Looking into starting to cast.

[BadgerLB]

So... just seems like one more hobby that I wouldn't mind starting... Looking to cast 9mm to start and then eventually move up to some rifle rounds... Any words of caution or advice? What moulds are good, do I need a furnace, can I just use a propane camp stove? Where are good places to get lead? (cheap or free). Etc... Seems like it could save money if you knew where to look or had someone that worked at a tire shop... Also, what about lubing the things? I see some guys on youtube just gently coat their casts but others lodge crisco or white lithium grease in the lube spaces...

 

[NikatKimber]

I'm using mostly Lee Tumble Lube molds. Are they premium quality? no. But they get the job done to start.

What you'll need specific to lead casting, is a pot to melt the lead in, a ladle of some sort, and the molds. Then, for beginners, a camp stove will work. Also, you'll want some sort of metal tray that you can put a little bit of water in the bottom of to drop the molded bullets into.

If you can find a source of lead and tin, you can save. But at just 5-6 cents per bullet to buy cast, it's not worth buying lead / alloy to cast for plinking bullets. Plus, it's slow. I'm using scrap lead left over from when my father in law was using the molds, so my cost right now is the time. But it took me - as a relative noob to this - nearly 5 hours to cast 500 .38 bullets.

Best safety tip I can offer, is be very careful when adding solid lead to the already melted lead in the pot. If there is any water or liquids on it, it can pop violently enough to throw lead bullets back out of the liquid, along with drops of hot liquid lead that WILL burn you.

Good luck! and YMMV

 

[BadgerLB]

Thanks Nikat... Do you put anything in the grooves on the cast? Or do you just pan lube and call it good? I remember growing up, my dad had several cast bullets that had a thick grease in the grooves...I know it's lube, but I don't know if pan lubing will suffice for a final product or if I need something a little more robust....

You're also right, unless I can find free lead I don't plan on saving much more money than buying casts from J&K... but its also kind of a hobby. soo... if I spent 50 bucks for 50 lbs of lead and I get to spend 50 hours casting thats pretty cheap entertainment... and there's the fact that I end up with about 2800 bullets (2700 if there are a bunch of impurities I'm sure.)...

Again, thanks for the advice though,

Anyone else wanna chime in?

 

[Old Fart]

Best safety tip I can offer, is be very careful when adding solid lead to the already melted lead in the pot. If there is any water or liquids on it, it can pop violently enough to throw lead bullets back out of the liquid, along with drops of hot liquid lead that WILL burn you.

Good luck! and YMMV

I have been casting my own for a good 25 to 30 years or more.
I had my first experience like this just last summer.
I was melting down a bunch of linotype so I could store it easier.
Somehow some moisture had accumlated in the bottom of the box.
Ka------------------Pow! It threw lead all over the side of the house.
Spent the rest of the day scrapping it off before my wife found it.
So yes watch out for moisture and any hot molting metal.

Another thing I can think of right off the top of my head.
Make sure you're in a well ventalated area.
I always cast outdoors, added a lean-to on the side of my man cave just for this.
Lead fumes are not good for you or anyone else.
Make sure you can pay your undevided attention to what you are doing.
I would suggest you pick up the Lyman bullet casting handbook.
That's where all the secrets are.

I was looking at the current Guns mag on the shelf the other day.
Mike Ventrino had a article on casting.
He's pretty smart when it comes to this subject.
Might be worth picking up a copy.

More good advice will surely follow.

.

 

[NikatKimber]

Badger, the Tumble Lube molds are intended for use with Lee Liquid Allox (LLA). The way I lube the bullets, is to use a smallish resealable (tupperware) style container, put in 150-200 bullets, dribble on a good amount of the LLA, seal, and tumble until evenly spread. If the grooves on the bullets aren't filled, I repeat. This makes for messy bullets (the lube covers the entire bullet), but it is much faster than pan lubing, and does not require expensive lube/sizer dies.

Example of tumble lube bullet:

Example of standard bullet:

 

[Old Fart]

I'm a big fan of the tumble lube. And Lee products in general.
For the average shooter they're all you need.
Plus the added benefit of being economical.
I started casting to stretch my shooting $'s.
Every buck you save helps you shoot more.


I've owned all the brands and I've just about got to the point where the Lee is all I use.
I'm not trying to do any super precision shooting.
They turn out a very decent bullet, certainly not the finest out there but decent.

Don't worry to much about the upfront cost. If you go cheap at first you won't need to invest a lot of money. After trying it, you decide it's something you like then whatever cost you incur will be paid off in fairly short order in savings over store bought.

Keep an eye open for surplus lead laying around and pick it up whem you find a bargin. Most of the mom and pop tire stores will sell you wheel wieghts for what the scrap yard pays. Just be sure they are all lead. We're starting to see steel and zinc ww's these days.

One place that goes overlooked is the local salvage yard. They usually have a bucket or two of ww's. And like I found sometimes have scrap lead laying around.

Wheel wieghts make a nice pistol round just as they are. When you want to start cranking them up to magnum speeds you'll need to harden them up some. But that's another story.


Enjoy!

 

[BadgerLB]

Awesome information... I'll try to pick up a mould this weekend and start cranking some out... seems way more economical for plinking than buying the stuff at reloading shops for jacketed.

 

[Roadking Larry]

Everything you ever needed to know about casting bullets -
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/

If you can't find what you need to know with those guys you don't need to know it.

I melted down a 5 gallon bucket of wheel weights yesterday and ended up with about 125# of good clean alloy. With what they cost me from my local lead pimp (tire shop) it came to about 16 cents a pound. For the 230gr bullets I cast for .45acp, that works out to about 2 bullets for a penny. Not counting my time and the propane I used.
From that pile of ingots I could yield a little over 3700 230gr bullets