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Old 09-08-2009, 08:22 AM
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imashooter2 imashooter2 is offline
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To expand a little...

Heat source, pot, raw material, spoon, flux, mold, lube, good gloves, long sleeve shirt, long pants, safety glasses and leather shoes.

For the heat source you can use anything from a Wal Mart hot plate, through the kitchen stove, to purpose made electric furnaces.

For the pot, a 1 quart steel sauce pan will work. Cast iron is better. A purpose made furnace is best. DO NOT USE AN ALUMINUM POT! Aluminum can fail without warning, leaving you standing in a puddle of molten metal. This is generally regarded as a bad thing.

For raw material, the ubiquitous wheel weight, range scrap, roof flashing, lead pipe and shower pans, radioactive isotope containers and many more...

The spoon is to move melted lead into the mold, stir, flux and skim. There are purpose designed dippers for pouring bullets and there are bottom pour furnaces that eliminate the need for moving lead to the mold, but you will still need a spoon to stir, flux and skim. A long handled kitchen spoon is best.

Flux is anything that can add carbon to the mix to reduce metal oxides back into the melt. Paraffin wax (candle stubs) is easiest to find. There are many, many substances that will work from saw dust to purpose designed commercial preparations.

The mold depends on the bullet you want to cast and how fast you want to cast them. Lee sells very inexpensive aluminum molds that will let you get your feet wet. From there they progress through the commercial iron molds by Lyman, RCBS and SEACO right on up to custom designs. A two hole mold is a good one to cut your teeth on. The more cavities in the mold, the more important supplier quality control and your technique becomes in order to turn out consistent product.

Lube can be applied either by tumbling (Lee Liquid Alox, Rooster Jacket) or by pan lubing or use of a sizer press (Bees wax/Alox, Lyman Orange Magic, White Label Lube Carnauba Red, and many, many more).

The gloves, shirt, pants, glasses and shoes are basic safety gear. Molten lead can splash and it will burn.

That's a pretty basic list of what you NEED. After that, it's how much do you want to spend and a lifetime of learning... Buy a copy of the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook and read it. Check this link:
NSSA: Northwest Territory

and this one:
Cast Boolits - Dedicated To The World Of Cast Bullets!
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