I cast these .45 auto and 7.62x39 casings in silver but I didn't think drilling out the solid silver center would be this hard and time consuming, I'm thinking maybe I should recast it. Any ideas on how to cast it without drilling all this silver out of the center?
These are for a gift for my uncle and not going to be used in a rifle or handgun
I plan to finish the actual successful castings and polish them and put a slug back in without powder or primers for a display
My flex shaft doesn't take traditional drill bits so it's slow going. I'm don't think I could use a larger drill bit without it going though the very thin end of the casing
Also I did not cast these with the primer in them. I filled the hole where the primer was with platinum solder
Sounds pretty awesome. Can't help you with the casting/machining, but good luck with your jewelry cartridges.
>>910100
Thanks! My cousin had me make him silver grips for his 1911 (handgun). I'll post them tommrow when I go to back my garage. I kept the mold and cast another pair to sell. He told me he uses it in a display because it's very very heavy
What are you using to melt your silver?
I have pic related and want tyr my first attempt a cast bullets.
Don't want to pay $400 for a kiln.
While I found your thread interesting I can offer no advise.
>>910145
I use something similar to this but a bit larger
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/172003396876?ul_noapp=true&ul_ref=http%253A%252F%252Frover.ebay.com%252Frover%252F1%252F711-117182-37290-0%252F2%253Fmtid%253D1588%2526kwid%253D1%2526crlp%253D53601919689_324272%2526itemid%253D172003396876%2526targetid%253D154774686489%2526rpc%253D0.09%2526rpc_upld_id%253D59605%2526rlsatarget%253Dpla-154774686489%2526device%253Dm%2526mpre%253Dhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.ebay.com%25252Fulk%25252Fitm%25252Flike%25252F172003396876%25253Flpid%25253D82%252526chn%25253Dps%2526adtype%253Dpla%2526loc%253D9016859%2526poi%253D%2526campaignid%253D239125209%2526adgroupid%253D14978428809%2526gclid%253DCKyg9b-YwckCFYM8aQodax8M3Q%2526srcrot%253D711-117182-37290-0%2526rvr_id%253D943391676588&chn=ps&lpid=82
>>910145
Sorry didn't read the 400 dollar part..buy a crucible and a torch. Its not as easy to boil the metal that way
>>910074
Lost wax casting.
Here are the grips I made for the 1911. I haven't polished them yet, they have been sitting here on my desk
Back
They are pretty heavy
How do you prevent the silver from tarnishing?
Post pictures of your casting process.
Thanks for the oc thread.
>>910342
Polish it. Silver tarnishes the fastest out of gold silver and plat. Anti tarnishing only goes so far.
>>910074
What exactly are you trying to make decorative jewelry, or reloadable casings?
>>910581
Decorative for a display
Was busy over the weekend and didn't have time to work on it. Here are the bits in using
I wrapped it in jewelers tape to cut down on the heat from the drilling
>>910074
I don't know anything about jewelry, but it seems there is an easier way at least to do the drilling. If you get a small portable drill press, you would then be able to use normal high speed metal drill bits and save a ton of work on reaming out the material.
Actually I'm almost done drilling it. I was thinking of casting the slugs in copper then gold plating them.
I'll post when I cast the slug. Took 10.8 grams out
>>910103
Can you plate silver onto pre-existing pewter grips or Aluma-grips?? Weight-savings...
>>910181
This is the proper answer, OP. Make a casting using pure wax. Drill out the center. Pack it with your casting medium and put it into the cope and drag and get to casting it. Repeat as needed until you get it right.