Casting Lead bullets
My new casting equipment has come with the UPS guy and I'm ready to cast bullets. My aim is to make a good .357 magnum bullet with a gas check so I can crank the speed up a notch. My new equipment is a Lee Pro 2-40 bottom pour furnace and a Lyman 4500 sizer with a heater. I will also be using a Lyman 2 hole .358 w/ gas check casting mold.
My advisor on this project is Mr. A for anonymous. I believe he wanted to use this name because is ashamed to be seen hanging around me (no doubt) or he lied to his wife about where he'd been. Perhaps he feels that the back of his head is his best side. Either way, I am glad to have his help.
After opening the casting mold, we clean it to remove the preservative jelly that covers the mold durring shipping then 'smoke' the mold by coating the casting surfaces with soot. Mr. A says this prevents the lead from clinging to the casting surface.
 We place the lead ingots into a preliminary pot to melt. I am going to clean the lead up before I put it into my casting furnace. Perhaps I don't need to do this but I'm going to anyway. This  lead has allready been mixed with antimony and tin but may have other material within it. We add some sodier to the molten lead and then we flux with bees wax.  There is alot of smoke from the bees wax then Mr. A quickly strikes a match and flame eliminated the smoke. Very cool.
Mr. A had an odd tool that became so helpful that the next day i constructed one of my own. It was kind of a pokin, scoopin and stirin tool so thats what I call it. Sometimes experience leads us to invent what we need out of need and it is better than you can buy in stores. (However, if you can't make one of these yourself.... I will send you one for $30.... and I will even pay for shipping!! ha ha)
 Well we poured the lead into the furnace and began casting. The first few were not very well formed as the mold was not hot. i found that if i left the lead in the mold for a minute or two the mold heated up quickly and i was making  bullets before i knew it. Only use the fish whacker on the joint of the handle. it saves the mold from damage and is just as effective.
 After the bullets had cooled, my new sizer has been heating up some room temp bullet lube. Room temp bullet lube  sucks and is messy as hell when warm. It makes me wonder what happens  to your powder when you leave your bullets in the truck upside down on a warm day. I will be changing to a diffrent bullet lube. (this stuff came with the sizer) Next i am going to try 'Jakes Scarlett High Speed Bullet Lube' and I'll let you know how it goes. 
The gas check just clips  on the butt and the sizer crimps it on. easy.
As all good time must end, so it was that just about then, my girlfriend arrived and seeing me have a good time playing with "gun stuff", decided there were other things that I could be doing with my time. It was fun while it lasted.
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