Hello and First Time Casting

[Vaiger]

Hello from Middle TN. I just signed up for the Forum, but I have been lurking for quite a while gaining useful information. This has been my primariy source of information for getting started casting. I picked up a cast iron dutch oven for $15 at a flea market to go with my turkey fryer. I picked up some free WW's and casted them into ingots in stainless steel condiment cups from Walmart. A respirator is in my future for next time I do that!

I was looking to get into this on the cheap, so I bought the Lee 4# pot for around $25, a ladle and a Lee 9mm 125gr mold and went to casting last weekend. Man, it was as much fun as I anticipated. That little Lee pot heated up quickly and recovered quickly when I added more lead. I have my first burn mark and I did find out that having your safety gear on the table next to you really does not count. I learned my lesson there.

I hear you can often shoot the 9mm's from the lee dies unsized. I have not bought sizing dies yet and need to figure that part out.

Man, I think I am really getting addicted to this. Outside of boolits, a buddy has some toy soldier molds and we will probably cast those in the next week or two. I am dying to cast a chess set as well, but dies are a little pricey. Probably later this year on the chess set.

In short, thank you guys for the wealth of knowledge you have here. It has me off to a great start in what looks to be a life long hobby.

[Shiloh]

Welcome to the forum.

I have three 9mm molds. Only one falls big enough to work . That is the LEE 125 gr RN.
See what they mike at. Mine are sub <.358 and get run through a .358 sizer.
It barely touches the wide part of the boolit. Those boolits would work fine TL'd and fired as is.

You need to see what works best for your particular pistol. .358 may or may not work.

Shiloh

[Wayne Smith]

Forget the respirator - you will never keep it on in the hot weather. Learn to stand upwind when smelting!

[Blammer]

Where in Middle TN?

[Bullet Caster]

Welcome to the forum Vaiger. A wealth of information exists here. Most of the time all ya have to do is ask. Casting boolits can and will be adictive so now you'll be hooked forever. I'm new to casting also and have had 2 casting sessions. My first run were .45 255 grain for my Colt .45 clone and the second session I made mostly 9mm boolits from Lee .356 124 grain Tumble Lube. My boolits are hard enough for loading now since it's been since Nov. that I cast 'em. I've reloaded a few .30-06 for testing. Now if I could just come by some pistol powder. Learn all ya can.

Where at in TN are ya? I'm very near Pigeon Forge.

[Vaiger]

I am located just outside of Murfreesboro.

[Grandpas50AE]

Welcome Vaiger. I've been at it for almost four decades, and have learned much here since I joined in August. I have becomed excited again about casting becausde of what I've learned here, but have always enjoyed this extra hobby (shooting is primary). If you're like many of us, yes, it will be a lifelong expense...er, hobby.

[williamwaco]

I have 7 lee molds. All but the .357 Mag drop bullets small enough to shoot without sizing. The 9mm is actually too small even without sizing. The .357 drops bullets at about .360 to .361.

If you can, measure them. If not load a few and see if you can chamber them. If you can chamber them they are not too large to shoot without sizing.

Try them before spending money on sizing dies. My rule is use what you have. Buy new stuff only when what you have doesn't work.

Welcome aboard.


.

[GP100man]

Welcome to :cbpour: & yes I`m an addict , have been since`83.

Find some tin to cast yur soldiers & chess peices , lead does`nt need to be ingested , but I have slept with a peice or 6 !

Put a fan to the side to blow fumes away, wear gloves &glasses !

Everytime I cast before it`s over at some point I say "Damn that`s hot !!"

Wish I had some input for 9mm but I don`t except shoot as big a boolit as ya can chamber reliably. An old caster told me that yrs. ago but it still works !!!

[Vaiger]

Welcome to :cbpour: & yes I`m an addict , have been since`83.

Find some tin to cast yur soldiers & chess peices , lead does`nt need to be ingested , but I have slept with a peice or 6 !



Yeah, I am planning on using pewter. We actually have a couple of pewter plates and a pewter cup or two that just might go missing.....

[45-70 Chevroner]

I hope you are not planning on using the soldiers or chess peices as is to cast boolits. They are probably mostly "tin" use them to add to the wheel weight lead or pure lead as an additive to make the mold fill out better. Tin is very expensive. It only takes about 1 to 2 ounces in your 10 pound pot to accomplish this.

[fcvan]

I started casting boolits as a kid with my dad. We had Saeco 20 miles down the road (they've since moved from Carpenteria) and so most of the first casting equipment was from them.

When I first started casting my own as an adult, I bought Lee molds and still do. My first was the 125 RN for 9mm. I pan lubed (at first) and even purchased on of their push through sizers and lube cutters. Before I eventually purchased a Lyman lubrisizer I was pan lubing and shooting as is. My S&W 459 liked them just like that. I then purchased their 105 SWC which is actually a .38 boolit. Thats when I found out my 9mm mold was casting the same diameter as the larger .38 sized mold. Again, my S&W 459 just liked them.

There are lots of very knowledgeable folks here from whom I have learned plenty, even though I've been casting since the 70s. Seating the boolit can 'size' the boolit. If the boolit as cast is slightly out of round, seating and crimping may correct some of that. If the boolit is within .001 (they usually are) the forcing cone or chamber throats will take care of that. If the boolit is too small, and the pressure is sufficient, the boolit will bump up to size.

Disclaimer statement: oversized boolits can cause dangerous pressures, undersized boolits can cause leading, poor accuracy. Read, study, follow advice, learn from your own experiences. (preceding message included as a credibility disclaimer :) )

Having said that, I may finally have worn out that 125 RN Lee mold, albeit after over 500,000 rounds cast. The screw for the sprue plate stripped. I plan on drilling, tapping, and bringing it back to life. Sure, at 20 bucks I could just replace it as I have already expended more effort than 20 bucks worth of my time. Its the principal of the thing. I don't have the S&W 459 anymore, but I'm NOT getting rid of the mold. *sniff, sniff* it's personal. Whenever I cast, I use two molds, and that mold is generally one of them. Frank

[MtGun44]

. . . . because the mold isn't clean enough and the lead is too cool. :bigsmyl2:


They are leading because they are too small diameter and too hard.

:kidding:

Just jumping ahead to your next couple of posts.

Please, no offense, you haven't done anything wrong, I'm just having a bit of fun.

I think we need to require this be written 100 times on the blackboard by each
new caster. ;-)

Bill

[sqlbullet]

MtGun44, you are onto something there. We should spam each new user once an hour for a week with a welcome email that reminds them about mold cleaning, mold temp and the importance of slugging and fit of the boolit.

Vaiger, welcome! Used to vacation in Crossville many years ago. Love Tennessee.

[Vaiger]

I hope you are not planning on using the soldiers or chess peices as is to cast boolits. They are probably mostly "tin" use them to add to the wheel weight lead or pure lead as an additive to make the mold fill out better. Tin is very expensive. It only takes about 1 to 2 ounces in your 10 pound pot to accomplish this.

Actually, I was not going to cast soldiers into bullets.......but actually cast soldiers and chess pieces with the kids. I know that is a foreign thought here......why would you cast something you're not going to shoot, right??:)

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

[45-70 Chevroner]

Actually, I was not going to cast soldiers into bullets.......but actually cast soldiers and chess pieces with the kids. I know that is a foreign thought here......why would you cast something you're not going to shoot, right??:)

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

A little missunderstanding there on my part.
I think anytime you spend with you kids is is a great thing, and teaching them to cast soldiers or boolits is an education that will last them a life time, and hopefully keep them out of trouble. I have cast a few soldiers my self. I am in the process of teaching some of my grand kids to cast and reload. Good luck either way.