# mold your own



## nmubowyer

anybody mold their own bullets? i was thinkin of getting a minie ball mold. where do you get lead?


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## Plainsman

I have about a dozen molds on hand for muzzle loaders and modern handguns. 
I get pure lead at the junk yard. Most often is is from plumbers lead. This is fast disappearing so if you want some it may take a little looking. I was lucky enough to scrounge a few hundred pounds of 1/8 inch thick 3X3 foot chunks of pure lead from a dismantled X ray lab room.

For handguns I shoot a lot of wheel weights. I also have a hundred pounds of linotype if I want to mix a Lyman #2 alloy.


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## nmubowyer

thanks for the info plainsman


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## nmubowyer

do you need pure lead for a muzzleloader?


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## Plainsman

Yes you do for roundball or conical.


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## nmubowyer

So do you need the plumbing weights for the conicals then, i take it?


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## Plainsman

Plumbers pipe. Many of the old water pipes in very old buildings were lead. And they worried about kids eating lead paint.


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## nmubowyer

Thanks for all the info plainsman. Is a dipper 100 percent neccessary or would a big spoon work? Should I just get the dipper?
Thanks


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## Plainsman

You will have to have the dipper. It matches the hole in the mould. With a spoon you will have lines in your cast bullet. The best thing to do is spend about $10 more and get a bottom pour Lee pot. Look in midsouth shooters supply, natchez shooters supply, midway usa, etc.


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## rogerw

All very good advice Plainsman. I have only cast from a dipper, but always kinda wished I had gotten an electric bottom pour as you suggest.

Nmubowyer, get ahold of the Lyman Bullet Casting Manual, it will be worth it. One thing it will tell you is to be careful about your lead sources so that you don't mix any contaminated lead. Zinc for instance will ruin a batch of lead and it does not take much of it. Lead shotgun shot is not so good becausee it has high antimony which gives the molten lead high surface tension and helps form rounder lead balls, but also means it does not fill out your mold as well.....lots of this in the Lyman manual and what to do about what.

YHS,
rogerw


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## nmubowyer

thanks roger, i should be getting my mold and dipper in a few days so as long as final exams, and moving dont sabotouge my plans i should be getting to molding soon, im kinda looking foward to it, it seems like molding your own will be a little satsifying at the end of the trail than buying em from a store, ill try and track down a manual


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## barebackjack

A dipper isnt a must (at least for pouring round balls) but it does make it alot easier. I have the older lyman dipper (holds more) and can pour three .535 balls with one dip. I think the biggest thing for maintaining bullets free of creases and air pockets is a good clean pour, and maintaining a good temp on the mold, dont let it get to hot or to cold.

I was lucky enough to get ahold of a bunch of old lead cable connectors that the phone company used to use, dead soft pure lead. Old lead drain pipes work well too. Kind of a pain melting it down and cleaning it up, but cheap bullets is cheap bullets  .


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## nmubowyer

i got some wheelweights so i guess ill have to clean it out, but hopefully i can track down some pure lead


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## darkgael

Lots of good advice here. 
As has been noted - here and in other forums - junk yards are the places to look. If you really get stuck, pure lead is available online from a number of sources. MidwayUSA.com sells it but it is VERY expensive. I'd avoid Ebay; like a lot of things there, descriptions are suspect and "pure lead" may turn out to be something else entirely.
I'd like to offer a caution if you are new to this casting game: lead is a toxic metal. The vapors that molten lead produces are odorless and have a great affinity for your blood and bones and hair and skin. Cast in a well ventilated area, outside is the best. Wash up when you are done before you eat or smoke. Last, the dross produced when you clean dirty/oxidized lead before casting is wildly toxic. Be careful how you dispose of it.
Pete


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## barebackjack

darkgael said:


> I'd like to offer a caution if you are new to this casting game: lead is a toxic metal. The vapors that molten lead produces are odorless and have a great affinity for your blood and bones and hair and skin. Cast in a well ventilated area, outside is the best. Wash up when you are done before you eat or smoke. Last, the dross produced when you clean dirty/oxidized lead before casting is wildly toxic. Be careful how you dispose of it.
> Pete


 :beer: Good information, its dangerous stuff. Be sure to be careful as well, dont want molten lead splashing around, and by all means keep water or other liquids FAR AWAY! The splattering of water hitting molten lead is a small explosion that you dont want to experience.


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