Spring has sprung. Get out and shoot your Henry

First time Casting

All things reloading here
ruhler
Cowhand
Posts: 215
Joined: Mon Nov 13, 2017 3:19 am
Sweden

First time Casting

Post by ruhler » Thu May 10, 2018 8:09 am

First time casting, just learning and got some results.

Preparation reading, reading, stocking up lead, beeswax, moulds, lubriziser, sizing dies and more reading.

Safety first
Was outside with the wind blowing away from me, used welders gloves, cotton shirt, safety sunglasses and a clear facecover protecting the face and a breathing mask probably to much but better safe than sorry.

Last weekend I melted down some old Lead from Windows that I got from a friend of mine that work as a glassworker. I used a old cast iron pot that I found in my storage, an old electric stove that I bought in a secondhand store. I tried it earlier to know what temperatures it can produce and it worked.The cast iron pot had difficulties when the level of lead got to high with the heat so I had to keep the level little lower. Fluxed with some old candles and a spoon and then used a Lee mould to get leadbars in 1lbs and 0,5lbs. Tried the hardness of the lead with a method using pencils according to this: https://youtu.be/LPFeyMLMgt0 and got around 8bhn well kind of soft but I´ll give it a go while learning figured it will work within 44spl loads.

Yeah this will work over 400degrees Celsius :)
Image

Sorry for no images during process but here is the bars ready and you see my cast iron pot and the junklead my workbench is an old barbecuegrill :)
Image

making some lube.
Making the moulds for lubesticks, a 1" PVC pipe, a M6 bolt with a washer in bottom. Then I melted down 50/50 180grams of beeswax and 180grams of molybdendisulfid grease) and poured in the PVC pipes and went inside to watch the Icehockey. When the lube was cold it was simple to press it out of the PVCpipes.

Image

Today some casting
It took a while to learn the Lee production pot settings and to get the mould to the right temperature. I used the Lee RNFN 200grain .429 2cavitiy mould and casted around 100bullets just to see the results. They dropped at a weight at 210grains, and size around .430 I ran them through a lubrasizer with a .431 die (not my lube yet used the lube that was inside already) just to get some lube on them and figured I wanted the bullet to be over .430.
Image

Some shiny bullets :)
Image

Some learning to do about hardness and such but overall everything worked out great, I do have wheelweights and linotypebars ready to go in but I wanted to learn all the way from scrap to bullet, noticed the production pot was hard to pour out from with low level of lead. Reason is that I didnt want to cast alot of bullet if it turns out to be too soft alloy. Noticed its alot of pollen in the air that stuck on the surface of the lead.

Result to be found out, not sure about the hardness the bullet will probably work in lighter 44spl loads in a revolver or with powdercoating, not sure about the henry becauce of the softer 8bhn leadalloy. And it probably are to small diameter for the henry, the combination of both with the longer barrel well we will see. I Will probably have to beagle the mould to get a better fit for my henry.

Anyway had really fun learning, and cant wait to try this out the lead will probably change a little harder in a week or two? its all freshly casted now. This is not about costs its just fun and learning to do things yourself, I just found one more hobby in my other hobbies shooting, reloading and now casting :)
Last edited by ruhler on Thu May 10, 2018 8:39 am, edited 2 times in total.
5 x

User avatar
JEBar
Town Marshal / Deputy Admin
Posts: 19272
Joined: Sun Mar 20, 2016 10:58 pm
Location: central NC
United States of America

Re: First time Casting

Post by JEBar » Thu May 10, 2018 8:23 am

for me, hand loading our own shells is part of the fun .... for folks who enjoy casting their own bullets, doing so should be a really good thing .... thanks for taking us along in this process
0 x

User avatar
CT_Shooter
Administrator emeritus
Posts: 5152
Joined: Mon Mar 21, 2016 8:42 am
Location: Connecticut
United States of America

Re: First time Casting

Post by CT_Shooter » Thu May 10, 2018 9:24 am

Very cool, ruhler. Thanks for sharing the pics and the process.
0 x
H006M Big Boy Brass .357 - H001 Classic .22LR - Uberti / Taylors & Co. SmokeWagon .357 5.5" - Uberti / Taylors & Co. RanchHand .22LR 5.5"

User avatar
clovishound
Drover
Posts: 2070
Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2016 4:18 pm
Location: Summerville SC
United States of America

Re: First time Casting

Post by clovishound » Thu May 10, 2018 10:57 am

I would remelt those bullets, I know, they look great, and add some linotype to the alloy to get up to around 12 or 14 brinnel at the least. I'm not in the crowd that thinks you must have extremely hard bullets, but 8 is pretty much pure lead and you will need them a little harder from what I understand.

Impressive results first time out.
0 x
There is, I think, humor here which does not translate well from English to sanity. - Sanya

ruhler
Cowhand
Posts: 215
Joined: Mon Nov 13, 2017 3:19 am
Sweden

Re: First time Casting

Post by ruhler » Thu May 10, 2018 12:04 pm

clovishound wrote:I would remelt those bullets, I know, they look great, and add some linotype to the alloy to get up to around 12 or 14 brinnel at the least. I'm not in the crowd that thinks you must have extremely hard bullets, but 8 is pretty much pure lead and you will need them a little harder from what I understand.

Impressive results first time out.
Thanks yeah I think its too soft also, but anyway I kind of have to try some out with a light load, I loaded up 10rounds just for fun (double fun cleaning my revolver). according to the lead Alloy calculator from: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthr ... alculators

I need to add 1part linotype and 2parts of this alloy to get around 13bnh, that would probably be ok and get some expansion If i want to make some hunting bullets. Anyway will maybe try it tonight after dinner while I have the weather with me.
0 x

ruhler
Cowhand
Posts: 215
Joined: Mon Nov 13, 2017 3:19 am
Sweden

Re: First time Casting

Post by ruhler » Thu May 10, 2018 3:54 pm

Well remelted the bullets I made and added one part of Linotype and the bullet became more than twice as hard, beated one bullet with a hammer and it took some effort to make it expand. The Lee mould has become dirty inside because when I heated the mould some smoke made it dirty. Think I will try some alcohol and a qtip later. Anyway here is some pics from this evening.

Image
Image
Image

Next time I cast I will try my Saeco 4cavity 265gr RNFN GC mould to see if I can make a good fitting bullet to my Henry.
1 x

User avatar
clovishound
Drover
Posts: 2070
Joined: Wed Apr 13, 2016 4:18 pm
Location: Summerville SC
United States of America

Re: First time Casting

Post by clovishound » Thu May 10, 2018 4:32 pm

Looking good there.

I wouldn't worry about a little smoke on the mold. In fact, Lee recommends smoking their molds to ensure easy release of the bullets. You take a match or candle and run the inside of the mold in, or just over the flame until you get a thin coat of carbon on the mold. There are some mold release products on the market, but I have only ever smoked mine. (No Cheech and Chong jokes, please.)

Now, if you get some lube in the business part of the mold, it will create problems filling the mold completely and you will get misshapen bullets.
0 x
There is, I think, humor here which does not translate well from English to sanity. - Sanya

ruhler
Cowhand
Posts: 215
Joined: Mon Nov 13, 2017 3:19 am
Sweden

Re: First time Casting

Post by ruhler » Fri May 11, 2018 1:25 am

clovishound wrote:Looking good there.

I wouldn't worry about a little smoke on the mold. In fact, Lee recommends smoking their molds to ensure easy release of the bullets. You take a match or candle and run the inside of the mold in, or just over the flame until you get a thin coat of carbon on the mold. There are some mold release products on the market, but I have only ever smoked mine. (No Cheech and Chong jokes, please.)

Now, if you get some lube in the business part of the mold, it will create problems filling the mold completely and you will get misshapen bullets.
Thanks for the advice, doesnt have so much trouble with bullets stuck in the mould I just tap the bolt with my wood "mallet". The only issue I have is to get timing right when the mould is to hot, And I arent sure about the temperature of the lead but the bullet looks nice and arent frosty or brittle when I hammer on a bullet. Will try what bhn the bullets have now, the alloy is 4bars of linotype and 8bars of 8bhn lead. But according to the calculator its around 13bhn. Question is what if I cast 265grains GC bullets and load it for magnum is it to soft for the speed and expansion too high if used for hunting?

Im off for work now, but will load 10 of these bullets when I get home.
0 x

User avatar
RanchRoper
Forum Ambassador
Posts: 12681
Joined: Mon Mar 21, 2016 12:14 am
Location: Land of Shining Mountains, Alberta
Canada

Re: First time Casting

Post by RanchRoper » Fri May 11, 2018 9:49 am

That is really cool. Thanks.
2 x
1860 Colt SA Richards Conversion Revolver .45C
1860 Henry .45C
1885 High Wall .45C
1820-1840 Frontier Percussion .50
1790-1820 Frontier Flintlock .50

Ohkínohkomit - Shoot skillfully

ruhler
Cowhand
Posts: 215
Joined: Mon Nov 13, 2017 3:19 am
Sweden

Re: First time Casting

Post by ruhler » Fri May 11, 2018 11:23 am

Home from work so I took some time to look at my fresh casted bullets, lucky as I am the mould with this alloy drops at lowest .4317 and highest at .433 and weight about 200grain so I can calibrate to .431. Guess the differences is how hot the mould was. I know .431 work well in my Henry and Revolvers atleast what I tried so far so I will lube and calibrate that. Im really happy with the results beacuse Ive studied Youtube for months on casting.

Image
1 x

Post Reply