Who got you into this mess?

[twoworms]

Today I ordered three more boolit molds.

There is no end in sight for this boolit casting thing. I got into casting for one handgun (500 S&W) and one only, somehow that has not worked out.

I will have over 10 molds, with more in mind next time I order.

Send your spare WW and money to my home address, I need help with this sickness. [smilie=1:

Who got me into this mess? Thats a good question, I think I would have to blame more than one person. Hackleback is one, yeah you know the guy. The other one works at a gun store, he got me thinking about casting. When my back hurts from moving buckets of WW and fingers hurt from a burn or two, I think them. I also think well of them, for I would have never fired my 4" 500 S&W over 900 shots without casting boolits for it, nor would I have had a reason to get to know the good folks in this web site. :)

Tim

[kodiak1]

twoworms sounds like you caught the virus!!!
Look out it gets really bad from here on in. Don't forget it is contagous too.
Got my first mould with a muzzle loader 45 Cal. Started with that and have 2 2 1/2 gallon Milk pails full of the damn things. Lubricaters, Top Punches, Sizer Dies, Lead Hardness Testers, T Meters and more stuff to numerous to mention.
Ssit back and enjoy it.
Good Casting Ken.

[madcaster]

My oldest brother,hey,there WERE 14 of us ya know-and he seemed to be the best outdoorsman.....

[threett1]

Hey twoworms, if you feel the need to bail out, just bring your stuff up here to Lawson and drop them off. That way you can see how "sick" I have become too.:roll:

[Hackleback]

Do you want a waaa burger with all those french cries!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


You have to keep in mind that this is tha same guy that called me up today saying that he was going to put in an order to Midway asking if I need anything, then went on to convince me that I needed two different moulds for the 45-70 pinker project that I am currently working on!!!!!!!!!!


All in good fun!!

[twoworms]

Thats the guy?

:Fire: Hackleback,


I'll bring your molds by Monday afterwork. :drinks:

Have fun casting your/our new 45-70 plinking boolit... [smilie=1:

Got lead?

Tim

P.S. Thanks for your help on my casting projects.

[NVcurmudgeon]

My good friend, and later father-in-law, who died way too young. I have one of his rifles, a 311291 mould, and some dies and cartridge boxes with labels in his handwriting, as if I needed any reminders. Gordon got me started casting with a Coleman stove over forty years ago.

[9.3X62AL]

Mostly, I have myself to blame. Lack of decent component bullets in 32 S&W Long got me started, and the success with those critters got me to expand into 38/357, then 45 ACP, and on to 30-30.......now look at me. Sheesh!

[45 2.1]

Paying for that first box of factory centerfire ammunition.

[LAH]

When I purchased my first box of .358 wadcutter bullets I said I can't afford to load ammo if I have to do that. Seems they were a buck fifty........Creeker

[arkypete]

I place the blame on Elmer Keith and Skeeter. They be the ones who tempted me in a weak moment.
Jim

[Hayfield]

Pap was a farmer and would cast bullets for his 94 30-30 from anything he could melt in the forge. I don't remember him missing any thing he shot at. Dad was a steelworker/farmer and he took it a step further, he would cast from lead pipe only. I'm a mechanic/farmer and i inhereted this affliction honestly. Pap was frugal, dad was thrifty and my X said I was just cheap. The kids got educated and have become citified, not much interest in the farming or the casting.

[monadnock#5]

I've enjoyed shooting and hunting since I was a kid. Reloading was a natural extension of my passion once I decided that I should buy and own guns for my personal use. During those early years I bought a S&W 25-5 that I couldn't get to shoot straight. Somewhere along the the way I read an article that stated that S&W had made the 25-5 with a .456 groove diameter. In a world where all the manufacturers made .451 and .452 bullets, where was I supposed to find .456's? Cast boolits was the only way to go. And so here I am, still trying to learn something new. I only wish I had known about beagleing back then.

Ken

[Diamond-City-Bob]

Cousin gave me a .45/.45ACP Blackhawk for my B'day. Bought a box of cartridges and went into almost fatal sticker shock. It's been a steep downhill slide on a slick road ever since. Heck I've been known to buy guns to match up with molds I pick up for cheap.
Bob

[Leftoverdj]

Nobody to blame but me, although if I really stretched, I could blame a cousin with a lead soldier mould. My first casting was done with that, and a few years later I borrowed a sinker mould. When I started buying guns, buying moulds with them was the natural thing to do although it was years before I met anyone else interested in casting.

[wiljen]

My grandfather gave me my start in casting years ago. He passed away when I was less than a teen. I wish he'd been around a lot longer as I'm sure I could have learned much more. I still have one of his ingots cast in a corn ear mold on my loading bench as a reminder of him.

[Kraschenbirn]

Started casting when I was participating in CW reenactments. Bought a Lee SC mould for a .58 Minie' Ball because all I could buy locally were round balls and they didn't shoot all that well in my (replica) 1861 Remington Rifled Musket. Worked so well that, the next thing I knew, I'd added a 2-cavity mould for .44 conicals and was casting boolits for our entire battery. Next came IHMSA and I started casting for smokeless because I didn't want to pay premium prices for the heavy FMJs specifically designed for knockin' over steel. After that, it just became sort of automatic...acquire another gun...pick up a mold or two to go with it.

Bill

[pumpguy]

I have to thank (blame) Dr. A. He had talked to me about it for a couple of years prior to me trying it. The wives were upstairs and we went outside. I started casting with him and his son and I have not been right since!!

[corvette8n]

Handloader magazine and an account at Midway usa, ( I get the C&R discount)

[Sundogg1911]

I started with a Lee 2 Cavity 230 RN for .45 ACP and a 20 pound lee bottom drip. :-D Last check I have 5 casting pots, 3 Star Sizing presses with options, a Lyman 450, Master Caster, 8 Ingot molds, over 40 Bullet molds, A big casting bench in my "Bullet Barn" complete with a range hood. I don't know who to blame for this. I actually started doing it to save some money. No im just in search of the perfect bullet!
I started out casting with 2 friends. they both got voted off the island and I ended up buying their molds and stuff. One of the Guys is too bust tying flies. (He had the same theory for bullets as He did making jig heads...."those are good enough" ) We have a Bullets for bugs trade once a year. :drinks: The other guy changes hobbies more often than I change underwear. I think this year He's into paintball. Last year it was RC cars. I think it's just one of those things that I really enjoy doing, and have no idea why. I used the excuse that I was saving money. I have too much money in equipment to still say that. I think that I just can't see paying for something that I can make myself (Better) :-D

[lurch]

My father got me my start. He and I would go shoot cast 38 wadcutters for fun. I go started reloading those, and then casting them after a litlle instruction. Got a 44 after college and a couple of molds for it and was casting for that with his pot & sizer. Then I moved away and didn't have the equipment readily available and no real range handy so it went by the wayside for a few years. I have recently started shooting a good bit more and the bug has bitten again. I bet I have more lead stashed than he does at this point - though nowhere even remotely resembling enough...

[twoworms]

Guys, it looks like we all have folks to Thank.

I picked up three molds today, two for my 45 LC, and one 354gr 50cal for my plinking hand gun. Hackleback even gave me some 200gr 8mm sized with GC's to load, Thanks Hackleback.

Looks like I have some work/play time ahead.

Got lead?

Tim :drinks:

[boommer]

it's a sickness bottom line !!!!!! don't blame anybody you did it to yourself be a big man suck it up just get out the VISA AND JOIN THE REST OF US !! THEN ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS PAY THE MEDICAL BILL AT NEXT BILLING

[Dale53]

I was VERY young, just barely a teen ager (12 or 13) and at the vulnerable age, I chanced to read Elmer Keith's book, "Sixgun Cartridges and Loads". I was ruined. I was addicted as fast as they say Crack Addicts occur...

That was nearly sixty years ago, and I have spent a near lifetime of reading nearly everything connected to casting and reloading. I have personally tried nearly everything and nearly every caliber out there. It has been a long, happy, and very personal journey.

As YOU bear witness, it is a life long SPORT. Try that with basketball, I dare you!!

Dale53

[Hackleback]

It is adictive, as most hobbies are. I have about 15 moulds and I picked a couple more last might. I am to that point (like many here) were I am buying moulds for guns I do not have, but I have an intirest in. Miday is an easy drive from my home and work, so like two fingers, I do the customer pick up. It is hard to put in a small order and get out of there for under $100. Always something else you need.

[medic44]

I'm addicted to. I started to save money. Now casting is as fun as shooting. Only problem is theat I can't find enough cheap lead. I got my 18 y/o son and my 22 y/o daughter addicted now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bent Ramrod]

I think there's a gene with a lead atom trapped in the center. And I have it. My Dad was indifferent to guns, although he had a few, and Mom was positively against them. I remember reading the gun sections of Sports Afield and other magazines in barber shops as a kid waiting for a haircut. Once in a while, there'd be an article that mentioned that bullets were cast from lead; the Davy Crockett furore on TV reinforced this knowledge.

Along the way, I gathered a few wheel weights, some Christmas lead icicles and some type from one of those home printing sets and succeeded in melting it in a tablespoon. But that was just the slippery slope. One fateful day I found the frame of some kind of motor armature that had been drilled in spots for balance. I managed to smash the thing in half right through the deepest hole and tie it together again with wire. I remelted the lead, poured it into the hole, took the armature apart again and, as the French say, "Vi-ola!!" It looked sorta like a boolit!

And I've never looked back.:mrgreen:

[johnho]

I would like to thank the owner of Star bullets. I had just gotten into Bullseye shooting and spent untold hours of loading all types of bullets, powders, different weights of both etc etc. Testing and testing for accuracy. Even bought a Ransom Rest for all this. Then he announces he is going out of business. Damn. Now I have to do this crap all over again.

Said no. Started reading and finding this site and decided to buy a H&G 68 and 50 mold. Quickly found the magic of all this. Then a H&G 130. Then a Seaco 382. Then a 311291. Then an H&G 55s for 380 (that was in the heat of the moment). Then-well you guys all know where this goes.

Wish I had done this 4 years ago when i got into shooting but didn't realize how popular it was then. Now I get all the free lead I can carry from my local range and have 2200 pounds in the garage in cute little ingots of fish and corn bread (that's another story however). Need more. Wife says I have compulsive disorder whatever that is.

Thanks Star Bullets.

John

[Murphy]

Skeeter Skelton is who I lay the blame on for the most part.

Seems I was always reading Skeeters stuff and he kept mentioning this boolit he really liked, Ray Thompsons #358156. There were other boolits he would ocassionally mention along the way as well, some fella named Keith that had designed his own boolit and it was doing quite well.

That was a 1/4 of a Century ago. The only place to find cast boolits for sale, was in gun magazines or Shotgun News. And nobody offered Skeeter's favorite boolit. There were Keith 'style' boolits offered in some, but none were any where near the real deal.

I'd have to go out to the shop to count the molds, I 'think' I have no less than 5 lead pots. A short lived career in trying to sell cast boolits in a tri-state area and a Magma caster have gone by. I still use the Star sizer and have a Lyman as well.

And yes... good ole STICKER SHOCK will cause you to walk out the door of any place that sells factory amunition 'Happy' that you have all that money tied up in casting gear at home.

I am a full blown cast boolit addict, and I DON'T care to be cured. I'm already a member of two 12 Step programs with 18 years in each one. I know the path to freedom from my addictions, and I ain't gonna get cured from casting....EVER.

I just edited this post, no less than 20 seconds after posting it...I swear I can close my eyes and smell molten lead waffing up nasal passages.

Murphy

[jerrold]

Have wanted to own an 45 cal. Sharps for 40 years or more. Fineally got one. Going the black powder, home made lube and self cast bullets route.:drinks: So far just one mold but sure there will be more.
life is short
jerrold

[Coastie]

I grew up in a family of hunters, reading Sports Afield, Field & Stream, and NRA magazines. Dad taught me how to melt lead (for cast iron pipe), a cousin taught me how to reload shotgun hulls, an uncle gave me a box of 32 Winchester Special boolits (for my first "big rifle") that he made up himself. I bought a Mec Jr., then a Lee Loader, then a Lyman #311291 for my next "big rifle", and then.....................
& then........& then.....................and then you know how it goes from there.

[RugerFan]

Back in the late 80s I was a young Private in the Army. My first duty station was Ft Wainwright, Alaska. There was a public range just outside of Fairbanks where you could shoot out to 500 yards. My Platoon Sergeant at the time was an avid hand loader, bullet caster, and basement gunsmith. With his tutelage I began hand loading first J-bullets and soon was casting bullets for my .44 mag BH with the cheapest stuff around: Lee mold, pot, ladle, and cookie cutter pan lubing. My kitchen stove burner was my heat source.

[Bigjohn]

Me, myself and I.

And maybe Fess Parker aka Daniel Boone.

I started with RB for M/L's and progressed to conical for cartridge.

I never did get myself a Coon skin hat.

John.

[Beau Cassidy]

I started casting as a novelty with an RCBS .44 SWC mold about 12 years ago. I do it now out of independance and pride. It ain't about cost anymore- its gonna take a hundred years to amortize the cost of my molds! It just floats my boat when I can take my bullets and shoot the pants off folks at a bullseye match or shoot a deer with a bullet I designed, had the mold made, and cast. Some folks just will never understand the pride in doing that.

[Wayne Smith]

I can't blame anyone, I did it all to myself. Started with casting roundballs for the C&B revolvers and then for the 40-70BN Sharps and it snowballed from there.

[3sixbits]

It all started for me with the old Belding & Mull reloading manual from 1949. I was about the same age as the manual when I started to cast bullets (age 10) Lyman mold for the 32-20 bullet, 310 Lyman tong tool, push through sizer die (hand held) and a round cake tin for pan lube. Old Colt single action 32-20 that had a nasty habit of keyholing bullets. Made my dippers for powder from old empty brass and a drop of solder to hold the bit of bailing wire Handel on. LIFE WAS GOOD!!!! I know that I have more than 100,000.00 bucks tied up in all the gear today. It has never been as much fun as when I was learning it all for the first time, and enjoying making due with my own head and hands. I have had the good life and been able to do what ever I wanted with firearms. Now all I want to do is help the next guy along the path, show the way to that kid out there that has that same burning inside him that I had. That is the greatest joy I get today is showing the way.

[Redleg99]

Who got me into this mess?
RugerFan did!
Well, him and a mutual friend of ours who shoots BPRC.

[Maven]

Who got me into this mess? First, I built a Revell Colt's 1851 Navy (plastic) kit in the late '50's as I was fascinated with revolvers, especially the percussion and 1873 Colts. Second, in 1970, I worked in the sporting goods dept. (extensive) of a Woolworth's outside of Phila. (Neshaminy Mall). We carried rifles, pistols and later, BP revolvers. I purchased a 1851 Navy repro. there and a Ly. RB mold, ladle and pot, powder flask and powder from a nearby gunshop. Money was tight then: Neither my wife nor I had begun our teaching careers yet. (This was 1970.) That would happen 2 mo's. later. The gunshop told me of a local "range," a farm pasture with a herd of cows nearby, where I took my first shots (home cast RB's on a gas stove). The good news is that I loved it. The bad news is that I couldn't hit the target as I didn't know at that time that open top revolvers shot high. I eventually swapped that revolver for a Mossberg .22 semi-auto, but didn't begin reloading until 1982...for a 8 x 57mm Mau. Casting for HP rifles began in 1984, but I'm not sure what gave me the idea (a Lyman publication?) and hasn't stopped since.

[twoworms]

Out of almost 3000 members, only 39 post. Hmmmm? Are we the only people who read and post?

Tim

P.S. Got a new mold again, it cast 308+ grain WW boolits and is for my BlackHawk in 45LC. Hackleback is to blame for this, as he got me looking at 45LC molds.

[melw]

I did it all to myself. First try was over 20 years ago. Did not have much luck.
I found this site and with the cost of just buying them (.45 SWC)going up. Not to mention how hard lead any thing is getting to find here in the peoples republic of california. :-?
Now I have a pile of pretty boolits just wating to be sized and lubed.:mrgreen:
Help me I am shurly doomed.:bigsmyl2:
Mel W.

[ktw]

Same story as Johnho.

I started shooting cast by buying them from LAH (Dry Creek). Found a bullet and load that I liked. Then LAH stopped casting commercially. In order to feed the revolver I had to start making them myself.

I started out by collecting up lead first, to see if the project was going to be viable. I succeeded in stacking up over 3,000 lbs for very little outlay in about 6 months of intermittent scrounging. Then I _had_ to get into it, if for no other reason than to dispose of all that lead.

Handguns and muzzleloaders at first. Now starting to work with cast in the rifles, too.

-ktw

[Bret4207]

I was a gunsmiths kid. I had seen about everything in the way of guns and reloading by the time I left for the USMC at 18, or so I thought. Dad died while I was away and someplace I came upon a Book called "Sixguns" by Uncle Elmer. That was followed by the aquisition of a Navy Arms Siamese Mauser in 45-70. Boy, I sure wish I still had that one. Shortly thereafter I ran out of my 20 round box of 405 factory 45-70. At the same time I ran out of 32-20 fodder. I read Elmer again and then I read Phil Sharpe and found an old pile of Handloader Mags and I still had no boolits. Messrs. Lyman and Lee solved part of the problem with moulds I had never noticed before found in Dads shop. After that it was an easy step to finding an old pot, a spoon, and my kitchen stove. I won the running deer comp that weekend with my first cast 45-70 loads. The 32-20 was actually my first casting and loading, but success eluded me there for a bit. I little thing called a gas check would have helped that first 311316. After that came a 358156HP, then a Green Mtn round ball mould for the .54 Mtn Gun. Then a friend found a 311284 and a 285 Louverin. It was coming along slowly. I found a RCBS Luber, my friend joined the CBA and I found Frank Marshalls writings. Then came EBAY! Hook, line and sinker boys.

Mind you all this took from 1978 to now. I know I left a lot out, but it came down to wanting to shoot more, not having money, reading guys like Elmer, Skeeter, Phil, Earl, Frank and so on. Today there are over 100 lbs of moulds, many of them aluminum, in my shop. There's over 1000 lbs of ingots, several hundred of cast and sized, more of unsized booilts just waiting for me. I'm doing something for myself thats relaxing and enjoyable and I haven't even started to "figure it all out" yet.

[hivoltfl]

My Dad and next door neighbor got me into this at 14, local police department had a 50 foot indoor range that they shot at once a week, low velocity handguns only allowed,wish I had my dads 38 and 1911 back but my worthless(at the time) older brother got them. Reloading and casting was done at the neighbors house on the kitchen table with very little ventilation, only when the pot was fluxed would they kick on a fan and open the back door, This is where I learned what a drop of sweat would do to a full pot of hot lead, still have a scar on my leg agout the size of a half dollar. As I recal their favorite 38 load was 1/2 gr bullseye and a 158 grain wadcutter, shot good at 50 feet.

Rick

[SharpsShooter]

Many years ago, I started by casting 44’s for my father so that he could shoot PPC with a 6” model 29 Smith that had been trigger slicked and sported a set of Bill Jordan combat grips. Then the game turned into a “who has the most expensive gun with a stovepipe for a barrel.” Game and we stopped participating. So I guess I started there. Casting went on a shelf so to speak for perhaps 7-8 years until one afternoon at Moodyhollers folks place. He was working on his latest muzzleloader and he enlisted me to cast up some 16ga round ball for his flintlock trade gun. Using his dad’s 10-pound Lee pot and the brass mould I produced quite a few that afternoon. I have that trade gun and mould now. He gave it to my son for him to use when he gets a bit bigger. Later on down the road Moodyholler gave me a 10# Lee drip-a-matic and a Lee 450gr mould for my several 45-70’s. I guess he got tired of me robbing him of cast boolits when I would visit. I should have been suspicious of his seemingly generous gift, but all too late I figured it out. He just wanted someone to cast for him. I know this is true, as I have cast several thousand boolits of various calibers for him in the past couple of years. Moodyholler is also responsible for me finding this board. He told me there was a wealth of knowledge here and he was not mistaken. From the members here I have learned new things and been reminded of casting lore that had been long forgotten. I have watched the board grow and the expanse of knowledge grow along with it and I hope in some small way I have helped someone along as they got started. This is my 1000th post and all I can say is it is good to be along for the ride.


SS


It is all your fault Moodyholler................thanks amigo.:-D

[MT Gianni]

Sarah Brady, sbout 1991 or so when primers, and bullets got scarce and we all loaded up on enough to hunt if we had to I thought, wait I like to shoot too. It was time to start casting like I had been interested in for a few years. Gianni

[buck1]

My dad and grandfather were both casters. I wanted nothing to do with it. I loved to shoot but I saw cast as second rate antique. Then I bought a 444 marlin and couldnt buy a bullet I liked. So I set up to cast just for that gun and relized how stupid I had been!!!I now have 4 bottom pours, 3 large cast iron melters, two sizers, 2 tons of ALLOY, tens of pounds of homemade lubes, and never enugh molds!!
Once again dad was right! But I must add ALL you guys have tought me so much it has kept kept the fire lit well!!!...................Buck

[44man]

I can only say one thing! I knew guys that worked all of their life without a hobby. They retired, sat in front of the boob tube until they died. I am still kicking! Was it because of the hundreds of hobbies? I think so! I don't have much money but the days are not dull. Not a second goes by when I am not thinking about some boolit or load or model airplane or bow or one of my dogs or one of you great guys.
It makes my day to come here and read and post things. I say, never quit, keep going and enjoy life.
Happy Easter to all of you!

[leftiye]

44 Man, Right Arm! I'll drink to that! Way to go!

[dnepr]

44aman you hit the nail on the head in my opinion Hobbies keep life interesting and they are like a workout program fo the mind thay will keep the old grey matter in tune.

[Navahojoe]

I started casting and tying crappie jigs for fishing. Happened to buy a Super RedHawk .44 Mag. I went into sticker shock over a box of ammo for it. $23.00 for 20 rounds. I couldn't take it. Already had a Lee Bottom Pour Pot for the fishing jigs. Went on line searching for information, found the Cast Bullet Association,and became member. Then bought a mold for the .44 and was hooked. Later found Cast siteand have been at it ever since. I now cast for, load, and shoot four different pistols. Almost gave up fishing for it, but soon realized that I loved that hobby also. Call me a multi-talented caster.:-D
regards,

NavahoJoe

:castmine: so I can :Fire:

[Nardoo]

Just come in from the yard where I have a gallon of rifle lube bubbling on the double boiler. My wife says it smells and has offered some scented oils for the brew. There are a dozen 45/70 targets on the bench from yesterday to interperet and I can see 3 45/70 rifles standing in the corner waiting for cleaning.

My shed has become a lead mine and even my mother-in-law buys old pewter for me to melt. I am selling off the cast-unfriendly rifles and replacing them with guns chambered for straight walled cases.

I even buy molds for calibres I do not own then start looking for a rifle to match.

I got it bad.

Nardoo.

[wickerbill]

Got started reloading in 78 and not long after that, the man that own the range where I shot got me started casting bullets. He was a retired Navy cheif, that spent twenty+ years on the navy skeet and pistol teams. I would sit there for hours at his casting bench and lissin to his stories. He tought me alot about pistol shooting and boolit casting. He's also the one who gave me this nickname. Been casting my own boolits ever sence but just found this board. Found it mention on sixguners board and from what I've seen, I\m glad I did.
Bill

[buck1]

WELCOME wickerbill !!!

[cropcirclewalker]

I started stocking up primers when der schluckmeister was prez. I was planning on trading a tray of large pistols for a loaf of bread when SHTF. Boolit moulds seemed to be a likely extension. Thousands of rounds later........

We pretend it's economy but $58.00 for a fatter 30 mould that I have shot maybe 300 rounds of. That's like $.20 per round.

O'course, where can a guy buy a 195 gr. boolit that drops at .317 so that I can size it at .315?

Ain't gonna happen.

I hope I live long enough to shoot up all the boolits I have cast. 64 now, but I have a 7 year old grandson and he just shot my '94 a couple of weeks ago with some homecast 31141s and 9 gr. of Red Dot.

If only his parents weren't school teachers. :confused:

Hey Mr. 44man, I do RC sailplanes and electrics. Hi, Ho. I don't think I get to retire but I have plenty of plans if I do.

[dk17hmr]

I can only blame myself and everyone on this forum.

I bought my 1911 last year, I figured I would try some cast bullets so I bought 500 SWC's, after those ran out in about 2 weeks I bought a box of 100 XTP hollow points for twice the money and I still have 1/2 a box left.

I talked my grandpa into giving me his old sinker casting set up, pot and ladle, I bought 1 45 caliber mold. 3000 rounds later of cast 45 ACP, I now have molds in .30, 357, 44, 452, 457, and 50 caliber, a bottom pour pot and 2 tire shops that I trade sinkers for WW's, and a radiator shop I trade sinkers for tin.

Now only my 223's, 243, and 25-06 are the only rifle that see a j-bullet, well and my Garand because my dad bought me a case of ammo for it. But am working on cast bullets for it.

[cropcirclewalker]

well and my Garand because my dad bought me a case of ammo for it. But am working on cast bullets for it. I just told a friend this weekend that I had 3 or 4 hundred rounds of milsurp 30-06 rounds that I was holding out in case I had to shoot a politician.

I have a 311291, a 311284, 31141, 311466 and 311467.

Is there anybody out there who has a good functional load for my Garand?

Oh, the humanity!

[snuffy]

Arround 1975, I started shooting handgun silhouette, with a RSBH in 44 mag. In order to compete at my desired level, I needed to practice, A LOT! The J-bullets cost way too much to get the disired level of practice. Sooo I bought a dripp-o-matic lee 8 ponder, a lyman 240 SWC mold, and a 450 sizer.

I'd spend 4-5 hours one day casting boolits, the same ammount the next day lubing and loading those boolits, then several days practicing shooting them at practice targets. Then a loading session for J-bullets for the next match.

The aquisition of another caliber in a contender led to another couple of molds, sizing dies, gas checks. The rest is history, as the story goes. Always a new caliber, new set of dies, molds.

[**oneshot**]

When I was a kid I would help my father with some casting/smelting, but mostly with reloading: Cleaning, sizing, etc. Anyhting I could get my hands on. The reloading aspect stuck with me and I started reloading for my rifle and encore.

I had to revisit the casting aspect when my friend got me into muzzleloading. Now that has carried over to my hangun.

I now find myself stopping at every tire shop I pass(its like a never ending treasure hunt), spending more time sitting over a fire, and really enjoying all the aspects of making bullets. Not to mention that I can shoot more and spend less. I figure in 3 more months I'll have my gear cost recouped. I guess I'll have to look into my rifle or Encore next. LOL

A great Thank you also goes to the cast boolit site and all the members. Without whom I would be spending years trying things to get the right combos.