# Casting lead with wood- help



## freeman45 (Jun 2, 2012)

I'm looking for a fast way to cast slingshot ammo. Balls or cylinders.

I made a two-part mold out of wood, but I don't like it. The shot doesn't come out very pretty and it just takes too long to make and use.

So I tried something simpler, something I read about a few times on these forums.

I drilled some holes in wood and filling them up with lead. The first one popped out and looked beautiful. Perfect weight, shape, and so fast to produce!

I really like this method. But too many wouldn't leave the mold, stayed stuck in the wood.

Does anyone have and tricks that they can share, to get the mold to release better ? There must be more to it, than just drilling holes.

I tried coating with lighter soot, but it's not easy when the holes are so small, the smoke doesn't really get into the mold.

What type of wood should I be using? And how do I get the insides of my holes smooth? (keep in mind their small size)


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## ash (Apr 23, 2013)

Post pictures of your two-part mould.

Hard and very dry wood is the best. Aussie hardwoods should all be fine.

For a 1-piece mould you could drill a 5mm hole from the bottom of the mould cavity all the way through the block and then fill it up with a 5mm dowel or steel rod. Once the lead has cooled, whack the rods from the other side to pop the shot out.


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## Deerculler (Feb 13, 2011)

Buy a Lee Round Ball mould using wheel weights. I use .44 cal


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## bullseyeben! (Apr 24, 2011)

Im not competent with a home made wood mould, although it had been on the to do list for a while.. but I can suggest a fishing sinker mould, that costs under 20 bucks last I checked. Your local fishing store should sell them and in a variety of sizes..Cheaper than shipping an import mould any way, just not as pretty


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## BCLuxor (Aug 24, 2010)

I used a wood mould before buying a Lee mould cheap of eBay... There is no comparison look towards getting yourself one! Regards to getting the lead out of the wood easy , keep the wood mould warm ( not smoking on fire warm ) but reduce time between pours to the optimum and get the handle end of your hammer and when separated just tap hard they should fly out ( do it over an old catch pan).











They shoot great! perhaps because of the shape I am not sure but they almost seem to hit harder than the round balls!


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

This is how I do it:

http://slingshotforum.com/topic/13778-cast-hunting-ammo-with-simple-wooden-mold/?hl=wooden

I do not have any trouble getting the ammo to come out. It is pretty fast for me to cast quite a few at a time. The slugs are quite uniform. Ugly??? Well, depends on the eye of the beholder, I guess. For me they really do the job on game, and for me they are just as accurate as round ball.

Cheers ..... Charles


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## Aussie Allan In Thailand (Jan 28, 2013)

Mine are very similar to the others but I use 3 pieces of wood bolted and nutted together.

So at the joints exactly, I have 2 rows each side for different size and weight of ammo/shot.

I try not to overfill, and pour with a heated very hot, modified with a hammer and flat screw driver, an ordinary soup ladle, to be a source to pour the molten lead, into these holes.

Then I let the molten lead cool on it's own, before undoing the bolts; and out pop easily, near perfect shot of each weight I use.

Oh, and by the time one side is done, I break, have a smoke, while the molten is still on my stove; before turning over to then pour the other side,

Then done deal, no problems; 4 rows of variously weighted ammo/shot all done in less than 30 minutes: and my shoting for the next 3 months or so taken care of.

My set up is around 18 inches long in total; therefore, 2 sets of ammo weighs each row.

Cheers Allan


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## hickymick (Feb 23, 2011)

freeman45 said:


> I'm looking for a fast way to cast slingshot ammo. Balls or cylinders.
> 
> I made a two-part mold out of wood, but I don't like it. The shot doesn't come out very pretty and it just takes too long to make and use.
> 
> ...


When I was a kid .. I used a red hot poker to just burn holes in wood .. The bullet shapes would just drop out because of burn wood with poker just one flat bit of hard wood :wave:


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## freeman45 (Jun 2, 2012)

Thanks for the replies, gentlemen.



Charles said:


> This is how I do it:
> 
> http://slingshotforum.com/topic/13778-cast-hunting-ammo-with-simple-wooden-mold/?hl=wooden
> 
> ...


That's what I tried at first, sort of... I did it a bit differently.

Maybe i'll try it once more, your way.

thanks!



ash said:


> For a 1-piece mould you could drill a 5mm hole from the bottom of the mould cavity all the way through the block and then fill it up with a 5mm dowel or steel rod. Once the lead has cooled, whack the rods from the other side to pop the shot out.


I really like this idea. If I can figure out a fast system to remove and replace the dowels, while working the lead stew, this mold would be a real weiner.

Maybe instead of a seperate dowel, I can just let the lead fill up the nail-sized hole, and whack it with a punch.

Snip off the lead tail and it's good. Hopefully.

I'll report back here if I try.


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## JetBlack (Mar 9, 2012)

Deerculler said:


> Buy a Lee Round Ball mould using wheel weights. I use .44 cal


same here works great, dual cavity. I use leftover shot from my 12 ga glue slugs. Wheel weights is another threads worth of info, read up on them/youtube it before just melting any ones you find.


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

Here is a video I made when I was casting some BIG ammo, but it is the same process for casting smaller stuff. So you can see how I do it.

Cheers ...... Charles

http://slingshotforum.com/videos/view-13-casting-big-ammo/


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## JEFF BURG (Nov 12, 2013)

just wipe petroleum jelly inside the mold that way the lead won't stick to the wood :thumbsup:


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## BloodyBill (Nov 7, 2014)

I have a hard time believing accuracy on those battery shaped lead slugs is the same as round ball but if you say so Charles I will certainly take your word for it.I have a pile of old AA batteries I am going to try.The one reason I would prefer the round ball is that I punch a hole dead center in my pouch so my shot is instantly centered in my pouch.(Edit)Sorry I didn't look at your link before posting Charles,they are no where near as long a cylinder as I was picturing.

I was just looking on Ebay and found .60 Lee double ball mold for $25 w/free shipping.I bought a box of 100 .45 caliber balls I have been shooting but think I will be happier with the .60 for hunting which is the only reason I shoot lead.Just wish I could find a good source of bulk steel ball bearings for target practice.I found a pretty good price on glass marbles on Amazon and may try them.


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## Revs (May 2, 2015)

I grew up shooting .36 caliber lead balls. Loved them and may start casting more if I can talk dad out of his mould. He used them in an 1861 blackpowder revolver until I shot all he had casted up. Never seen him cast any more once I ran out. I know he used to cast them all himself and I have a Lee electric lead pot and probably 5 pounds of assorted lead pieces.


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## Susi (Mar 3, 2013)

cylinders are the unique ammo we shoot.


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## Tom Dean (Dec 22, 2015)

Freeman45,I'm new to slingshot shooting but not new to woodworking. You might want to be using a fine grained hardwood like hard maple. If you can find it iron wood or mountain mahogany should work even better.


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## Chuck Daehler (Mar 17, 2015)

I didn't think cylindrical ammo would be as accurate as round ball either but I tried it unbiased and by gum it works equally and it feels better in the pouch than ball. Just try some, make sure they are about equal weight and as long as they are wide to make them, well, more ball like. I use cheap black iron rod stock (I buy 10mm diameter here for $7+ for six meters) cut off in my band saw cut off tool.

To make molds release slugs easier, you need a fine taper on the hole, just a wee bit...not to make them into cones but just a fraction of a mm to encourage them to leave the mold.

The wood will char and sometimes exude some resin which sticks to the lead slug...so as you use the mold it will "season" a bit. Try to make the slugs about as long as they are around but longer ones also work OK...have tried it all and at the range we shoot slugs work fine.

About disbelievers in cylindrical vs round ball...try it, you might like it.

I agree with the poster however, buy a Lee mold with handles for round ball or 100gr .357 wad cutter which is a flat nosed bullet that is just a tad longer than it is wide. If you don't have the money, work and save it up...well worth a lifetime of molding out of wheel weights.

Mold enough to classify them as to individual weight categories. If you shoot a light round then a heavy one, chances are you can't hit well but if all the ammo is the same weight approximately, your consistency will greatly improve. I would mold several hundred and weigh each one and classify them as to weight categories.


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## Tendele (Nov 29, 2014)

BloodyBill said:


> I have a hard time believing accuracy on those battery shaped lead slugs is the same as round ball but if you say so Charles I will certainly take your word for it.I have a pile of old AA batteries I am going to try.The one reason I would prefer the round ball is that I punch a hole dead center in my pouch so my shot is instantly centered in my pouch.(Edit)Sorry I didn't look at your link before posting Charles,they are no where near as long a cylinder as I was picturing.
> 
> I was just looking on Ebay and found .60 Lee double ball mold for $25 w/free shipping.I bought a box of 100 .45 caliber balls I have been shooting but think I will be happier with the .60 for hunting which is the only reason I shoot lead.Just wish I could find a good source of bulk steel ball bearings for target practice.I found a pretty good price on glass marbles on Amazon and may try them.


If you live in areasonably sized town there should be a workshop which repairs Automatic transmissions for cars. Go ask them if they dont mind keeping some of the old bearings they throw out when doing repairs. They use far more bearings than other industries . I get a lot of bearings from my local guy and just spend a half hour with an angle grinder cutting them free and I got more ball bearings than I know what to do with.


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