I am one step closer to stepping into the world of casting my own bullets. a couple weeks ago I stumbled across a turkey fryer on craigs list for $35 brand new in the box from Bass Pro $80 value. I bought a mould some time ago and it's beem sitting in my equipment locker and today on a whim I stopped into a tire shop in the middle of nowhere and scored a 5 gallon bucket full of wheel weights for free. The gun shop I go to ordered a thermometer for me and it's there waiting for me to pick it up. Soon, very soon. I'm getting excited about it.

Jerry,

If you are new to casting you might want to check this site out. Lots of good information. Great group that will help you get off to a good start casting.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/

You DO realize that you are sinking ever deeper into a money pit you can never escape from...?

Last count I had about sixty bullet moulds.

What caliber are you starting with?

Rich

Yeah, I know. It's like when I got into reloading to save money. I don't spend any less on bullets I just shoot more. If my calculations are correct I can increase my range time by a factor of three and still spend the same amount of money, not to mention I have something fun to do when I'm not at the range.

I have a Lee mould for .45acp 230 grain tumble lube round nose.

Thanks for the advice elk hunter, I've been lurking on that site a few times but haven't joined yet. I'm sure that will change.

oh boy, your done for..
casting to save money, and hanging around castboolits. tch,tch,tch.
might as well start moving some funds around now.
new sizer soon, then a few more molds.
then hunting with cast, chasing down lead.
gas checks, making your own lube. chasing down lead.

many turkey fryers have aluminum pot---not good for casting, as in dangerous get a cast iron one. Thermometer--never used one.

should we tell him about Star sizer/lubers? Nahhhhhh...

Rich

I'm going to keep the Aluminum pot for cooking, I'm looking in garage sales for a cast iron pot to use for smelting. I understand that lead/tin wheel weights melt at 600F but the zinc contaminated ones don't melt until until 675F, that's the only reason I got the thermometer.

zinc's more like 730*
melt, skim the clips.
turn the heat up and flux.
turn down and start pouring ingots.
flux again.
and cast iron is the only way to go.

I dunno, the best mould I have ever owned is an Eagan MX3 .30 caliber. They were made on brass blocks.

Cast Iron is probably a better long term or high volume choice than aluminum though.

Rich

i was recommending cast-iron for smelting.
the mehanite molds do last longer, but will wear out too.
iv'e replaced two this year.
i've also worn out guns before too.
i can't imagine how long ago i'd have worn out an aluminum mold.
those two molds had cast hundreds of thousands of boolits though [I figure close to 250,000 each]
the cavities themselves were fine but i'd worn the vent's right out of them and they were undersized finally.
i'd thought about lapping them out, but found two more reasonably priced.

If you want to melt WW, or any other dirty scrap, get an old 20lb propane tank (usually free), screw out the valve, fill the tank with water and use a hand held “angle” grinder to cut a piece (3 or 4 inches square) out of the top around the valve. Now that you have the danger of an explosion taken care of, drain the water, lay the tank on its side and cut it off as close to the top "shoulder" as possible. Set the "pot" up solidly on your burner. This pot will hold WAY more lead than you can lift so be prepared to "dip" it out.

Option B: wait for the Turkey Cookers to go on the pre-Thanksgiving sale. I bought one a couple years ago for $59.95 (half off sale) with a six quart dutch oven. Over 200lbs. Buy a 60lb bottle and cook the day away.

Rich

Well I bought a 6 quart cast iron dutch oven today at tractor supply ($24.95) and melted down the wheel weights donated by a very cooperative tire shop in the middle of nowhere. I saw a video of a man using muffin tins to cast ingots, that didn't work so well. I ended up destroying the pans. The ingots just didn't want to come out. I chatted with another friend he said he uses teflon coated muffin tins and has no problems. I ended up with 60lbs of ingots and probably 4 or 5 pounds left over in the pan. All in all a good day.

Skipper--The subject of using muffin pans for an ingot mold has been beat to death here and other forums I've been on. I mean stuff like where to go find them cheap. Whether to let them rust, teflon or non teflon. You name it. You would think ingot molds are 24K. I bought my Lyman cast iron ingot mold over 40 yrs ago and it's still good as ever. I had some muffin pan ingots that were too big to go into my pot. The ingots from the ingot mold are easier to handle and if you stack them (I don't anymore--just put em in a plastic bucket) they stack easier. Spend the $15 and be done with it--won't have to be replacing them.

do you coat your ingot mold with anything before pouring in the molten lead?

Never have coated my ingot mold with anything and never had a sticking problem.

I have to agree with Cman here, get a couple ingot molds and forget about it. I've got 4 and no they need no coating inside.

I think that's the plan. I'll have to put an order together for midway.