So Glad I'm a Caster

[Keith Sacane]

I just wanted to say that I feel so blessed that my Dad started me casting twenty years ago, or so. In this day when you can't buy ammo anywhere, I can still shoot as long as I have powder and primers. I am amazed at the number of shooters that don't.

[Leadmelter]

I think shooter got lazy with cheap ammo and cheap bullets. I started casting in the 80's and I am basically self taught.
I started again when things went crazy. Now, I am the crazy casting magnum guy at the range. When people ask me where I buy my bullets, I look at them and tell them "I make them myself". Common answer, "Really".
When you think of all the things to waste your time on, casting makes the most sense or at least to me.
Leadmelter
MI

[fredj338]

Time is a factor but limited affordable alloy is now the issue. If I have to pay much more than $1/#, I am not cassting my plinking bullets. I do love the self reliance factor of casting. Powder I can scounge, cases last almost forever, just those pesky primers.

[flipajig]

I started casting about a year ago and can't believe it took as long as it did to learn how. I guess I'm a slow learner I'm 48 now and I wish I had learnd when I was 18 just think were I would be at now.

[runfiverun]

storebought cast are just over $3.30 a pound now.
that's around $60.00 for 500 45 colt boolits.
i have a 7 gallon bucket full of cast and size/lubed 45 boolits that's about $600.00 worth of storeboughts.
ignorance is nice sometimes.

[Hounddog]

I'm just glad I listened to everyone on board here and bought 1k bricks of primers whenever I had extra cash on me when I started reloading a few years ago. Now I've been casting for a bit and am sitting on 10k plus primers and plenty of 1lb jugs of powder. On a whim I bought an opened 8lb jug of unique that had 7+ lbs of powder from a guy getting rid of it for 60 bucks. Good thing unique works in just about everything! I feel bad for folks trying to get into loading now. Gotta play the waiting game and ride out the storm!

Hounddog

[Quigley284]

Me too. It wasn't until I got the bug for one of those fanch Shilohs that casting became a must do. No 540gr. "Money" bullets on the shelf. Well then a 452460 came next for a Kimber. Sure has been fun and I wouldn't change any of it. Mike

[dnotarianni]

I'm just glad I listened to everyone on board here and bought 1k bricks of primers whenever I had extra cash on me when I started reloading a few years ago. Now I've been casting for a bit and am sitting on 10k plus primers and plenty of 1lb jugs of powder. On a whim I bought an opened 8lb jug of unique that had 7+ lbs of powder from a guy getting rid of it for 60 bucks. Good thing unique works in just about everything! I feel bad for folks trying to get into loading now. Gotta play the waiting game and ride out the storm!

Hounddog

Only 10K primers? Sounds like poor planning

[MBTcustom]

I agree totally. Of course, I can count on both hands the times that I have bought factory ammo.
When I was 5-10 years old, I remember knocking my GI Joes over with 230 grain 45 boolits propelled by a 12" piece of 1X2 timber.
18 years ago, at the tender age of 14, my dad gave me an 1897 winchester trench gun to hunt squirrels with. He showed me how to shoot it, then we gathered up the empties and went to the reloading bench to learn where ammo comes from. He showed me how to use the Posness Warren progressive to load 2 3/4" low brass with #8 shot and Unique powder. I still remember the classic "click-click, ca-ching!" sound that press made.
He also showed me how to cast and load for the .357mag and 45acp. He let me use his MKIV colt 1911 and the model 27 smith (spoken of in hushed and reverent tones).
When I turned 18, he bought me a Marlin 336 30-30 from my college machine shop instructor. Again, he showed me how to cast and load for it. I bought three boxes of ammo for it to get the brass, and those 60 rounds got run with 10 grains of Unique until all the necks were split. (sigh! memories!)
The rest is history, but if I had a dollar for every boolit I cast off of that Coleman stove and SS pot, I would be a rich feller.

Unfortunately, no mentoring, and a classic teenage brain, that barely had enough room for girls and trucks, left little room for proper casting techniques, and bad habits set in very quickly. All my dad's molds were masked over with lead, and abused like no precision piece of equipment should ever be.
I have just about worked through all of them, surface grinding, polishing, and scraping them back into perfection since I found castboolits.com and learned what a privilege it is to be able to use such fine gems.

My casting philosophy has changed dramatically since coming here. I used to think of cast boolits as a way to save money, nothing more, but now, I would shoot cast lead even if I had to pay jacketed prices for the lead.
At this point, every bit I save on cost is reinvested in the form of careful casting procedure. Every boolit is wrapped with my hope that it will be the very best that I can produce. After all, as I watch the molten lead swirl into the cavity, I do not know if this boolit will fly through paper, feed my family, protect my family, or be part of the best group I have ever shot in my life.

[runfiverun]

heck tim if you get to missin the schick-clack cha-ping sound,, call me and i'll set up one of the p/w's in the garage and let you listen to it for a minute or two.

[Hounddog]

Only 10K primers? Sounds like poor planning

LOL! With how much I work, I'm lucky to shoot a hundred rounds a week. It'll be a while before I shoot through all them primers.

[MBTcustom]

heck tim if you get to missin the schick-clack cha-ping sound,, call me and i'll set up one of the p/w's in the garage and let you listen to it for a minute or two.

Could you like, make a recording, and burn it to a disk? It would beat the heck out of going to sleep listening to the ocean or some such foreign background sound. Of course Mr.s goodsteel might take the shotgun to it after a few weeks LOL!

I wish shot was more affordable. I haven't used the PW in 15 years because it's cheaper to just buy the shells.

[rintinglen]

Casting my own has kept me shooting when the shelves OR my pockets were empty.

I once scored a 33 gallon trash can full of wheel weights for a case of beer while going to college. I traded wadcutters for primers with a more affluent friend which kept me shooting when things were tight. many were the 38's that I loaded for less than 2 cents.

I am much better off now, but the extra money I save from casting allows me to pick up the odd sleeve of primers or pound of powder, so that right now, I can shoot a couple hundred rounds a month for a very long time. 5 years at least. And having molds for every gun I shoot means I am not dependant on what's on the shelf. Were it not for casting, my .348 and 45-70 would sit unused. Two dollars plus a round? How about a quarter instead? My 32-20 would likewise find little use, as I seldom see ammo for it.

And, it gives me something to do when the wife watches those stupid "Bride" shows.

[FN in MT]

Started casting in the late 1960's as a teen with an older Buddy and his Dad.
Started work on the Cop job and had a steady supply of Agency ammo, and stopped loading and casting for several years. NO need to.
Ten years later when I moved to MT I started up again. It was an "off and on" hobby for many years as I was doing two jobs, raising a family, etc.

Started up again during the silly Clinton "Crime Control/AWB" in the 1990's.

Several years back when I retired, got into it again. Replaced worn or used up gear with higher end stuff. Finally bought an electric pot , hardness tester and a Star sizer.
Now with time to shoot it's amazing how much ammo I go through. And as the "retired one" of the group. I cast and load for a few good friends who are still working.

Frankly I couldn't imagine the shooting hobby without casting and ESPECIALLY without RELOADING!!

We are fortunate here in Montana to have a gun show about every two weeks...Someplace. Even during the worst of National primer shortages one of the components sellers at the shows would have at least a few to sell....and they seldom gouge on pricing. If one plans ahead a little...primers or powder aren't an issue.

Like Fred J stated...LEAD is the issue. But with some proper planning and a little ingenuity that issue can be solved here as well.

The folks that don't reload, who are at the mercy of the supply chain....feel sorry for them.

FN in MT

[Shiloh]

Those of us who cast, have primers and powder to weather the shortage, are the ones still shooting.
There is a LOT less once fired pistol brass at the range. We'll have to see though for sure as there is a lot of snow.
The concrete is clear, but the the brass melts through teh snow, or welds itself into the ice.

Shiloh

[Lee W]

And, it gives me something to do when the wife watches those stupid "Bride" shows.


I am glad I am not the only one. This morning was wedding dresses and cake wars... I am 45 pounds of 9mm richer due to it.

[runfiverun]

never thought about making a tape...dangit.
i just loaded over 2-k 1oz 12 ga rounds and 1800 1-1/8th oz rounds and about 1-k 20ga rounds.
i could have made a tape long enough to last all night.
i'm just about out of shot.
i don't wanna dip into the ww stash to make more, and too cheap to buy some at $1.60 a lb.
ohh i could do some steel shot on the L/S-1000.
what i wouldn't give for $12.00 a bag, shot again.

[captaint]

About 7 years ago I bought a new 1911. Had no ammo or brass for the 45ACP, so off to the range with my son - I'll just buy ammo there and then I'll have some brass to load up. Cheapest they had was 28 bux for a box of 50. Now - back up 15 years. I had bought all the supplies & equip to cast my own, only life got in the way and the stuff just sat. I had everything but boolit molds. Even had a bunch of WW's.
Fast forward to 7 years back again. Wow, son, it's time to start casting my own. I can't afford these prices and I'm gonna be doing a lot more shooting than I have lately. Now we open up the computer and type in "bullet casting".. I see Cast Boolits. OK, a little humor, I like that. The rest is history. Wish I had started sooner, but that's OK, life is what it is. Now, I'm having WAY more fun than ever, shooting & loading. Feeling for the poor guys that have to buy ammo. I just tell them, hey, learn to roll your own.
I wouldn't hav it any other way. Mike

[1Shirt]

Ya, 12.00 a bag shot, 15.00 for 1K of primers, and powder at less than 15.00 a pound.

Started loading and casting in late 50's, early 60's. Bought shot for (if I remember right) about 10.55 a bag for 25lb. Bought GI corrosive LR primers from Hogden for 5.00 a thousand/and pulled surplus 30 cal full jacketed blts for .02 each. The big bargin back then was Hogden surplus powder.

At Shawnee Mission Ka, 4831 was 1.00 a pound, Bl-C2 was about a buck a pound, and there were paper bags of 2-3 pounds for a dollar and a half a bag, marked (Use same data for loading as Unique). You could load and shoot full jacketed full power loads of 06 for less than a nickle a round. Used to buy a 25pounder of 4831 for less than 25.00 with tax included in nice cardboard drums. Gotta be well over 50 to remember those days and those buys!
1Shirt!

[Recluse]

The big bargin back then was Hogden surplus powder.

At Shawnee Mission Ka, 4831 was 1.00 a pound, Bl-C2 was about a buck a pound, and there were paper bags of 2-3 pounds for a dollar and a half a bag, marked (Use same data for loading as Unique).

1Shirt!

In the mid-90's, we were living and working in the Kansas City area (lived in Olathe, worked in downtown KC). When we first moved there, the ad agency I worked at was on the Shawnee-Mission Parkway and I passed by Hodgdon Powder office everyday going and coming from work.

I used to take my empty powder cans with me and they'd fill them up for a dollar per pound and thank me for being a pro-gun guy in a liberal industry. Problem was, I didn't use that much Hodgdon powder back in those days.

Outstanding folks!

:coffee: