OT (a little): Calling All Bullet Casters

[Martini450]

Howdy All,

Well, I have a confession to make. With eighteen years of handloading under my belt, I am only now getting ready to make the plunge into the fascinating and economically sensible world of bullet casting. A lot of the basics I have already gleaned from reading and conversation over the years, but I was hoping to benefit from the experience of you fellas here on the forum.

My first question is about wheel weights. I picked up a 118 pound bucket of them yesterday from a local service station, so that's a good start, but I'm wondering if I need to mix them with any other alloy, or can they just be melted down and used as is. They'll be cast into bullets for my 44-40, 45 Colt, 45-75, 45-120, and 577/450, so velocities will range from around 1,000 FPS to 1,500 FPS.

My brother dabbled a little with casting bullets, and I have inherited his gear which was stuffed away in storage for about twenty years. This includes a Lee Production Pot IV, Lyman mold handles, a plastic mallet, a four cavity ingot mold that now has some surface rust, and a good size heavy metal ladle. Also, I did get a copy of the latest Lyman Cast Bullet manual for Christmas (great having a supportive wife!). I know a sizer/lubricator will be needed, and obviously moulds; can you guys suggest other things I need to get together? And do you have any general suggestions or pointers you'd like to share with a newbie?

So, I figured by posting this you'd not only be able to help me out with my specific questions, but hopefully we can get a good general discussion going about casting bullets. Thanks for any thoughts you might have.

[2X22]

WW's are fine as is. I can run them as fast as 2600fps (though rarely) with a gascheck of course. Mostly I mix WW's with pure lead about 60/40 with 1% tin added and still run them around 1800fps with the most beautiful mushrooming you ever saw IF you are able to hit something big enough to keep the bullet inside.... Usually it takes an elk to stop a cast bullet, even if that can!

2x22

[vancelw]

This is a dangerous road you travel. . .

You will spend more money than you ever dreamed - but at least you'll have fun doing it. You really have to shoot a lot to start recouping your expenditures. You can buy about 500 cast bullets for what a mould, sizer die, and top punch cost. Start adding the price of gas checks and the price goes up. But it's nice to know you can make your own; as many as you want, when you want.

You can use the WW lead as is for the slower stuff. For faster bullets with no gas checks you may need to ad some antimony. Reading that Lyman Cast bullet book will answer most of your questions better than I can. Unless you are hot loading your .44 or .45 you should be just fine with the WW. I use 9 ingots of WW and 1 ingot of 50/50 solder most of the time.
Keep your eyes open for 50/50 or 30/70 bar solder. It is expensive to buy new but can be picked up at garage/estate sales and sometime the salvage yard for the price of lead. The tin helps the alloy flow and fill your mould better.

If you pan lube you can save the cost of the Lubrisizer, sizing dies, and top punches (which are almost specific to each mould) the more variety of bullets you cast the more stuff you can use on other bullets. If all you are doing is plinking you probably don't need to size. I had a world class black powder shooter tell me that he had a problem with buying a perfect bullet mould and then running the bullets through a sizer. He pan lubed everything. Just remember to check your inventory before buying a new top punch. You may already have it.

Just remember to ventilate and get your bench height just right. If you have to bend over your back will ache and if you have to lift up you will end up spilling hot stuff where hot stuff shouldn't go.

Have fun fellow addict.

(I saw several moulds at the gun show today. Wanted to buy them badly even though I already have every one of them. It is a disease as bad as the guns themselves)

[O.S.O.K.]

You can use the ww as-is, no problem. They do better though in filling out the molds if you run them a little hotter. Otherwise, get some tin and add a little to the mix to help them to fill out better. I use ww for rifle boolits with gas checks and run them to 2000 fps and they do great.

They are about perfect for hunting - will mushroom a bit but hold together.

[Thunder50]

First, you will need to go thru your bucket of WW's. Seperate out the stick-ons (pure lead) from the WW one. Watch out for steel and zinc wheelweights. Sometimes the Zn have the clips riveted on.
The 60/40 ww/lead mix should be good. 1% tin added will help with fillout with your moulds. If you want to drive them faster than 1500 fps or so, drop them in cold water from the mould. It will make them harder, maybe up to 2000-2200fps or so. Use a good lube. You can pan lube and then use a Lee push thru size die, or maybe you can shoot as cast/lubed. You might also be able to use Lee liquid alox. Many thin it down about 4/1 mineral spirits/LLA. A little goes a long ways. If the bullets are brownish in color, you used too much. Let dry overnight and load and shoot. LLA can be a bit "smoky" I understand, when you use it.
You can get Lars Caranauba Red for a good price. He also carries other formulas, along with his own liquid lube. Good guy to deal with and has very good lube. LBT blue soft is excellent, but a bit higher in price.
Go to the Castboolits.gunloads.com site, register, and learn more than you ever dreamed of.
Finally, get more WW's , you will need them and they are getting harder to get.

[Chuck 100 yd]

I generally don't run cast bullets at high velocity's. So most of my bullets are cast of 50/50 mix of WW and pure led with just a little Tin added to make it cast well.
That alloy will not lead my rifles in the 1600-1800 fps range if they fit properly and are very accurate in most cases when proper loads are used.
Get to it and have fun!

[markinalpine]

Go here:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/
and start reading. It is an open forum, so it is inflicted with opinionitis.

Good luck,
Mark

[O.S.O.K.]

Thunder - good mention of the Lee push-through sizers - I've gone to them exclusively as they do the best job of getting the boolits true. And I use their liq alox lube too = works great.

[markinalpine]

Found a few more references:
http://www.realguns.com/archives/055.htm , by Joe D'Allesondro,
and: http://www.surplusrifle.com/reviews/cas ... /index.asp, from the SurplusRifle.com web-site. Both have dated pricing information, but good information.
And for an exhaustive reference site: http://www.lasc.us/IndexBrennan.htm, hosted by the
Las Angeles Sillouette Club site.
That should be enough to keep you busy for a while,
Mark

[jlchucker]

Go here:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/
and start reading. It is an open forum, so it is inflicted with opinionitis.

Good luck,
Mark

Yup. The question you started this thread with has been dealt with lots of times over there, and you can see the answers. lots of opinions on alloys, sizing, powders--everything. They've shot every kind of game animal that ever walked the earth, it seems, with cast bullets, too, using the calibers that Martini450 mentions. Some of those guys take even casting to more than an extreme. If you really want exotic, for the velocity seekers, check out some of the comments in their paper patching forums.

[Hobie]

most of us who cast also seem to be on castboolits.com. it is also a great forum and there are some/many members there who are very, very knowledgable. look for our alumnus junior over there. mr. doughty won't steer you wrong.

I posted this on my Kindle. Finally figured out the caps!

[missionary5155]

Good morning
+1 on being a part of Castboolits.
My dad & his navy buddy were casters so I was around it since I was old enough to stand around and watch the magic.
But the info written above is good. I cast for all my firearms and rarely launch a factory produced item.
All my deer and most other critters are lead inflicted.

[guido4198]

Dad got me started by letting me help him when I was 8...Eisenhower was President. I learned how to run freshly cast bullets through the Lyman lube-sizer. Since you asked....a coupla thoughts come to mind...
I like having a thermometer to know the temp. of my melt. Not necessary, but as a scientist...I like all the information I can get. I long ago quit casting for my large volume pistol calibers..i.e.: .45, 9mm, .38, .380, etc. I cast for my rifles and "specialty" handgun rounds ( .375 JDJ and .41 mag)
The rifle bullets I cast allow me to enjoy a much broader range of performance and utility from those rounds.
ENJOY...!!!

[pdawg.shooter]

If you want jacketed performance with cast lead, you might want to consider paper patching. A paper patch allows full velocity with accuracy equal to jacketed. It takes a bit of time but if you are looking for volume you wouldnt be taking up casting.

[Tycer]

Welders gauntlet gloves, a big cast pot for melting the WW, a turkey fryer burner and a thermometer that easily measures 800º.
There is no way to unstink WW when you process them. I've tried cleaning them in every way to unstink them.
Don't worry about the zinc weights, they'll float and not melt unless you get them up over 787º which you won't, you'll have skimmed them long before that.
No needed alloy additives for the diameter bullets and velocities you are shooting.

Go here:

http://www.lasc.us/ArticleIndex.htm

[457121]

my suggestion would be to get as much WW's as you can, while you can, as cheap as you can. it seems the days of free wheel weights are pretty much over in most parts of the country.

[Charles]

The Cast Boolit forum has gone though very high growth in the past couple of years. It now has quite a population of idiots, fools and pseudo experts. There are also some folks who know their stuff.

The new caster who asks a question will be inundated by responses. Some of the information is solid and some of it is not. The new caster most often doesn't know which is which.

Most of the old hands, who started the board and built it's reputation, have dropped out because of the above nonsense. There are still a few, but if you don't know who they are, you are at the mercy of the idiots.

WW metal makes a good general bullet casting alloy when about 1% tin is added to help with mold fill out. Plain base bullets for sixguns do fine for me up to about 1.2 K fps. Some folks report higher velocity, but my experience doesn't verify that.

With a gas check WW is good to about 2,000 K fps (gas check rifle and handgun). Much past that, it tends to roll snake eyes and I go with a harder alloy like good old Lyman No. 2

I am not one of those "water droppers" and in fact take a dim view of the practice.

[Griff]

Howdy All,
My first question is about wheel weights. I picked up a 118 pound bucket of them yesterday from a local service station, so that's a good start, but I'm wondering if I need to mix them with any other alloy, or can they just be melted down and used as is. They'll be cast into bullets for my 44-40, 45 Colt, 45-75, 45-120, and 577/450, so velocities will range from around 1,000 FPS to 1,500 FPS.

1st, let me note that not all wheel weights are equal. They are made of several different materials in these modern times. The enviromentalists have latched on the fact that lead's a contaminate... (boy howdy, although found naturally in the ground... once smelted and alloyed it's suddenly a contaminate), and have lobbied to have them made of something that we probably know even less about. So, beware of what you're melting into boolits.

My brother dabbled a little with casting bullets, and I have inherited his gear which was stuffed away in storage for about twenty years. This includes a Lee Production Pot IV, Lyman mold handles, a plastic mallet, a four cavity ingot mold that now has some surface rust, and a good size heavy metal ladle. Also, I did get a copy of the latest Lyman Cast Bullet manual for Christmas (great having a supportive wife!). I know a sizer/lubricator will be needed, and obviously moulds; can you guys suggest other things I need to get together? And do you have any general suggestions or pointers you'd like to share with a newbie?

That's a good start on the equipment. Others have made suggestions for added equipment and I've seconded them by the inclusion of their recommendation below. I'd add that either a Lyman or RCBS lubri/sizer is a good choice. With those you can use either company's dies and top punches for a really wide variety. If you go with the Saeco unit, they use a different method of holding the die in place, as well as different top punches. While excellent equipment, they will limit your choices. (I use both, as I can keep the Saeco for my BP boolits and special BP lube, and use the RCBS for all the smokeless boolits I cast for. Some boolits I cast I use in either smokeless and BP loads, and having the two different lubri/sizers makes for a good way to keep the lubes separated. BP lube is either homemade, (I really tend to buy SPG Lube for most of it), or store-bought and is more expensive than almost any of the smokeless lubes. At slower velocities, (</~ 2000fps), I can recommend Lyman Alox lube. This has proved adequate up to about 2190fps in my .30-30s. It is a great all purpose lube, but being petroleum based, not great for BP loads. I also like Thompson lubes for my pistol loads that will be loaded up and kept for years (i.e. 45ACP & .38Spl), as it's wax based and doesn't suffer from temp changes like softer lubes. Mind ya, I've never had a lube contaminated round in all the years I've been casting (since around 1982/3)... but sometimes, it never hurts to be cautious.

So, I figured by posting this you'd not only be able to help me out with my specific questions, but hopefully we can get a good general discussion going about casting bullets. Thanks for any thoughts you might have.

First, you will need to go thru your bucket of WW's. Seperate out the stick-ons (pure lead) from the WW one. Watch out for steel and zinc wheelweights. Sometimes the Zn have the clips riveted on.

(They'll never be riveted on lead WW, Griff).

The 60/40 ww/lead mix should be good. 1% tin added will help with fillout with your moulds. If you want to drive them faster than 1500 fps or so, drop them in cold water from the mould. It will make them harder, maybe up to 2000-2200fps or so. Use a good lube. You can pan lube and then use a Lee push thru size die, or maybe you can shoot as cast/lubed. You might also be able to use Lee liquid alox. Many thin it down about 4/1 mineral spirits/LLA. A little goes a long ways. If the bullets are brownish in color, you used too much. Let dry overnight and load and shoot. LLA can be a bit "smoky" I understand, when you use it.
You can get Lars Caranauba Red for a good price. He also carries other formulas, along with his own liquid lube. Good guy to deal with and has very good lube. LBT blue soft is excellent, but a bit higher in price.
Go to the Castboolits.gunloads.com site, register, and learn more than you ever dreamed of.
Finally, get more WW's , you will need them and they are getting harder to get.

For whateverth time, get thee to the Cast Boolits Forum, you won't be disappointed in the info that you'll get there. If you do sign up, look up posts by "Junior", a good ol' boy from Lousiana. He'll steer ya right. Tell 'im "HI" from Griff, I miss his posts over here.
As to adding tin, well, with straight WWs, if your pot is running hot enough, you generally don't need it. It will tho', make them boolits look nicer if your pot is running under 800ºF. Hence:

...a coupla thoughts come to mind...
I like having a thermometer to know the temp. of my melt...
ENJOY...!!!

And good thoughts those are.

Welders gauntlet gloves...Go here: http://www.lasc.us/ArticleIndex.htm

Read a bunch of that site. All great info and you'll likely find none better. I heartily second the welder's gauntlets. Also, from personal experience, ALWAYS wear eye protection and foot protection. I had a old, plastic-handled kitchen pot I used to smelt my WWs in, pulling the clips out as the batch melted then poured the molten lead into a coated steel muffin pan to make my approx. 2lb ingot for controlled additions to my 20lb bottom-pour casting pot. Well, as luck would have it, the ONE time I decided to skip the ingot pour, and carried the smelting pot directly to the casting pot... the handle broke, and about 14 lbs of molten lead immediately crashed to the floor and splattered everywhere!
Even tho it was molten lead at slightly above 800ºF, my boots protected my toes from burns and whatnot.

Lastly, I'll recommend that you pick a location to cast where you have good ventilation, yet not so much that you cool the equipment significately. That might be a hard combination to reach, but... out in the wide open outdoors is generally to breezy for good temp control, yet indoors without adequate ventilation may subject you to lead vapors that are harmful. Lead poisoning is a very real threat to casters. After a session of casting, I highly recommend washing your hands with a good industrial grade hand cleanser, something with pumice is great, but something that is coarse and really scrubs your hands. Don't cast with open sores on your hands, face or exposed skin.

Casting is great fun, very satisfying and nothing to be afraid of... but one should always take appropriate precautions to ensure your health.

[natedontgo]

Anything you find of Junior Doughty's on the cast boolits site is quite dated, last post of his there appears to be 10/09..still logs in ftit though..He took a heavy load of negativity for a # of his political/social views, and wasn't near a good a "receiver"as he was a thrower..FAR from a real expert on casting, nowhere near in the same league as "charles" who posted in this thread above. fwiw ,Nate

[Martini450]

Thanks to everyone for being so generous in sharing your knowledge. Sounds to me like I need to dig up some tin to add to my wheel weights. The only calibres I foresee casting that would go beyond the 1,500 FPS for the 45-120 would be 30-30 and 30-40 Krag, so hopefully the wheel weights will serve well. Fortune smiled on me yesterday; after striking out at three other auto shops, I stopped at a shop near my house, and he gave me the whole five gallon bucket for nothing. Told me to come back in a couple of weeks and he'd give me more, too. I've already started seperating the stick-on weights for use in my muzzleloaders.

I suppose the next step, after setting up shop and getting the needed safety gear, is to spend some time moulding ingots and getting familiar with the basics of running my pot. I'm assuming that my ingots should just be straight wheel weights, with the tin added to the mix later when I go to cast bullets. Now, if anyone has any suggestions on how to clean the rust out of my ingot mould...

Thanks again for all the help. I just got finished registering on the Castboolits website, and expect to be doing a lot of reading there over the next few days.

[Don McDowell]

For the vast majority of loading for the cartridges on your list just sorting the aluminum,zinc and other non gunbarrel friendly stuff , should work like a champ.
Be forewarned tho that that 118 pounds will be lowered considerable by the time you get the clips and all the dross sorted out when you render those ww's up.
Also stop and figure out if you can keep gathering the free/cheap wheelweights, as those rifles you listed are easily going to chew up lead at the rate of 16 bullets per pound.
If you have to go to buying alloy then the cheapness factor starts to be not so good. Still cheaper than buying already made bullets, if you don't factor in your time, etc.
Your mould and melting pot herd will continue to grow as you progress into this "hobby" as well.

FWIW, I think it extremely rude behavior to tell some one to go to another forum to find answers to his questions, unless the OP has not recieved any advice of useful information, from the members present on a said forum. About the same thing as saying these bozo's don't know their head from a hole in the ground, but the usefull idiots on the other board do,,, even tho many on board 1 probably are on board 2....

[Old Ironsights]

Hi Martini...

I only scanned the above posts but...

The first and best bullet for .45-xx would be the Lyman 457122 "Gould" HP. It's THE "buffalo bullet", and it's easy to cast. I shoot mine over 21gr 2400.

Personally, I shoot either Water Cooled (WC) Wheel Weight Amalgam (I make +200# batches so consistency isn't a huge issue) or slight blends of WW/Pb (stick on, isotope/RAD or flashing), usually no more than 3-1 WW/pb unless I'm casting for muzzle-stuffers.

Like Tycer said, keep your melt right at the solidus/liquidus flash point at you won't have to worry about Zinc. Just scrape them off as soon as the slush has gone liquid (between 780-800deg). This isn't a hobby where you can "add heat and forget it". it takes watching.

One of the biggest mistakes (IMO) that new casters make is in casting Bullets immediately... before casting Ingots.

Ingotizing tends to even out the alloy issues. If you take 150# of raw WW and melt it out, you should get around #125 of ingots (roughly... I've got data somewhere)

AFTER you have cast Ingots, then you can take the Ingots and amalgamize them if you want (I do) or keep batches separate and test each batch for Hardness.

My "bullet casting ingots" are amalgamized to the point that the SD of hardness between batches is insignificant. THOSE are the ones I drop into the pot to cast as WC WW or add pb to to make a softer batch of boolits (like I prefer for .45-70..)

[Martini450]

With regards to the zinc, aluminum, etc. weights that will inevitably be mixed in with my lead WW supply, I intend to sort them as best as possible. For those that I miss, do I understand correctly that all of them will have a melting point higher than lead, so as long as a close eye is kept on the pot, I should be able to scrape all of these off?

Sorry for the amateur hour questions.

[Old Ironsights]

With regards to the zinc, aluminum, etc. weights that will inevitably be mixed in with my lead WW supply, I intend to sort them as best as possible. For those that I miss, do I understand correctly that all of them will have a melting point higher than lead, so as long as a close eye is kept on the pot, I should be able to scrape all of these off?

Yep. I use a big slotted spoon for the purpose. Another way is a steel wire basket (like using a fryer basket).

Either way, when the WW alloy "flashes" from slush to liquid it's fast & noticable. At that point scrape away with your spoon/basket.

Remember though, if your spoon is too much colder than your melt temp, it will become "unslotted" pretty quickly. But that's what asbestos gloves are for.

[Tycer]

Like Tycer said, keep your melt right at the solidus/liquidus flash point at you won't have to worry about Zinc. Just scrape them off as soon as the slush has gone liquid (between 780-800deg). This isn't a hobby where you can "add heat and forget it". it takes watching.

WW will be liquid well below 650º

[Tycer]

I am not one of those "water droppers" and in fact take a dim view of the practice.

I think I know you now. Charley. One of the originals over on the handloadersbench. Yeah?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but your opposition to hard bullets is that too many people use them in an attempt to skip the step of bullet to throat/bore fit and that kind of sloppiness has no place in casting. That bullet fit is the first and most important rule of casting.

I agree, bullet fit is paramount and before shooting cast in any gun, I recommend a chamber cast or upset-slug, a slug of the breech end, a slug of the muzzle end, and a slug of the entire barrel. Air cooled WW can be run plain based in a 35 cal to 1900 if it fits. Hardening the bullet has little if any effect on the leading or accuracy.

There is, in my opinion a necessary use for hard bullets in hunting. Using an air cooled WW bullet will obturate on impact and that is useful on many bullet designs such as spire and hollow points, but not so much on flat nosed bullets where a wide meplat and a harder bullet creates much less bloodshot meat and a nice clean hole.

As an aside regarding tin, many molds will cast straight WW beautifully without adding tin especially in the larger calibers. I always try a mold with straight WW (well, I always add about .5% magnum shot to my alloy) before I add tin.

[vancelw]

With regards to the zinc, aluminum, etc. weights that will inevitably be mixed in with my lead WW supply, I intend to sort them as best as possible. For those that I miss, do I understand correctly that all of them will have a melting point higher than lead, so as long as a close eye is kept on the pot, I should be able to scrape all of these off?

Sorry for the amateur hour questions.

Don't know about the zinc, but the WWs marked Fe will float right on top of the liquid lead since their density is so much less. You are simply dipping the whole, unmelted WW out of your pot and setting it aside. I use an old skillet to drop dross and steel WWs into. (One that I will never, ever, eat food out of) Don't forget that the metal will be heated to a temperature higher than the ignition point of many fibrous materials-like paper and wood and may start a fire if you don't pay attention.

[Cimarron]

When you do your first melt of WW you will probably want to be outside or nearly so. The WW's will be dirty and there will be a lot of smoke. I usually do about 20 pounds at a time from WW to ingots. Sound like you are getting a lot of advice. Read the Lyman book it is a very good source of information and SAFETY precautions/procedures. I have had pretty good luck with the straignt WW's in my BPCR guns. Another good book is "cast Bullets" by Col. E.H. Harrison. It used to be available through the NRA. I'm not sure that it still is though. Let me know if I can be of help.

[vancelw]

As far as the rust in your ingot mould goes, you might try some brake cleaner (outside, upwind, on unheated mould). If that doesn't clean it I don't know that I would worry about it too much. Your casting of ingots will probably clean it out eventually. When you melt those ingots to make bullets later, you will end up skimming the rust off with the dross. Anything less dense than the lead will float to the top unless it gets trapped against the side. For some reason sand seems to settle to the bottom, which is why I clean out my pot thoroughly when I'm through by rapping it upside down in my old skillet.

[Hobie]

Anything you find of Junior Doughty's on the cast boolits site is quite dated, last post of his there appears to be 10/09..still logs in ftit though..He took a heavy load of negativity for a # of his political/social views, and wasn't near a good a "receiver"as he was a thrower...

I am sorry to hear that...

[Old Ironsights]

Like Tycer said, keep your melt right at the solidus/liquidus flash point at you won't have to worry about Zinc. Just scrape them off as soon as the slush has gone liquid (between 780-800deg). This isn't a hobby where you can "add heat and forget it". it takes watching.

WW will be liquid well below 650º

My bad. (Forgive me Father) It's been 2 years since my last melt...

[Hobie]

I suggested Cast Boolits forum because I had learned a few things there and thought they were still manned up with a lot of good folks. I didn't think it rude but rather I thought it helpful. Since they aren't what they were and we are, I think you should hang with us. For certain there is some casting experience here!

[Martini450]

No worries, I didn't perceive anyones suggestion to check out the other site as rude; on the contrary, it just looked like one of many pieces of helpful advice in this thread, which I very much appreciate. The various responses I've gotten to this post have augmented the books I've been reading enough to finally take the first steps into bullet casting. I'll be checking out the other site, but seems like you all have my back covered pretty well here-hope I can return the favor at some point.

[Griff]

Anything you find of Junior Doughty's on the cast boolits site is quite dated, last post of his there appears to be 10/09..still logs in ftit though..He took a heavy load of negativity for a # of his political/social views, and wasn't near a good a "receiver"as he was a thrower...

I am sorry to hear that...

Me too.

[jlchucker]

I suggested Cast Boolits forum because I had learned a few things there and thought they were still manned up with a lot of good folks. I didn't think it rude but rather I thought it helpful. Since they aren't what they were and we are, I think you should hang with us. For certain there is some casting experience here!

Hobie, there still are a lot of good folks on that website. Like a lot of other sites though, including this one, there are the occasional posters who have been negatively alluded to by others in this thread. I am a regular on 3 different sites including this one. After looking over quite a few, this one and Cast Boolets I have found to be my favorites. The third, which I won't name here, has some political points of view that negatively overshadow any gun related information that may be posted. I'm considering bailing out of that one--but for now I'll just open the gun-related topics and ignore the left-wing rantings. On any site there's good and not so good. I don't think any of us posting in response to the question originally asked on this thread intended rudeness. On the contrary--pointing a new caster to another forum was most likely intended as a way of providing additional sources of information, in a helpful way.

[Catshooter]

Before you go adding one or two percent tin to your alloy, try it. If you get good cavity fillout then there is no need for it. Tin is not cheap.

Water dropping does harden a boolit. Lots of people do it and it works for them.

There is some validity to what Charles says about the CastBoollits site. Of course you can find idiots on any forum. Rather than ask questions, I would read. There are pages and pages and pages of data. Just evaluate what you read. If it sounds reasonable and safe, give it a try. You may find it works for you.

Good luck.


Cat