I gas check them will it prevent this even at the softer alloy? Does tin % increase this or more antimony %?

 

[LordPorter1]

I plan on diving into the Lyman book this weekend to understand it further! I really appreciate all the help and support here!