Any bullet casters here?

[Moonpie]

Have a question about fluxing your melt.

Just came into a bunch of lead. Large 20lb rounds. I think its pure lead but its very old and full of grit and corrosion.

I want to melt it down, flux it clean, and recast it into small one pound ingots for later use.

What(and where to get) is your favorite casting flux?

 

[rsayloriii]

Cheap, you can just use some charcoal. I've done it with good results. I prefer to use natural charcoal myself.

 

[robocop10mm]

Bullet lube works just fine.

 

[Booyah]

I did the same thing last year...came into about 200lbs of wheel weights for free. Cast it into one pound and half pound ingots for later. I happened to have some of the Frankford Arsenal Flux that I used. I don't know that it works any better than anything else but it does work and it does not take much of it at all to do a big pot. I used the opportunity to buy myself a bottom pour furnace. Aside from just being convenient, it also lends itself to much cleaner lead since most contaminants float on the lead leaving a much cleaner product coming out the bottom.

On the inexpensive side though...sawdust works as flux too.

 

[Moonpie]

I have a Lee Production pot. Got the big rounds busted up into usable pieces.
I'll get some charcoal in a few days.
Thanks for the heads up.

 

[dunnrite]

Sawdust works very well. And, for many people, is a free and readily available byproduct of our many honey do's.

ETA: if it's pure lead, you'll want to harden it with some antimony and tin. I use pure lead with tin at a ratio of 20:1 for my hallow points with great results.

200 gr .45 ACP with 1 grain mass loss shot into milk jugs of water.

 

[DubiousDan]

You can flux with most anything with a high carbon content that will burn. Stirring the pot with a stick off a tree will work as will other things mentioned here.

 

[Paul5388]

If you use a stick just make sure it's dry. Otherwise the instant production of steam will empty a lot of the pot, maybe on you!

I use sawdust from cedar, mainly because it works well with a bottom pour and it smells nice. The residue from sawdust leaves a good barrier to exclude oxygen from the melt surface.

When you clean lead, use something besides your casting pot or you'll have trouble cleaning it for casting. I have a 20# Lee that's 4" off the base plate, but the RCBS Pro-Melt is a lot less of a problem with leaks and etc. The RCBS cost me more used than the Lee cost new, but I think it was money well spent.

 

[Andy]

Dry sawdust, chunks of candles, etc - basically carbon-based stuff.

 

[vmax]

I would melt it first into a 30-50 lb cast iron post.
Flux it with sawdust and pour it into your smaller molds


then in your melt pot, you can flux again and it should yield clean pours

you might want to get a hardness tester also

 

[Moonpie]

Thanks for the tips.
Got a jug of sawdust ready to go.
Soon as I get some time off work I'll give it a try.

 

[Moonpie]

WooWeeeee.......FINISHED!

Melted, fluxed, and poured over eighty pounds! All in 1lb ingots.
The sawdust worked GREAT!
Got lead ingots all over the place. LoL.
That oughta keep the Cap&Ball's rollin' for a WHILE!

 

[rsayloriii]

WooWeeeee.......FINISHED!

Melted, fluxed, and poured over eighty pounds! All in 1lb ingots.
The sawdust worked GREAT!
Got lead ingots all over the place. LoL.
That oughta keep the Cap&Ball's rollin' for a WHILE!

If you need a place for them...

sent from deep space

 

[Andy]

WooWeeeee.......FINISHED!

Melted, fluxed, and poured over eighty pounds! All in 1lb ingots.
The sawdust worked GREAT!
Got lead ingots all over the place. LoL.
That oughta keep the Cap&Ball's rollin' for a WHILE!

Foul! Need pics!

 

[Moonpie]

Okay.

 

[Andy]

Thank you I love pics of stockpiles, knowing folks are becoming self-sufficient