First Time Caster

[Major_Tom]

Hello everyone,

A few months ago, I purchased my first centerfire rifle, a 1943 German K98 and absolutely fell in love. however I did not fall in love with my ammo costs. I ordered 100 PPU brass and bought 100 Hornady 150 grain speer point bullets. With my powder and primer costs the rounds were still coming to about a dollar a round. After a few reloads the cost has dropped to about $0.50 a round, however working part time and target shooting once almost every 3 days is burning through the $27 a box Hornady bullets really fast.

that being said, my father just received a SAECO bullet sizer lubricator for Fathers day, so I decided to use the money I would usually use to purchase boxes of bullets (and some extra) and purchased a lyman 323470 bullet mold, two sticks of SAECO green lube, lyman neck expander for 8mm, a .323 Sizer die, a 32 caliber top punch, 500 aluminum gas checks, and another 100 PPU brass.

I should have already mentioned, the bore has not been slugged, but the .323 (.3225) bullets I have been firing from the gun have been dead accurate (other than the shooters flaws). I believe other than my alloy metal I am set up to begin casting. A friend of ours will be loaning my father and I his lead pot, and we already have the mold handles. Before we begin on this endeavor, I was wondering if anyone had some first time tips or tricks for a new guy. I am also looking for any suggestions for an alloy mix that will preform well for casting my particular rounds (my current favorite load is 45 grains of IMR 4064 and the 150 grain Hornady bullets mentioned earlier)


Thanks for any and all help, and I look forward to returning to the message board often

[gon2shoot]

Trial and error are the best tools you have, you seem to have some thought on where to start, let your gun tell you the rest.

[Cherokee]

Welcome to the forum - and to the world of casting. I would suggest you walk before running and start with lighter loads of different powder. See the Lyman#49 manual for ideas. An alloy of clip on wheel weights can get you started, might have to add a little tin. Trial and error, as said, will be part of the process. As for casting, clean the mould well and warm it up on a hot plate while the metal melts in the pot; not too hot, the mould should be about 100* cooler than the metal. Common mistake is mould too cool, followed by metal to cool. Frosty boolits are OK but do indicate you are on the hot side. Wrinkes mean too cool. Come back with questions.

[runfiverun]

forget everything that worked with the hornady bullets.
you know you need to slug the barrel, so you have an idea about sizing.
however the 4064 can still work for cast loads, I would suggest starting with 28grs and working up from there.

[Major_Tom]

I just picked up the Lyman IV edition Cast Bullet Handbook, and I can say I am amazed at how much I needed to learn, obviously reloading with cast is a whole different animal than reloading with jackets. Ive read a good part of the book, and it sounds like for my application Lyman #2 alloy is my best choice for casting my 8mm bullets. After talking with some local casters, someone recommended to me that I could use range lead so long as I quenched my bullets in water directly after releasing them from the mold to make them stronger. He said as long as I sized and lubed them within about a 24 hour period I would have no issues with them, but I always like to get second (or third or forth) opinion.

Hopefully I should be receiving my mold and lube on Tuesday, the extra brass, top punch, and sizing die are coming from Grafs, so who knows when they are going to show up.

Thanks for all the help so far, cant wait to drop some bullets

[runfiverun]

water quenching will increase the hardness of your boolits but it also does more than that for you.
something I won't go into right now.

take one step at a time you'll get there.

[MtGun44]

Start with 16 gr of 2400, size .002 over expected groove diam at minimum. Use NRA
50-50 lube to start, don't get adventuresome unless you are just out to play rather
than seeking the shortest distance to accurate ammo that doesn't lead.
Strongly recommentd NOT attempting full power loads as a CB starting point. 16 gr
of 2400, 10 gr or a touch more of Unique, or 13 gr of Red Dot are KNOWN GOOD
loads that have worked well in a wide range of milsurp bottleneck cartridges for
many users over many decades and are very easy on the shoulder and typically
quite accurate and low pressure. Boolit wt is unimportant with these loads. Air
cooled wwts should work, water drop only if proven necessary.

Probably worthwhile doing a very THOROUGH CLEANING of the copper and in a 98K,
nickel jacket fouling to enhance your chances of quick success. This is often a
difficult process without an electro plating cleaner, and even then it can be like
an archeological dig, peeling one layer of metal, then scrubbing out the strings of
black carbon guck, followed by another deplating of a layer of metal. Copper
comes off blue, nickel leaves a yellow stain in the plating solution.

Direct substitution of a cast boolit for a jbullet is unlikely to be very successful, please
start with one of the other loads above and then try to work up with the other
powders. Also, 12 gr of Unique will give 583 rds per pound, 10 gr will give 700 rds
per pound, 16 gr 2400 will give 473 rds per pound and 45 gr of 4064 gives 155
rounds per pound. The targets will not care, and you shoulder will thank you. Barrel
will last essentially forever with cast and these loads.

Bill