Intro- New Member w/ Questions!

[moodyholler]

Howdy to all, I am a new member here. Thanks for all the great reading so far. I shoot cast bullets in 90% of my stuff. I am into BPCR, frontstuffers, and handguns. I have about 30 molds but I get varied results casting some stuff. Questions:
1. When seating GC's, do you have to use the tool or can you run them into the sizing die?
2. I want to load some 311299's for my Krag. Can I use wheelweights for these or do I need to order LYMAN #2 Alloy?
3. Does anyone out there have a 400 grain .410 mold to sell or trade?
4. Does anyone have a 335 grain .375 mold to sell or trade?
5. And final, I want a 20 lb pot. Anyone recommend one over the other?
Thanks for taking the time to read this, moodyholler

[LAH]

I seat my gas checks in the sizer.

In rifles I've used mostly 92-6-2 alloy which is about the same hardness as No.2 alloy. I will be going to wheelweights soon. I don't do rifles over 1600 fps at present.

From emails over the years, I'd buy the RCBS.

Welcome to the board.

[waksupi]

Welcome aboard.
Wheel Weights will work just fine.

[moodyholler]

Thanks I appreciate it! LAH where in WV? I have a farm near Alderson. moodyholler

[carpetman]

Welcome aboard Moodyholler----You ask if you can seat the gas check in sizing die or if you need the tool? What type sizing die? I have never used a Lee push through sizing die but they tell me even those can be used to seat a gas check. RCBS or Lyman sizer/luber dies can be used to seat the checks. You ask about wheelweights and #2. When I first read in the Lyman manual about 38 years ago about making #2 by adding all this other stuff to wheel weights and coming up with an exact blend, my immediate question was how do they know the exact content of a wheelweight? How can they take an unknown and make an exact? So I used straight wheel weights and have done so from the start. This is too simple and not scientific enough for some. There has to be a simple way to complicate things. So I developed a scientific blend---don't want folks thinking that casting bullets is not on par with rocket science. Very carefully weigh free wheelweights and carefully blend in that same amount of weight of wheelweights you did not have to pay for and you have your alloy. You asked about a melting pot. For blending those wheelweights,you need to do this outside. DONT use your bottom pour castin furnace for this as you will clog it up. So for the blending I use a cast iron pot and a Coleman stove. If you don't have a Coleman stove,I see them fairly cheap at garage sales fairly often. For the casting furnace,I say get a Lee bottom pour. The other brands are a lot more pricey--perhaps somehow they are better,but my Lee has served me well for several years. If you don't have a Lyman Manual,I'd say get one.

[moodyholler]

Carpetman, thanks for the reply, My Dad gave me 600 pounds of wheel weights already in ingots. I have a 4 lb Lee bottom pour now. When I cast .69 minies, I run out of material too soon, and I do have a coleman stove so will find a cast iron pot ASAP. I have three lubersizers, Lyman 45, Lyman 450, and a Saeco. I have bought cast bullets for years and shoot them in 25-20 SS, 25-20 WCF, 32-20 WCF, 38-40 WCF, 45-70, 44-40 WCF, 40-65, 38-55, 45 acp, 38 special, 40-70 SS, and 44 magnum. I have all these molds and want to start using them. I find I am actually enjoying casting as much as the shooting. Lot better way to spend time than watching the BOOBTUBE. I also have the Lyman Cast Bullet Manual. Is there any source that identifies old lyman molds by there numbers?(weight& diameter) Thanks, moodyholler

[carpetman]

Moodyholler---You ask if old Lyman molds can be identified?? We have Dr Lyman Molds right here on this board--better known as Floodgate. He can easily trace a bullet mold,heck when rocks were invented he can trace the mold used. If you have 600 pounds of ingots,should be no rush for cast iron pot to melt wheel weights. Having Lyman 45's and 450 luber/sizer you might want to consider making your own bullet lube. Guess what? We have Dr Bullet Lube---better known as felix here too. Go to www.castpics.net and you can find his recipe.

[floodgate]

moodyholler:

(and Catpetman, thanks for the plug!)

Go to our related CASTPICS site: www.castpics.net, click "Research and Data" and then "Lyman Moulds"; looking up the mould number will give you a photo, weight, top punch, etc. for about 85% of the Ideal and Lyman bullets made up to 1973. For 150 or so of the original Ideals as of 1897, check "Excerpts from Ideal No. 9 Handbook", further down the R & D list. That'll add some more, but be warned, Lyman re-used many of the older, discontinued cherry numbers (the last one, two or three digits following the three-digit caliber designation). If not on those pages, PM me or e-mail to floodgate at pacific.net, and I'll do my best to help.

floodgate

[moodyholler]

Thanks, that is just super!!!!!!!! Appreciate it a bunch. moodyholler

[9.3X62AL]

Welcome to the asylum, Moody. I see from your posts that you indulge in the masochistic ballistic delights offered by the hyphenated Winchester calibers--like I do (25-20, 32-20, and 44-40 WCF). From that I gather you are already as twisted as the rest of us, so there's no need for an initiation.

Hope we can help.

[LAH]

moodyholler I'm just out of Beckley. I come to Radford often and use to haul gas/fuel out of Montvale. I've caught a few smallmouth around Alderson and hunted some near Sinks Springs and a few other places around.

[Bret4207]

Welcome MoodyHoller. My wifes like that, when she's moody she hollers.

[moodyholler]

HEH-HEH, that's OK! It actually is the name of my farm in WV. You can shoot skeet in the bottom with a 22 and never worry about getting high enough to shoot over the ridges. An excellent place to shoot and hunt. My cabinet is full of stuff that only shoots cast bullets and a lone .243 that shoots the other stuff. moodyholler

[carpetman]

Moodyholler----You dont shoot cast in your .243???? I will admit the one time I tried cast in .243 on a deer it was dismal--never again. Dep Al has won in his class the Winnemuccas cast bullet shoot the past couple of years using .243 with the 95 grainer RCBS. Would you like to try some? Drop me a line.

[NVcurmudgeon]

Moodyholler, welcome to the best site on the web. If Mike dillon didn't already claim it our slogan could be "No B.S." by the time I read your post, thought up my answers, and scrolled to the bottom, others had already answered. That shows what a great site this is, with hundreds of knowledgeable casters tripping over each other to help.

[9.3X62AL]

Moody Holler--

Don't sell the 243 short as a cast boolit platform--Carpetman sent me some of the RCBS castings a few years ago, and 12.0 grains of 2400 does fine work on both paper targets and small varmints. Now--if I could get the 25-20 to do as well as the 243, life would be GRAND.

[moodyholler]

Headed to range this morning with my #2 Remington rollingblock with 86 grain IDEAL bullets loaded with 18 grains of Goex Cowboy powder. Caliber is 25-20 SS. 243 is the business gun and works great with currrent load. I am wanting to try them in my Krag this deer season and have purchased a 311299 mold to try. Thanks for all the info, moodyholler

[rmb721]

moodyholler: There are mould reference tables starting on page #456 of Lyman's Reloading Handbook 46th edition that I use quite often. There is also a shell holder chart and rate of twist table.

[Buckshot]

"........... And final, I want a 20 lb pot. Anyone recommend one over the other?
Thanks for taking the time to read this, moodyholler"

My recommendation, best bang for the buck is the Lee 20lb pot. I have made a few simple mods to mine over the years. One was to clamp a cheap import set of vise grip type pliers to the spout valve rod. The extra weight, doncha know :D?

The other was to make a blanket for it from aluminum foil. Seems to keep it from cycling as much. Just tear off a piece a couple feet long. Fold it loosely over until it's about as wide as the pot is tall. Wrap loosely around the pot with the ends over the element leads at the rear.

............Buckshot

[Maineboy]

"........... And final, I want a 20 lb pot. Anyone recommend one over the other?
Thanks for taking the time to read this, moodyholler"

My recommendation, best bang for the buck is the Lee 20lb pot. I have made a few simple mods to mine over the years. One was to clamp a cheap import set of vise grip type pliers to the spout valve rod. The extra weight, doncha know :D?

The other was to make a blanket for it from aluminum foil. Seems to keep it from cycling as much. Just tear off a piece a couple feet long. Fold it loosely over until it's about as wide as the pot is tall. Wrap loosely around the pot with the ends over the element leads at the rear.

............Buckshot

Thanks for the tips Buckshot, I've rejoined the bottom pour fraternity after a 25 year absence. I just bought one of those Lees pro-pot 4-20s on eBay for 52.99 plus 9.50 shipping. I thought it was a pretty good deal. I'll use your Lee-ment suggestions from the beginning. I've been a ladle caster using a Lee precision melter I bought in 1973. I did have an old bottom pour furnace when I was doing a lot of revolter shooting back in the late 70s, but hated it. I hope this one works better because I need something that will hold alot of alloy when using the 4 and 6 cavity moulds.