My experience on the subject is much as follows.
I have been casting for well over fifty years, and I have cast a lot of bullets in that time.
I will start out by saying I can offer no explanation whatsoever for what happened in Gordy's situation.
Still yet, there is no way I can simply discard Gordy's story, as I have known him far too long for that. If Gordy tells you it is going to rain, you would be wise to get an umbrella, or go inside.
I do have to think that there are likely several things that none of us know about in Gordy's story, even a thing or two that Gordy himself is not aware of.
Having said all that, I will now say this.......you can start with water present, a few ounces in the pot with the ingots , or even a pint of water in the pot with the ingots
before the pot is turned on.
Once you bring that pot to a melting temp of somewhere between 600 - 700 degrees Fahrenheit the water is long gone, cooked away, converted to steam and evaporated, not even a single drop will be left and you can cast in comfort and without fear....no explosion, no sputtering or rippling.
Now, turn that situation around.... where you already have a hot "melt' running 600 - 700 degrees Fahrenheit, and a drop of water, even a drop of sweat, should accidentally hit the surface of that melt, you will likely get a a little sputtering of the melt, and 'some' may even jump out of the pot....if there is a small "popping noise" you can be sure at least a drop of two of melt has popped out of the pot, but basically it is a done deal, it is over with.
BUT....if that drop of sweat, or water from any source, even the least miniscule amount, and it somehow gets under the surface, such as adding ingots that were brought in from a cold freezing environment outside, and which may have a sheet of unseen ice on it, or maybe adding scrap lead pipe with with water in or on it, you can bet you are going to be in for a Pot Explosion of the worst kind.
Both RM and myself are longtime casters and we've traded information on the subject for sometime now.
Many years ago I had a small side-line business selling cast bullets.
I likely made enough money to pay the gas, and pay the set-up fees at different gun shows, and I eventually ended up with a fair Internet sales as I did have a fairly nice following under the brand name of RBak Kustom KAST...if you should have one of my old boxes with my label on it, hang onto it, it may be worth a cup of Jo on down the road.
I have cast thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, from round ball to long, heavy, Postell Type bullets.
BHN's from 6 to 22, and more, plus a special duplex bullet with a BHN 14 nose and a BHN 6 concave base, or the same thing with a Gas Check.
I have cast Minie Ball, Maxi Ball, truncated base, hollow base, and even spitzer type bullets of pure Linotype.
When I moved to my new retirement home, six years ago this year, this is what my "stash" looked like in the shop, and I had another 1,200# in ingots behind the shed in Kitty Litter Buckets, (square buckets that stack very well.)
If I'm not mistaken there is about 350 / 375# pure lead ingots in that left stack.
Here is one picture of some of my Moulds.....Last count I had about 65 different moulds.
RCBS, SAECO, LYMAN, IDEAL, Rapine, Hoch, Lee, NOE, three or four Jeff Tanner, and one, maybe two LBT Moulds. For years, I have always been a fan of Lee Moulds.
But, if I had to live with only one mould, and I had to actually shoot every bullet that came from that mould, I couldn't reject a single bullet.....then I "think" I would select a nice 4 banger from SAECO.
Man! they make a beautiful mould!
Casting is a fun hobby, it is another of those things where you learn something new every single day.
I strongly encourage casting, and I will help any TMA member that comes to me with a question....if I don't know the answer, I associate with a group that can answer any question.
Now, you can't talk about casting without talking about safety, and I am HEAVY on the safety part.
I don't believe you can repeat some very basic rules too much......
*Always wear Safety Glasses...not just your everyday prescription glasses, but real safety glasses too.
*Always wear a Heavy-Duty apron.
*Be sure you are dressed properly with a long sleeve shirt, preferably cotton, and no loose fitting clothing.
*Always wear your work boots, or hunting boots.
*Always wear heavy glove, on each hand!
*When you advance to the stage for "WDH"....{water dropped hardening} be sure the bucket of water you are dropping the hot bullet in is located behind yo,u and to your left.
If you cast holding the mould in your left hand and knock the sprue with your right hand.....make sure the water bucket is behind you and to your right if you hold the mould in the right hand and knock the sprue with your left hand.
I am sincerely happy that nothing happened to Swamp, other than a good wake-up call, and he will recover nicely from that, but I betcha he don't forget it no time soon.
Uncle Russ...
Topic: Lead Pipe!!!!!!!! (Read 989 times)