casting and income.

[troy_mclure]

did you get into casting so you could afford to shoot your guns(more)?

or can you easily afford jacketed bullets, but cast because you simply enjoy the process?

[Recluse]

Neither. I got into it as it was a natural extension of reloading and made me even more self-reliant so far as my firearms and components were concerned.

:coffee:

[warf73]

I starting casting to get boolits that fit my gun since no one made the size I needed. It grew from there.

[63 Shiloh]

Casting for me is both enjoyable and economical.

I get my WW for free and also mine my range berms for range scrap, bit of work involved in cleaning it all up and getting it into ingot form, it is worth it though.

I would not be able to shoot the volumes I do with my handguns if I had to rely on jacketed bullets due to cost.

Even though our Aussie dollar is on par with the USD, we are not seeing the savings from the importers.

For a pack of 20 45-70 rounds you will pay $60.00, I priced a box of 50 flex tips just out of curiosity, it would cost me $76.00.

So, I have bought my molds and cast perfectly good boolits for hunting and competition at a greatly reduced cost.

The info I have gleaned from his site has been invaluable in helping me feed my casting addiction :wink:

Once I thought cast to be a recipe for leaded bores and terrible accuracy, also believed that I had to cast the hardest possible boolit for any success. Very happy to have been educated in the real aspects of casting.

My current 45-70 has never seen a jacketed bullet and it shoots wonderfully with the right size boolits.

All in all, casting has been one of the best moves I have made with my shooting hobby.


Mike

[stubshaft]

It was the only way that I could afford to shoot IPSC, PPC and Silhouette. Consequently I have fired very few J-words in my pistols.

[garym1a2]

I like to shoot my 1911 45 acp a lot and store ammo is over $32 per hundred. I can make my own for less than $6 per hundred. So now I can afford to shoot a lot of 45's.

[Walter Laich]

enjoyment followed closely by savings

[Bret4207]

About like Recluse I guess. I was reading Elmer and Skeeter back in the late 70's and it just seemed interesting. My first castings were from a Lee 405 gr 45/70 mould for my Siamese Mauser. I NEVER should have sold that rifle! I used a Lee dipper and 3031 IIRC, got groups well under 1.5" at 50 yards from the start. Won several running deer comps with that gun.

From there it was a natural extension to my 32-20's which I was already reloading with jacketed. It built from there and when I found the 35 cals in rifle and revolver...well, if ever there was a match made in heaven it's cast and 35 cals.

These days I'm much to busy to do much shooting, but I still cast in the odd moment to build up my supply. I haven't bought any bullets in 6 or 7 years other than the ones that came with my Hornady LNL. I just bought my first brick of primers since 1985 last year and my last pound of Red Dot I just emptied was marked $10.49. I had/have a pretty good supply built up!

Economically I couldn't afford to shoot jacketed, much less factory anymore. I don't know how anyone can. I just talked with a guy who bought a new truck to save fuel. A $48K truck! Something doesn't jibe there for me.

[rintinglen]

At first it was economics. I could buy factory reloads for $5.00 a box or reload for$3.50, but a yard sale purchase got me a lead pot and a lachmiller 358-432 copy. A friend working at Montgomery Wards Automotive Center got me a 30 gallon garbage can of wheel weights. an old burner salvaged from an abandoned stove and some hard ware store fittings and soon I was loading 50 rounds for about $1.00. It was all about the money then, I made $2.65 an hour. If I wanted to shoot much, I had no choice.

[btroj]

I learned from my father in law. He did it so I did it. Now after 25 years I cant imagine not casting bullets.
Save money? Nope. I figure I just shoot more on the same money.
I do it because it is a part of my hobby. I do it because I enjoy the tinkering nature of it. I do it to keep me busy. I really don't think about the cost savings much.

It is who we are and what we are that makes us cast boolit shooter

[gmsharps]

I started casting initially out of economics. I had just returned from Vietnam at the end of 1971 and had brought back a really nice Browning High Power as a war trophy. Ammo at that time was around $5 per box factory and that was out of my budget for a soldier at that time. A good friend loaned me a bullet mold a bucket of tire weights plus a Lyman 310 tool to size and load the 9mm ammo. I basically knew how to cast from a few years before but did not have the guns to support until then. I quickly discovered how much better the ammo could be and cheaper than factory stuff was. The folks that play the casting game are a different breed of animal and I have made a lot of friends over the years that have this same interest. I was told once that when you are ready to cash it in you would be able to count your real friends on one hand and have several fingers left over. Well the casting fraternity has given me friends that take all of my fingers. GM

[southpaw]

I started reloading so I could shoot more. I started casting for the same reason. Factory shells are out of the question. I could not afford to shoot as much as I do if I had to buy them. I could however afford to buy the J-words. But I heard that I could save more money if I cast my own. So I figured I would buy a couple molds and shoot cast in the spring and summer and switch to bullets for hunting season. That was the plan anyway. Then I got addicted.

Given the amount of money I have invested I should start saving money when I retire. [smilie=l: So now it is for the enjoyment. OK I got to go back to the group buy page.

Jerry Jr.

[Kraschenbirn]

Started casting in the early '70s to feed my reproduction Civil War M/Ls (I was a reenactor back then.) and, to save a few bucks, progressed to casting for my modern handguns. Got away from it for awhile because a friend owned the second largest (at that time) commercial casting operation in the U.S. and I couldn't match his prices casting my own. Then, a few years back, I bought my first BPCR - an H&R Trapdoor reproduction - and the rest, as they say, is history.

Bill

[wingnut49b]

I started watching this board to learn to smelt ballast ingots for karting. Then I bought a 1911, and 1000 bought SWC's. This winter I bought bottom pour pot, mold, star, etc.

I figure it's going to take me 5 years of casting to pay for it all, if I don't count my time. But I enjoy it. In the end, it's just a hobby.

[white eagle]

I believe I can build a better mouse trap there fore I cast

[Bulldogger]

For me it was a combination of combining my enjoyment of shooting and learning new hobbies. It never occurred to me to roll my own until the price of plinking 9mm went over $8 a box, which in my opinion was twice as much as it should have been already.

I would be lying if I didn't add I also like it because it makes me autonomous from Gubmunt watchers trying to track ammo sales, etc. I try not to get swept up by the SHTF mentality, but do believe that part of what prevents the Gubmunt from taking our guns is their acute awareness of just how many of us are buying, building, training with (we call it plinking and hunting) and storing supplies for them. The more the better. They SHOULD be afraid, that was intended by the 2nd Amdt. I do my part.

[3006guns]

Early 70's also. I had a good friend that I got interested in shooting .38 special and niether of use could afford factory ammo in those days. We used to have late night casting/sizing/reloading sessions where sometimes the boolits were still warm from the mold during loading....BUT....we were also the guys who had unlimited shooting at the range while everyone else was subconsiously adding up the cost of each shot. Then, it was back to the house and reprocess everything again........

Casting for rifles started several years ago to feed my milsurps. Same situation though. While I'm merrily blasting away, some other poor guy is carefully squeezing each $1.25 "store bought" round.....

[nwellons]

I just started this month to get ammo for antique rifles (.42 Russian Berdan and .43 Egyptian) and a BP only .44 Russian revolver.

I hope to expand to smokeless reloading later.

[RobS]

Something about shooting your own creation and having better accuracy while doing it. I almost forgot, I'm an el-cheapo too.

[fishnbob]

I got started casting .38's and .357's back in the 70's using a borrowed mold and cast iron pot on top of a soil compaction kit stove in the back of a construction trailer during winter shutdowns. From there it led to .44 mags and black powder stuff, crappie jigheads and in the fall of 2008, I saw the necessity to become self proficient and the rest is history. BTW, thanks to all you guys out there that helped me down the straight and narrow path of rolling your own.

[timkelley]

I've been reloading for thirty years and I could afford to buy a few bullets. I came across this board, and then....

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I bought some swage dies from BT Sniper last Spring,
I started swaging by having other cast my cores...What a pain that was,
plus it wasn't cheap either.
BT suggested I come to this sight and learn out to cast my own cores.
I caught the bug fast, I have a shelf full of molds, maybe a half ton
of alloy in various states. Casting has replaced one of my other hobbies.
Jon

[462]

Initially, the reasons were:
Economics.
Hobby.
Self-reliance.

Since the onset of the '08 presidential campaign, the reasons are:
Self-reliance.
Hobby.
Economics.

Interesting how one man or one woman caused the order to become reversed.

[sargenv]

Nobody made exactly the type of round nose I wanted for the competition pistol I was using (S&W 610). There are light and heavy round nosed bullets, but what they want for them these days was making it too expensive to load them.. so at the last price increase ($65/1000 for the light bullets, $95/1000 for the heavy ones) I did the research and bought into casting.. had I known that it was as easy as it is, I would have started 20 years ago.. and I kick myself for not starting sooner. Now I can make exactly what I want and I can choose to cast a bunch ahead or wait till I need them. I no longer have to depend on the manufacturer not having what I want in stock. I've since cut my cost from either $65/1000 or $95/1000 to about $35/1000. Less if I use the swaged bullets that BT Sniper created or rather modified the die for.

[felix]

Hobby only, then and now. ... felix

[Springfield]

I shoot mostly cowboy so jacketed is not an option. I was buying bullets from a local store who only sold reloading suppies, but he became unreliable, and then he stopped altogther. About that time another shooter was selling his basic casting supplies as he was "just not handy enough" to get it all to work. I bought his LEE pot, dipper, and a couple of moulds and the rest is history. I reload to save money, this has just become an extension of that. If I had to buy store bought my wife and I would have to give up cowboy shooting, or at least cut it by 75%. And I would have to give up shooting BP altogether, those cartridges are even more expensive.

[ambergrifleman]

I just like casting as much as Shooting. I always think of the Buffalo Hunters of the 1870's when I cast.

[Slogg76]

Economics was the very first reason. I had access to all the free wheel weights I could haul away and attending college kept me poor. Then it became more of a hobby. Now I have a family and kids so it's for economics again

[That'll Do]

I enjoy making my own ammunition, and thus I enjoy casting.

I still use jacketed bullets though, mainly in my rifles, but occasionally in handguns too.

[reloader28]

The bottom line is I like making my own stuff. I built my house, make and sell furniture, make beer, butcher wild game, make turkey calls, you name, I'll make it.

I've been shooting somebodies reloads for 30 years. Started loading my own about 10 years ago to save money. I like making my own ammo.

I started casting about 4 years ago for pistols cause I figure it would let me afford to shoot them and it would be fun making a boolit. Until that point, I hardly EVER shot my pistols. I couldnt afford too.

After I cast and shot a few boolits and found out that I could hit something, I was hooked. Now I shoot a few thousand rounds a year. I started casting for rifles a year ago.

Since then, I now cast about 25 different boolits, everything from a 60gr 223 - 525gr 12 gauge. I've killed many small game and varmints with MY OWN boolits and this last fall even killed my first deer with a boolit.

I'm hooked BIG time. There aint a day goes by that I'm not doing something in the reloading room, and usually its something to do with my boolits.:lovebooli

[fredj338]

early I started to shoot more for less. Most of the time lead was free in the form of WW. Then I started casting specialty bullets for my own use. As long as alloy is cheap or free, I'll continue casting my plinking bullets.

[Digger]

Blame it on the gun , had gun's all my life but got a hold of this little Keltec 40 s+w and it went down hill from there
Some how I was determined to make this gun work as it fit my hand so well , liked it's size but it did not like the standard 180 gr loads and 160s were little harder to find .
Recoil was a factor also a long with the cost for 40's , came across an ole boy at a gun show that peddled his own reloads and tried out a couple box's of his 135 gr plated ..... Wow ! much less recoil and reliability was happening , it loved them.
Could never find him again so I was determined to make it work ...... got into reloading from there and now load for all my pieces , came across this forum ..... well you all know the rest .
By the way , the little Keltec is one sweet little shooter now and the corner of my reloading room is slowly sinking into the earth with the lead that is accumulating ....:shock:

digger

[MtGun44]

I prefer cast in my pistols, and in some rifles.

Bret says "These days I'm much to busy to do much shooting," --- LOL! I have heard
this from several friends that have retired. Hope it doesn't happen to me!

Bill

[dverna]

Started in the early70's to feed a Bullseye pistol with an H&G 10 cavity. Still in college so money was tight Got a mold for my .308 as factory bullets were too expensive to "play" with.

Stopped shooting for over 15 years in my 30's and early 40's - so a long dry spell. Making up for lost time now, but no time to cast and too lazy. Lots of good commercial bullets for the pistols so no "need" to cast. Will likely start casting for accurate rifle loads just to prove I can do it.

I see the day when we may need to cast as bullets will be "regulated" or taxed excessively. Better to be prepared.

I would rather shoot than reload; and rather reload than cast. I doubt casting will never be "fun" for me. I remember those hours salvaging range lead from the back stop, mixing it with Linotype and running that 10 cavity H&G. Better ways to have fun for me.

Don Verna

[old turtle]

I started casting about 40 years ago. I did not do it much. I started to shoot highpower matches and as I am not a natural shot I had to practice a great deal. I shot 120 rounds each week end for practice. I could not do that unless I used cast bullets. Shot the matches with jacketed boolits. I then got some old rifles, 32-40, 32-20 and I was hooked. I now have 17 molds and shoot almost everything cast. It is a challenge, and that makes it interesting,

[Ohio Rusty]

I really like casting boolits. The sickness started with blackpowder boolits ... there were round balls and conicals. Maxi-ball and maxi-boolits. Then friends started to get into BP later on and they needed boolits .....
There was a long hiatus in my casting and reloading....I bet 20 years maybe ... I used a buddy's outfit and he passed away. I held onto my stuff though from when I wore a younger mans clothes. Then the sickness sprang up again in earnest !! This time it was worse than ever .... I knew it was a terminal illnesss because I bought some T/C contenders and got into CCW. So now I got into loading for shooting my ccw guns in different calibers. Then the T'C's were begging to have different boolits of different weights for hunting and plinking .... And it continues ...with more calibers and smelting of WW's ... I guess it boils down to just liking making my own stuff and the satisfaction of sharing of sharing my successes with friends.
Ohio Rusty ><>

[ChuckS1]

I started after being fed up with the cast bullets I was buying. My biggest gripe was not getting bullets sized to my older guns. It's a natural extension of handloading, plus it's fun (at least to me) to find an old Bond or Hensley mold that casts bullets that would have been available around the time my old Smiths and Colts were new. Pair the old bullet with Unique or Bullseye and I can recreate the loads that the old gun writers talked of. Living history...

[Kirk Miller]

For me, it started when store bought cast 38's went from $21 for 500 to $50 for the same amount. Once I discovered how much fun casting was and also how much pleasure I derived from shooting my home cast, the hobby exploded.

Within a years time, I'd accumulated molds for every center fire gun that I own. And so it goes. Pots, molds, progressive loaders, and "you name it" later, there's no end in sight. No,, I don't save any money, but the knowledge and friends that I've gained on this forum are priceless.
Kirk

[Von Gruff]

I was involved in cowboy action shooting some time ago and casting was as much a part of it as the shooting. Then the enjoyment factor overrode the need and I started to experiment with cast in my 7x57 and the 404 demanded a cheaper alternative to the Woodleigh j words.
Now I equate casting with both hunting and fun shooting to the extent that I need only my cast except for my 20 VarTarg. I dont see any talk of anyone doing a 20 cal mould and or casting for the same.

Von Gruff.

[krag35]

I horse traded into a 31 cal. 5shot cap and ball revolver with a mold. WAY before online shopping. the local hdw. store carried powder and caps, but no balls so I figured it out on my own. Later I could not afford to feed my pistols shooting action pistol, field pistol and handgun sillywet, so a couple of Lee molds and the die was cast. Now I cast because I can tailor a boolit to do what I want and it's pretty cool to kill and Elk with something that you made yourself. I like doing things for myself.

[prs]

I never saw it comming. It just hit me out of the blue. Wham! Next thing I knew, I was tangled up in it without hope of reprieve.

prs

[Fire_stick]

I read a post by Old Ironsights on another forum about a deer he shot with a 357 cast bullet, and I says, I want to learn to cast. He sent me here, and I cannot believe how much I have learned, and have yet to learn.

I am kind of cheap, so money was factor for me too. I hated paying more and more for jacketed bullets.

[1bluehorse]

I've been casting a long, long, long time. I'm retired and have the time to cast about all I want to. That said, if I knew where I could find cast bullets of about 12 BHN, 255 to 300 gr., sized to .452 that I could buy for 10 bucks a hundred shipped I'd never cast another bullet. Understand, I don't mind casting at all, but I would be just as happy to not ever see my Star luber, all the molds and melting pots again.. :holysheep

[danielk]

I was initially drawn to casting for the ability to economically shoot more. Now I'm just plain addicted!!!

[peerlesscowboy]

Bought myself a brand new Ruger Blackhawk .357 on the way home returning from the war in VietNam in 1968, factory swaged swc 357 ammo cost $6 a box and leaded the barrel so bad after a boxfull you could hardly see the rifling but it killed jackrabbits good, factory swaged rn 38 spl ammo cost $5 a box, shot clean but didn't flatten those big jackrabbits out like the swc 357's did. Got to reading all the stuff Elmer & Skeeter wrote and it seemed plain to me that real sixgunners cast their own so I dived in. Virtually nobody around here was casting back then not even the oldtimers so I pretty much taught myself with a little help from the Lyman Reloading Handbook and the afore mentioned Elmer & Skeeter, now I could make accurate .357's with plenty of power to knock down them big jacks that didn't lead up the barrel and what's more looked like real sixshooter ammo [smilie=w:
I don't think jacketed sixgun bullets had even been invented yet back then? They sold swaged half-jacketed bullets for reloading, I loaded a box or two of them but wasn't impressed, went back to my own castings :Fire:

[twocool4u]

I started reloading to save money, then discovered buying bullets was the single most expensive reloading component. Then I started casting to save money.

Here I am, 4 years later, a couple a thousand dollars poorer, still waiting to save money.....

Sheesh....

[XWrench3]

i got into it so i could shoot more. initially, i figured that the savings from shooting cast boolits would pay for the investment in about a year and a half. which it did. the only problem is i keep buying more casting stuff, and shooting more. so i dont know if i am ahead, or behind! really, i dont care. i am having fun, both casting and shooting. can you put a price on fun, sure. you can also put a cost on keeping a wife. but if we did, none of us would be married! and kids, forget ti. that's a loosing proposition from the very start. it just goes to prove, somethings, you can not put a price on!

[songdog53]

Got started casting for muzzle loader way back when and just carried over into my casting for my pistols. I enjoy the casting and sizing and lubing and reloading as much as shooting but then i also get to shoot lot more too so..is win win all round.

[John Guedry]

When I learned to reload, casting seemed to be the next logical step.

[bbailey7821]

I also learned from my Grampa. I always wanted to do what he did, it was just cool. I'm now passing it on to my kids, and hopefully my grandkids, one day. It's just a neat way to save money and teach young-ones something.
Loading ammo that cheaper than factory is a good thing, too!

[firefly1957]

I started casting for fishing weights (needed heavy weight for strong current) then Muzzle loading,Pistol cartridge,... and it continues almost 40 years now.

[Paladin 56]

When I first started, it was because I found an old round ball mold my dad picked up from who knows where. I found those RB's would just fit in a 20 ga. shotgun bore, so I rolled them into shotgun shells and used to see how many rounds it took to cut a tree down.

Later on, I did it for the economics since I really can't remember not reloading. I couldn't afford factory stuff and store bought bullets and figured out I could shoot more if I rolled my own bullets and ammo.

[Rich/WIS]

Started loading in the late 60's when bullets were still cheap. Used to shoot at an old gravel pit and there was a fellow there every week shooting a M1 carbine and a Ruger in 30 carbine. He cast bullets and got me interested. Might not have started but he invited me over one evening to cast some 38s for my M27 S&W, I was hooked. Moved shortly after to Maryland the local shop had a used Lyman pot and a 450 sizer/luber. Got some Lee molds for 38 and 44 (wife bought me a
M29 S&W just before we moved). Moved again to New Jersey and replaced the Lee with RCBS. While there an older fellow I worked with gave me an old Lyman-Ideal 4 cavity 38WC that he said was rusted. He was wrong, rust was dirt and crud that cleaned out of the cavities with a little JB past on a Qtip. Kept moving and adding molds and settled on a RCBS 30 cal mold and a Lyman 45 mold to round out my calibers. Also cast RB for ML rifles as well.

Was it economics, sure. I found I could shoot a lot more for less and that was a tremendous incentive. But casting was also an extension of shooting and reloading. I do reload J bullets, but only for my 243 and 06 as hunting loads, and some in 9mm for my son (don't have a mold).

[MaxJon]

I like reloading as much as shooting! I have mostly shot/reloaded rifles in fullbore competition with jacketed pills. Since the loss of our rifle range I got into pistol shooting, where reloading is completely essential due to a 600 joule ammo energy factor. Then came casting! Well that has become the most enjoyable part of reloading! Its all about the self achievement of shooting well or winning a match with your own ammo! I intend to get into IPSC (or USPCA?) so i think i will have to invest in some 6 cavity moulds! Its a warm and fuzzy feelin when those nice shiny pills fall out of the mould! [smilie=w:[smilie=w:
BB03

[HangFireW8]

I started reloading as a young single guy to afford to shoot trap more. That worked out well. When I got my first '06 it was a 5MOA shooter and handloading (and a new trigger and a glass bedding job) chopped that in half. Putting another barrel on it took care of the other half. Last time I checked, most factory ammo still shot awful in it, except for one pricey load, a Federal with some Sierra bullets. I am pretty sure that particular one is not made any more, at least not by Federal.

I always figured I'd get into casting some day when I had more time to practice with my 45. So, I started collecting all I needed at yard sales. One fine Winter day, I realized I had all I needed and started pouring my own.

I'm not rich but I could afford to buy jacketed, or even loaded ammo, especially if I wasn't spending so much on reloading and casting. I'd never get the group sizes or quantity of shooting I do now, though.

[DIRT Farmer]

Started reloading in the early 60s to feed a bolt action 20 ga Mossburg shotgun. Lee loader, powder wads shot and primers kept me broke from the typical farm boy jobs, putting up hay and catching chickens in the broiler houses. We cast sinkers and when I built my first M/L rifle in the mid sixties, I bought a mould and cast for it, The pistol was a natural, and when I found a match that required a military rifleand cast bullets it was on.

[dk17hmr]

Couldnt afford to shoot my 1911 in college if I didnt do something, so I got an iron pot from my grandpa bought a cheap lee mold, got some lead from tire shop, and used my dads coleman camp stove....

[fecmech]

A friend back in the late 60's brought some single action Colts out to my house, a .45 and .357 to let me shoot. I was hooked big time and as a young ,man starting out did not have much money and the friend was a caster. The rest is history. The funny thing is that by casting my own bullets I always felt like I was "getting away with something". It was so easy,so much fun, lead was everywhere for the asking. I have no idea how many pistol rounds I've shot over the years, well over 100kmaybe 200k not sure but I've only bought 3 or 4 boxes of factory centerfire pistol ammo and 1 box of .243 rifle ammo in my life. When I look at some of the prices for hand gun ammo in catalogs and it's north of a dollar a shot I just shake my head. I could not even pull the trigger on dollar a shot ammo! What a waste, that dollar will buy about 40 primers and with 2 more of those shots I've got about a hundred rounds of cast loaded!
Casting, reloading and shooting are all great hobbies that keep your mind and body engaged in a worthwhile way IMO.

[koehn,jim]

I cast because I collect old military rifles mostly german and english. If I dont cast I can not get them to shoot good enough groups. I have several rifles that only get condoms because thats what they shoot best. i have also found that I enjoy the challenge of making a good bullet and than loading it and shooting a good group. Help me this is addicting.

[Smoke-um if you got-um]

In the early 70's I was given the equipment from a friend of my Dad's. It was very primitive but served the purpose. Consisted of of an old Coleman stove, a small cast iron pot, a bunch of solid green lube sticks that were sticky as snot, a mold for .358 double end wadcutters, RCBS 38 Special dies, a pound of Bullseye and a pound of Red Dot. It had what looked like an old gravy ladle with a homemade wood handle on it. The ladle also served as the ingot maker. Gave me about 100? pounds of WW ingots. Instructed me for about 15 minutes on how to flux the mix and finger lube the bullets with the green snot that also did duty as the flux. My wife and I were poor as a couple of paupers during those days and his generosity allowed me to shoot thousands of rounds as well as sell a few to friends. It was most certainly a matter of economics for me. As I've made my way I try to be generous with new or less fortunate shooters of all ages. I cast now because it gives me satisfaction to do so and a way to relax with a little "private time" to myself.

Mike

[arcticbreeze]

I started casting for economic reasons but it soon evolved into a hobby in itself. I then found I could get better results than store bought and the ability to customize boolit, load, alloy, ect. I have not shot anything but my own cast boolits for quite a while now. It becomes an addiction for some (me included). There is something to be said for doing it all your self. I felt more pride taking my first cast boolit small boar than a trophy buck with a wizbang copper pellet.

Marc

[44fanatic]

I started reloading and within two months was looking into casting. This was due to haveing a M1Carbine and a RSBH 44Mag and not being able to find cheap ammo. Still picking up more powder, primers and lead and not making it to the range that much.

[thegreatdane]

Believe it or not, I started casting before I started reloading.

[cephas53]

Seemed like a good idea at the time, but found I really enjoy it.

[*Paladin*]

Neither. I got into it as it was a natural extension of reloading and made me even more self-reliant so far as my firearms and components were concerned.

:coffee:

Precisely why I got into casting. Now saving money (vast majority of my lead was free) is definately a good thing, but mostly I'm a do-it-yourselfer and so ever since I started reloading years ago I said someday I'll cast my own. Took a lot of years for me to start, but now I'm hooked on casting!:cbpour:

[Ilwil]

I ran the linotype pot in a large daily newspaper when I was attending university in the early 70s. It was hard work, but pouring those hundreds of 20lb pigs was hypnotizing, and I enjoyed that job more than any other I had in those years. I starting bullet casting in the late 80s as it seemed a natural thing to resume pouring lead. It's definitely a hobby, but I have shot a lot more than I ever would otherwise, and I have some calibres I haven't bought commercial rounds for in 25 years; the brass just goes on and on.

[Hastings]

Many if not most of the richest self-made people got that way partly because of frugality, and that should be a lesson irregardless of income level. There's also the satisfaction of being self-sufficient. Often it's culturally influenced too. The biggest homes in our area are owned by Italians in the construction industry *cough*, *cough*. They turn their huge backyards into vineyards, illegally raise chickens, make their own wine, grow their own zucchini, make environmentally controlled sheds to cure their own homemade salami, etc. They are multimillionaires, yet do everything themselves. I like that attitude.

[Iowa Fox]

Recluse
Ill-Tempered Texan








Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: The United States of Texas
Posts: 2,769 Neither. I got into it as it was a natural extension of reloading and made me even more self-reliant so far as my firearms and components were concerned.

I got into it for the same reason recluse states. Sure has been fun along the way.
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[patsher]

I got into it after I caught the SHTF fever from our son. I knew I had more time than he to reload, so i decided I'd get set up to reload for all his stuff as well as ours. Then I decided if things really got bad, the two things I might not be able to buy would be bullets and primers. So started buying up primers and boolit molds for all our stuff. Then found out I LIKED it! So-- more molds, more lead, more brass, more presses ......

[nanuk]

I started cause no one else was doing it and it sounded interesting

due to my job, I had to quit for many years

I am now in a place where I can get back into it..... simple cause it is different and not many others are doing it

and it does open up many options