what should be the optimum temprature for casting bullets? All i ever done is throw my lead into a iron cast pot over a old coleman stove waited for the lead to melt. Never really thought about a correct tempeture to get the most out of my moulds. Just kept skimming and adding more lead. Is there a better way than the coleman stove and iron pot method. waiting to hear from the best of you!
Lead should fill out a mould with no wrinkles between 750 and 800 degrees F provided the mould is clean and well heated. I have a lead thermometer but rarely use it. When the bullets start to come out of the mould with sharp edges and maybe some whiskers, that's when I keep them. I use a propane burner to melt lead in a cast iron pot and use a dipper which pours the lead faster into the large cavity moulds we use. A Coleman stove will also work. I only use a bottom pour electric furnace for small caliber, lead alloy bullets used to feed more modern firearms.
Jim Burgess
15th CVI
I use a bottom pour pot when I can, but have found you must ladle-pour hollow cavity bullets to get consistent weights.
I cast between 850F - 900F.
When the bullets start developing blue noses on dropping that is when everything has gotten to the right temperature.
Steve Sheldon
Commander
4th Louisiana Delta Rifles
NRA Certified Muzzleloading Instructor
When casting large, heavy bullets, get it hot and pour it fast is the ticket to good quality minies. In addition, the mold must be up to temperature, especially the base plug. I use both a bottom pour and a ladle pot. Some of my molds work fine with the bottom pour and some work better with the ladle. In either pot, I run lead at 850F. With smaller bullets like a Smith or revolver, the lead doesn't have to be as hot.
"A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition"
Rudyard Kipling
YadkinValleyRangers@gmail.com
NRA Muzzleloading Instructor
Well, your thread reveals that you were not having problems with wrinkles and pits. You just asked about temperature, if you are getting the bullet weight you want with no imperfections than do not change anything...why mess with something that works. I threw away a new Lyman Big Dipper melting pot last spring...I went back to the reliable Coleman with a large tank. Some electrics are better than others.
Take care, see ya at Laingsburg.
Keith A. Williams
15th. Reg VA Vol Cav
"Believe that you can whip the enemy, and you have won half the battle." - General James Ewell Brown Stuart
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