Doing a pound cast

35 Whelen

Active Member
Good day guys....I am about to do pound cast on my CZ550 375 h&h. I have some .360 diameter molds....wondering if I put a 300 grain slug of pure lead down the barrel, would it fill out enough to complete the pound cast accurately? The lands look to be about .366 as best I can measure with calipers at the muzzle end of the barrel.
 

Ian

Notorious member
It'll get between the case mouth and chamber, ugly but not really a problem. What you don't want is for it to crumple the case mouth, that's why we usually do it from the breech end with a fired, annealed case filled halfway up the neck with harder alloy and just put the pure slug in the case mouth, force it to chamber, and pound from the muzzle end with a rod until solid.
 

35 Whelen

Active Member
Thanks Ian...so even though it would be an undersized slug it will pound out enough to fill the throat and lead?
 

35 Whelen

Active Member
Thank you Ian...I read through it the other day, just wondering if a .360 bullet is a close enough fit in your opinion? I will get to the range soon to fire off some sacrificial cases and get going on this project
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
you might maybe be able to squish it out wider some before sending it down the barrel.
if you had a LEE type sizer and a punch that fits fairly close you could swage it up a bit closer to the 379 your probably gonna see in there somewhere.
even 366 would help.

you could just drill a hole in a scrap piece of wood and pour the soft lead in there to make the slug.
 

35 Whelen

Active Member
Thanks Fiver....my problem is I have nothing in between...I think the lead in some hardwood as both you and Ian have pointed out might be the way to go then. Cheers
 

35 Whelen

Active Member
So while cleaning up the work bench in the basement, I came upon a stash of pure lead fishing weights that were being saved for casting. I found a bank sinker and had an idea...

I clipped off the loop to ensure there was no wire inside the weight. I then spent about 15 minutes with a hammer and an anvil and pounded out a lead cylinder, checking the fit as I went along. This one just fits the top of the lands and will slide down the barrel.

I think this will work well for my pound cast slug? What do you think Ian and Fiver? Its super soft, I can scratch it with my fingernail and cuts easily with a pocket knife.

Now I just have to get a piece of cold rolled rod from the supply store in town . Here's what I started with and ended up with.
 

Attachments

  • sinker.jpg
    sinker.jpg
    14 KB · Views: 9
  • lead slug.jpg
    lead slug.jpg
    821.5 KB · Views: 9

35 Whelen

Active Member
Thanks Ian...the belling is to ensure the slug goes into the neck instead of all around the neck correct, as well as centering the case in the throat? This slug is 1.75 inches long. With it halfway into the neck of the case , it will leave 1.5" for the throat and lead...is that too long to extract easily....or should I shorten it a bit?
 
Last edited:

fiver

Well-Known Member
the 375 has a pretty long throat.
I'd try to get just enough lead in there to make sure I had some rifling impression.
much more than that and you can't get the lead to pound down/out very well.
you want the lead to pop the case open and for it to show the end of the chamber, as well as the throat dimensions.

this lets you know how long your cases can be.
what the max diameter inside the neck area is.
then the exact shape of your throat and just what the rifling looks like on the end.

all of this is used to make informed decisions from.
 

35 Whelen

Active Member
I just loaded some 270 grain jacketed to get some fired cases...I knew they were long throated devils...but wow..not this long holy crap, I barely have the bullet in the neck and just kissing the rifling lead. I took the bolt apart minus the firing pin for feel. So the range loads are seated one full bullet diameter into the neck. I will fire them and then get on with the pound cast. Seating the jacketed gives me a good idea of the length of lead slug I need. Thanks you guys
 
Last edited:

35 Whelen

Active Member
Well there was lots of sweat and anxiety. But got it done. Here's some pics. A bit rougher than I thought it would be. Inside neck diameter of the once fired case was .380" the neck thickness was .011" outside neck diameter was .402" the pound cast measured .405" just ahead of the case mouth
( chamber length?). The throat measured .385" The bore measured .367. here are some pics. As you can see I used a .35 cal gas check to place on top of the lead slug. It was pretty undersized so I used some brass washers cut to size to slide easily in the bore but protect the slug face. This was done by threading them on a bolt and locking them in place with two nuts, then chucking the bolt in a electric hand drill the spinning it in reverse against the grinder wheel.
 

Attachments

  • pound cast.jpg
    pound cast.jpg
    59.1 KB · Views: 45
  • lead case.jpg
    lead case.jpg
    71.6 KB · Views: 44
Last edited:

Ian

Notorious member
Looks like a cat peed in the chamber, or else it's either incredibly fouled or some grease/oil/carbon got trapped in the throat area during the making of the pound cast.
 

35 Whelen

Active Member
Looks like a cat peed in the chamber, or else it's either incredibly fouled or some grease/oil/carbon got trapped in the throat area during the making of the pound cast.
I made the mistake of coating the slug in BLL so it wouldn't stick. I pounded on it til the reference mark stopped moving. Not thinking of course thsat the BLL would not compress. Didn't want to screw things up and have to whack the bolt handle with a mallet to open it up. The barrel and chamber were sparkling clean. Just overthinking using the BLL.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ian

35 Whelen

Active Member
I'm going to do another pound cast and use a closer fitting slug, and this time I am not going to lube the slug with BLL....was so focused on not having the pound cast get stuck, I didn't think about the BLL not being able to be compressed, leaving the rough slug when I wiped it off once extracted. Live and learn. Now that I know I can do it I'll give it another go.