Came back from trying to jump something up in the rain , two does non pigs and had a new mold to play with new riser for the old girl .
Now to decide powder coat them neon purple,hot pink , or John deer green lol

Nice

Hot pink to match the wife's hair.

WD--The 30-30 is a fine caliber. I killed a lot of deer with it back in the day.

Wolfdog where do you source the lead? I was debating on trying to mold and powder coat some but dang strait lead is expensive now if you have to buy it. Like the same price as bullets

Honestly now days I just buy it from Missouri bullet company. I'll buy or pick up some old roofing /plumbing lead or wheel weight if I see them or the price is right ( and when most of these guys want $50 for a bucket of wheel weights that end up being 60% zinc ... The price rarely is right )but I tend to shoot a little faster and harder then most casters and especially with the smaller stuff like .22 and 6mm crappy alloy just makes you wanna rip you hair out .


If I did my math right , with my heaviest molds I'm getting like 240 something bullets per 8lbs stick and that add up to like $23 per 100 . Just paid $100 for 200rd of hornady 168 BTHP's not apples to apples because time making them and usage limits and all but I do end up saving , especially since I really don't like FMJ.

Also keep saying I'll go and mine the berms at the local range but egh $10-$150 worth of lead a year keeps my bullet reserves stocke sup really nice

How do you know the zinc content?

Just curious. Bullet making was not
complicated before innerweb.

I processed a bunch here lately.
Jigs and sinkers next.

Lead wheel weights won't have zinc. Zinc wheel weights are marked Z. When he said he got 60% zinc, he was saying that 60% of the weights were marked Z. I told a man that I was looking for wheel weights and I would give him 5 cents a pound more than the scrap dealers were paying him. About 3 months later he called and said he had me some weights. I think it was either 2 or 3 buckets full. I went to get them, we weighed them and I took them home. Out of those 2 or 3 buckets I only had 1 Z weight and 0 steel weights. His brother in law had saved wheel weights for probably 30 years and that was several years ago when he quit the mechanic work. Just about all those weights were OLD and large, that means they had a large content of arsenic and tin . Arsenic is good for hardening. Tin is good for breaking surface tension on the melt. I bought them for 20 cents a pound.
I also had a nephew that worked at a busy tire shop. Every few months he would bring me a couple of buckets full and I would go through each individual piece and separate out the Z weights and steel weights. I tested each and every piece with wire cutters. Lead is soft and will scratch easily with the cutters, zinc is hard and I mean hard. The steel wts will go to a magnet. I probably got about 60% lead wts in those buckets.
Rickey

Thanks.
Grandpap said lead paid real well until
it became toxic. Then all the power lines
were replaced and market flooded.
The lead insulation sheathing still surfaces,
I have some. As it oxidizes it seems to get harder.

A lot more sources than wheel weights.
Short of a mass density teat I find it hard to
believe someone on a lead forum just knows.

Does the bullet from the mold weigh different
when differing materials are used?
I'll have to weigh my jigs and see lol.
Thanks.

Where did civil War guys get lead?
Did they teat its content? lol

I dont know much about it but did find out pure lead is needed to cast muzzleloader bullets. Made some out of wheel weights and it would take a hammer to drive them down the barrel.

I read the alloys cause them to expand some when released from the mold . I think thats why casters run them through a sizing die for modern cartridges that wast some alloys for hardness to avoid leading uo the barrel and ability to drive them at higher speeds.


Now alloys will have no effect on jig heads or fishing weights . They dont need to be driven down a barrel. Serious bullet caster do have hardness testers .

I see these testers now.
Not sure how we survived without.
Wish I had taken notes.
Thanks guys.

Yes, the weight will be different depending on the % of lead, tin, arsenic etc.
Rickey

Finally got a few made up