Casting lead

There are probably as many reasons for casting your muzzleloader's balls as
there are for not bothering with that "chore" and just buying a box of swagged balls from
Hornady or whomever. But, even if you only get to the range or afield just a few times a
year, casting balls can be as much apart of the experience of traditional muzzleloading as
the shooting part. The same can be said for making powder horns, ball boards, ramrods,
guns, knives, period utensils and clothing, etc. It's the historic aspect along with the
personal satisfaction of DIY. It can be really Really REALLY cheap to cast balls for your
gun(s) by just buying a mould and using a large spoon to melt range lead over a good
campfire. That's period primitive, for sure. The next step up is to eliminate the campfire
and use a small and cheap electric ladle furnace. The other end of the casting spectrum
involves a large and costly PID furnace, along with sundry casting accoutrements. The in
between of all these is a small 8lb to 10lb ladle furnace, lead ladle, and of course, a
mould. No matter what casting gear is used, a pair of gloves and eye protection are
mandatory. Casting .575 pure lead balls for a smoothbore .... I cast for both traditional
muzzleloader balls and BPCR .45-70 and .40-65 grease groove and paper patched
bullets. For muzzleloader balls I use a small 8lb Lyman furnace and lead from Roto-
Metals (online). The ladle is a Lyman, the aluminum double ball mould is from Lee
Loading. A furnace thermometer isn't absolutely essential, but it takes the guesswork
out of knowing when the lead is at the right temperature for casting. I also use a dollar
store hard rubber mallet to whack the mould and sprue. I use a pair of hefty leather
gloves, safety glasses, heavy denim apron, leather boots, long pants and long sleeve shirt,
all for protection. I made a "casting station" by rigging a large vent fan to a basement
window. This fan sucks out all the fumes and smoke Fast and allows me to cast indoors.
Without really good ventilation, casting Must be done outdoors. The mould and ladle are
left on the rim of the pot to heat up as the lead melts. I double up a #64 rubber band on
the ends of the mould handle to keep a constant pressure on the mould halves, to insure
good castings. When the lead has melted, I put a 1/4 teaspoon of sawdust, or a pea sized
piece of beeswax, into the pot as flux, stir, then skim off any of the slag with a spoon. At
700F to 750F I begin casting and check to see the balls drop mirror shiny and smooth. If
not, back in the pot, check the lead temperature, allow the mould to reheat, try again. By
waiting until the pot comes up to temperature I can usually drop good balls on the first
cast. Balls are dropped on a soft, folded all COTTON towel - any synthetic material will
melt! After the last ball drops, I fill the mould up and let it cool. The mould is not opened,
the ball is not removed and remains in the mould. When the mould is cold, it gets
wrapped tightly in Glad "Press'n Seal" - this eliminates having to oil the mould to
preserve it, and no de-oiling for the next casting session ... just unwrap the Press'n Seal,
open the mould and remove the balls - ready to heat up for casting! The cast balls are
weighed to make sure they're within +/- half to one grain, put in a plastic baggie with a
few squirts of WD-40 to keep from oxidizing, or used to immediately load a ball board.

The "Simple" Act of Fluxing

By: Glen E. Fryxell

Questions that often get asked by bullet casters just getting started are,
"What's the best flux to use?", "How much flux should I use?", and "How often should I
flux the pot?".

The source of this confusion is easy to find; just about everything that can
burn, smoke or raise a stink has been reported at one point or another as a flux for bullet
metal, usually with varied claims of success.

Some of the more commonly recommended materials are paraffin, beeswax,

bullet lube, oiled sawdust, and rosin, as well as a variety of commercially available
formulations. Heck, I've even seen used motor oil recommended to flux bullet metal (this
just can't be a good way to make points with one's Better Half, or even the neighbors!).
About the only thing I haven't seen recommended is tire rubber, but it wouldn't surprise
me if somebody has tried it!

Let's look at what a flux is expected to do, and how some of the different fluxes
work. When we melt a pot of bullet metal, we have a high temperature pool of liquid
metal in contact with the air. The oxygen in the air slowly oxidizes the metal at the
interface; the hotter the metal, the faster this oxidation takes place. Since this is a heated
liquid pool, convection leads to rapid turnover at the surface of the liquid, and the more
easily oxidized components of the melt are preferentially oxidized as this mixing takes
place. The resulting oxides are almost always insoluble in the molten alloy, so they tend
to separate and form a separate phase. In the case of bullet casting alloys, tin is more
readily oxidized than is lead, so the tin oxide forms a "skin" across the surface of the
melt.

Some of the other metals that may be present as minor impurities are even
easier to oxidize, and "follow" the tin up into the "skin" (lead is pretty dense stuff and
most all of these oxides are of lower density, so they float).

What we want a flux to do is to remove those impurities that affect the surface
tension of the alloy and cause problems during casting (most notable here are things like
calcium, aluminum, zinc and copper). In addition, we want to remove any wettable
particulate matter that might go on to form inclusions in our bullets. Since tin is so
valuable to the bullet caster, it would be helpful if we could slow down, or even reverse
its oxidation. These are the things that we ask a flux to do.

Some folks seem to think that if they sprinkle some "magic powder" on the top
of their lead pot and it pops and fizzles, smokes and stinks, then presumably all of these
things are being accomplished. T'aint necessarily so. While it may be fun to put on a
wizard's cap and play modern alchemist for a little while, that doesn't automatically
force the chemistry to conform to the wizard's wishes.

Now that we know what we want a flux to do, let's look at how some of the
different fluxes work.

Waxes, greases, oils and other hydrocarbon fluxes all serve as a sacrificial
reductant and reduce the tin oxide back to the metallic state, returning it to the molten
alloy, where it can still do the caster some good (reduction is the reverse of oxidation).
In addition, if used in sufficient quantity to form a pool across the entire surface of the
alloy (usually about 1/4" deep), then the molten wax forms a barrier to prevent oxygen
from re-oxidizing the tin during the course of the casting session.

Paraffin and beeswax are both equally effective in doing this (but paraffin is
much cheaper, I prefer to save the beeswax for bullet lube, where its flow properties
provide major advantages over paraffin). Using paraffin as a bullet flux has the
advantage of being cheap and widely available in most grocery stores, but it doesn't
necessarily remove detrimental impurities, like calcium, aluminum, copper and zinc.

Some of the commercial bullet fluxes are formulations that have the advantage
of generating virtually no smoke or odor (in contrast to the waxes just discussed). These
formulations are commonly based on borax, or other boric acid derivatives. The way
these commercial fluxes work is to combine with the oxidized components of the alloy
(including any oxidized tin) and form an insoluble molten borate glass, which collects on
top of the melt as a dark molten crust. This process is smoke-free and cleans the alloy
very effectively, but the dark molten crust must be removed to prevent inclusions in the
bullets. Unfortunately, any oxidized tin is also removed in this process. Relatively little of
these borate-based fluxes is needed to effectively clean up bullet metal (only about half a
teaspoon is needed for a 10 lb pot), but too much can cause problems by generating
excessive amounts of this molasses-like glass that sticks to the ladle and lead-pot, and
can cause inclusions if not removed.

Sawdust is another material that has been used as a flux for bullet metal, and it
has the advantages of both the previous classes of bullet fluxes (it has often been
employed in conjunction with oil, but all that does is make fluxing smokier and smellier).
Sawdust is also a sacrificial reductant that reduces tin, thereby returning it to the melt
(again, reduction is the opposite of oxidation). It also has many building blocks (lignin's,
tannins, gallates, etc.) that bind to oxidized metals. Lead, tin and antimony are fairly easy
to reduce back to the metallic state, others are not so easy.

Of particular interest to the bullet caster are calcium, aluminum and zinc -- all
of which are difficult to reduce and all of which cause casting problems if present in any
significant amount (they muck up the surface tension of the alloy and prevent the alloy
from filling out the mould properly). As the sawdust chars, it can be thought of as a kind
of activated carbon. Both the lignin's of the original sawdust and the oxygenated sites of
the activated carbon are very effective at binding metal ions like calcium, aluminum and
zinc. Thus, the advantage of sawdust is that it does both jobs, returning the tin to the
melt and removing the problematic impurities. Sawdust has the added benefit of being
free.

I generally use walnut sawdust, left over from my grip-making activities.

Different types of wood are known to give rise to grades of activated carbon with
different activities, but whether or not this would make any difference to the bullet
caster I don't know (doubtful, any sawdust should work just as well, and some, like
cedar, redwood and pine smell awful purty!). A heaping tablespoon is just about right for
a 10 lb pot, stirred in thoroughly to begin with and then left in place. Halfway through
the pot, the lead-pot is stirred again, this time the activated carbon (dross) is removed.
By leaving the charred sawdust on the melt for the first half or so of the casting session,
a barrier is formed to slow down the oxidation of the tin, and by removing the charred
dross before reaching the bottom, the sequestered impurities are removed before they
can sneak through the bottom-pour spout and possibly cause inclusions.
- Glen E. Fryxell