Centrifugally Cast Bullets?

H

Hog Buster

New member
Has anyone on here ever tried to centrifugally cast bullets. I’m not talking about centrifugal casting like you do to make fishing jig heads and sinkers, which I’m sure would work just fine. I talking about the lost wax process like jewelry is cast.

I’m talking about shooting bullets. I’ve cast several out of gold for neckwear. At one time the .357 Elmer Keith design was a hit with jewelry wearing shooters, but I never cast any that were to be loaded and shot.

If perchance you have tried this I’d like to know a couple of things. Did you use Brass or copper, or what? How was it alloyed and to what hardness? Was there any shrink? If so how much? (You damn sure ain’t gonna run one thru a sizer) Any info would be appreciated.
 
Well I guess that there’s not any gunslinging jewelers or dental techs out there. I guess that I’ll just leave the casting machine in the attic for now.....
 
Has anyone on here ever tried to centrifugally cast bullets. I’m not talking about centrifugal casting like you do to make fishing jig heads and sinkers, which I’m sure would work just fine. I talking about the lost wax process like jewelry is cast.
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"Centrifugally casting" is not the same as "lost wax" (jeweler's term), or "investment casting"(industrail term). The terms should not be used interchangeably. You can educate yourself by doing a search on "investment casting".
 
If perchance you have tried this I’d like to know a couple of things. Did you use Brass or copper, or what? How was it alloyed and to what hardness? Was there any shrink? If so how much? (You damn sure ain’t gonna run one thru a sizer) Any info would be appreciated.
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I cast a belt buckle out of brass using the lost wax (investment cast), process using the casting equipment in a High School metal shop. Under those conditions (making the core out of bee's wax, etc.), the process is too labor intensive to produce bullets to shoot. However, as jewelery it would be your call as to how much effort you are willing to trade to get the results you want.
 
While I have never done it, I have watched people do centrifugal casting, and what I remember most was that it took quite a bit of time to set up for each cast. Casting with a ladle in a single cavity mold would be exponentially faster. (this is the slowest form of bullet casting, usually)

Even if you wanted bullets of brass or bronze, I think it would be much faster to set up a lathe to turn them one at a time.

I agree, that for jewelry it would be acceptable, especially if you are wanting to use precious metals (higher temps than most lead melting pots).
 
Centrifugal casting and vacuum casting both use investment for the lost wax process. I was using more descriptive adjectives for clarity of process.

This as opposed to centrifugal casting as done with vulcanized molds, usually for lead objects such as jig heads, spinner bait bodies or some other such items. No investment involved here, just molten lead poured into a spinning cylinder of vulcanized molds.

Labor intensive? Somewhat, depending on the amount you are able sprue and cast at one time. Simple reloading is a bit labor intensive in of it’s self.

At any rate it was only a thought, something for the future.
 
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