Cast my first rounds today!

[aviator41]

Love the paste wax 50/50 idea! I am dreading the whole sticky bullet problem. I am sure I will have to explain this to friends that shoot with me, but don't reload or cast. I would have had a hard time putting something sticky in one of my firearms before. I'm still not totally comfortable with the notion

Can you tell me more about how to go about mixing the paste wax?

 

[dlbleak]

Sure. I'll get right on it. Lol

the biggest problem right now seems to be finding lead at a decent price.

I have my best luck at the small,dirty mom and pop tire stores. they usually do more trailers, old trucks and construction vehicles. you
know, the ones with REAL wheel weights and not the newer steel or zinc stuff. rural farm towns on hunting trips seem to be good places to find such shops.
bullets look good btw. once you get some free or cheap lead, you will enjoy shooting more and find yourself shooting more often.

 

[rickm]

around here every tire shop has a mile long list of people wanting to buy their ww's and has even had one say he would sale to me for $1 pound well im cheap not going to pay $1 pound for ww so every sunday(weather permitting) i go for a walk up and down the main streets in town and pick up ww off side of the streets it is slow but im killing 2 birds at once getting more exercise and finding ww's also i usually can pick up 15 pounds in a month and they are FREE, i dont get to shoot as much as i like or cast as much as i like but i atleast have a stash for when i do get to really get around to doing it, so far i have stashed away over 200 pounds of lead in ingots and all of it was FREE lol

 

[swampratt]

I used to ride my bike as a kid and get the wheel weights. we never bought them.
I made fishing sinkers then. Still make sinkers.

To mix the lee alox and johnsons paste wax i use a plastic coolwhip bowl or whatever you have handy.
a ziplock bag works also.
I add bullets until the bottom is covered then add about 1/2 again that much.

An 1/8 teaspoon of each is plenty I then swirl the bullets around for a minute or so and they are all coated.
Pour out on wax paper...let sit till dry.( i tested accuracy with pouring out VS sitting them on the paper on the base of the bullet,NO accuracy difference)
I do this inside the house ..if outside you will need to heat things up.

I have shot my 45acp bullets with straight johnson paste wax no leading at all.
Some people mix the 2 lubes together and cook it ..I found no need for that.

Simple works for me.
It really does not take much lube to keep the 45acp bullets from leading.

I double coat my 30-30 and fast 357 mag bullets with straight LLA.
My 30-30 170gr speed is mid 1900fps.
Another good lube is candle wax mixed with wheel grease or lubriplate white lithium.
mixed 50/50
I add a crayon to that mix for color.
I heat the entire mix of that, and mix it until it cools so it does not separate.
I then apply it by hand..That takes a long time but has been a very accurate lube.
I will use that for 2000+ fps

 

[aviator41]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I am starting to get the idea that there are a million different recipes for cast lube, just like there are a million recipes for case lube. Will be fun experimenting to find something that works well for me. For now, I loaded up 75 rounds after lubing with LLA and letting them sit overnight. I load one dummy round to ensure it would feed well in the 1911. I then loaded up with 5grs of Unique in once-fired brass with a cci lrg pistol primer.

Can't wait to see how they shoot!

 

[swampratt]

OAL and the amount of crimp will change how that load feels and shoots in your gun also.
Sounds like a nice low starting load.. Do you have a chrony?
Keep us posted on how they work out

 

[aviator41]

I don't have a chrony. it is on the very short list of equipment that I need right away.

I kept the OAL at 1.255 as this is where the last shoulder meets the top of the brass, and the ammo appears as though it will feed well. I am using only a very mild crimp. So keeping it on the low end of everything in order to ensure I have a positive first experience shooting my own cast bullets.

A bit of Irony, I have 500 plated 230gr RN's arrive today from Berry's plated bullets. LOL!

 

[swampratt]

Now you can do a back to back test of the Berry's and your Lee homemade bullets.
I just sized and tumble lubed 500 or so 200gr swc 45 bullets.. should be dry tomorrow. I cast over 1300 last week.
My buddy used that bullet to take a deer this year with his pistol.
I really like the 45acp.

 

[aviator41]

Well I was able to shoot a few of these today and I can say I am very pleased. Quite accurate, no leading at all. 5grs of Unique make for a very mild recoil. I had zero problems getting 100 rounds cycled through my RIA 1911. not a single problem.

Recovered a couple of the bullets to check for expansion and they did exactly what I thought the would. Nice concentric expansion into that perfect mushroom look.

 

[Revived]

Great feelin' isn't it.... kinda' like tying your own flies and foolin' a football size trout in Montana.... Congrats again... Very well done... now get back to work on my order.... can I pick um up - saaaaaay... this Wednesday? lol