- Mar 9, 2011
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It was sunny and almost 60 degrees today, so I figured that I'd cast up a mess of bullets. I started with used wheel weights. You can get those from a tire store or a garage that works on tires. The place I get them from sells me a large 5-gallon bucket full for about $30. Wheel weights are just about perfect for rifle and pistol bullets. Most of them are 95.5% lead, 4% antimony (Sb), and .5% tin (Sn), but they can vary somewhat. Some bullet-casters have their own special recipes where they add some 60/40 solder, but straight wheel weights are good enough. These will cast bullets for pistols or rifles using modern-day smokeless powder, not for muzzle-loaders. For black powder guns, you need pure lead.
Something to watch out for is that some wheel weights are made of zinc. It is much harder than the usual wheel weights, and has a higher melting point. I(f you accidentally get a zinc wheel weight in your melting pot, it will screw up the whole batch. Zinc wheel have to be separated and discarded. I use a pair of pincers to test each one, as the lead/tin weights are soft enough that the pincers will nick them. They also have a dull sound when dropped on concrete, as opposed to the zinc ones, which "ring" when you drop them. The bottom-left image shows some zinc weights which were culled out...
Next I smelted down the wheel weights in a cast iron melting pot, and on a propane turkey fryer. It's always best to do this outside, and facing where the wind won't blow the smoke and fumes in your face. Wearing a mask also helps, because you don't want to breathe the particulate matter emanating from the melting pot,
Some tools you need are a cast iron ladle, a wooden spoon, and a slotted metal spoon or a metal spoon with holes in it. The slotted spoon is for removing the steel clips that were on the wheel weights, once they are melted. Also needed is either some small chunks of candle wax or better yet, beeswax. That would be needed to flux the melted wheels weights. Fluxing causes the lead and tin to mix and the slag to come to the top. A small (1/4" - 1/2") piece is placed in the mixture and is stirred with the wooden spoon. The spoon may turn to charcoal after awhile, but that's ok. Another method of purifying the mix is to use hardwood sawdust, but not pine. After the mix is melted, any slag can be skimmed off the top with the metal spoon.
The slag is thrown in a metal bucket, and the remaining mix can be ladled out, and poured into a mold. I use an old cast iron muffin mold that makes nice round 1-pound ingots.
Next I prepared the bullet mold. I used a double-cavity Lee #90309 mold that throws a .356" diameter 125 grain bullet, which can be used for 9mm handguns. The mold was first cleaned with some spray carburetor-cleaner to remove any oil or dirt. The insides of the bullet cavities are sooted by holding the mold over a candle. The black soot keeps the bullet from sticking. The only other lubrication is done after the mold is heated up, by touching a piece of candle or beeswax to the alignment pins inside the blocks, and to the sprue-cutter hinge screw. Care has to be taken not to allow any of the wax to flow into the bullet cavities, or else the cast bullets will have lines on the surface of them.
When the bullets are cast, a hardwood stick is used to knock the sprue-cutter open and then by thumping the opened mold with the stick, the bullets fall out into a pail of cold water with a towel in it. This hardens the bullets and cools them off.
I use a Lee bottom-pour lead melting pot that runs on 110VAC. The mold is heated by placing it on top of the pot. If the mold isn't warm enough it won't properly fill out. It the mold is too hot, the bullet will look "frosty."
The ideal temperature of the mix is around 600-650 degrees Fahrenheit. It took me a few hours time, but I cast about 850 bullets.
Tomorrow I'll go through the next step, which is lubricating the bullets by tumbling them in some liquid Alox bullet lube, drying them in the sun, running them through a 9mm sizing die, then re-lubricating the bullets. It's a process, but good things take time. With everything shut down like this, time is one thing there's plenty of.
Something to watch out for is that some wheel weights are made of zinc. It is much harder than the usual wheel weights, and has a higher melting point. I(f you accidentally get a zinc wheel weight in your melting pot, it will screw up the whole batch. Zinc wheel have to be separated and discarded. I use a pair of pincers to test each one, as the lead/tin weights are soft enough that the pincers will nick them. They also have a dull sound when dropped on concrete, as opposed to the zinc ones, which "ring" when you drop them. The bottom-left image shows some zinc weights which were culled out...
Next I smelted down the wheel weights in a cast iron melting pot, and on a propane turkey fryer. It's always best to do this outside, and facing where the wind won't blow the smoke and fumes in your face. Wearing a mask also helps, because you don't want to breathe the particulate matter emanating from the melting pot,
Some tools you need are a cast iron ladle, a wooden spoon, and a slotted metal spoon or a metal spoon with holes in it. The slotted spoon is for removing the steel clips that were on the wheel weights, once they are melted. Also needed is either some small chunks of candle wax or better yet, beeswax. That would be needed to flux the melted wheels weights. Fluxing causes the lead and tin to mix and the slag to come to the top. A small (1/4" - 1/2") piece is placed in the mixture and is stirred with the wooden spoon. The spoon may turn to charcoal after awhile, but that's ok. Another method of purifying the mix is to use hardwood sawdust, but not pine. After the mix is melted, any slag can be skimmed off the top with the metal spoon.
The slag is thrown in a metal bucket, and the remaining mix can be ladled out, and poured into a mold. I use an old cast iron muffin mold that makes nice round 1-pound ingots.
Next I prepared the bullet mold. I used a double-cavity Lee #90309 mold that throws a .356" diameter 125 grain bullet, which can be used for 9mm handguns. The mold was first cleaned with some spray carburetor-cleaner to remove any oil or dirt. The insides of the bullet cavities are sooted by holding the mold over a candle. The black soot keeps the bullet from sticking. The only other lubrication is done after the mold is heated up, by touching a piece of candle or beeswax to the alignment pins inside the blocks, and to the sprue-cutter hinge screw. Care has to be taken not to allow any of the wax to flow into the bullet cavities, or else the cast bullets will have lines on the surface of them.
When the bullets are cast, a hardwood stick is used to knock the sprue-cutter open and then by thumping the opened mold with the stick, the bullets fall out into a pail of cold water with a towel in it. This hardens the bullets and cools them off.
I use a Lee bottom-pour lead melting pot that runs on 110VAC. The mold is heated by placing it on top of the pot. If the mold isn't warm enough it won't properly fill out. It the mold is too hot, the bullet will look "frosty."
The ideal temperature of the mix is around 600-650 degrees Fahrenheit. It took me a few hours time, but I cast about 850 bullets.
Tomorrow I'll go through the next step, which is lubricating the bullets by tumbling them in some liquid Alox bullet lube, drying them in the sun, running them through a 9mm sizing die, then re-lubricating the bullets. It's a process, but good things take time. With everything shut down like this, time is one thing there's plenty of.
