Greetings All!

[Hightwelve]

I'm new to this website although not new to bullet casting. I'm old as dirt but I gave up casting completely over twenty (yes 20+) years ago when I took early retirement. The high school junior rifle team was going under for lack of a coach so I volunteered (BTW, it was a paying coach position at $2500/year! Wow!). I took junior teams to the Nationals at Camp Perry and coached the Pennsylvania junior team on the line. A couple of years ago I retired from that gig completely and I'm getting back into serious shooting myself. I shot back in dinosaur days on Navy pistol and rifle teams and I stuck with competitive bullseye pistol after I got out so I have cast literally thousands of "heads" as they call them around here in eastern PA. Casting equipment is no problem. I have it.

I need an update, though.

First, I need to understand all the talk about zinc. I have several hundred pounds of lead around, some former wheelweights now in ingot form that was my go to lead for .45 and .38 wadcutters, the rest plumbers lead in the form of pipe drains and even plumbers ingots marked "NL" and "Natl. Lead". I had the guys at a tire shop and a plumber lined up to feed my lead habit. This stuff is NOT FOR SALE! Its all twenty five years old or more and its enough to last me for the rest of my life.

Am I likely to have a zinc problem?

Second, bullet lube. My old stock still on hand is Alox. I have a Star lubrisizer (are dies even still available?). I plan to unlimber a .45-70 Rolling Block (Numrich octagon barrel), a .45-70 trapdoor, and a .50-70 trapdoor. Yes, I have .50-70 cases. I'm working on completing a .43 Spanish Rolling Block after the project was put on hold for 20+ years. I need a buttplate and barrel bands, BTW. I just ordered forty cases from Australia! They were the only cases that I could find anywhere and even with shipping the price was not bad. The only problem is that it takes six weeks for the Australians to get an export permit plus probably another month to get here.

What is the lube of choice these days?

Almost forgot! I won a .44-40 brass frame Henry in the Friends of the NRA raffle. I'll be shooting that too. Maybe I shouldn't since its some sort of a commemorative but I'm beyond the age of worrying about appreciation.

Glad to be here.

Bob (Hightwelve)

 

[Dusty Bannister]

Welcome to the forum Bob. Way too much to try to answer all at once so will address the zinc situation first. The zinc weights first showed up perhaps 10 years ago by now. The clip on and stick on weights are much lighter in weight and the weights are often marked to ID them. If your stock of weights is older than that, you probably have little to worry about. If you do get a very thick mush like layer floating on the surface of a melt, it could be zinc. Some will mistake a cool melt of high antimony alloy for zinc contamination. For newer ingots, of unknown source, prepare a clean surface on the ingot, apply a drop of acid and watch for bubbles. The zinc will react with acid.

Even lightly contaminated alloy can be diluted with good alloy and shoots well in handgun applications as long as you increase the temperature to improve the fluid characteristics. A very good group here so relax and have fun.

 

[Rick]

Star dies are available right from the horses mouth.

Magma Engineering Company - Sales & Questions: 480-987-3301

www.magmaengineering.com

Magma bought Star from Star Mfg. some years ago and they make the Lubrisizer and dies in house.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[JonB]

Welcome aboard Bob.
You've found a friendly forum of experts, but I will admit, I ain't one of them (experts), but I am friendly LOL.

I assume your vintage Alox lube is the NRA 50/50 (Beeswax and Alox 2138f)
It's still a very good lube compared to anything that's new and improved. BTW, Alox 2138 has been discontinued.

As to the Henry,
most modern "commemoratives" never really go up in value.

 

[glassparman]

Welcome Bob! Great bunch of people here. I tend to hang out here more than some people on social media sites as I know I can trust these folks.

More knowledge here than I know how to soak up.

Mike

 

[462]

Howdy, Bob.

 

[quicksylver]

Robert,Welcome! from the far East, Well about as far East as you can get in the good old US of A, Dan.

 

[MW65]

Welcome from Oregon!! I highly doubt your stash of ww, are zinc contaminated. I have an old ruski berdan which I'm considering whipping up some cast and brass. Good luck with the project

 

[Spindrift]

Hello, Bob and welcome from Norway!

Your old Alox lube will probably work fine for your applications, at least with smokeless powders.

Lube for black powder is another matter, which I'm not familiar with.

 

[RicinYakima]

Welcome. What years did you shoot on Navy pistol team?

 

[Hightwelve]

Welcome. What years did you shoot on Navy pistol team?

Long, long time ago. 1970-1974. I was the captain of the Naval Air Development Center/Naval Air Facility team. Our CO was a big time shotgun shooter - Vandalia and all that - so he was delighted to sponsor a base pistol team. We had a pistol range on base and the CO authorized unlimited ammo, .22 and .45 in both hardball and wad cutter persuasions. The guns came accurized from NAD Crane as I recall. Once a year we had a 4ND shoot off at Lakehurst. The team and individuals that fired the cutoff score or better all went to the Atlantic Fleet match at PAX on TAD. I wish that I could say that I fired a good enough score at the Atlantic Fleet match to make the cutoff to the All-Navy match but I never did.

I recall spotting Air Force S&W .22’s on the government excess list and just for the hell of it I put in for a half dozen. The next thing the loading dock called me and said “we’ve got a box of guns here”. We got good use out of them and I have often wondered what happened to them as there was no documentation or custody records.

My rifle shooting was not as illustrious. The best that I ever did was as an alternate on the 4ND team. We had Navy converted and accurized 7.62 M1’s. I seem to recall that if you made the team you got a Navy accurized M14 but my memory fogs after fifty years.

 

[RicinYakima]

My pistol coach shot on the Navy team from 1967-1971. Then the USMCR team for 15 more years.

Like you he had unlimited practice ammo and would buy a pistol and USMC would build him a target gun.

His high light was making the 1980 Olympic team, that the Carter would not let go.

 

[CZ93X62]

Welcome to the asylum, sir. Thank you for your service to our nation.

Many here will allege that I am enigmatic (see the avatar?) and heretical. They are half-correct.

You mention some very nice arms that you plan on feeding. Specific to the 44/40 WCF, that is a caliber that I greatly enjoy shooting. I have an 1897-made Winchester Model 1873 that I inherited and in 2012 I bought a Uberti Cattleman SAA repro in the same caliber. If you plan to reload fired cartridges your first orders of business should be to 1) Crush flat any and all R-P or W-W 44/40 brass cases you might have on hand--then 2) Acquire Starline brass to replace it. I did this years ago for both 32/20 and 44/40 calibers and IME this has been the single-biggest upgrade since I started messing with these old numbers. The OEM cases are weak, thing, and will tweak and warp into scrap if stared at intently.

 

[L Ross]

Welcome Hightwelve. Coincidentally my friend I was fishing with today had a bag of .43 Spanish brass he was trying to sell at a gun show recently. I believe he still has them. I will text him for particulars.

 

[fiver]

jeez,, 25 year old lead is pretty new.
it's kind of right at the start of zinc setting in to where it wasn't something you had to just be aware of, but something you had to actually look for.

most of it has a zn marked right on it so is easy to spot.
some use a side cutter to take a nip on the edge, you'll know lead from zinc after finding your first zinc weight without any further training.
if you miss one or two in the bucket it ain't the end of the world and you'll never know it's in there.
heck you could probably miss 15 or 20 per bucket and not know other than your casting at a 15-20F higher pot temp.

 

[Cadillac Jeff]

Welcome Sir & thank you for your service
from N W Michigan

 

[Tomme boy]

You might want to check your powder supply. Lots of powders have been discontinued since you last reloaded.

I don't know if you want to venture into powder coating bullets or not, but it really saves a lot of hassle and messy clean ups. Plus no smoke from the lube. Alox is one thing I hate the smell of. It reminds me of the forging factory I worked at.

Lube can be had here.

High Performance Cast Bullet Lubes

High performance cast bullet lubes

lsstuff.com

Lead can be had here if you don't have a supply anymore.

Bullet Casting Alloys - RotoMetals

Find the best prices on metal bullet casting supplies at Rotometals! Our casting lead ingots are high quality & perfect for making bullets. Shop now!

www.rotometals.com

If you have not researched the molds that are available now there are some mighty fine makers now. Some of the ones back then are no more.

NOE molds.

NOE Bullet Moulds |

noebulletmolds.com

MP-molds. Some of the best brass HP molds that you can buy. Don't worry about him being over in Slovenia, Your mold will be here fast than ordering from Midway USA.

Home

Hollow point molds.The best moulds for casting lead bullets. Unique hollow point system. We use brass or aluminum. Cnc Machined to highest tolerances.

www.mp-molds.com

Then you have Accurate Molds. You can pick a design that he has or he will make up what you want. You can have it any diameters you want.

Custom Bullet Molds | Accurate Molds

Precision CNC lathe bored custom bullet casting molds. Choose a design from our catalog or submit your own custom design.

www.accuratemolds.com

 

[RicinYakima]

My pistol coach shot on the Navy team from 1967-1971. Then the USMCR team for 15 more years.

Like you he had unlimited practice ammo and would buy a pistol and USMC would build him a target gun.

His high light was making the 1980 Olympic team, that the Carter would not let go.

 

[Mitty38]

Welcome from an Ohio neighbor.
I am fairly new to casting , but have learned a lot here.
Maybe you will have something you could teach me.
Look forward to learning from your experience.
Thank you for your service.

 

[Hightwelve]

You might want to check your powder supply. Lots of powders have been discontinued since you last reloaded.

I don't know if you want to venture into powder coating bullets or not, but it really saves a lot of hassle and messy clean ups. Plus no smoke from the lube. Alox is one thing I hate the smell of. It reminds me of the forging factory I worked at.

Lube can be had here.

High Performance Cast Bullet Lubes

High performance cast bullet lubes

lsstuff.com

Lead can be had here if you don't have a supply anymore.

Bullet Casting Alloys - RotoMetals

Find the best prices on metal bullet casting supplies at Rotometals! Our casting lead ingots are high quality & perfect for making bullets. Shop now!

www.rotometals.com

If you have not researched the molds that are available now there are some mighty fine makers now. Some of the ones back then are no more.

NOE molds.

NOE Bullet Moulds |

noebulletmolds.com

MP-molds. Some of the best brass HP molds that you can buy. Don't worry about him being over in Slovenia, Your mold will be here fast than ordering from Midway USA.

Home

Hollow point molds.The best moulds for casting lead bullets. Unique hollow point system. We use brass or aluminum. Cnc Machined to highest tolerances.

www.mp-molds.com

Then you have Accurate Molds. You can pick a design that he has or he will make up what you want. You can have it any diameters you want.

Custom Bullet Molds | Accurate Molds

Precision CNC lathe bored custom bullet casting molds. Choose a design from our catalog or submit your own custom design.

www.accuratemolds.com

Many thanks for all the advice. Yes, powders or maybe powder availability has changed. I’m an hour from Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shops both so that’s going to be my go to location. I snagged three or four pounds of 4759 when they discontinued it and I have a fifty year old Lyman manual that gives loadings for the .45-70. I also have a pound of Hi-Vel #2 which was already discontinued and when I saw a pound I bought it just for shelf display. Other than that I have the more standard stuff on hand - 4320, 4350, 3031, etc.
Other than my .38 and .45 wad cutter molds I have a bunch of really odd Lyman molds that I bought when a gun shop in Phillipsburg NJ went out of business. They’re in a sealed container with desiccant. I have to break the seal and make a list of what’s in there but I’m covered for .45-70 and .50-70. I know that I have a .52 mold because I have a butchered “sporterized” original Sharps. I’ve shot it with black powder using the .52 bullets and cut down .50-70 cases. It’s really more of a pain in the butt to fire than it’s worth since it gives 18” groups at 50 yards.