50lbs? How many bullets is that? By my math, 7000 grains = 1 pound. 7000g/158g=44.3 bullets. 44.3 x 50 = 2215. That's a nice stash. How long did it take to cast them?
Your math is correct. It's about 2K bullets. I use two Lee Six cavity molds and water drop into a half full 5gal bucket. It really speeds up the process. My little Lee pot keeps up just fine. I keep two ingots on top of the pot, pre-heating them, and drop them into the pot as they will fit. Always trying to keep the pot full.
It took me about two and a half hours, but a half hour of that was waiting for the pot to heat up.
They should be dry this morning. Now I have to tumble lube them, size them, and re-lube. Then they have to dry before I can load them. So I'm not done. I've probably two more hours work before they're actually done.
ha! very nice.
another pro for casting your own stuff is that you get to size them to what you want in your lubricator/sizer press. (which is also very time consuming, especially with the GC bullets). I know lee has a bunch of the tumble lube stuff but I don't trust it especially using WW lead.
I use Lee Tumble lube, and can push them pretty darned fast if I alloy them. Lee Alox lube does an excellent job of preventing leading, but lube alone is not the entire story. You have to have a properly sized bullet, and the right alloy.
I'm sure it is fine but I've always trusted my sizer to get them perfectly uniform; different hardnesses of lead can actually shrink more or less as they cool in the mold before you drop them. It's not much difference but it's just a superstition of mine, nothing to worry about. It is enticing for pistol bullets though, doing a batch of 500 at a time gets old about halfway through. the tumble lube stuff saves a lot of time.
Yes, the more pure the lead, the more shrinkage you will find. Especially if you water drop as I do. Fortunately my Lee Molds are generously sized to accommodate this. Also, pure lead doesn't always pour well. You can end up with wrinkles in your bullets, or partially filled mold cavities. I have learned how to overcome this, but if you're having problems with this, add some tin. Tin makes lead pour much better.
While we're on this subject. I can push my .358's pretty fast. AA9 fast. I do it by alloying one pound of tin to ten pounds of lead. Tin is a semi-precious metal, and is priced accordingly. To get a cheap source of tin, you'll want to go to garage sales. Buy pewter trinkets, candle sticks, mugs, whatever. Get a dietary scale to weigh your alloys, and mix when you make ingots.
I use a set of Harbor Freight Letter Stamping Dies to mark my ingots. I mark them :
"S" for soft. Pure lead. This is what I use most. I push these at low pressures. ~780FPS.
"M" for an alloy of 20#'s lead to 1# of tin. I have to use this alloy in one of my revolvers that has a rough bore even at low pressures.
"H" for hard. 10#'s lead to 1# tin. For higher pressure loadings.
You want to slug the bore on the firearm your casting for. Be sure to size .001-.002 larger. If you're bullets are too small, you'll get leading in the bore.
Soft lubes work much better than hard lubes to help prevent leading the bore. I use Lee Alox Tumble lube just for this reason. I lube before and after I size.
Yep, I have a scar under my left eyebrow from where I was leaning over the melting pot when I was making WW ingots. A drop of sweat fell into the molten lead and it truly exploded, sending lead every where. If it had hit 1/2 inch lower, I would most likely be blind in my left eye!!
Water and Molten lead DO NOT MIX.
Always wear eye protection.
Cast only in very well ventilated areas.
Keep your hands out of your mouth. Scrub well before eating.
No food or drink in the reloading area.