Lyman Model 61 Pot Repair & Some Thoughts About Zinc Casting

[@ThecrazyScotsman]

God Bless Willie Bulletman 🙏 🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@FullLeadTaco]

yeah, I miss the guy

[@nickjm37fordel1]

That will be interesting to watch. Elvis seems once again to have left the building !

[@andy79z28]

Glad you got the pot working. You could have just jumped out the thermostat and hooked up a pid. Anyway good luck in your venture of casting Zinc bullets. Feel free to reach out to me if you need some help. I did get the Zinc 223 mold from NOE. Have not cast with it yet as I have so many casted already. My new venture is 300 BO with Zinc bullets. Still putting it all together.

[@FullLeadTaco]

yeah, next on my list is to get a mid range 30 cal bullet weight in a steel mold and do some zincers with that.

[@aeroncajoe]

Hey FLT, I just discovered something about my model B200 thermostat for my Mouldmaster model 61,… I totally rebuilt my Lyman model 61 and used it one time, it worked great except when I went to use it again and the control knob froze. I took it all back apart and found another thermostat control exactly like the old one on EBay,… reassembled it but it only would reach 650 degrees,… so I tried to free up the old control shaft with a little penetrating oil and after a short while it just broke off!… then I noticed a small adjustment screw inside the control knob shaft, I looked into the new one and there’s one also,… so using a very small electronics screwdriver I started turning the screw clockwise in small increments and my temperature started to climb,… I finally adjusted it to around 925 degrees and was in business!… so, you don’t need to adjust the stop bar on the shaft, just adjust the potentiometer screw inside the shaft until you get your approximate temperature.

[@FullLeadTaco]

Awesome! Good info and thanks for sharing. What bullets are you making with zinc?

[@FullLeadTaco]

Or are you just casting lead?

[@aeroncajoe]

Hey FLT, I’m sorry about the late reply,
I’m casting zinc 9mm, .38 special/.357
And I’m also casting lead for the same plus 30-30, using a Lee melting pot.

[@leveractiongypsy1848]

I use a PID with all my casting pots so if you dont this 'may' not apply - but on my Lyman 61 Pot I just took out the thermostat all together and it works great and gets hot enough using the PID as the temp controller on its own. I bought my Lyman pot probably 3-4 yrs ago before all the prices skyrocketed, but it was used from ebay and the pot wouldnt get hot enough to melt zinc as is. I need to cast up more zinc for 45acp and 35 Whelen, but I think my next zinc casting session I'm going to try to alloy it with tin to try to see what it does. I didnt chrono the 35 Whelen but it was the Saeco #352 mold which dropped zinc at 150gr with IMR 3031 and Reloder 7 and my hottest load had some sticky extraction so I'm pretty sure they would have been over 3000fps. Due to running out of powder space, next I'll try ball powders, so for rifle probably W748 and pistol I'll go CFE Pistol. The few bullets I did find were unscathed for the most part except rifling marks. They were shot at a target that was tacked to a dead tree (hard dead wood - not rotted) about 18 inches across and after about 20 minutes the tree went down. Ranges was 50-75yrds. To get some metal that can alloy with zinc to either add weight or mushrooming/expansion qualities is my next goal for my zinc testing with rifle

[@FullLeadTaco]

Sounds awesome. Have you ever done a video showing how your casting pot is wired to the pid? I'd really be curious to see your setup.

[@jamespollard1670]

@@FullLeadTaco Andy 79z28 has a PID hooked up to his Lyman pot also .

[@leveractiongypsy1848]

@@jamespollard1670 Andy was the one who told me how to do it -

[@leveractiongypsy1848]

@@FullLeadTaco Andy79Z28 was the one who told me how to do it - he also wired up one for both Willie and Kenny and sent them off to them. I asked him how to do it - its not wiring the PID hardwired in - if I recall correctly, I just cut out the thermostat and I think I used wire nuts to reconnect the connections. Then plug in the Lyman pot to the PID's outlet. I made a PID as per Johnny's Reloading Bench PID vid on how to wire one up so his idea is a separate PID you can plug any pot into and not hard wire a PID to one casting pot

[@leoncordero9083]

I have a similar pot and cast zinc. I removed the thermostat and use a PID controller to regulate the temps. by doing this, I am able to get the pot up to 1000 degrees but I have my PID set to 930 for the best results. I started my casting journey several years ago and have always gone with zinc.

[@FullLeadTaco]

do you have a video of your setup?

[@leoncordero9083]

@@FullLeadTaco I don't and if I do, I would have to clean my bench :) I can make one maybe this weekend.

[@boozeandbullets2084]

Thanks for posting this, I have the exact same pot with the exact same issues

[@FullLeadTaco]

hopefully you can get it fixed!

[@BOHEMIANHUNTINGCLUB]

👍👍

[@DummyRound]

Very cool stuff with the zinc. I need to get one of those older pots with the heavier steel, as well as get some steel molds. I bet you could get some pretty hot zinc loads going in the TacoTini. Have you done anything with that project recently? Been looking forward to that one, because 350L is kind of meh for cast loads. Thank you, sir!

[@FullLeadTaco]

Just talked to Kenny, he said that the first reamer he got was undersized. So he is having another company build a different one.

[@russdubois8405]

Hi, Just wanted to say. Found the real deal on the thermostat for the 61. Price well?? But goes to 900 degrees . Mc master carr sells them for the lead pot they sell. 54.00 pricey but ,looks right to me.

[@cw2a]

Mornin man!
RIP WILLIE 🥲🥲🙏🇺🇸🙏🇺🇸🙏🇺🇸🙏🇺🇸🙏🇺🇸
Looking forward to the RUMBLE VIDEOS!
Yup dont need coating or lube! Zinc isnt gonna wear any appreciably more then lead. Zinc is in the 45bhn range and copper is far harder.
SAGE INFORMATION IN THESE COMMENTS!!!

[@FullLeadTaco]

yeah man, gonna be fun with all the zinc experimentation

[@MasterOfDestructionX]

I would live some tips and stuff on zinc bullets honestly I'm a beginner caster and really want to get into it!

[@echota23]

Hope to see your zinc videos over on the reloaders network.

[@FullLeadTaco]

thanks for the reminder

[@jamespollard1670]

I've had great luck with zinc loads in the 300 blk . using 180 and 190 gr 30 cal molds for lead yeild a 110 -115 gr zincer . I've pushed them to 2400 fps with awesome accuracy in my AR15 . I have the old Saeco pot . No gas checks or powder coat are needed . Zinc is softer than copper jacket so I don't worry about barrel wear .

[@FullLeadTaco]

Thanks for the info! Much appreciated. Got any zinc 223 loads? Curious how slow I can push the light bullets and still cycle the action

[@jamespollard1670]

@@FullLeadTaco Sorry , I don't have a 223 load . I 'm looking for a 75ish gr steel mold to get a 45 ish gr zinc bullet . Zinc bullet weights are .6 of lead bullet weights . This is easy to do in a 30 caliber but not so easy in a .22 caliber . If you came up with a 90 gr 223 steel mold in lead , then a 55 gr zinc load would be possible ?

[@FullLeadTaco]

@@jamespollard1670 and then it would be a super long and skinny bullet... Twist rates and other stuff might come in to play.

[@jamespollard1670]

@@FullLeadTaco Yep . A 45 gr zinc 223 from a 75 gr lead mold doesn't klick my trigger . I prefer to shoot a 75 gr cast lead in 223 and run 110 -120 gr zinc in the 300 blk .

[@FullLeadTaco]

@@jamespollard1670 yeah, that makes sense... I just think it would be cool to have a free bullet material that I can plink with in my 223 ar15's

[@Johnny-jr2lq]

H110 will cycle the action of your AR15
Lyman mold # 225462
54gr ( #2 alloy ) coal 2.090
H110 13.7 - 18.0max
I believe I started to see flat primers at 17.0grs
My rifle ran great with 16.0grs this is public data RCBS 22-55-SP & NOE 225 60gr. RN. However when you cast these in zink idk how you would address the projectile weight difference.

[@FullLeadTaco]

Yeah, that's the tricky part, the bullets weigh about 60 percent of a lead bullet of equal size. So a lighter bullet that that takes up more case space. Probably need to play with numbers in QuickLoad

[@jamespollard1670]

@@FullLeadTaco My guess is , the 60% lighter zinc bullet weight would fudge the AR action in 223 ?

[@unclejohn1053]

Interested to see what you think of zinc. Try not to get kicked off again?

[@FullLeadTaco]

lol for sure

[@wallas0786]

would lyman "leaded - steel" molds be good for zinc casting? and i plan on using the the lyman dipper to fill if you think that would work? until i can get a pot that wont be destroyed, thanks for your help!

[@FullLeadTaco]

@@wallas0786 yeah, just clean out the molds and use a thick steel pot for casting

[@wallas0786]

@@FullLeadTaco do you know when NOE will release the thicker pot liner for the lee 420 for zinc melting?

[@FullLeadTaco]

@@wallas0786 I am not sure

[@jeffhuntley2921]

I’ve thrown out so much zinc. Has anyone done barrel wear tests?

[@jeffhuntley2921]

You answered my question at the end. Thanks

[@Prepare2Survive]

Any news on the 35 TacoTinni ?

[@FullLeadTaco]

had to get a new reamer made

[@festerallday]

Try Utreon

[@FullLeadTaco]

I have my videos backed up there currently

[@unclejim2330]

Full.Zinc.Taco. 🤷‍♀️😂