Melting lead and making round balls is easy. I shoot all sorts of black powder arms...no wait...I don't. I only shoot traditional black powder arms like flintlock Kentucky rifles and reproductons of civil war era cap 'n ball revolvers.
Anyways, I used to make round balls for my 44 caliber Colt and Remington revolvers.
Allow me to give you some good advice here. I was young and dumb when I did it, and thought I was Superman and would live forever. Now that I am older and balder and fatter, I know that trivial things can have a long term impact on our health. Lead is easy to melt. I used to build a small fire and put the led in a steel pot to melt it. However you chose to do it, I would recommend that you do it outdoors where there is plenty of airflow (ventilation). Inhaling lead is the easiest way to get lead poisoning. Another thing is, make sure you wash your hands after handling the lead. (Better yet, wear gloves). This also goes for when you handle the lead round balls in loading your firearm.
One last thing. And I am not an expert here. But, not all lead is the same. You will want to use lead that has some anitimony in it. Animony refers to exta metals that are added to lead to make it harder than just pure lead. Lead wheel weights are generally pretty close to pure lead (and make poor projectiles). The lead used in older linotype printing presses (for the lettering) uses a lot of antimony and is therefore harder than pure lead. The deal is, you want just the right amount of animony so that the lead is not too soft (resulting in too much deformation as it passes down the barrel of the gun). Plus, the softer lead will lead to increased lead fouling in your firearm.
Note. Antimony is also a toxic substance, just like lead.Is making round ball for black powder guns very hard?
Casting lead ball or bullet is easy and fun. The problem is, lead is getting hard to find, and expensive when you do. In the old days, tire stores usually gave away buckets of lead wheel weights, or I could usually find some old plumbing that was lead sealed etc. Not any more! If you can find lead at a good price, then you buy the mold, and a set of handles, as well as a lead pot and pouring ladle. I always made sure to do this outdoors, and preferred it when a light wind was blowing so that it kept the toxic fumes blowing away from me. A fan set on low works when no wind is blowing.
shoot safe
don't lick your fingers and wash your hands afterwards.
If you have a handled crucible and a bullet mould, it is no problem, you just put the lead in the crucible, put the crucible in the fire, melt the lead, and then pour it into the mold.
You can get lead from tire weights in junkyards
all in all I'd rather just buy some premade balls.
Nope, there are several ways. 1). buy a ball mold in the size you want, melt lead, pore into mold, let cool then de-mold. 2). create your own mold from plaster or sand using a shot(round ball) of the size you want. melt lead, pore into mold, let cool then de-mold.
Edit
I only work with lead outside and wearing leather gloves. As long as you keep the hot lead down wind you are fairly safe.
Edit
I solve the hardness problem by mixing a 60/40 Tin/Lead solder with my gathered lead to get the hardness I want, softer for pistol and harder for rifle.
One of the problems with casting your own is hardness. Most lead balls are nearly pure lead. If you cast them out of wheel weights they may be too hard. This will cause dificulty ramming the ball. And the ball may not slug up and grip the rifling well when fired.
And to add to the above comments...do your lead casting in a well ventilated area.
Not hard at all. simply buy a good mold.
it is harder to hit something with one than make it
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