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I was running low on my casting alloy, so I smelted some metals today - 50 lbs recovered range lead, 2.5 lbs 70/30 lead/tin solder, 6 lbs electroype gives me 58.5 lb of an alloy around 10 Bhn with 1.5% tin for good cavity fillout. Plenty good for my handguns.

Are some of those ingot made in a cast iron corn cob bread baking pan?

Well, considering the world we now live in, I'd say that's not lead.............. It's gold. Good job.

No silver bullet for the occasional werewolf?

Take Down Sicko wrote: ↑Sun Mar 07, 2021 9:03 am No silver bullet for the occasional werewolf?

That's what the Automags are for.

puma guy wrote: ↑Sat Mar 06, 2021 8:20 pm Are some of those ingot made in a cast iron corn cob bread baking pan?

Yeppers - it seems to be a thing among American bullet-casters, so when in Rome...

Mxrdad wrote: ↑Sun Mar 07, 2021 12:28 am Well, considering the world we now live in, I'd say that's not lead.............. It's gold. Good job.

Lessons learned in Africa still stick

AndyC1911 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 07, 2021 1:07 pm

puma guy wrote: ↑Sat Mar 06, 2021 8:20 pm Are some of those ingot made in a cast iron corn cob bread baking pan?

Yeppers - it seems to be a thing among American bullet-casters, so when in Rome...

Mxrdad wrote: ↑Sun Mar 07, 2021 12:28 am Well, considering the world we now live in, I'd say that's not lead.............. It's gold. Good job.

Lessons learned in Africa still stick

I thought it was cool. No wonder I never see those old cast iron molds at garage sales.

I've repeatedly wondered if it's worth it to get into copper bullet casting. I assume that there would be a machining step involved, but the end result could be a very high quality projectile.

Exactly what I shall be doing today very shortly will be smelting alloy We have about 500 lbs of lead, 2000 lbs of linotype and & antimony tin so all fixed there, doing all we can today 2 of us flux it with paraffin. We will cast all of it starting next week into 9mm and 45's with 8 cavity molds .. Then hitech and size all. Easily will be over 10000 bullets. Probably 1 more time this year to keep well stocked. There will be 2 shooting up these, weekly range trips 1-2 and monthly matches. More primers coming in in the morning so all stocked well here. 10000 s pistol. They were ordered almost a year ago.
All will be loaded with WST powder.

Lena wrote: ↑Tue Mar 23, 2021 9:24 am Exactly what I shall be doing today very shortly will be smelting alloy We have about 500 lbs of lead, 2000 lbs of linotype and & antimony tin so all fixed there, doing all we can today 2 of us flux it with paraffin. We will cast all of it starting next week into 9mm and 45's with 8 cavity molds .. Then hitech and size all. Easily will be over 10000 bullets. Probably 1 more time this year to keep well stocked. There will be 2 shooting up these, weekly range trips 1-2 and monthly matches. More primers coming in in the morning so all stocked well here. 10000 s pistol. They were ordered almost a year ago.
All will be loaded with WST powder.

Where are you folks finding linotype these days?

Chas.

Lena wrote: ↑Tue Mar 23, 2021 9:24 am Exactly what I shall be doing today very shortly will be smelting alloy We have about 500 lbs of lead, 2000 lbs of linotype and & antimony tin so all fixed there, doing all we can today 2 of us flux it with paraffin.

Have fun!

MaduroBU wrote: ↑Tue Mar 23, 2021 12:49 am I've repeatedly wondered if it's worth it to get into copper bullet casting. I assume that there would be a machining step involved, but the end result could be a very high quality projectile.

Copper would be tough to cast - I assume you mean making something like an FMJ, swaging a lead core into a copper shell - or machining a monolithic copper bullet?

A screw machine could do a copper bullet but WHY????????? Lots of trouble there when what we cast shoot better than we can by far, no leading noticed and much easier.

Charles we live an hour east if Dallas and about a year ago we located an out of business printing company that wished to move and wanted to find someone that would haul off some things for them, a 350 mile drive 1 way to Midland Tx, part of the haul was 2500 pounds of linotype, it took 3 of us all day to go get it and load it and get back home, most of the linotype was still in pigs of about 25#. Also many old rubber stamp makers used it another source. I still have half a 55 gal barrel of old original wheel weights, been casting many years here, the printer in Midland also gave us a 250-300# chunk of used type metal we will have to cut up to smelt just to big to work with, so really in good shape here. Tipping the help at scrap metal outlets and leaving a contact card also helps us locate bullet metal, when they get some in they call us, recently we got about 396 lbs at $1 a pound. Also they loaded it for us a 1st.

A few 125 gr 9mm

Some of our ingots alloyed ready to cast