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Very Hot Topic (More than 25 Replies) Silver Bullets (Read 9515 times)
UtahDave
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Re: Silver Bullets
Reply #15 - Sep 20th, 2018 at 10:03am
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I think casting silver in a sand mold is a recipe for a disaster.  Some of the sand will be stuck in the silver surface making a nice bore scratcher.   

Casting in a steel mold may be difficult due to the very high melting point of silver vs lead, 1658 F vs 621F.    The lead-tin alloys we typically use melt at a lower temperature.   Silver will freeze on pouring and make lousy bullets.  It will be quite difficult to get silver to fill out any grease groves.   

If you want to try melting silver I would use an MAP gas torch but oxy-acetylene is much better.  What one really needs is a graphite crucible but they aren't easy to fine or cheap.  A large piece of charcoal, not a briquette, might work.  You would have to hollow out a cavity for the metal.   

Good luck,

Dave


  
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oneatatime
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Re: Silver Bullets
Reply #16 - Sep 20th, 2018 at 11:49am
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Best way would be to find someone who does lost wax jewelry casting and give them some hard wax bullets cast in a bullet mold and your silver and leave it to them.
  
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Schuetzenmiester
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Re: Silver Bullets
Reply #17 - Sep 20th, 2018 at 12:50pm
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Probably easier to turn them than cast.
  

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GT
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Re: Silver Bullets
Reply #18 - Sep 20th, 2018 at 1:12pm
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"If you want to try melting silver I would use an MAP gas torch but oxy-acetylene is much better.  What one really needs is a graphite crucible but they aren't easy to fine or cheap.  A large piece of charcoal, not a briquette, might work.  You would have to hollow out a cavity for the metal."

Dave,
Nothing like deflating this discussion...  Sad 

I've dabbled in casting silver making a crucible out of graphite - cutting the cavity with a cherry then breaking the crucible  after cooling to extract the item.  Never got a complete fill in the groves.  Maybe if a guy made a graphite mold for a core to paper patch - the core would fall after cooling...   If the silver bullets fly like they did in the movie,  I'm needing a box of them just for my next match.  Wink
All Hallows Eve is approaching and the need for silver bullets may be needed in a few areas around the country  Grin  Vall had the right idea. 
Greg
  

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frnkeore
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Re: Silver Bullets
Reply #19 - Sep 20th, 2018 at 1:39pm
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Why put grooves in them? I don't think your going to get any "leading"  Smiley

I think the best use for it, would being able to hide silver, in plain sight.

Frank
  

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marlinguy
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Re: Silver Bullets
Reply #20 - Sep 20th, 2018 at 1:57pm
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A simpler and maybe easier way to cast silver is the lost wax process. Simply buy some dental wax and turn it in your lathe to the shape you want of the bullet. Then attach a sprue to the wax form and cast  it in plaster. Once dried you can put it in the oven to melt the wax out, which leaves a perfect mold to pour the silver into. 
Of course this is a one shot deal unless you make a "tree" with multiple wax bullets and pour them all at once. But the bullets are easy to get out of the plaster mold and after cutting the sprue off they should be perfect. Old tin cans make the best containers to pour the molds in.
  

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BP
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Re: Silver Bullets
Reply #21 - Sep 20th, 2018 at 3:25pm
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frnkeore wrote on Sep 20th, 2018 at 1:39pm:
Why put grooves in them? I don't think your going to get any "leading"  Smiley

I think the best use for it, would being able to hide silver, in plain sight.

Frank

I think Frank has the right idea... make smooth sided silver slugs, and patch em' up.    Wink
  

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Re: Silver Bullets
Reply #22 - Sep 20th, 2018 at 4:13pm
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Why not a standard bullet mold?
I have a small furnace that will melt the silver, it uses pyrocones to determine the temp. High temp ceramic crucible.
Also have a small oxy-map gas torch.

I think charcoal would leach into iron at that temp, don't know about silver.

I have some gold plated .380's laying around. they were for the ammo company's anniversary, RWS maybe.

Aaron
  

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marlinguy
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Re: Silver Bullets
Reply #23 - Sep 20th, 2018 at 5:40pm
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The main issue will be trying to get silver to fully flow into the lube grooves and fill out well. I suppose you might preheat the mold enough to ensure that, but might end up scorching the handles.
Your project, but I'd question if it's worth the trouble to make up silver bullets myself. Seems like plenty of work for a gimmick.
  

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JLouis
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Re: Silver Bullets
Reply #24 - Sep 20th, 2018 at 6:01pm
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Easiest approach would probably be to pour a round slug and turn it out on a lathe. I have done a few for a friend that were used for the old interior manual door locks for his classic car but not in silver.
  

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Re: Silver Bullets
Reply #25 - Sep 20th, 2018 at 6:53pm
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Your project, but I'd question if it's worth the trouble to make up silver bullets myself. Seems like plenty of work for a gimmick.

We do these things not because they're easy, but because they're hard.
JFK

If I lived in Portland, I'd consider them a necessity. Wink
Aaron
  

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UtahDave
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Re: Silver Bullets
Reply #26 - Sep 20th, 2018 at 8:11pm
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Greg,

You are on the right track.  I wasn't trying to deflate the duscussion but help someone from making a stupid error....sand casting bullets.  A graphite mold should work fine.  I hope you can post some results.   

Marlineguy has the right approsch, lost wax casting.  Look it up on a Google, it's easy to do. Wth a centrifugal jewlery caster one could get very good bullets from silver or gold.   Now gold bullets would be extravagant!  A few hundred bucks per shot.   

John L is right, machine them.   

Dave



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marlinguy
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Ballards may be weaker,
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Re: Silver Bullets
Reply #27 - Sep 21st, 2018 at 11:52am
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I learned the lost wax process in high school "art metal" classes. We carved out all sorts of jewelry from dental wax, and then poured the molds we made with silver, brass, and scrap gold.
Our instructor had us scouring all the Goodwill and Salvation Army stores for silver utensils to use in class. 
I wish I'd pursued the hobby after high school and got a centrifuge, oven, and small furnace. It was a lot of fun. You can find inexpensive casting centrifuges on Ebay for under $100 new.
  

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oneatatime
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Re: Silver Bullets
Reply #28 - Sep 22nd, 2018 at 8:54am
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There was an inexpensive vacuum casting kit available. I had one and made a lot of good jewelry castings in gold and silver. I’ll bet you could find one on eBay. Had the oven and everything.
  
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svartkruttgris#369
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Re: Silver Bullets
Reply #29 - Sep 22nd, 2018 at 10:13am
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Just gotta ask --  How did Lone Ranger do it??
  
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