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  • rushthezeppelin

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    Been contemplating casting for a while now and my interest got more piqued when I found out that people are casting powder coated hollow points for 300 BLK that are devastating on medium game.

    Well now I'm sold after a big find today. Was able to get 5lbs for free at an NTB recently but today found another small time shop that had a pretty considerable horde of lead tucked away (considering the decreasing use of it). Overfilled 5 gallon bucket, weighing at 160 lbs even for only $40. Thankfully they split it into 2 buckets to facilitate moving it.

    So far after dumping one bucket back into the other it seems like I have at least 95% that are almost obviously lead weights, granted only sorting will tell for sure. Should yield at least 145+ lbs of ingots I'm hoping which according to my math is about 4500 230gr bullets (heaviest I plan to cast) at less than a penny a pop after powder coating. Its mostly larger truck weights so I'm guessing I wont have to slag off to much weight in clips. Should last me a good long while especially if I start messing around with lighter super sonic stuff.
    Lynx Defense
     

    Vaquero

    Moving stuff to the gas prices thread.....
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    I don't cast yet. But I'll be hoarding lead for sure. V-max can answer your question, im sure.
     

    Younggun

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    Might have to look in to this as I beef up my reloading. The thought of it is a little intimidating for some reason, seems like a whole nother world in the reloading game.
     

    rushthezeppelin

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    Might have to look in to this as I beef up my reloading. The thought of it is a little intimidating for some reason, seems like a whole nother world in the reloading game.

    Ya I'm already sufficiently intimidated....but thankfully I'm more curious and have allot of free time to kill usually.

    It is definitely inner circle of reloading hell, and I'm going straight to the center of that with powder coating lol.
     

    Booyah

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    How much weight on average would you say you loose with slagging off the steel clips?

    I came into some free wheel weights some time ago. Two five gallon buckets, approximately 3/4 full each. Buckets and all weighed in at 200lbs. After all was said and done, melted off steel clips and discarding zinc weights etc. I ended up with 135lbs of ingots.
     

    Andy

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    Steel clips don't weight a whole lot.

    Some folks like to sort their wheel-weights by hand, using side-cutters to check whether a weight is lead or zinc (lead is easy to mark, zinc isn't).

    Personally I don't bother - zinc melts at a higher temp (around 780 F) than lead (620 F), so if you smelt them carefully the zinc ones stay solid and just float on top of the lead. Ideally you want to do this using a casting thermometer, but it can be done if you watch the lead weights melt and level the temp off there.

    14t4rc8.jpg
     
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    Younggun

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    Found a few manufactures for molds to make some bullets that usually run .50-$1 each on the cheap end, really making me reconsider.
     

    vmax

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    you will loose more weight than you think to clips and slag.
    It would also be good to flux your melt pot after you get all of the clips and zinc weights out that might miss the sorting process.

    like was mentioned above, I use a laser thermometer to make sure not to get hot enough to accidently melt the zinc, .. you don't want that.

    old muffin pans make good moulds and fit nice into my Lee pot as well
     

    reddog

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    Jul 19, 2013
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    Get ready for another addiction. I've been casting for 40 years and enjoy it almost as much as putting them down range. I cast for all my pistol calibers, .38/357,9mm, 40, & 45 and currently 308 W and 45-70 in rifle. Been thinking about 223 but haven't pulled the trigger on it yet. You'll never have enough lead, nor boolits cast, then there's the lubing and sizing and the experimenting to make it all better one way or another. And then there is always that new mold that will be just perfect you know if you just had one...
     

    Andy

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    It's not lost if you never had it, is my philosophy - you melt all that junk down to lead to see what you do have.
     

    Paul5388

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    Clean as much as possible without using your casting pot! This is an old cast iron pot that was welded up to make it serviceable and I got 90# of ingots from this batch.
    aad.jpg


    A bigger batch could be made by adding as the lead melts, but you have to have some place for it all to go to.
     

    robocop10mm

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    Stick on weights are pure lead and should be segregated when rifle bullets are your intended product. If you will keep an old rag handy, you can wipe off the face of the weight and have a very good indication of the material.
    P = lead
    Micro = lead
    Zn = Zinc
    Fe = Steel

    If the weight is tapered at the ends it is almost assuredly lead. Some squared end weights are lead, most are steel or zinc.

    Keep a magnet handy to separate the steel weights.

    Melt the stick on weights separately as the virgin lead is actually worth more and is a nice addition for low velocity pistol bullets, shotgun slugs and fishing weights.

    ALWAYS melt lead out doors. The smoke from the oily residue and when fluxing does contain lead vapors and is hazardous. You needn't be OVERLY cautious. I have been casting for 30 years and have my lead levels checked every year. Last year, I actually brought mine down with Metamucil. WASH YOUR HANDS religiously after exposure and you should be fine.

    Straight wheel weights are OK for rifles, especially 230's in the BLK. I drop directly into cool water for some extra hardening. Higher velocity rifles will require some added Antimony and Tin. Get some Linotype and alloy up the metal. Wheel weights have about 4% Antimony and almost zero Tin. 5-7% Antimony makes for a primo rifle bullet up to 2500 fps (especially with a gas check). Add 2% Tin for a nice, well filled out, shiny bullet. I use this alloy for .224 bullets in an AR.

    I have never powder coated cast bullets and see little need for this time consuming task. A good hard alloy, a gas check and a good lube is all that is necessary for good bullet performance.
     

    rushthezeppelin

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    I have never powder coated cast bullets and see little need for this time consuming task. A good hard alloy, a gas check and a good lube is all that is necessary for good bullet performance.

    Ought to look into it more. From all the people I've talked to I've gathered that it basically reduces the need for custom tailoring your alloy to your application. There are people who are shooting dead soft PCed at 2k+ with no leading. It also gets rid of lube/lead smoke. With the shake and bake method it requires minimal effort and the cost is near negligible. It's hardly more effort than lubing cast.



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    robocop10mm

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    I am probably old school and do not mnd (perhaps enjoy even more) the challenge of custom alloying for intended application. I have seen some powder coating ideas that use BB's in a pilll bottle and the spray on application. Spray on looks WAY too time consuming.

    I also like sizing for coincentricity. Many molds will throw really good bullets, some not so much. Once again, I am old school.

    I will not belittle those who want to embrace a new way of doing things. That is how progress is made.
     

    rushthezeppelin

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    I am probably old school and do not mnd (perhaps enjoy even more) the challenge of custom alloying for intended application. I have seen some powder coating ideas that use BB's in a pilll bottle and the spray on application. Spray on looks WAY too time consuming.

    Ya the electrostatic powder coating is basically only for the nuts who want pretty bullets. Dry tumbled boolits (just throw powder and bullets in a coolwhip tub, shake for 2-5 min and bake 400 for 10 min) perform exactly the same as far as the gun is concerned.

    I also like sizing for coincentricity. Many molds will throw really good bullets, some not so much. Once again, I am old school.

    You can size bullets NP after powder coating.

    I will not belittle those who want to embrace a new way of doing things. That is how progress is made.

    Given that I'm new to all this (hell I've only owned guns for just under a year) I try and find what the latest and greatest is, especially something with a high performance to price ratio. Granted I know sometimes fads sometimes lead you astray but I've stumbled on to some interesting stuff that is pretty deep down the rabbit hole. For example I managed across a post on another forum talking about how to build a high quality scope mounted IR NV camera for a bill and some change. That is going to be my next project once I get all my casting stuff together. Don't worry I'll do a post about it soon for those that are interested :D
     

    Paul5388

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    Here's a Fe 15 wheel weight.
    aar.jpg

    They don't make much difference in a cleaning melt because they will float on lead and can be scooped out easily.

    Too many people are afraid of leading a bore and that's one of the least worries. A proper fitting bullet with 50/50 stick on to clip on wheel weights will stand at least 1750 fps without a gas check or water quenching. Cast really isn't intended to be shot out of a gas action AR and etc, but it does well out of a single shot, Glock, or revolver. I usually tumble lube with LLA for .25 auto, .32 S&W Long and 200 gr LSWC for .45 auto.
     

    rushthezeppelin

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    Here's a Fe 15 wheel weight.
    aar.jpg

    They don't make much difference in a cleaning melt because they will float on lead and can be scooped out easily.

    Too many people are afraid of leading a bore and that's one of the least worries. A proper fitting bullet with 50/50 stick on to clip on wheel weights will stand at least 1750 fps without a gas check or water quenching. Cast really isn't intended to be shot out of a gas action AR and etc, but it does well out of a single shot, Glock, or revolver. I usually tumble lube with LLA for .25 auto, .32 S&W Long and 200 gr LSWC for .45 auto.

    You obviously have not looked into powder coating. When done properly (and ofc sized properly) it basically eliminates leading (including in the gas system) and makes it to where you can even run them through cans. Should check out the coating forum on castboolits for more info Coatings and Alternatives. It hardly takes more effort than traditional lubing and is incredibly cheap (adds probably at most a tenth of a penny a bullet). It is becoming incredibly popular among the 300 blk crowd that casts.
     

    Paul5388

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    You're right, I just don't see a need for another fad, like MoS2, that will fade with time. There's only so much money I'm willing to cough up for dubious benefits.
     
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