This is actually a really good video. The only thing that is incorrect is that pure lead will not harden when quenched. I thought it did as well until someone told me it didn't, so I tested hardness quenched vs unquenched and it was always the same.
Very good video 👍I have recently thought about casting my own bullets I have bought the same melting pot and i have started buying lead now I need the rest 👍
When using a bottom-pour pot, keeping the surface lead shiny clean is an unnecessary waste of material. As soon as you get it clean, more oxidation forms. Once it forms, it largely stops. Scooping it out only starts the process again, while never impacting the purity of the lead coming out the bottom at all.
4:13 quenching pure lead does nothing for hardness, nothing except allow you to handle them sooner or prevent deformation. Quenching for hardness only works for antimony containing alloys.
Quenching bullets is conditional to what you intend to use them for. It surface hardens the bullet making it prone to shattering on impact with a dense object.
The bullet I cast most is a .358 158gr SWC that I powder coat. No quenching or linotype, I just run with whatever alloy I end up with from my wheel weights and scrap. My .357mag hand-loads from an 18” carbine are hitting around 1,600fps, and my .38spl loads are about 1,000fps. I’ve brought down a couple deer and several hogs with both loads. They penetrate deep and hold together well. One bullet I recovered retained 152grs after striking a leg bone on a medium (≈150lb) hog. The powder coat holds up pretty well and the bullets tend to flatten out to about +10% diameter. Nothing ground breaking, but they reliably put meat in the freezer.
Good call Peter. I made the change to a face shield myself. Second year into the hobby I had a piece fly past my safety glasses into the corner of my eye and let's say my eye bothered me for a week. Got lucky in the end.
I will say though, I was totally surprised when I saw your one video melting lead with a hot plate. I've never done that before and didn't know you could do it.
you all prolly dont care but does anyone know a trick to log back into an Instagram account..? I somehow lost my password. I would appreciate any tips you can give me
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Love the video. What I would like to know is how do I take lead bullets to the next level ? Whats that you ask ? Simple FMJ. How do I create FMJ rounds ?
How do you get that steady flow of lead, does that pot always have to be that full? And when would be the perfect season for melting lead other than summer?
I've never really had a problem with it before; I just use standard wheelweight alloy and that seems to work for me. Regarding season, it's really hard to say without knowing what kind of climate you're in. Here in Ontario I find Summer the easiest (for obvious reasons)-- but I often cast in Spring and Fall just because I find the hot weather unpleasant to work in.
TATV Canada I finally got a chance to take it apart again after having it leak out from the side of the spout for a second time, noticed the spout was really clogged, so followed up by heating the spout with a torch and cleaning out the spout with a paper clip, a lot of crud came out. After putting it all back together, gave it another try, and boom it flowed just as seen your video. Thanks for the update 👍.
The perfect season for melting lead, I can say I've never heard such an idiotic question-- you must have asked that, right after you voted for Hillary!
Joe Eckley hey, when your a noobie anything goes right, and for your information no I didn’t vote. Politics isn’t my strong topic as it’s all corrupt no matter which way you see it.
@@Soccereddie no, its not all corrupt. You've fallen for the anti Liberty propaganda. And here you are, reloading ammo and you dont care about politics. You better make a strong suit if you want to continue to enjoy your firearms. Fukken wow🤔
Working on the new house mostly; endless renovations. I got sick with some kind of laryngitis back in March and it appears to have damaged my vocal cords somewhat. It's better than it was, but every time I've gone to record something since it takes a dozen attempts to get a semi-decent narration.
planning on getting into casting and reloading. Is there anything you need to coat the bullet with after casting, or is it ready to be pressed into the casing?
Depends on a lot of factors including the type of firearm, caliber of ammunition, and what you're trying to accomplish. For the most part, if you're casting hard alloy bullets loaded to reasonable pressures/velocities and not shooting for hours on end; no. If you're shooting high powered cartridges and/or for prolonged periods of time where the barrel is really going to heat up, it's probably a good idea to go with some kind of coating.
PC and GC them, pistol bullets not so much. I'll do the same when loading for the .45-70 and .500 S&W mag. Usually alox will do the trick when loading up what I call powder puff loads.
The main use is to place a small chunk into the melted lead mixture and stir it in. This causes impurities to float to the top for removal with the spoon or dipped. There are also commercial fluxes available.
Your water is too deep. It will splash into your mold as you drop your shot. Shallow water with a towel works best. Also, learn to pour your cavities continuously, rather than stopping between each one. Then drop the whole sprue strip back in the pot with a tap on the mold. Also, I hope that table is much sturdier than it looks. Molten lead doesn't play.
@@TATVCanada You professional experts kill me. Truth is, you pour like a newb, especially for someone with 20 years experience. I had 20 years experience 20 years ago. Use a riser (a piece of 2x4 works perfectly) and drag your mold, don't suspend it. Only women and children stop between holes. Also, you should have learned that water quenching adds negligible hardness to pure lead. It has to have alloy to have any serious change in Brinell Hardness #.
John, actually thats not good practice sticking sprue back into the pot with each cast. You are asking for a accident to happen and jumping your molten lead tempature all over the place. Keeping the pot tempature stable during the pour making it easier to determine if your mold is getting to hot. Sprue buttons or trying to continuous pour to make one sprue really doesn't matter.
Jacketing is done by swaging as opposed to casting. To put the cores you're describing in would be easier to do that way as well, but could potentially be done when casting with a modified mould.
The only other metal I've ever heard of people casting is zinc, but that's considerably harder than lead and sounds like a great way to ruin the barrels rifling to me.
Can we cast lead use in cars balancing weights with insert molding ? If yes can you share your molds details and sizes in mm. Thanks with regards Ajaysharma Sepdcmoulds 🙏
Yes you can; take a look at this video for some additional information. m.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pTep17whIXc.html As for the mould sizes in mm, you would need to do your own research.
I cast .454 round balls for slingshot hunting ammo and have used sawdust when I didnt have beeswax or a candle.. wax is better but sawdust is better than nothing
@@TATVCanada Wow. I only want the ones that are bismuth though. By the way are you sure it's lead you're getting and not bismuth? Lead is mostly banned in a lot of places.
@@ThePeterDislikeShow 100% the bulk of them are lead. They're very soft, and everything else floats to the top. All these years later and it still weirds me out seeing steel and zinc "float". Yes the lead ww are fewer and fewer. Ten years ago id say 80% of what I got was lead. Probably closer to 60% now.
Couldn't you use a torch to preheat the mold. Pouring and dropping bullets for thirty minutes before you start seeing good bullets seams like a lot of wasted time.
Oh you know what, as soon as you said that I remembered it! Was it the Patriot with Mel Gibson? There's a scene where he's melting toy soldiers to make bullets.
