Lurker noob posting

[dsol]

Okay, I have been reading and reading for the last several months and now have a few questions. Little background first; I am just starting to cast my own. My 12 yr old son had developed a strong affection for my .357 wheel guns and lever action Rossi plus my Rossi 45LC. I am going to find me a Blackhawk to go with that so I dont have to download it and shoot the same rounds through both.

My .357's are an L frame S&W, Model 19, Ruger 3" SP101 and Blackhawk with 6-1/2 inch barrel. Got a Rossi 16" large loop carbine to play "Rifleman" with. Been wanting one of those for 20 years, finally broke down and got me one last last year.

My son wants to shoot the thumpers, he likes recoil and shooting regular to hot loads, no 2.7 bullseye wadcutter stuff for him. Anyway, he (we actually but I am blaming him) shot up all my 45LC and a good deal of my .357's. Whenever we hit the range, we end up going though 300 to 400 rounds not counting untold 22lr. Getting too expensive to feed his (our) habit with just handloading, so I decided to start casting for plinking.

Scrounged about 400lbs of lead in wheel weights, range scrap and roof flashing to start. Going to alloy up 50/50 flashing and wheel weights then water drop them. Got a big cast iron pot to process the dirty stuff ad make ingots for alloying later at boolit making time. Just need to find a good hot plate to use with it, one from a department store wont get hot enough to melt wax almost. Need to find an older one at a yard sale or thrift shop I guess.

Lee 20lb bottom pour pot and 6 gang Lee TL .357 mold purchased to start. I was playing around melting some of my cleaner lead sheeting in the Lee pot to make some ingots. Decided to heat up the mold and try a little just for fun. Got good boolits after 4 or 5 pours and decided it was fun. Tossed them all back in the pot since they were too soft for real use, but I had to try it out.

I want to find me some molds for the 45lc and a 9mm carbine. Thinking of the Ranch Dog for the 45LC and maybe even for the 9mm. I llike the 6 gang mold idea so we can make lots in a seating. How hard can you push tumble lubed boolits? Will we be able to run stout (not 100% but maybe 90 to 95% loads) in them all. Can tumble lube handle that okay?

I am in on the group buy for the MiHec 360640 mold later this summer for the .357 also. Has anyone tried that style of boolit with tumble lubing? Can it be done okay and could it be shot unsized?

Thanks all!

[HollowPoint]

"I am in on the group buy for the MiHec 360640 mold later this summer for the .357 also. Has anyone tried that style of boolit with tumble lubing? Can it be done okay and could it be shot unsized?"

Hi dsol:

And welcome. Mihec makes excellent molds. You won't be disappointed.

I cast for the following calibers; 30 caliber, 44 caliber, 380 ACP, 45 ACP. In the not to distant future I hope to start casting my own air rifle bullets as well.

The only thing I've ever used is Lee Liquid Alox. (tumble lubing on all of them)

If I remember correctly the fastest I've ever pushed any of my cast bullets was a hair over 1900fps. I couldn't get my rifle bullets to give the accuracy I wanted at that speed so I backed down to 1600 and 1700 fps instead.

If your cast bullets drop from your mold at the right diameter there really is no need to size them; unless you do so in order to seat your gas checks.

My 30 caliber molds drop bullets at .310" diameter. If I didn't gas check them I wouldn't really have to size them. Same with my 45 caliber bullets. The 45's are plain base bullets so I just cast them and load them.

If you haven't already done so, it's best to slug the barrels of your guns to get the exact dimensions of your bores. Then size your bullets accordingly if they need it.

There's alot of good guys here that do things differently than I do and that's OK. My way isn't the only way do doing things. As long as it works for you, and as long as it's safe, it's all good.

HollowPoint

[quilbilly]

Welcome to our group. It sounds like you are well on the road to our happy addiction.
My first suggestion might be getting a 358 sizing die from Lee so that the 357 boolits will be uniform and you can set gas checks if you want at some point but right now gas checks are unnecessary from what you wrote.
Another suggestion would be to start adding a little tin to your alloys. One source is old fashion solder (50/50, 60/40 etc) or pick up a few tin splitshot fishing sinkers from walmart (about 2 size 4 per pound of alloy). Tin will make your alloy pour better into the mold.
You asked how fist you can push tumble lube boolits. I push my 41 mag TL boolits in my T/C Contender to 1250 with no problem and my 429's to 1300 in my 444 marlin lever also with no problem. You will have to experiment for yourself as each firearm may be different.
Anyway welcome again.

[gray wolf]

Welcome friend,
I will keep it short and just say hello for now.
Your going to find this place is about a lot more than just a shooting, casting and loading.

Sam in Maine

[dsol]

I am hunting pewter at Goodwill, thrift shops and yard sales for tin. Got a little plus several rolls of solder as well. Going to go with around 2% Tin in the 50/50 flashing/wheelweights for the Mihec hollowpoints water dropping to make .38 spl+p and mid range 357 loads for my carry gun. The 3" Ruger SP101 has become my favorite anymore. I just dont care for semi-autos, have a 1911 and Glock17 but they just are not as fun to shoot as a good old wheel gun to me. My 686 and Mod19 from my dad have the best triggers in the world and can shoot much better than I can. I love the lever action carbines too, so I want to load identical for them as the pistols if possible. Will be a lot of fun coming up with the best combination. 231 for 38 and 9mm fun and 2400 for the 357 and 45lc should work. I like simple...