Factory JHP lead BHN

[JustJim]

Sorry, my train of thought got interrupted by dinner! Where were we? Oh yeah. . . .

What the guys are saying is that the fit of the bullet to the pistol is important--and it is easier to work on than theoretical considerations about hardness. Sometimes BHN can matter but you can get to the same BHN in different ways that produce different results, and those different results can affect bullet fit. As 358156 hp said, he went to 20:1/30:1 for cast HPs for consistency--something he wasn't getting with a mix of wheelweights and salvaged pewter.

One problem (a BIG problem from a shooter's perspective) with salvaged lead is that when you work with small batches there is no way to get consistency--and that lack of consistency can mess up your bullet fit. Sorting range scrap visually doesn't tell you a lot. (I shot an informal match last weekend. Looking at the fired bullets under the plate rack you couldn't tell my 20:1 bullets from the commercial "hard cast" bullets or the wheelweights.

As Bret wrote, you can melt it all in one batch and adjust to meet your needs. As a starting point, in an auto size to match the chamber throat. In a revolver, size to match your cylinder (or up to .001" over). From there you can adjust diameter. If need be, you can add soft(er) lead or harden it by adding harder lead.

 

[Rick]

BTW, I can't think of a group I've ever posted on the internet where the bullets were cast with a ladle.

Hhmmm . . . 100% of mine. 100% of John's. I'm sure a huge number of others also, just wasn't mentioned at the time.

 

[Ian]

Hhmmm . . . 100% of mine. 100% of John's. I'm sure a huge number of others also, just wasn't mentioned at the time.

"but there's no way you could shoot groups like that unless your bullets were cast with a ladle!"

 

[Rick]

"but there's no way you could shoot groups like that unless your bullets were cast with a ladle!"

Didn't say that I said mine are, all of them. Haven't bottom poured a bullet in 25 years, maybe more.

 

[RBHarter]

It says he's from California. Don't they speak 'Murican there?

Have you talked to some of them ?
Maybe not a language barrier , just a curb .

No intent just a thought.

 

[fiver]

the irony is the californian accent sounds waaay nor'eastern to me now that i don't live there.

 

[462]

Native Californians do not have accents. It's all the Easterners and upper Mid-Westerners, who've moved, who have accents. I online read the local fish wrapper's Sunday morning obituaries, and very, very few of those dead people were born here.

 

[Bret4207]

One of "Gear's Rules" states that just because someone else can do it doesn't mean that you can. See my signature line.

BTW, I can't think of a group I've ever posted on the internet where the bullets were cast with a ladle. I use a ladle sometimes, but not for high-production bullets that I typically cast. Also, my bottom pour furnace of choice is the much-maligned Lee pro 4-20. Again, see my signature line.

I don't think my 10 cav H+G would fit under a Lee! I admit I have a hard time with BP. A ladle is faster by far and much easier for me. To each their own.

 

[Dusty Bannister]

It is easy enough to remove the base plate, reverse it on the support, and clamp that to the edge of the bench. You can fit a wheel barrow under the pot then. May need a feeder pot to the modified 10 pound pot to get any production with that 10 cav mold though.

 

[358156 hp]

It is easy enough to remove the base plate, reverse it on the support, and clamp that to the edge of the bench. You can fit a wheel barrow under the pot then. May need a feeder pot to the modified 10 pound pot to get any production with that 10 cav mold though.

Duanes got you on that one, Bret.

 

[burbank.jung]

One of "Gear's Rules" states that just because someone else can do it doesn't mean that you can. See my signature line.

BTW, I can't think of a group I've ever posted on the internet where the bullets were cast with a ladle. I use a ladle sometimes, but not for high-production bullets that I typically cast. Also, my bottom pour furnace of choice is the much-maligned Lee pro 4-20. Again, see my signature line.

I use the same furnace and also use it to melt my range scrap to make ingots. I hope I don't burn out the heating element

 

[burbank.jung]

.. I cast them: equipment, alloy, fluxes, temps (relative to ambient), mould prep, casting speed, technique, where to aim the lead stream, size of sprue hole, etc.

You can cast good bullets with a lead pot and dipper, or with a bottom pour pot, or even over a campfire. Each approach requires a different methodology--different "tricks"--and time spent learning how to do it all.

I will open some new posts hoping that some of you will reply (including Brett) to share your experiences casting.

I suppose the debate between casting with a dipper and bottom pour is like reloaders arguing between progressive presses and single stage. Both will assemble a load..

 

[burbank.jung]

It says he's from California. Don't they speak 'Murican there?

C'mon Brett. It says he's somewhere from AR (Arkansas). Use your Google Search to look up the abbreviation. CA - California

 

[RBHarter]

If one guessed at my accent they guessed middle Idaho.......
I was hatched on the desert end of Kern county. I've been to the Owens lake yacht club .......it's a dry bar . As a rule I claim California only to say my birth certificate is filed in the capital of Oklahoma, Bakersfield CA. Apparently the Okies are still a little touchy about that whole dust bowl , Grapes of Wrath thing .

Nevada , the empty desert part , will always be home but I don't know that I'll every see it again and certainly not that way with all the verbraten subject matter the interlopers have brought with them .

The Arkie is all tangled up in my desert rat now , and any similance of kings English is only found in syntax now .

In the vien of language does anyone remember the guy that made a post about a fellow shooter being angry about the lint cloud from him running paper patch?
Something along the lines of " the bloody wank caught me with a great king high while I was stowing me gear under the bonnet ".
Talk about a language barrier . Blind side punch while loading the trunk .

 

[Bret4207]

Duanes got you on that one, Bret.

A 10 lbs pot won't last long with a large mould. A 20 lbs pot won't either. A 40+ lbs pot does. To each their own!

 

[Bret4207]

C'mon Brett. It says he's somewhere from AR (Arkansas). Use your Google Search to look up the abbreviation. CA - California

Yours says CALIFORNIA. I can read, I don't need Google...or use it. I know where RB is from, I just don't see why translation would be needed between California and NY.

And there is only one "t" in Bret. Google it...

 

[358156 hp]

A 10 lbs pot won't last long with a large mould. A 20 lbs pot won't either. A 40+ lbs pot does. To each their own!

Nothing stands up well to a 10 cavity.

 

[RBHarter]

I apparently presumed ESL and more comfortable writing in a first or spoken at home language. It's not as uncommon as one might think .

 

[burbank.jung]

Yours says CALIFORNIA. I can read, I don't need Google...or use it. I know where RB is from, I just don't see why translation would be needed between California and NY.

And there is only one "t" in Bret. Google it...

Haha. You're talking about me? I've met a few Northern New Yorkers in the past and they seemed quite different from those in the City. To me, normal American sounds like the actors and news reporters on television and on the internet. That might even include you Bret.

 

[RBHarter]

Normal and American English are an Oxymoron. We have dialects, French , German, Spanish, Latin , Italian , Portuguese, Polish , and probably several Asian Russian words that reside in every day conversations about school and food . We some how manage to know the difference between a real thing and a reel thing when we flip the bale on the reel or in the field but also when we post bail to get out of jail or mail payment on a citation sometimes called a ticket ......
In new England there's a Devils strip , except where it's a curb row . It's that strip of grass between the sidewalk and curb .
We can't even decide if it's grey or gray .
When the grammar tsars get out in force I like to remind them that color , colour , and coloure are all correct spellings in American English of both grey and gray it's just that one is olde English and another is French .
Rendezvous is a delicious word also .
Kindergarten , is German that literally translates to child's garden .
Taco , lasagna, kielbasa , polska .......