Casting

[William]

I had some chunks of lead that had been laying around forever and wanted to learn how to cast so this past Thursday Stormrider51 invited me to his house and taught me how.  I managed to pour nearly 80 RB in .54 with relatively few rejects using a Lee aluminum mold.  I finally understood why the mould must be kept hot and how to wait just a few seconds for the freshly poured lead to solidify before cutting the sprue, dropping the ball and preparing for another pour.  His melting pot was originally a bottom pour but the spout broke and he just replaced it with a screw and uses a ladle.  One of the scrap pieces of lead that we added to the pot had been attached to the end of a steel pipe, but I don't know what it was used for, only that it had come from the old coal fired power plant where my grandfather had worked until it shut down in the early 1970's.  Anyway, after casting the RB the pot was about half full and John added the hunk of lead to it with the pipe sticking out the top about 10 inches.  Then it got interesting, as the lead quickly melted off, bubbling like a cauldron.  There was no splattering as if there had been water in the pipe, just bubbles as if it where boiling water.  Neither of us got very close to it and in 15-20 seconds the lead was fully removed from the end of the pipe, which I found amazing.  I think that there had been some dirt or other debris inside the pipe or between the outside of the pipe and the lead itself that caused the bubbles, but when you add lead to an already hot melting pot, always use caution.  John was kind enough to give me a hundred or so .490 sized RB that had been in his shop for a while too since I also shoot that caliber, so I came home with more lead than I bought in the first place.

[Tim Burns]

Sure hope you fellas were Outside in the open air when melting lead! It and be VERY dangerous to inhale the fumes!

[larry74]

I use lead pot and burner on the side of the grill it take little to get it hot . after it hot it keeps right temp . What I am saying dont heat the lead to hot save you made a lot flumes. and outside .

[crazell]

William sounds like you enjoyed yourself.Last time BrokenHawk and myself did some casting, we made about 300 balls.Had to melt some back down from getting in a hurry at first,then we got the hang of it. I still have a bunch.Just use safety  and good ventilation!!