# Casting lead with wooden molds



## bread (Apr 11, 2016)

The good news is, I got 2 pounds of ingots and 9 rounds of 6 gram slugs. The bad news is, this turned out to be a one time mold! I could punch the slugs out but not the ingots. At least, not easily! I split the 2x4 with an axe.

It was a piece of scrap 2x4 anyway. I used a 1" spade bit to drill about 1/2 inch deep. The ingots weigh about 3 oz each.


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## ghost0311/8541 (Jan 6, 2013)

You can use a socket for making ammo screw it to a board smelt lead in and it will tap out by hiting down onto a hard object about three times it comes out .


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## bread (Apr 11, 2016)

Good idea ghost0311/8541! Funny, you would send that along. Yesterday, I was riding my bike and I picked up an 8 point, 1/4 inch socket off the street and it looked like it would make a mean round. It weighs 10 grams as is. Pouring lead in a larger socket and tapping it out would would really do the trick. What size do you use?


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## ghost0311/8541 (Jan 6, 2013)

1/4 3/8 1/2 10 mm


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## ghost0311/8541 (Jan 6, 2013)

Here what they look like.


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## bread (Apr 11, 2016)

I will be trying that method ASAP! Thank you for the photos!


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

Here is how I do it ... and the mold can be used over and over.

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

Cheers ...... Charles


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## Chuck Daehler (Mar 17, 2015)

For "survival" use given you have no other alternative, a wood mold or socket works but wouldn't it be best to make really good ammo, consistent in weight for accuracy by buying a Lyman mold block set with handles at a gun show and a Lee bottom feed lead pot? Slingshoting is about the cheapest hobby I can think of so treat yourself to a decent molding setup and it'll last a life time.

A socket is the slowest way I know of to make lead ammo, if you shoot just a tiny bit I guess it's OK for laughs. When I molded lead (I use steel slugs cut from bar stock now using my cutoff band saw, about 250/hour's work) I used a steel 8 shot gang mold I made and when I was a kid I used a double cavity round ball mold with two sizes I bought as an antique from our local hole in the wall gun shop. I tried wood, yes it works, but resulted in very inconsistent results...and the wood eventually chars.

As an ingot mold, I don't use one. I pour lead into a meter and a half long piece of angle iron about an inch wide that has a slight drop so the lead goes down the "V" but cools before it goes out the other end. I also run my ladle along the angle iron to fill it and not rely on gravity so much. I cut that lead using a nipper into about four inch sections which then I remelt when I want to cast again. The idea is to clean the lead and make nice shiny lead to remelt someday, not to make ingots. I find the strips of lead melt faster than ingots also. My strips are about 3/8 inch cross section and melt fast. Try that, cheap, fast, hardens almost instantly and it WORKS. Just tip the angle over and the lead falls out onto the floor, right it and pour again, very fast.

Get a Lyman iron mold however. Lee molds are aluminum and bash up pretty easily.


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## bread (Apr 11, 2016)

Thanks Chuck, I like your "V" angle iron idea. I use very little lead ammo since I live in California and there is very little hunting to be done here. I recover virtually all my practice rounds on my target range. I like making my own molds and experimenting with sizes and weights. If I could hunt for the table here, I would buy a commercial mold. That's a good tip to by a Lyman mold over the Lee aluminum mold.


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## bread (Apr 11, 2016)

ghost0311/8541, here is my attempt at casting slugs with sockets. It worked well. I am going out right now to shoot them! They are 7-11 grams in weight. Thanks again for your post. I don't know why two pictures posted.


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## Slingster (Apr 13, 2016)

Or for about $20 you could buy a Lee Round Ball mould. These are used for muzzle loading and can be had in a ton of different calibers.

I have four or five Lee moulds for reloading my own firearm ammo and they work well for the price.


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