[Rk Shows?]

Thanks for the help! I guess I'll head that way Saturday morning then.

[Rk Shows?]

Has anyone had any luck finding reloading components at Rk shows? I've heard about Dave and his guys having great prices. Does anyone know if he would be at the show in Knoxvile this weekend? I'm trying to find out if the savings at the show would be worth the entrance fee. Otherwise I'll have to head over to Bass Pro or cough up hazmat fees. Neither is a great option with saving money in mind. Thanks all.

[Bullet casting with minimal space]

That post by Dolomite was definitely a huge help. Will definitely be using that method for powder coating.

[Bullet casting with minimal space]

What bullets do you intend to cast?

primarily I want to cast and powder coat for my .308. At some point I also want to do 45 acp and 38 sp. Maybe even some 12 ga slugs

[Bullet casting with minimal space]

Not sure what you're paying for the scrap, but by the time you smelt it (counting time and propane) the add the cost of tin and/or any other add-ons to make a good usable alloy, you can get it from Rotometals for very little (if any) more and have a KNOWN alloy of superior quality.  

Well I get the scrap for free so it's hard to beat. If I can't get the process down I may have to switch to buying it but for now I've really got my teeth set into trying it.

[Bullet casting with minimal space]

Thanks for all the input y'all. I'm using outdoor range scrap and am definitely going to be taking plenty of precautions. I'll definitely be setting up outdoors or at least in an open garage with a fan. I would buy my lead or already cast boolits but I'm on a pretty tight budget.

 

All I can think of is going weird .. you could *try* something like this... 

you could put your lead into a disposable but very clean container that you can seal.    Melt it and once liquid you can tap/vibrate/etc it for a "while" (the idea is to float junk to the top not shake it up and mix it in... don't over-do it!)  This should make the junk float to the top because the lead is heavier than all the crud (ideally you would centrifuge it here, but we are going for a the best approximation of that you can get).   Let it cool.   Saw/cut/something the dirty lead off the main chunk.  Save this, maybe someday you can flux it and clean it somewhere, but you can't use it right now.   Now re-melt the clean lead and use it (take it outside before you open it. Do not breath the fumes!).    Before you do this for real and make bullets,  do a test run and cut into the "clean" lead to see if it really is indeed clean.   You might even want to look at it under a magnifying glass and cut into it some.   You do not want to shoot crud down your barrel and scratch up a barrel.   You could also coat your bullets after making them to try to minimize this risk.   /shrug someone might pipe up a way to improve this idea or explain why it won't work; I have not tried this and am going purely off what I think should happen.  By the way the reason the container being used is disposable is that you might damage it getting the lead out.  For example if you used a glass jar you could break it and get your lead chunk.   You got to have a way to get the lead out and it is likely to "glue" to the sides and bottom of whatever you melted it in.  I got no ideas here on what you might be able to get easily.  Glass won't melt.  Other metals should survive the process.  

 

/shrug you could try it.  Worst that can happen is it does not clean the lead and does not work out.    You probably need a couple of nods at common sense and safety here...  you are going to build up pressure inside whatever you heat up.  This needs enough airspace to neither blow the lid off nor explode.   Like, 75% of the container being airspace, or even nested containers like "lidless thing inside much bigger thing with lid").   I like the lidless inside bigger idea more...  but be careful whatever you do.    

and this is a really interesting idea. May have to try that if I can't find a good site otherwise.

[Bullet casting with minimal space]

So I've decided to get into bullet casting/powder coating primarily using range scrap lead. I've got access to plenty of scrap but no place to melt it down and then cast. I'm living in an apartment with some pretty strict policies and I'm sure they'd be none too happy to see smoke billowing off of my balcony. Any suggestions for places to set up as well as portable/inexpensive equipment? Also any tips for casting in general would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

Ben

[Just singed up]

Hello all. I'm going to assume I'm one of the younger members of the board considering I'm still a student at UT in Knoxville. I'll shoot anything I can get my hands on. I love to tinker (despite limited space and funds) and just started picking up some reloading equipment. Looking forward to learning from y'all's experience.