A silver bullet

[izzy]

Before you ask why on Earth would I want to make this just hear me out. I'm looking for help and or advice on how I'd cast some projects, .45ACP, out of bullion silver. I've done a little research and realize I'd need an iron mold because aluminum has a lower melting point than silver. My goal is to actually load some rounds that'll really fire, not that I would shoot them. Let's just say this could end up being a gift for someone who has everything. Any advice or help with some equipment use would be awesome. And yeah I seriously want to make probably about 10 of these or so.

[TFOGGER]

It might make more sense to turn these on a lathe than cast them, for a quantity that small

[izzy]

I don't know how to do that either. The piece of bullion I have in mind wouldn't be the right dimensions either way.

[ChickNorris]

I think you might want to look into having a mould machined in Graphite.
(Make sure whomever does it understands the properties of graphite, it's very conductive & can short out a motor. Good dust collection system is a must)

Also the thermal expansion coefficient of silver is less than that of lead. Depending on the machine's tolerances, it may or may not matter.

Aeroconsystems.com home>rockets, motors & supplies>graphite rods

High power rocketry folks love it because of it's low thermal expansion, low reactivity & ease of machining. Good for 1800+ C

[Little Dutch]

It's difficult to get a good finished product with silver using standard reloading gear. Mainly because the melting point is so much higher than lead. It makes it difficult to get your mold to a sufficiently high temp to get a clean, smooth (no wrinkle), finished product. When I tried, using a Lyman mold, I was able to cast two bullets. They both looked so terrible that I didn't bother to even mic them to see how much they had shrunk during cooling.

You may investigate lost wax casting, then hand finish them to get them correct.
Or just buy one or two. I never checked prices, but I see nice examples at gun shows once in a while.

[Great-Kazoo]

Jewelry store who cast their own stuff.

[ray1970]

Here's some reading material on the subject.

http://www.patriciabriggs.com/articles/silver/silverbullets.shtml

[ChickNorris]

Here's some reading material on the subject.

http://www.patriciabriggs.com/articles/silver/silverbullets.shtml

I didn't finish reading the article yet but so far it's good. I'm a little disappointed they didnt do the graphite mould (yet?) Glad she worked out the thermals (10-6 m/(m K)) as it looks promising. Will enjoy reading the remaining pages/article tomorrow. Thanks for finding it ray1970.

[Irving]

I'm excited to see you pull this off.

[SideShow Bob]

Coonan, as in the .357 semi auto pistol, has accessory silver bullets. At least they did, email or call them to see what they do...

[DFBrews]

Wasteful but home doable Buy some .5” silver rod. Put in drill or drill press use an emery stick and calipers to sand an inch down To .451 then round the nose. Hacksaw to proper length after polishing to Desired finish

[Erni]

Kaz is right. Go to a jewler. They use lost wax methods for casting. Figuring out how much silver will shrink will be a pain. So step one will be casting a few rods and seeing how much the final product shrinks. Then you will probably need to have a shop cnc you some wax bullets to the required size. Jewler will take these and cast and polish them for you.
Them bulits will be pricey.

[izzy]

I'm probably going to reach out to a jeweler first and see what they say. I've been reading a bunch and don't know if this is something that I want to buy a bunch of equipment to do once.

[thedave1164]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZcjJFIL4T4

How about silver plating?

[davsel]

Interesting idea
http://www.patriciabriggs.com/articles/silver/silverbullets.shtml

[davsel]

You could buy the "silver bullets" offered by all the precious metal dealers and cut off the actual bullet to size and sand down the diameter to fit.

[DOC]

I have some silver airline plates that I would like to melt into something better. A bullet would be sweet.