New to the Forum, just starting out.

[Big Smoke]

Hey everyone,
I've been a reloader for years, but always just bought my boolits. But now I'm worried that with the economy headed the way it has been, and other forces at work, that boolits may become scarce, along with other reloading components.
So what should a guy on a budget concentrate on first, in order to get started? I just received the Lymans Handbook today, and will be looking that over this evening. Just like when I first got into reloading, it looks like there is a lot to learn. I'm working on a budget, so I'm wondering, should I concentrate my money on a good melting pot, and then build components around that, or should I worry about other things first? How does one get started?

[BulletFactory]

Get your alloy first.

Then get a pot. A LEE works just fine. After that, get a high quality (preferably brass) mold. I recommend accurate molds.

[ku4hx]

I just received the Lymans Handbook today ...

If by that you mean the Lyman Cast Bullet manual then you've made an excellent start. If you got one of their loading manuals you've still bought wisely. I'll assume by coming here you're interested in casting and if you didn't get the casting manual then you really should.

As far as equipment goes, there is a world of stuff to choose from and generally I think you'll be better served by starting with a single stage press and maybe later, one you've developed your skills, move to a progressive loader. If you shoot al lot, a progressive loader is very nice.

You will find many opinions here and I certainly have mine. I generally stick with the "Big Three": Lyman, RCBS and Lee. But there are other equipment makers (Sinclair, Redding and etc.) that produce quality goods. To a large extent it depends on your pocketbook.

But, welcome to the insanity, have fun and be safe.

[Bent Ramrod]

Welcome to the group, Big Smoke. I was on a budget as a starving graduate student 40 years ago and my first purchases (after a couple moulds) were a Lyman dipper and a Lee 10-lb pot (with the heating adjustment). This setup did not begin to seem restrictive for the next 30 years or so, until I got a couple big caliber guns that needed more lead to feed them. The Lee finally burned out in the late '90's and I got the 20-lb Lee pot with the temp adjustment (I think it's called the Magnum Melter). I don't expect to outgrow or burn it out in the time I have left.

On the other hand, I never shot an enormous number of pistol rounds per year so never needed multiple cavity moulds or a high rate of production. So what you may need kind of depends on what and how much you shoot, or plan on shooting.

[Big Smoke]

Get your alloy first.

Then get a pot. A LEE works just fine. After that, get a high quality (preferably brass) mold. I recommend accurate molds.

By alloy, you mean like the lead, and tin, or whatever I use?


If by that you mean the Lyman Cast Bullet manual then you've made an excellent start. If you got one of their loading manuals you've still bought wisely. I'll assume by coming here you're interested in casting and if you didn't get the casting manual then you really should.
As far as equipment goes, there is a world of stuff to choose from and generally I think you'll be better served by starting with a single stage press and maybe later, one you've developed your skills, move to a progressive loader. If you shoot al lot, a progressive loader is very nice.

You will find many opinions here and I certainly have mine. I generally stick with the "Big Three": Lyman, RCBS and Lee. But there are other equipment makers (Sinclair, Redding and etc.) that produce quality goods. To a large extent it depends on your pocketbook.
But, welcome to the insanity, have fun and be safe.

Yes, it's the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook.
I've been reloading for nearly 20 years. I use 2 Dillon 550b's. Love 'em.


Welcome to the group, Big Smoke. I was on a budget as a starving graduate student 40 years ago and my first purchases (after a couple moulds) were a Lyman dipper and a Lee 10-lb pot (with the heating adjustment). This setup did not begin to seem restrictive for the next 30 years or so, until I got a couple big caliber guns that needed more lead to feed them. The Lee finally burned out in the late '90's and I got the 20-lb Lee pot with the temp adjustment (I think it's called the Magnum Melter). I don't expect to outgrow or burn it out in the time I have left.

On the other hand, I never shot an enormous number of pistol rounds per year so never needed multiple cavity moulds or a high rate of production. So what you may need kind of depends on what and how much you shoot, or plan on shooting.
Thanks, I'll only shoot a few thousand rounds a years, probably. I know reloading is an addiction, so I can imagine boolit casting to be the same.

[stubshaft]

Read all of the stickys first including the LASC articles at the bottom of the page. This will get your head wrapped around the processes involved and help you to decide which directino you should go in.

Right getting lead first is not an option since you don't know what type of boolit or alloy you are going to shoot.

A Lyman Cast Bullet manual is a necessity and if you decided that casting is not for you can be sold easily.

[MBTcustom]

For loading on a budget, I have some tips. Been doing it for years and if it was expensive then it would be another thing I drool over and think "someday when I'm rich and famous" but never act on.
First, there are serious cost savings when you reload and cast.
I'm sure you know that buying your bullets from the store and loading them in recycled brass cuts your cost roughly in half.
When you start casting, you can reload for 1/10th the cost of factory ammo. (of course thats assuming you have some lead lying around that you got for free. If you are going to be buying your lead, add $35 per thousand for a conservatively high estimate.)
1. If you have a Coleman camp stove you have a way to smelt. I have been casting as long as you have been reloading, and I still use a Coleman stove. Just go to Wal-Mart and buy a stainless steel pot about 4" in diameter and about 4" deep. You now have a darn good way to melt lead.
2. Use Lee 6 cavity molds. They work better than the 2 cavity's and they make better use of your time.
3. Learn how to make 45/45/10 lube. If you shoot rifle, learn how to make FWFL. Again, these two tricks save you time and money in the long run. Casting is like reloading, you have to find ways to put your money where it will do you some good instead of constantly nickling and diming you to death.
4. I would spend some money on a thermometer so you can monitor your smelt and do it the same way every time. Consistent boolits means consistent reloads, which means better use of your time and the money you spent on the lead.
5. Dont use store-bought fluxes. Use sawdust like a true cast booliteer. It is cheap and it works better than anything else.
6. Slug your barrel and make sure your boolits are at least .001 oversize. That is the #1 thing that causes leading in the barrels of the inexperienced caster. If I had a dime for every time I have read the last two tips, I'd be a rich sucker, especially the last one.
That's all I've got. Go ye forth and cast.

P.S. Welcome to the forum buddy! You came to the right place.

[Wolfer]

What goodsteel said.
I started on a Coleman stove an an old cast iron pot. All stuff I already had so my total cost to get started was the 10 or 12 dollars the lee mold cost. Lead was a lot easer to find then but almost 40 years later I've still never paid for lead in my life except one time I bought 10 lb of pure because I was tired of trying to load WW in my cap and ball

[runfiverun]

get the lead first.

[Jim Flinchbaugh]

You'll need lead of some sort to start. Start scrounging EVERYWHERE you go & ask if there is lead to be had, plumbers, roofers, tire stores anywhere. It turns up in the darndest places sometimes. I just started last winter and am sitting on about 400 pounds now :)
Check in here daily if you can, these fellers ( and a few ladies) are a GREAT wealth of information.

[Bullet Caster]

I got started with my Coleman camp stove and a cast iron pot I bought off of fleabay. I also ordered a casting ladle with my first Lee mould. I now have about 4 moulds and am scrounging lead from where ever I can find it. Still using the Coleman, pot and Lee ladle that I've had to re do the handle as the first one burnt off. Gonna put a longer handle on it before I start casting again prob. tomorrow or next day. BC

[RKJ]

I got started about 18 months ago and as you suspect it is addicting. I got a Lee 20 lb pot and a Lyman sizer kit on clearance at Midway (it came with a ladle, ingot mold, cast bullet handbook and the sizer. Oh and a tube of that black tar ****). I got a lot of my utensils at the Salvation Army store and Goodwill, and I went to a couple of small tire shops in my little town and one of them keeps me supplied with wheel weights. I do have to pay for for them but it's about 25 cents a lb. I got a 1000W hot plate from Walgreens for a little over $10.00 and have used it now for about 15 months. I started out with Lee 2 cavity molds ($$$$) and they work fine for my purposes but I've found that I'm becoming a bit of a mold snob and really like Lyman & Saeco 4 cav molds. They cost more than Lee but they sure do drop nice bullets. The folks here have been great and a wealth of information. I've found that I don't have to ask a lot of questions but just do the search as (usually) someone before me has had the same problems. Anyway, Welcome aboard.

[Nobade]

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is pick a gun you want to really learn and stick with it. I learned more that way than trying to shoot cast in everything I could get my hands on. When I finally quit doing that and picked one rifle to work with, and did so for 2 years, I really got it to work well and explored everything I could think of to do with that rifle. The knowledge I gained transferred over to other guns and everything got a lot easier from that point on. At least until I took up paper patching, but that's another matter. Shoot grease groove boolits for a while first...

Another thing is, do you have a well used range to shoot at? I pick up the majority of my lead as fired bullets others have left. Free lead is a real bonus, and the recycling place buys the copper jackets left over. If not, follow the other's advise and find as much lead as you can lay your hands on and learn to recognize what is what. (sources of hard and soft lead for different uses or trading)

[canyon-ghost]

Getting lead: Wheelweight! more wheelweight! and anything else, plumbers' lead, pure soft, linotype, monotype, whatever you can get. Wheelweight and a Lyman book will get you further down the road than you know. In casting, wheelweight is hardened (only a little) lead that makes good bullets.

You don't need to be fancy to cast for ten years. The equipment race isn't much good except for show.

Ron