making RB questions

[Bucker]

Okay, I have a plumber friend who I secretly converting to ML'ing. He has a ton of lead and I wondered if I can use any old lead for making a RB? Second, where do I go to learn that, a book, video etc? Is it cheaper to nmake them (I kinow it would be cool to shoot your own) or buy them? TOW has a sale on Dbl/large forms and what size should i get for the 50 calibers? What is the difference between a swaged bsll and a round ball? Thanks in advance for any help. I am thinking this is a good winter time beer drinking thing to take to campo w/ deer steaks and straps for dinner!

 

[cayuga]

Okay, I have a plumber friend who I secretly converting to ML'ing. He has a ton of lead and I wondered if I can use any old lead for making a RB? Second, where do I go to learn that, a book, video etc? Is it cheaper to nmake them (I kinow it would be cool to shoot your own) or buy them? TOW has a sale on Dbl/large forms and what size should i get for the 50 calibers? What is the difference between a swaged bsll and a round ball? Thanks in advance for any help. I am thinking this is a good winter time beer drinking thing to take to campo w/ deer steaks and straps for dinner!

Casting your own ball is a lot of fun. I use a LEE double mold in .490 for .50 caliber and .530 & .535 for the .54 caliber. I use an open Lyman melting pot, a Lyman pour spout, a home made sludge scraper (piece of roofing tin about two feet long and folded in the middle), bees wax candle, and melt all of it on a outdoor Turkey cooker.

I bought a turkey cooker at the end of the season when they were on sale. In that you get the big turkey pot (for canning) lots of free junk, but you get a stand to set the pot on, and a Bunsen burner with adjustable regulator that hooks to your little 20 pound propane cylinder. So you can adjust the heat. I then took an old grate off a gas stove top and wired that to the stand so it sits up nice and high and secure. Slide the Bunsen burner under the smelting pot and that's where I melt my lead.

You put your smelting pot on the stand and throw the fire to it. VERY CAREFULLY add lead to the pot. You do not want any splashing. Wear gloves, long pants, long sleeved shirt, eye protection, and good leather boots. Work in a clean area where there is no moisture what so ever. Ventilation is a good thing, so open windows and doors in the room your going to use. No kids, or dogs around that can not be controlled.

As the lead melts, it will start to shine. Add a chunk of bees wax about the size of your thumb nail to the lead. I use a long nose pliers to do this. And then hit the lead with a long nose lighter, and let it burn. This will bring the impure things in the lead to the top in a form of slag, that can be scraped carefully off and discard somewhere safe.

Now take a candle and smoke the mold. Open the mold, wipe it out with alcohol and then hold the open mold so the flame of the candle blackens the inside of the mold. I also add Rapine Mold Lube, but have never seen it anymore on the shelves.

When the lead is hot, you can tell if you stick the corner of that mold in it, and hold it there for the count of 30. Lift it up. If the lead sticks to it, its not hot enough. Soon you will notice the lead does not stick to the mold. Now hold that corner of the mold in the lead for the count of 30. This is to heat the mold.

Dip your ladle in the lead and holding the mold over the smelting pot, pour molten lead into the mold until it runs out the top. Now with an old wooden (never metal) hammer handle, knocked the spur cutter to the side and it will cut the spur on the bullet.

I then count to 10 and dump my VERY HOT DO NOT TOUCH OR BE TEMPTED TO TOUCH AND YOU WILL BE TEMPTED, balls into a shallow wooden box with a piece of old leather on the bottom. If you have one end higher then the others, you can dump and the top and the balls will roll to the bottom out of the way. They will be very bright and shine like new, but they are hot and will be hot for a very long time.

Every time you add more lead, be careful. The lead must be dry. You add only enough to fill the Pot 3/4 way up. I use a long nose pliers for this too. Then add the beeswax and again scrape the slag off the top. Re heat your mold and start all over again.

If your lead gets too hot, turn the heat down. Also if it is too hot, sometime you need to wait longer before you dump. You will start to see. Its not rocket science. I mean, I do it. Also if you sweat a lot, do not lean over that smelter and drip sweat into it. Hot lead will explode if water hits it. And when it lands on you, it will make you scream.

And old wives tale is when your done, leave the last ball in the mold, set the mold down, and let it cool. This is so the mold cools even. I was told you do not have to do this. And it is a false tale. But I have done it this way for 30 years and still using the same mold. So it works for me. If you want to dump your last, then so be it. Also do not monkey with the lead for a long time, let it harden in the pot. It hurts nothing. It will remelt next time you cast.

After the balls have cooled, inspect them for flaws. Ones that are bad, throw back in the lead pile or save them for sling shot ammo. They work real good.

At any time if you feel light headed, get a head ache, feel like your stomach is going to roll, you need fresh air. Get outside and breath. Lead fumes are dangerous also. Pure old lead pipe is good lead. Its what I use and it makes great bullets, ball, and conicals...

Hope I gave you an idea of the basics...

 

[papines]

lead

ThANKS FOR THE INFO. sOUNDS LIKE FUN AND i HAVE TO GET MOLDS NOW. What is a swaged ball? O keep seeing that. man, again I got started on tis ML thing so late and have missed so much.

 

[cayuga]

There are two types of ball..

Cast ball are made by pouring molten lead into a mold. You can tell a cast ball by the spur on the ball. The spur is the point where the mold is poured through.

Swagged ball are made by forcing lead under pressure into a mold. The lead after formed is then opened and a perfect round ball without a spur is formed.

swagged ball are much harder to make because of the process as compared to a cast ball.

 

[Bucker]

Swagged

Does the swagged ball fly better? Any signifigant perforemance over a poured RB?

 

[cayuga]

When you buy ball in the store from Hornady, Speer, Thompson Center (Hornady), Remington, or some of the others.. those are swagged ball. You can tell because there is no spur from when they were formed. Although my LEE mold makes a very, and I mean very small spur flat spot.

Do they fly better... well the store bought are going to be more uniform and identical, then home caster. Mine vary a few grains one way or the other in weight. And while I can make a great ball, I will not be able to compete in the uniformity with some of the very good ball casters. BUT I have tested swagged, and home casted ball in a test to test shoot off. I did shoot better with the swagged ball, same rifle, same distance. But you would hate to live in the difference.

Also when I looked in my wallet, my money was still there. Lead ball is getting expensive because of the metal. We used to pay $7.00 for a 100 ball. Sometimes on sale we'd get them less then that. Now I think it is as high as $13.00 or more. I can cast from free lead, for the cost of propane and time.

 

[Swampman]

Swaged balls can have voids in them too. I find that I can't tell any difference, but I prefer the balls I cast myself.

 

[frontier gander]

balls here run $15-20 per 100. I shoot into sand buckets and recover the lead and melt down again. I have a little over 4lbs of soft powerbelt lead that i use for making round balls. I strictly use them for hunting and very limited target practice. They do the job on big animals.

 

[Bucker]

rballs

I hear what you are saying. Plus I can imagine some personal pride in shooting gsame w/ my own products...........You make sense.

 

[frontier gander]

my elk i shot in november was with a home cast round ball. She flew true and put that elk down.

Plus its a lot of fun to do over a campfire and spend half a day. Last time i made balls i was about there for a little over an hour and casted up close to 200 round balls. Lots of fun and keeps your mind clear.