My reloading And casting adventure

[on1wheel01]

What's going on guys, I've recently gotten into reloading and figured I would make a thread showing my progress and such. First of all I am new to this all and am on a budget, this being said I didn't buy the best most expensive equipment. But I think I have a good start and will upgrade later on as I progress. Anyhow first I got a lee progressive unit set up for 9mm. And a few others small tools needed (such as digital calipers, scale and others). Today I went around to the local tire shops to try to acquire used wheel weights. I went to maybe 20 shops, most either had a deal with someone or we're a big company that sent them off somewhere. But I had luck with two places one a recently started up which didn't have much at all but the owner said he would save them for me and took my number. The next gave me a big box full which had me stoked. I went home and started sorting them. I did my research online of how to tell between zinc, metal, and lead weights. Once done I had 35 lbs of lead ones. Next I went to the thrift store, there I purchased two pots, a ladle and spoons with which I drilled holes in also a few muffin tins to make ingots. Next I melted them all down on my oven in my garage that I use for powder coating. It worked pretty good but I do plan on buying a turkey frying base in the future. So now I have 16 lbs of lead made into muffin size ingots for when I purchase my molds. For now I have a good amount of projectiles I purchased so I am ok. Anyways I will add more when it is done thanks for reading(and hope I didn't waste anyone's time).


http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j160/grnreaper01/IMAG2279.jpg
Some of the materials
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j160/grnreaper01/IMAG2262.jpg
My thrift store find all for under $10
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j160/grnreaper01/IMAG2294.jpg
Half a pot of weights have much more
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j160/grnreaper01/IMAG2293.jpg
And now my ingots
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j160/grnreaper01/IMAG2292.jpg

The press had finally arrived. I am using a vib tumbler and then putting them into my ultra sonic cleaner for a great result.
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j160/grnreaper01/IMAG2299.jpg
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j160/grnreaper01/IMAG2300.jpg


Goodbye walmart ammunition. I had started making my own from the hollow point projectiles I had purchased. They fire great from my xd9 and my kel tec pf9.


http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j160/grnreaper01/IMAG2332.jpg


At this point I had assembled around 300 bullets. Then I got stupid and broke my decapping pin. But lee sent me a brand new one for no charge(great company). I also ordered one as a spare.

[on1wheel01]

Next came a great moment I finally started casting some projectiles.


http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j160/grnreaper01/IMAG2360.jpg


Decided to load a few seemed good.


http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j160/grnreaper01/IMAG2363.jpg


Nothing like a little late night casting over a warm turkey fryer




http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j160/grnreaper01/IMAG2364.jpg

Also I smelted most of my remaining lead. I produced 850 good projectiles, bringing my total to around 1600. Only had about 75 bad ones so im pretty excited only a 10% or so fail rate which most are my fault. So not too bad

Here was one days progress,doesn't look like 900+ projectiles but man they pile up and take forever to sort out
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j160/grnreaper01/IMAG2365.jpg


A little comparison of my casts and bought bullets


My boolits
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j160/grnreaper01/IMAG2383.jpg
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j160/grnreaper01/IMAG2382.jpg

Bought Hollow points
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j160/grnreaper01/IMAG2385.jpg
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j160/grnreaper01/IMAG2384.jpg


I just ordered some xlox from lsstuff.com seemed to have good results and are good people from what I can tell. So I plan on ditching the pan lubing (man it sucks) and going to tumble lubing with the 45-45-10 method. It has been an exciting process so far.

[sthwestvictoria]

great work!
That is fast work for producing that many boolits.

I also just use pans and muffin trays from the thrift store. The only suggestion may be to put a "lead Pb only, no food" label on it to prevent any future mistakes. I stamped the label into some aluminum from a pet food tin and wired it to the pan handle.

Good luck with the first ones down the barrel!

[LittleBill]

I am impressed. I am brand new to casting too, and thought today might be my day for my first casting as well. But two things happened. First, it snowed. Second, I could not find my dipper that I bought several months ago, and by the time I did, I had to go take care of the mounting snow in the driveway. Perhaps tomorrow or Monday I will get some casting done. I've got a turkey fryer base for melting wheel weights down into ingots, but I am not sure how well that will do with the weather in the upper 20s to low 30s.

[Trey45]

Feels good doesn't it! I'm happy for you, another caster joined the ranks. You made some fine looking boolits too, not bad at all for first time out. I wish mine looked that good from my first try. Keep up the good work and keep us posted!

[on1wheel01]

Thanks guy. Well shot a few cast today they did really well. Light leading but not bad at all.

[drklynoon]

Casting can be quite gratifying. It is especially nice when you are keeping it simple and can do a lot in one batch.

[Cherokee]

Congratulations !! You are making great progress. Bet it felt great to fire your first "I made them myself" boolits.

[RobS]

Well on your way!!! It does feel good letting some of your own spread their wings and fly.

[canyon-ghost]

Good going, bullet caster! I make up about 500 or so, it ends up being about half a 3lb coffee can of bullets. That's a good size batch for me because I single stage. I enjoy it, have been for a decade now. Something really American in making your own ammo from the ground up, just seems right!

[DLCTEX]

Make a wind deflector for the turkey fryer and it will make smelting much more efficient. I used galvanized flashing and made a circle just larger than the dia. of my dutch oven pot.

[Jim Flinchbaugh]

Another one bites the dust
Welcome to the insanity

[on1wheel01]

Thanks guys, I just scored a load of more wheel weights yesterday, almost all we're stick on. So I will wait for more clip om to mix in as sticky's are way soft. But it was such a great feeling to know I had cast the projectile I had just shot.

[mac60]

Another one bites the dust
Welcome to the insanity

Yeah - He's hooked!

[1Shirt]

Good start! Think ahead and stay safe as you progress.
1Shirt!

[on1wheel01]

Thanks guys. Well I'm about out of primers. My local supplier is out and is hoping to get more in this weekend. I need to find a backup supplier as man I hate running out of them

[torker]

It's a good feeling knowing that you made them. +1 (w/1 shirt) Stay safe ( Welcome to the Jungle)

[Tazman1602]

It's NEVER boring or a waste for me to see another person take up casting and reloading!! Welcome to the best forum on the 'net and watch your wallet.

Possibly the most un-true statement in the world is "Reloading will save you money".............UH-HUH, right up until you figure out you can shoot ten times as much!!

Congrats!

Art

[on1wheel01]

Welp after looking a few places for jpw here is today's score from walmart for the lube
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j160/grnreaper01/IMAG2393.jpg
Ketchup bottles to store it in. They work great I keep wood glue for my speaker boxes in them also

[on1wheel01]

Well no where around me has small pistol primers. My reloading supplier said they use top use small rifle primers. After doing some research the guys over at xdtalk.com say they have had great success with them and no problems with that. So this is good news as they are much easier to get. Also getting 4 more lbs of titegroup powder. Trying to stock up my supplies so I don't run out as much like I am now.

[Beau Cassidy]

Keep you a good supply of cast, unsized bullets on hand. My friends think I am crazy for that and staying well stocked but times like these demand it. Most pistol calibers can be shot with 50/50 ww/pb so that will be a good use for that pure lead you got on hand.

[on1wheel01]

Well did more wheel weight melting today. Came out to 11 ingots. So should be good for another 700 or so(estimated) projectiles
Thinking tomorrow about going and sorting weights from one shop that says .50 cents a pound for lead. Not too shabby if I must pay.
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j160/grnreaper01/IMAG2408.jpg

[captaint]

on1 - Looks like you are doing real well. You may want to read up on fluxing those WW's when you melt them for ingots. It's nice to have good clean lead when it's casting time. You will have to flux when casting, but it's good to start out with lead as clean as you can get it. And .50 a pound for raw WW's is not a great deal, not terrible, but not great. You're off to a solid start. enjoy Mike

[on1wheel01]

I had fluxed them twice but def not enough, kinda ran out of time and had to cut it short. So I will be cleaning them better once re melted.
Also my muffin tins we're kinda dirty as well. Had some spilt wax on some of it also so I'm sure that will smoke and hell maybe flux when melting lol.

[Wayne Smith]

Lots of stick on's and no primers - sounds like its time for a cap and ball revolver!

Welcome to the madness, it only grows and grows

[on1wheel01]

Lol would be cool to have something like that. But luckily my supplier got a good amount of small rifle primers. So I am buying 3,000 from him. Big score I think with the low supply right now.

Well took a trip to bass pro shop and got 300 small rifle primers just to keep me busy tonight after everyone goes to bed. Also rebuilt a bar stool for me to sit on while reloading. Before it had no top, so I took out two small pieces of mdf I had and got the routers out and my circle jog and went to town. Nice and comfy. Also throwing in a pic of my messy *** garage lol, I think tonight I may reload and clean it. I have too many side hobbys and businesses so my garage is a train wreck.

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j160/grnreaper01/IMAG2412.jpg
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j160/grnreaper01/IMAG2410.jpg

[Remyvtr15]

Great job... and my garage is much denser in the junked category

[HighHook]

That looks and sounds like a great start. 35 years ago i started out the same way. Books back then were my best friend. Today we are all blessed with this great forum.

[on1wheel01]

Ok guys I finally got the boolit lube 45/45/10 figured out and made. Did a few hundred yesterday. They are now dry and will be punching these out tonight. Much better than pan lubing I must say. Also scored more free wheel weights today, 16 lbs of lead after sorting. Told the shop I would bring them the steel and zinc ones so they could re use them, as hell it's always nice to get free lead.


http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j160/grnreaper01/IMAG2430.jpg
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j160/grnreaper01/IMAG2428.jpg

[Wayne Smith]

I only have one more thing to say - that bench is way too small!

[on1wheel01]

Lol well I am in the process of cleaning the garage and making room. I do have 2 other benches just like it. Am in the process of making them useful. I just have to fight my pack rat tendencies and throw things away. So hard lol

[on1wheel01]

Ok well garage clean out has almost completed did some moving around of a few things. And made my reloading bench work room much bigger and cleaner. I also just sold my lee Press, and am saving for a Dillon. Have right at decided to go with the XL650, but have about $150 more to save and it shall be mine

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j160/grnreaper01/IMAG2481.jpg

And the 45 lbs of wheel weights melted into ingots, right at 40 lbs or lead.

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j160/grnreaper01/IMAG2468.jpg

[runfiverun]

get the 550, the strong mount,akro bin mount, and bullet holder.
you can swing it just as fast as a 650.
everything is right where you need it to be, the 550's are not as temperamental and easier to deal with small issues in the sequence.
i have 4 550's and 1 650 by choice.
i leave the 650 set up for one 45 colt load all the time,and swap out the 550's as i need too.
even though i have the stuff to set it up for other cals i don't.

[MtGun44]

Looks like you are off to a good start. Hate to be preachy, but this is potentially big safety issue.

STRONGLY suggest you keep your lead melting area away from your cooking area. I hope that nice
stovetop is NOT where you make your meals.

Lead toxicity is very often overwrought, but the primary entrance route to the human body is through
ingestion. Do not eat, drink or smoke in the casting or loading area and wash hands well before doing
these things after casting, loading or shooting.

Stay safe.

Bill

[on1wheel01]

Come on guys u gotta read lol. This is all done in my garage. I do powder coating and that oven is in the garage. It's never been used for cooking. And I am ordering the Dillon xl650 today. Figured I'd go big and get what I really wanted

[Tazman1602]

Man let us know how you like that 650 on1. I've got an RL550B that I just love but I load so much handgun stuff I've been considering a couple of SDB's for my handguns.

Art

[on1wheel01]

Welp made the order today with Dillon. Of coarse the press is on back order for 2-6 weeks just my luck. But got it, strong mount, a few extra primer tubes, an aluminum roller handle, and the dies. Pretty excited can't wait for it to arrive. I hate I must wait but that's what I get I should have gotten one in the first place lol. But my buddy let me borrow two of his bullet pullers to break apart some bad ammo the lee made. And I have plenty of lead to cast a few thousand rounds of projectiles to keep me busy till then.

[on1wheel01]

Well guys I have to send my mold back to Lee. It is pretty shot. I admit I am hard on it but Shesh it shouldn't be shot after 2,000 or so rounds. But they said they will try to repair it or just replace it. I doubt it will be repaired lol


http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j160/grnreaper01/IMAG2492.jpg
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j160/grnreaper01/IMAG2490.jpg
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j160/grnreaper01/IMAG2493.jpg
http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j160/grnreaper01/IMAG2494.jpg
This is the reply to me sending them the pictures.
Mr. Hicks,

Your mold looks damaged in just about every way possible. The mold does not appear to be lubricated, by the galling on the top of the mold, the cavity edges are damaged from closing the mold blocks, when not have the sprue plate fully open. The wood handle is cracked from not sufficiently pre-heating the mold, and using excessive force to operate the sprue lever. You can return the mold with a copy of your receipt, and we will see if it is repairable or will need to be replaced.

Thanks,

Andy

[on1wheel01]

Well they repaired the mold for me, got it back and it's working great. I also just ordered a .45 round nose 6 cav mold from them. Still waiting on my press to arrive.

[Chicken Thief]

Ohhhhh man, you're so hooked, theres no way back.

Hook, line and sinker.

Its a money pit, "the more you spend the more you save". But it leads to a lot of shooting, and that's the main thing!