howtoold

Successful Prototype Cast : 01 January 2016

The process listed below was performed for the prototype.  Significant improvements since that time have now rendered these steps to be obsolete legacy  instructions.

*** This site documents how I made and tested my own functional silver bullet that is guaranteed to be effective against all Vampires, Werewolves, and Ghosts. The instructionals on this site are intended only to document my experience and in no way should be replicated by anyone for any reason! There, my disclaimer... ***

Items Used : Hardware store plaster of paris, wife's foodsaver machine, metal paint can, rubber beer coaster (took one for the cause), some metal tape, packing tape, an empty cholesterol pill bottle, wife's vacuum cleaner, some oral braces wax (mint flavored), a propane torch, some spare plastic pipe, wife's oven, Silly-Putty (still made in the USA!) and a crappy crucible with metal tongs (ebay $12, though could have used wife's salad tongs and piece of ceramic fire-brick).

The 1860 Colt Revolver, easy to load, doesn't require a cartridge, uses tame gunpowder, fires simple round ball bullets, and is 44 caliber. A perfect match for this project. With lead, you normally cast a bullet that is larger so that it seals the cylinder chamber and when fired engages the barrel rifling. Unfortunately, seating the bullet requires a very soft metal, basically virgin lead, silver is way too hard for this. Subsequently, sacrificing accuracy we will want to make this project slightly smaller in diameter. I decided to go with a 42 caliber ball (note: current production has been upgraded to a .440 caliber mold).

For the mold, I needed something that would give me a crucible shape on top. A cholesterol pill bottle worked just fine! Cut the lid off, drill a hole centered on the bottom, and cut the entire bottle lengthwise in one location so you can remove the finished product (this cut can be seen in later images).

Using oral wax for braces (yes, the teeth kind, I only had mint flavored available), I placed it into a bullet mold and shaped the wax leaving a nice sized sprue. If I didnt have a bullet mold, I would have simply made the ball by rolling it in the palm of my hand, measure it, and add/remove wax accordingly until I got a rough diameter of ~.42 inches and simply add a wax sprue.

Insert the wax sprue up into the hole. You want the resulting internal sprue to be short, but not too short that the roof of your mold collapses or cracks from heat shock, I left about 1/4 of an inch. Once inserted, flip the bottle over and flatten the extra wax that sticks up through the hole.

Grab yourself a small amount of plaster of paris, got DAP brand from local hardware store for this run. Mix it up according to directions, then pour it into the bottom of your mold. 

The Vacuum Chamber : Now then, you need to get the air bubbles out of the plaster, so I borrowed the wife's foodsaver.

Once you activate it, the vacuum will make the liquid plaster puff up like a marshmallow (next time I will not fill the mold up completely, I'll leave a little room for expansion). Bubbles will form, float to the top, and then pop. I left mine in for about 2 minutes. Take it out of the foodsaver canister and let the plaster dry for several hours or better yet overnight.

Remove the plaster casting from the pill bottle. Note that I used standard packing tape over the bottle slit to keep the liquid from oozing out. The "top" of the casting will have wax inside that now needs to be burned out. Let it completely cure and start drying at room temperature overnight.

Next day, turn it upside own, stick it on top of a piece of steel wool that is inside of a baking pan. The steel wool (WARNING: I have since changed to a steel mesh grate, the wax at flashpoint temperatures could actually ignite steel wool, bad things could happen) allows the melting wax to easily escape the mold. Set it at 200 degrees, working the way up to 500 degrees over a couple of hours (note: the enamel on the wife's oven didn't really like this high temp, and discovered that simply keeping it at ~250 did the job properly). Turn oven off and let it cool a couple of hours before opening the door and removing.

The Vacuum Table : I took a metal paint can, cut a hole (approximately the diameter of the vacuum hose) in the top and side, placed a rubber beer coaster (hole cut in middle) over the hole at top of can, and masked it's edges with metal tape. Half way down the can side (just off picture at bottom right) I affixed a short lenght of plastic plumbing pipe and an elbow fitting to which I attached the wife's Oreck vacuum cleaner hose (removed the paper bag filter first!). In case of a breakout during casting, hopefully the metal will go straight down to the bottom of the can instead of into the vacuum cleaner itself.

Lastly, I place a piece of metal tape on the sides of the mold. This is so the vacuum will suck air in from the top instead of the sides when turned on.

Here is the plaster mold sitting on top of the can with the sprue hole facing upward. Make a tight seal around the base of the mold and the rubber coaster using the Silly-Putty, you want ALL of the air pulling downward from the top of the mold.

Went to the garage, connected the vacuum cleaner hose (only turn it on when ready to pour).

Heated the metal up, turned on the vacuum cleaner, then poured! All was well with the world.

Video of the actual cast : Casting of VWG-Round

What you are looking at here is the first light of the prototype. Using a dremel tool, I cut down and smoothed off the sprue.

This is only the prototype. In the distant past, the Church actually tinkered with silver bullets and these additional modifications will be incorporated into the production round and will be posted here in the near future.

I hope you enjoyed this documentary, feel free to contact me at the link at top of this page. And remember, do not try to replicate any of this project on your own! Final Disclaimer!