Reloading .38 Special Wadcutters & Casting Bullets


Hard to believe its been 15+ years since I made this casting pot. For the last 4 years its been idle, work and family have taken most of my time but in a fortunate series of events due to the pandemic, I was finally able to construct the home office I've been wanting for a long time. Took me almost a year to complete the construction in my backyard, but once I completed it in January of 2021, I started moving all my reloading, casting, and other gear into the new "office." The casting pot got its own honored space in a corner near a window and this week was the first time in years I plugged it in, allowed it to come up to temperature, and started casting. I've been casting Hensley & Gibbs #50 plain base wadcutters all week.

The pot has given me zero issues over the last 15 years. I've never had a failure of any kind. The old school analog temperature controller keeps on working. Non of the 6" stove elements I used for heat sources have failed. No mechanical failures of any kind to report. Maintenance of the unit has consisted of dusting it free of cobwebs and dust when required.

Moving all of my gear that has accumulated over 30 years has revealed additional benefits. I discovered 2500 Remington Peters (R-P Headstamp) .38 Special Wadcutters, once fired, in two boxes. I don't recall where I purchased them, but they were tucked away deep in my closet. I broke them out last week and started running batches through the vibratory tumbler. Due to a finickly long unused 10 cavity #50 mould, casting is slow going. I've had to tear down the mould twice and rebuild it and get it calibrated and aligned properly, which is no easy task with a 10 cavity mould. I had forgotten how important it is to get the torque and tightness absolutely dead correct on the hinge to prevent egg shaping of the alignment pin hole. Its been a frustrating task to get the hinge properly tightened. And the sprue plate may be warped. Some light 600 grit sanding of the plate on a plate glass pane revealed that the plate doesn't appear to be warped, so its back to getting the sprue plate hinge bolt height correctly set. Which reminded me I wanted to write an article years ago on how to properly do all these torquing and alignment tasks that Wayne Gibbs patiently explained to me over email 20 years ago. Once aligned and torqued, the moulds are a machine, spitting out perfect wadcutters cast after cast.

Cost to produce each round of .38 Special Wadcutter is right at .06 cents per round based on my cost for the materials (does not reflect current primer, powder, lead prices).



Link to bigger pic:

https://www.hensleygibbs.com/TCD/articles/castingpotDEC2021_1.jpg




Link to bigger pic:

https://www.hensleygibbs.com/TCD/articles/castingpotDEC2021_2.JPG


Remington Peters Wadcutter Brass + Hensley & Gibbs #50 Plain Base Wadcutter:



Link to bigger pic:

https://www.hensleygibbs.com/TCD/articles/RPwadcutters.jpg

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Nicely done and deserving of the pride that you feel in your accomplishment.

How are you venting your office when you're casting lead?

might want to move that bottle of acetone that's under the AC/heating unit

Photo has a widow with a box fan facing outward.

Nice rig TFB. Thank you for sharing.

That's an old can of Acetone that's been long used up. I keep 4F blackpowder in it now for safety reasons.