New to Casting - Advise Welcome

[eagle-man]

Hello,

I have never cast before (at least projectiles), but have started to shoot more and more, and am looking at casting as a way to keep costs down. I am currently shooting 500 - 600 rounds a month, and would like to be able to move to 1200 - 1500 a month. I am shooting mostly 45 in 1911s.

That being said, I am about as green to casting as it gets. I had a class in school where we did a few castings for an engineering class but that is it, and that was a while ago.

Any recommendations on pots, molds, ect would be welcome. I would like to get started, but don't want to make a huge dent in my wallet.

Thank you much!!

[bullethead]

Hello, I have been casting lead for 20+ yrs and gold/silver for 30; I will share some of my craft. I get out what I put into it. Casting is a relaxing hobby for me.
I have 2 Lee bottom pour pots, they work great. Less than $75.00 I use Lee/Lyman/RCBS molds and bought most at gunshows (I'm cheap) For .45 ACP I started with a New Lyman 200SWC mold and they worked fine in my 625-4 S&W revolver. Once I started casting more I began to sell bullets. Demand wanted .45 cal RN so I bought a 4 cavity Lyman RN mold. I bought a lubri-sizer at a gunshow for $20 and a nose punch or two and a .451 size die. (Get a Midway catalogue). Note: New prices are EXPENSIVE, but ebay and other places do offer products if you look hard. I mentioned SELLING bullets. That allowed me to buy equipment that would otherwise be too expensive for a hobby and helps offset costs. My friends are willing to BUY bullets for $12.50/100 for .45 RN bullets. It doesn't take long to pay off a mold, a 4 cavity Lyman mold will cost $95.00 or so and handles another $40.
I can cast about 600-750 bullets per hour using 4 different molds. They get hot and have to cool.
They have paid for themselves many times over. ALSO, Buy a Lyman cast BULLET Manual. MUCH GOOD INFO.
This forum has many great people with a wealth of knowledge. Also, google Mike Venturino, He was my inspiration along with Ross Seyfried. Once ya get going and need some info/moral support, fire off some questions. AND, let us know how they shoot.

[stubshaft]

Keep an eye out in the swapping and selling forum. Read all of the articles in the LASC and Castpic banners at the bottom of the page. Granted it is alot of information but as you start to cast you will see where it applies and how it helps the learning curve.

[WHITETAIL]

Welcome to the forum!:drinks:
You will need to get a Lyman
cast boolit manual.
In there you will find a lot of info.
And start going to the Good
Will stores.
There you will find a pot to smelt
your lead in.
A large spoon to skim off the junk
that floats on the melted lead.:cbpour:

[44man]

Get a Lee pot and there is nothing wrong with Lee molds that you can not overcome. But choose a mold for the boolit you want.
A Lee boolit size die also works great.
To make great boolits can be done cheap. Over the years, I have everything but still resort to a lot of Lee stuff.
I am not cheap but poor now on SS so I even make my own molds from scrap. I make my own Felix lube dirt cheap. I hate to buy powder and primers and have not figured a way out of that! :bigsmyl2:
You can pay for everything with just a few hundred boolits today over buying them.

[Lizard333]

I like the Lyman 429344 Mould. Makes a great 230 grain boolit for your 45. Its good your starting with the 45 as your first. This calibre is pretty forgiving for the most part. I lube and size mine to 452, and have no issues.

Most of all keep reading and asking questions as they come up, this is a great bunch of people that are really dedicated to this craft.

Welcome!!

[Echo]

I like the Lyman 429344 Mould. Makes a great 230 grain boolit for your 45. Its good your starting with the 45 as your first. This calibre is pretty forgiving for the most part. I lube and size mine to 452, and have no issues.

Goodness - the 429344 is a mold for .44's, not .45's. Might have misread the mold. The Lyman 452374 is a standard RN for the .45, and the Lyman 452460 is a great SWC for same.

Most of all keep reading and asking questions as they come up, this is a great bunch of people that are really dedicated to this craft.

Welcome!!

There are several Lee molds that will throw very satisfactory boolits, too, as well as other mold makers.

[captaint]

WOW - I was gonna say...... Read a lot eagle-man. There's much to learn. And welcome to the addicition. enjoy Mike

[Cherokee]

Lots of good suggestions alredy so I'll just say: Welcome !!

[MBTcustom]

One thing you can do to get started cheap is if you have a coleman stove you dont mind donating to the cause, it will save you having to buy a Lee pot. (I started this way and I keep waiting for the stove to die so I can try an electric pot. 15 years and counting......)
Another thing, buy the Lee 6 cavity gang molds. I love mine and it makes better use of my time.
Get lead wherever you can, quit spending money on factory ammo and start hoarding lead.
You're going to be throwing 50lb of it into the berm every month so thats almost 600lb per year.
If you buy from RotoMetals, your looking at about $800 per year. If you buy from here and other places cheap, you might get there for $500 per year (of course thats not considering the inflation of cost etc.)

[Charlie Two Tracks]

Welcome. Get ready for an enjoyable hobby. Remember just how hot your molten lead is. Temperatures that are at 650 to 900 degrees can burn fast and deep. The food coming out of your oven is usually at 350 deg. Good safety equipment and some common sense goes a long ways in this hobby.

[GP100man]

If your on this site ,your already addicted !!!

WELCOME !!!!!:cast_boolits:

[canyon-ghost]

Casting isn't hard. Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook is one of the best sources for information. And it's only a $20 book (or so). What kind of equipment you buy is up to you, and depends mostly on "how many dollars fast you want to go".

At 500 to 600 rounds a month, you can cut your costs about in half. Especially if you already reload.

[Wolfer]

I don't know where you shoot but I shoot at home mostly into half of a plastic barrel filled with sand. When the barrel gets shot up enough that sand is leaking out bad I will seine the boolits out and turn it around. Most of the boolits I shoot have been shot lots of times. About the only expense I have is powder and primers.

All my molds are two cavity so I would second goodsteels advise on the six bangers. The only problem I see is I've went through several molds looking for what my gun likes and the Lee 2 holers are pretty cheap to buy.
My Ballaster Molina does not like the lee 452-228 1R. Accurate but won't feed reliably. If you go to the swapping and selling section you probably can get people to send you some samples to try.

[MtGun44]

Find Glen Fryxell's free online casting book and read it. I think it is "From Ingot to
Target" or similar. TOP stuff, and the Lyman book isn't too bad either.

Bill

[eagle-man]

Thank you for all of the great advise. I am really looking forward to when I can start shooting what I cast. It should be in a few weeks (or should I say minutes after being cast?) Not to get the basics!

[kappy]

Lyman makes a great kit for about $150-180. It has most of what you need.

You'd still need:
A mould and handles
Luber/sizer die and top punch
Lead

And you can upgrade from there over time.

[Lead Fred]

A Lee pour pot, beats a camp stove hands down for economy.
pan lubing, is also the cheaper way to go.
The Lyman book is the place to start.

[eagle-man]

This week I will be shooting some of my newly cast boolits. I am rather excited. I decided to try the tumble lube method, and was rather surprised at how well it came out. Now to see how the accuracy is compared to the stuff I have been buying. I would really like it if the accuracy is good and the leading is low.

[Stick_man]

When you tumble lube, remember that a little bit goes a looooooooooonnnnnnnggggg way. You don't want to overdo it or it causes poor accuracy, lots of smoke, and leading.

There has been lots of great information given so far and I would only offer up one caveat. To commercially sell boolits you are required to get a class-6 FFL. If you plan to sell to just a couple friends, you can probably get away with it without any problem. More than that, it is classified as manufacturing ammunition or ammunition components. Keeping it just among friends, you could likely still get away with it being considered a hobby and not be required to get the licensing.

Be safe and have fun.

[eagle-man]

I think that I I may have used a little too much, we will see this weekend. I will check the accuracy, and take notes on how it goes so I can figure out what is going to work best.

[Moonie]

Take a look at this, it is MUCH improved over straight mule snot (lee ALOX)

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=67654

[ku4hx]

Buy the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook and read the non load data parts in their entirety.