What is the best type of lead to use to make bullets? And what is best place to get bullet molds? And what kind do I get for 30-06?

Clip on wheelweights. Also a mix of 50/50 which is 50% clip on wheel weights and 50% pure lead or near pure lead. If you get your mold hot and up and running you can drop the bullets from the mold in a bucket of cold water to quench them which will make them harder. Or you can drop them on a soft towel for what we call air cooled. Either way you should let your bullets age for a minimum of two weeks before shooting them because the crystal structure of the alloy molecules is still moving and the bullet is going through changes which are it's hardening and also the diameter is growing. If you size the bullets to fit the throat of the rifle chamber or the cylinder throats of a revolver cylinder providing that the cartridge is not to fat because of the bullet to chamber you'll be fine.

For more information and to get on on mold group buys go to this forum:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/forum.php

quote:

Originally posted by Bob da Builder:
What is the best type of lead to use to make bullets? And what is best place to get bullet molds? And what kind do I get for 30-06?

Bob
Bullet casting is a bit of a specialty skill that takes a little study. You might consider getting the Lyman Cast Bullet Manual and visiting the Cast Boolits website.

The type of lead can vary but SmokinJ's wheel weight lead is a good recommendation if you can get them free or at a reasonable price.
There is a range of alloy combinations that work but the hardness of the alloy is the key and you are probably looking for about 15 Brinell hardness.


For the 30-06 there are a number of good designs however each mold varies a little so they are not all good. In general the bullets from 170 grains an up are the best.
Getting a mold to fit your barrel takes some savy. Then there is often the need to size the bullet.
You can start with the Lee basic equipment if you want a quick start but you may need more as you get more experience.

Be careful with wheel weights. They are not all the same. As of April 2012, the use of lead wheel weights was banned for any new applications and they now use steel or zink. You would need to be sure to get the older lead ones.

New wheel weights

Non lead wheelweights require a much higher temperature to melt. They will just float on top of those that do melt and you can skim them off. Wheelweights--as is--nothing added work great.
By all means get a Lyman Reloading Manual. Lyman being a maker of casting equipment--molds sizers etc do include cast data and information in their manuals. They make a Cast Bullet edition, but I'd get their standard manual as it includes both jacketed and cast data.
I like RCBS molds. You can buy molds to be used with gas checks or without them. More and more I question there being any benefit to using gas checks.
BTW I like Stihl products.

quote:

Originally posted by carpetman1:
Non lead wheelweights require a much higher temperature to melt. They will just float on top of those that do melt and you can skim them off. Wheelweights--as is--nothing added work great.
By all means get a Lyman Reloading Manual. Lyman being a maker of casting equipment--molds sizers etc do include cast data and information in their manuals. They make a Cast Bullet edition, but I'd get their standard manual as it includes both jacketed and cast data.
I like RCBS molds. You can buy molds to be used with gas checks or without them. More and more I question there being any benefit to using gas checks.
BTW I like Stihl products.

CORRECT.

molten Zinc and Molten lead are intentionally mixed during refining of Lead, because the precious metal content of most Lead ores is far more soluble in Zinc than Lead.

The Silver content of most lead ores alone generally covers the entire cost of mining
and refining the Lead so that the Lead being produced is essentially pure profit.

Generally speaking every case of "zinc contamination" I've ever seen in lead casting alloys has actually been something else.

Often someone somewhere has added scrap pewter
for it's tin content and forgotten about the copper...