Shiloh Rifle Forums

Is this set up in your basement, garage, kitchen?

Wayne,

Your setup is a bit neater than mine, but similar.

I have a dedicated small building where I do my casting and reloading, and a range hood above my casting pot to remove fumes from casting. I also cat by the clock, since I found out my cadence when counting varied considerably and caused larger variances in bullet weight.

Kenny, if you're casting in an open garage doorway, your bullet spread will look far worse than Wayne's. Every change in the breeze will change the temperature of your mould and cause a subsequent change in bullet weight.

Clarence

Wayne,

Your setup is a bit neater than mine, but similar.

I have a dedicated small building where I do my casting and reloading, and a range hood above my casting pot to remove fumes from casting. I also cat by the clock, since I found out my cadence when counting varied considerably and caused larger variances in bullet weight.

Kenny, if you're casting in an open garage doorway, your bullet spread will look far worse than Wayne's. Every change in the breeze will change the temperature of your mould and cause a subsequent change in bullet weight.

Clarence

Wayne,

Your setup is a bit neater than mine, but similar.

I have a dedicated small building where I do my casting and reloading, and a range hood above my casting pot to remove fumes from casting. I also cat by the clock, since I found out my cadence when counting varied considerably and caused larger variances in bullet weight.

Kenny, if you're casting in an open garage doorway, your bullet spread will look far worse than Wayne's. Every change in the breeze will change the temperature of your mould and cause a subsequent change in bullet weight.

Clarence

SSShooter wrote: ↑Tue Feb 18, 2020 5:50 am Seriously, do you shoot based on 0.1gr bullet weight difference? An article based on testing 0.1, 0.2, 0.5 1.0, 2.0 & 5.0gr differences would be interesting.

If you go to the postal match and look at my 42-85 results, those bullets were ones I had to scrounge off the bench and various places in the reloading room to come up with enough bullets to shoot the match. several had visible flaws in them . And its my best group.
So I have mixed feeling about sorting to perfect weight. but still I do when I can

Wayne - lots more excitement surrounding your thread then I would have imagined. Folks are double, and even triple posting in response.

TexasMac wrote: ↑Tue Feb 18, 2020 9:09 amI typically shoot on 0.3 to 0.4gr differences based on the weight spread. I sort after each casting session and typically the spread is + or - 0.5gr (1gr total). Then, starting from one end of the curve, I grab 60 bullets which are stored in Styrofoam trays, then the next 60, etc. I.e., assuming 180 bullets with a mean weight of 414.5grs, the 1st 60 will weight around 414.0 to 414.4grs, the next 414.4 to 414.6grs and the last 60 414.6 to 415.0grs. When lubing & loading each batch of 60 for a match I do not keep them sorted, assuming that a spread of 0.4grs or so will make no difference.
Wayne

That's similar to my results and what I shoot (segregate in 0.5gr lots). I usually toss anything outside of the +/- 0.5gr back in the pot. Think I'll save up some of the outliers until I get 10 bullets that are a few grains off to compare to a more centered weight. I might even test at 600yd where the difference should be most noticeable.

Coltsmoke wrote: ↑Tue Feb 18, 2020 9:52 am Is this set up in your basement, garage, kitchen?

Previously I cast in my garage but built a separate AC/heated workshop last year with a roll-up garage door. In cold weather I cast with the door closed & heater on, in hot weather with the door closed and the AC on, in warm weather with the door open as it was last evening here in central Texas. To Clarence's comments, I have never noticed a change in bullet weight with the door open or closed, & I always weigh and sort afterwards. But even with the door open the garage or workshop essentially prevents any breezes from entering. BTW, regardless of garage or workshop, my casting setup has been & is currently close to the door.

Wayne

I cast in the basement and I would not post a picture of the corner my lead pot is on the bench sitting in a large tin cookie sheet. Highly classified, but there is a squirrel cage exhaust vent piped through the concrete wall to the outside and I can still remember what I ate yesterday
I don't separate my bullets or weigh them anymore because they vary 5/10 from heavy to light. I cast at a fairly low temperature with the alloy I use and I regulate the temp by what I see below the cut sprue. When frosting starts below the cut sprue that is hot enough for a proper fill out.
It's how you pour the alloy in the mould that that regulates the weight variances. The more tin in the mix the lower the casting temperature is needed.
When a bullet weight is 1 grain lower than the heaviest you incorporated some dross in the cavity making it that light.
If you get a heavy one than you will see it in the parting line or at the bullet base. Casting with a loose sprue plate will cause a lot of weight fluctuations. You can cast with a snug plate and still get a proper sharp bullet base with a proper pour.

I save all of my good looking bullets, no matter how wide the weight spread is for a given lot.
After weighing the bullets they are placed in a box of 100, with the lightest bullets at the front and the heaviest bullets in the back.
My theory is that a 0.1 grain increase in weight is not material to where the bullet strikes the target. I seem to do OK with this method.

Keep on hav'n fun!
MikeT

Concerning the danger of fumes from casting, other than breathing in some smoke when fluxing the pot, I’m not concerned with inhaling lead vapor. I do not have an exhaust hood over my casting setup & I’ve been casting for over 60 years, going back to when I made sinkers & lures for fishing & for trout line weights, with no signs of lead poisoning as I’ve had it tested several time. Lead casting temperatures are well below any level that would create lead vapors. The melting point of pure lead is 622°F & the vaporization point is 3180°F. The dangers of lead poisoning come from handling & lead oxides & not washing afterwards.

Wayne

I''m curious as to what is floating around on top of the lead in the pot? I have never really had that I guess to that extent, and what I do have blends into the mix or comes off with the dross when I flux. I generally start casting when my melt gets to around 780 and keep on til it gets to 810. Usually around 80 to 100 bullets in a session. Bullet weight is 540 to 541, anything over is put in a special lot, anything under is used for sighters. Usually get about 6 to 8 of those, and maybe 4 or 5 if my mould doesn't get preheated enough and those are remelted later. Otherwise, I see very little difference in pot temperature varying my weights enough to be concerned.

BTW, concerning lead poisoning, I bet most of you guys don't remember that several decades ago tooth paste tubes were made of pure lead. I collected them as a youngster which is how I obtained most of the lead I used for fishing weights at the time. I still have a couple of 10lb blocks from melting the tubes and using a coffee can as the mould for trout line weights around 1960.

Wayne

Wayne that must have been MANY decades ago. Tin tubes, perhaps, lead, no.

I envy all of you guys that have such great luck with lead casting in low ventilation. I've had my blood tested quite a few times and it is borderline high for lead, even though I use best practices with fans in an open garage, wash my hands religiously and my blood levels are still bopping around 5 ppm. Not happy about that at all.

Thanks for posting this Wayne. i was about to ask about temps and outcomes of making bullets. My bench is on the porch of my shooting shak..100 yards from the house , down in the woods. I only make bullets on days with no rain chances..it only took a few drops of rain in a hot pot of lead to make me pay attention.

BFD wrote: ↑Tue Feb 18, 2020 12:53 pm Wayne that must have been MANY decades ago. Tin tubes, perhaps, lead, no.

Toothpaste was first placed in collapsible tubes in the 1850's, and they were made of lead. During WWII, containers were placed on the streets for collection of toothpaste tubes so the lead could be removed for making bullets. After the war, though known to be potentially poisonous, the practice continued though the 1950's. In the late 1950's and early 1960's I collected the tubes to melt down for fishing weights.

BTW, I just checked & the tubes were not made of pure lead as I thought. It was an alloy of lead & tin.

Wayne