Jump to content
Practically Shooting

Swap


Arkie_Lefty

Recommended Posts

I've never been inclined to cast bullets, mostly from a time standpoint. As the owner of a tire/wheel alignment/muffler shop I generate waste lead weights and in the past have had folks cast bullets, shot, and fishing sinkers on the halves (yea, that's kinda rippin em a new one) but with the uncertainty of the future of lead, and having 18 five gallon buckets full, I decided to cash out I made arangements with a professional caster approx 35 miles from home to do a trade based on $ .40 per pound for his completed products in 38Super, 387Special, and 45ACP.

The lead came to 2,400lb (and had the back of my Silverado SS looking liked a lowrider!)an I came home with just over 12,000 high quality cast lead bullets.

Win/win I think.

Bob

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wouldn't take the other end of the deal, so yes I agree you did well!

I use regular wheelweights for handgun, just letting the bullets air cool.

In rifle, I water drop them to harden them, which brings them to just a hair under linotype hardness per my tester.

I've shot the air cooled ones to almost 1500 fps and the water dropped ones to over 2,200 fps, though the water cooled ones are usually kept to 1800 or less.

Works fine if they fit the gun's bore properly and a good lube is used. Fit is king.

A lot of the casters who live and breathe this stuff will swear up and down that wheelweights are actually on the hard side and won't let the bullet obturate and seal the bore well enough. I might try softer if I were casting for one specific gun and could size them all exactly to match it, but I usually use each type of bullet in multiple guns.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...