New folks to the craft in out of stock world

[Mad Man]

I’ve seen some of the fortunecookie videos. I saw a guy on YouTube making lead shot for shotgun shells one time. That is a cool process.

[BWest]

I’ve seen some of the fortunecookie videos. I saw a guy on YouTube making lead shot for shotgun shells one time. That is a cool process.

yeah it is, I've considered looking into building a shot dripper. I just don't shoot shotguns all that much to justify it. My old man used to load his turkeyloads on a Mec Jr., and he still has the machine and a bunch of shot. But ordering new shot is prohibitively expensive.

lots of people that make shot drop it into a fabric softener and water mix, since it's thicker than water the shot doesn't have to fall from as great a distance to form spheres and your "tower" can be shorter. At least that's my rudimentary understanding of it.

[Clays]

You need to build something like this, and charge those Wakulla hayseeds $10 to sightsee. You’ll make your money back in no time

[WinterSoldier]

I've got some advice on lead pots... Buy the largest one you possibly can. It's not that you need vast amounts of molten lead in the pot... It's that the more space between the top of the lead and the top of the pot... and also area to drop ingots into... the better. Also, if you are molding really large bullets, fast, having to load new ingots in drops the temperature a bit much. Results are more even if the temperature is kept more even... and having a larger molten lead supply pool helps you keep molding more constantly.

But... I don't know for certain but best I recall I've never bought a LUBRIZIZER locally. I bought a RCBS and heater for it new, somewhere on the internet, probably MidwayUSA. And I bought a really old Lyman on eBay. I have bought several presses locally, more kinds and quantity of Lees than I can even remember, one of which I eventually resold without ever using it because it just didn't ring my chimes, and most recently a really old Rockchucker... so old it was made by Ohaus instead of Blount, I believe. It's up in North Georgia, so I can't check that... and so is one of the Lees presses I don't remember exactly who I bought the Rockchucker from... but THAT may have been BWest.

But, as to shotgun shot... If you aren't so very fastidious about the minor considerations such as a swaged ball vs a molded ball with a sprue... you can make one size of buckshot in an EIGHTEEN-GANG Lee mold... if I recall right it is probably .36 cal., whatever caliber size ball works out in shotgun world to "triple aught". But the sizes available in round ball molds, if you are buying old ones off of eBay, is virtually infinite. You can find any size you want if you wait long enough, and the better brands typically don't leave much of a sprue. If you wait long enough and are lucky, you can probably also find a two-gang, three-gang, or maybe even several-more gang mold, and those speed up the process considerably. I'm particularly addicted to fine old Hensley and Gibbs molds or even moreso to the even older AND better George S. Hensley molds.

BUT... In PISTOL, for anything except extremely high-pressure rounds there is no need for particularly hard lead, and it's LUBRICATION not hardness that determines leading. The ONLY handgun leading problem I've ever had was with linotype in a Great War .450 Webley. It shredded that hard lead into myriads of thin splinters that literally coated both lands and groves in a dangling stalactite stalagmite forest of lead.

I've got a variety of muzzle stuffers from heavy duty to extremely light, that I hope to get around to giving a major workout to, some day... maybe after I'm so old I can only shoot by sense of smell and Braille.

[mapper]

Well, dad had a star lubrisizer, after sized and lubed they drop out the bottom. He just put cigar boxes under them and dropped into them.
There was 2 lead pots, a larger one in better shape, and a smaller one that was bottom pour that needs to be rewired and both needs looked at and cleaned up. Worse case, I can get a 20 lb pot if these don't work, or I can resussicate them. These are mid '60s models, so I don't think they owe any previous or prospective user much money.

There is a basket with his alloy ignots,
So I have enough to use to get started.

I'll clean the stuff up and go through it, and clean up the molds.
I have some bullet lube and a heater I can use, I think he used a mix of railroad side rod grease and maybe some beeswax,
I'll pick up a lyman cast book, and start with what I have..

[0utlaw]

Do people still use wheel weights? I may have a few pounds around if they're any good.

[WinterSoldier]

Do people still use wheel weights? I may have a few pounds around if they're any good.

Wheel weights are good for smokeless handgun loads, so long as they are actually LEAD. If you get one or two of the alloy ones in the pot you've ruined your bullets.

But, BTW. I only got into lubrisizers after I moved more towards black powder, so I mostly use them for black powder soft lead (pure or near-pure lead) bullets. For smokeless I prefer the Lee Precision sizers and a Lee (or other) alox bath. My 9x18mm hand loads using cut-down 9mm Parabellum brass and wheel weight lead bullets lubed with alox consistently cut my group sizes by at least half of anything Russian commercial ammunition can do for me... and the burning powder smells a lot nicer too... not to mention not propping-up Putin.

[FLT]

They were my primary source of bullet casting lead.

[WinterSoldier]

But... I've got a 120 grain lead bullet that I make in soft lead from a mold I designed for two very different uses... For a 9x18mm a bullet of that weight has to be very short and blunt... almost a ball. I couldn't make the mould with as large of a grease groove as I would have liked but I prefer lubrisizer lubrication for those, because I also use the same bullet in Pietta .36 cal. Remington 1858 revolver reproductions. Pietta for reasons unknown to the sane parts of society uses a rifle twist in that handgun and it's NOT a fast enough twist to stabilize ANY commercially available lead bullet that I know of. It WILL, however, stabilize the bullets that I designed quite nicely. And, for black powder, I want a beeswax-based natural lubricant, not petroleum, which gums up from black powder fouling.

[mapper]

Well, those live inventory ordering things that places use, are not without issues at times.
And it seems like if the product is in stock and you buy it but it is out of stock when the order gets assembled later the item is deleted from the order, a refund given, and then it shows up as a return for something that wasn't there in the first place, and generates a email saying it is in stock, so you can order the non existaient item again, and not get it again..

Isn't that great?
Imaginary unobtainium.


But between what I had, could order, and could trade for
There is enough to get my friend set up.
Thanks to those that helped make it happen.

I think he will like the craft, as he is detail oriented.