anyone with experience casting lead bullets?

[nynor]

i bought some lead minie-ball ammunition for my muzzleloader yesterday. $14/20. that is re-cock-ulous. ammunition for my .40SW pistol is less than that.

i found bullet casting equipment for about $80 total.

my question is this: how safe is it to cast lead bullets? how much should i worry about the lead?

TIA

[TimT]

how much should i worry about the lead?

Not so much...

I cast hundreds if not thousands of lead bullets, and sinkers when I was a kid..my concern always with a crucible of molten metal was getting burned...

[cgarr]

I do it outside. If I was indoors I would just use the respirator I use for welding Stainless Steel but I got a pretty good pot going too!

[azasadny]

Yep, Do it outside. Tab Tanner (fellow Pelican) makes his own lead bullets and wanted to teach me, but I'm not ready for that yet...When I am, I'll make them in my garage, with a fan going and the large door opened part-way and the smaller door open all of the way.

[slodave]

Ya don't want to be inhaling the lead fumes.

[jt1]

At the temps involved in bullet casting, 650-750 deg, the amount of fumes is very, very small. Good ventilation in your casting area is plenty adequate. It's much more important to wash your hands after handling lead. It's not absorbed thru the skin, but it's easy to transfer to your mouth, nose, food, etc.

You can learn all you want about bullet casting at http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/.

John

[GLASEM]

Just watch certain scenes from "The Patriot" and you'll see how easy it is.

Many living history re-inactors do it in their camps to demonstrate to the public.

All they use is a campfire to melt the lead

[Jeff Higgins]

I've cast bullets all my life. I shoot thousands of my own cast bullets every year from a broad variety of pistols, revolvers, and rifles. Muzzle loaders and breech loaders, black powder and smokeless. I own dozens of molds, three lead pots (for three different alloys), several lubricator/sizers (for different lubes), and on and on. All but one or two of my handguns have never fired anything but my own cast bullets. So, yeah, I cast a lot of bullets.

I do my casting on the workbench in my garage, with the doors open. I wear long sleeves, leather gloves, and safety glasses. I wash my hands when I'm done, and my clothes go right into the hamper or wash. That's the extent of my safety precautions. I specifically request that I get tested for lead every year as a part of my blood work, and have never had any cause for concern.

Bullet casting is a very enjoyable, relaxing hobby for me. Plus, I can make ammunition that will markedly out-perform anything you can buy commercially in accuracy, velocity, and penetration. With free lead, I can shoot centerfire revolvers for less than most pay to shoot things like the .17 HMR, .22 WMR, and high end .22 LR. My only real cost is primers and powder. I can reload some cases seemingly forever - I have .45-70 and .45-100 black powder match cases that have been loaded over 70 times by actual count. .44 mag and .45 Colt cases will typically go a couple dozen reloads before mouths start to crack from crimping and flaring. So, other than my time, this is about the cheapest shooting I can do.

[teenerted1]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

I've cast bullets all my life. I shoot thousands of my own cast bullets every year from a broad variety of pistols, revolvers, and rifles. Muzzle loaders and breech loaders, black powder and smokeless. I own dozens of molds, three lead pots (for three different alloys), several lubricator/sizers (for different lubes), and on and on. All but one or two of my handguns have never fired anything but my own cast bullets. So, yeah, I cast a lot of bullets.

I do my casting on the workbench in my garage, with the doors open. I wear long sleeves, leather gloves, and safety glasses. I wash my hands when I'm done, and my clothes go right into the hamper or wash. That's the extent of my safety precautions. I specifically request that I get tested for lead every year as a part of my blood work, and have never had any cause for concern.

Bullet casting is a very enjoyable, relaxing hobby for me. Plus, I can make ammunition that will markedly out-perform anything you can buy commercially in accuracy, velocity, and penetration. With free lead, I can shoot centerfire revolvers for less than most pay to shoot things like the .17 HMR, .22 WMR, and high end .22 LR. My only real cost is primers and powder. I can reload some cases seemingly forever - I have .45-70 and .45-100 black powder match cases that have been loaded over 70 times by actual count. .44 mag and .45 Colt cases will typically go a couple dozen reloads before mouths start to crack from crimping and flaring. So, other than my time, this is about the cheapest shooting I can do.

guess where he gets his free lead...

















that's right the tire store. what else are they going to do with all those wheel weights?

[cgarr]

Wheel weights are excellent. Go around the pot holes in the spring and you can usually find a bag full....

[nynor]

i need pure lead, no alloy. thanks for the advice guys. i think i am going to do it.

[Jeff Higgins]

Yup, muzzle loaders require pure lead. I get my from a foundry, along with a 20:1 lead/tin alloy I use for BPCR bullets. I use wheel weights for all of my handgun and straight cased rifle bullets. Hence the three lead pots.

[nynor]

how much should lead cost me?

[Jeff Higgins]

Market rate fluctuates a great deal. I've paid as little as a buck a pound, and as much as two or three. The price depends a great deal on how much you buy at one time; our local foundry gives a break at 200 pounds, another at 500, and a really good one at a ton. That's a lot of lead for even an avid shooter, so we go in on it as a group. Lots of shooting clubs, particularly muzzle loader clubs, will often make such group buys at cost to members.

[nynor]

thanks. i looked it up on ebay and found 99.9 pure lead at about 2.40/lb shipped. that is reasonable to me.

[Jeff Higgins]

What caliber is your muzzle loader? What twist? What kind of a mold are you thinking about?

[Hugh R]

Do it outside, wash your hands before you eat, drink or smoke. Launder your work clothes separately.

[nynor]

Originally Posted by Jeff Higgins

What caliber is your muzzle loader? What twist? What kind of a mold are you thinking about?

.50 cal. fast twist. lee R.E.A.L. 250 grain mini-ball. my gun prefers the low weight projectiles.

[Joeaksa]

Originally Posted by teenerted1

guess where he gets his free lead...




that's right the tire store. what else are they going to do with all those wheel weights?

And whats the problem with using this? You can fuss with the mixture to get the right mix.

I did it for years a long time ago and it was a lot of fun as well as saved money.

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by nynor

.50 cal. fast twist. lee R.E.A.L. 250 grain mini-ball. my gun prefers the low weight projectiles.

You might try the Lyman Plains bullet, or their version of the Maxi Ball. Both are on the heavier side, but I've had great luck with both. They stabilize in my barrels as slow as a 48" twist, although my 66" twist barrels don't like them at all. If your twist is any faster than 48", they should work quite well.

The Plains Bullet is shorter in length but heavier than the Maxi Ball. It achieves that by having much smaller lube grooves, so barrels tend to foul faster with it. The Maxi Ball carries so much lube that if you use the right stuff, like T/C's Natural Lube 1000+, you really can shoot all day without cleaning.

Are you using black powder or one of the substitutes? I've tried them all, and keep going back to the real deal. Nothing works better in muzzle loaders, or for that matter, early metalic cartridge guns originaly intended for it. Too many folks shy away from it, believe all the myths and horror stories about its heavy fouling and resultant cleaning requirements. None of it is true if you do it right. I can have a black powder gun cleaned and put away, muzzle of breech loader, in less time than I can a smokeless powder gun. And the black powder substitutes don't help in this regard anyway.