Real black powder, no. Pyrodex, triple 7, FF whatever, etc, yes- Academy, Bass Pro, and the like have the substitute black powders.
reloading like it's 1699
- Thread starter Liberty
- Start date
Real black powder, no. Pyrodex, triple 7, FF whatever, etc, yes- Academy, Bass Pro, and the like have the substitute black powders.
I figure as long as historical accuracy is the goal black powder substitutes are out.
I figured that was what you were looking for... real black powder isn't available as far as I know. You might be able to get a sample from a fireworks manufacturer, maybe.
I was thinking about Dobbs specifically- I don't know the guy that well, but paid him for some work on a few things. Last I heard he was working on getting a fireworks manufacturing license. I could be 100% up the wrong tree here, but he might be able to help with your BP testing.
Yeah- sounds like a winner! Glad you found it. I've never really tried to find real black powder.
Nice- I wouldn't have thought it would get hot enough... obviously, that's not the case.
If I'm remembering right, that Lee melting pot of mine is either 400 or 800 watts though. I've noticed lead melts way faster once you get some liquid in the pan/pot. The liquid makes for a huge improvement in heat transfer through a big increase in contact area.
If I'm remembering right, that Lee melting pot of mine is either 400 or 800 watts though. I've noticed lead melts way faster once you get some liquid in the pan/pot. The liquid makes for a huge improvement in heat transfer through a big increase in contact area.
Yeah I was just getting my gear together and goofing off, but since lead is heavier than steel, how about a floating nail?
I agree with the above.
I would not use a wide pan for melting lead alloys for actually casting bullets because temperature control would be extremely difficult. However, I've often used a 6" fry pan to melt surplus wheel weight to cast the material into 1-lb ingots for future use in my casting furnace. The fry pan would be heated on a propane burner similar to a stove-top burner for this process. I would always clean the metal by fluxing it before making my ingots.
The casting furnace has a significant amount of insulation around the crucible and temperature-controlling sensor and controls to maintain (as closely as possible) a very specific temperature which I find to be ideal for a particular mold. I also use an industrial electronic thermometer (I used to be in the industrial process controls business for my 40-year career) so that I can eyeball the temperature of the lead in the furnace easily.
When getting started in bullet casting, it's very important to be able to determine what's good quality and what's not. As stated just above this, the bullets in post #33 are not quite formed well enough. Either the lead stock or the mold (or both) needed a little more temperature to get a really clean fill in the mold.
Only by maintaining accurate and consistent temperatures will the weight of the bullets be consistent throughout the run. If emulating doing things the way they were in the early days (before electricity), the temperature control has to be controlled by the operator who is critically analyzing the product as it's being made. With a bit of experience, that can be done.
Some folks starting out in bullet casting assume that the as-cast bullet can be loaded in a cartridge. This is generally not a good idea. One should run cast bullets through a sizing die that also applies lubricant to the grooves under pressure. This way, all the bullets will wind up with exactly the same outer diameter.
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The modern wheel weights are zinc and they play hell with your mold. Using a commercial electric melting pot for lead bullets is the way to go to separate your zinc from lead wheel weights. Drop a zinc weight in a pot full of lead and it will float and not melt unless you have a really hot lead pot. Melting over a burner will get the alloy hot enough to melt the zinc and it will then mix with the lead contaminating it. Zinc tends to contaminate the mold internally causing the sharp edges not to fill out as they normally do. A light soaking of a CAST IRON mold in a solution of muriatic acid will remove the zinc contamination, but don't leave it in very long or it will pit the mold and don't drop an aluminum mold in it or it will eat it. Dead soft lead is best for muzzle loaders and harder alloys are best for cartridge loads. I've been casting bullets for both black powder and modern ammo for about the past 45 years and still enjoy working with it. I shoot a variety of black powder weapons from cap and ball revolvers to plains rifles, civil war replicas and even a 2.2 inch Cohorn Mortar. If you really want to experiment the old fashioned way, make your own black powder. Making something comparable to commercial black powder is beyond the means of us mortals but you can make a version that will work in your muzzle loaders. Check the state and federal regs on manufacturing it as you can go awry of the law really easily and it gets dangerous really quickly. There is a pretty good tutorial here http://www.brianredmond.net/dwilliams/blackpowder/blackpowder.html He lists a couple of sources for materials and I have used skylighter for my cannon fuse and a few other items in the past. For making your charcoal, there are several good tutorials out there on how to do it and what wood makes the best source. I personally prefer Eastern Red Cedar shavings as used for animal bedding. A clean metal gallon paint can with a few holes punched in the lid makes a good vessel for charcoal making. Put the shavings in the can, put it on an outdoor burner or fire and when the smoke clears from the holes take it off and let it cool. Grind it in a mortar and pestle and you have high quality charcoal for your powder making.