Starter Equipment

[lj1941]

I am obviously very new to the forum. I have been handloading for more than 30 years. I have never even thought about casting until very recently. My question is: What do I need in equipment to get started casting ? I have shot a lot of factory cast boolits and would like to start casting for 1 caliber,possibly 45ACP. I will be on a very tight budget,so I can't afford to go first class. I really should have done this sooner-but I did not.Any help or suggestions will be appreciated.

[USAFrox]

I'd recommend a lee pro-4 20lb electric melting pot (bottom pour - $50), a lee 6-banger mould in your favorite profile ($40), and a lee .452 push-through sizing die ($14). The sizing die will come with a bottle of lee liquid Alox lube. With the alox and a $5 tub of Johnson's paste wax and a small bottle of mineral spirits, you can make some recluse 45/45/10 lube. This gives you everything you need to cast for one caliber - a melter, mold, and lube. If you pick up lead from the berms at the range (free), you can then cast for free.

[Joe504]

I second the above. I went with the lee 10lb and have forever wished I had the bigger pot. You could go with the 2 cavity lee mold to save a few bucks. I use the 2 cavity and it works well.

[292]

Yard sale cast iron pot, modified spoon for a ladle, propane burner and a Lee mold. Basic, very basic.

[Jupiter7]

As above, even a Coleman camp stove if ya got one laying round. I'd invest more in a quality mold(read as rcbs or better) Being new myself, I grew tired of lee molds very quickly. Also, six cavity mold will give 6 to throw back in, not what I'd suggest starting out. Cruise swapping and selling section religiously and you'll get all u need quick. Last but not least, read lots of sticky threads. Lots of them about improving hit and miss lee equipment. My first lee .452 sizer was sizing to .4505, leaded barrel in about 3 shots. Emery paper, wood dowel and drill fixed it. Good luck!

[Tatume]

I recommend against a bottom pour pot. In my opinion, pouring bullets with an RCBS ladle produces more consistent bullets. I've been using a Lee Magnum Melter Furnace for many years.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/709235/lee-magnum-melter-furnace-110-volt

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/283142/rcbs-lead-dipper

The Lee six-cavity molds are excellent; I have many of them. The produce excellent bullets in large quantities.

Take care, Tom

[Wayne Smith]

Heat source - gas, electric, coal or wood - all can do it. A pot that fits the source. Lead alloy. A mold, and here is where I would spend my money. A ladle, RCBS or Lyman, NOT Lee. Most importantly - A place to do it. You will make a mess, you will be hot, and you will endanger small children! Oh, you need a soft landing spot for all those new boolits - an old towel will do.

This is minimal -but close to what I do after over 10 years casting.

[Tatume]

Heat source - gas, electric, coal or wood - all can do it. A pot that fits the source. Lead alloy. A mold, and here is where I would spend my money. A ladle, RCBS or Lyman, NOT Lee. Most importantly - A place to do it. You will make a mess, you will be hot, and you will endanger small children! Oh, you need a soft landing spot for all those new boolits - an old towel will do.

This is minimal -but close to what I do after over 10 years casting.

Agree that Lyman makes a good ladle too. My brother has one, and it works well.

Agree that the Lee ladle should be avoided. It is not good.

Agree that a pot and heat source will work just fine. However, the Lee Magnum Melter is super convenient. Just take it off the shelf and plug it in. Twenty minutes later you're making bullets. At the end of your session refill it and pull the plug, and you'll be ready to go next time.

Agree that an old towel is a good pad for your bullets. You have to have something very soft to dump them on, because they will be very, very soft when the come from the mold. If they are fairly hard you're waiting too long to open the mold. However, there is a serious disadvantage to the towel. It will catch fire easily. If you set your mold or ladle down and it touches the towel it will ignite and smolder. I prefer an old pair of work pants. They can still catch fire, but it's much harder to get them to burn. Fold them so you have multiple layers of cloth and the pad will be soft enough to catch your bullets without deforming them.

Also get an old spoon and make a crude wooden handle for it. It is used to skim your melt, and to transfer bullets from your landing pad to another area once they are cooled a bit. Don't move them too soon, but don't let them pile up either. Dumping soft bullets onto a pile of bullets will ruin them. When your pad gets crowded clear it.

[USAFrox]

One other thing you can add when you get the extra money - a separate place to smelt. If it can be avoided, you don't want to smelt in the same place you cast - especially if you use a bottom-pour casting pot. Smelting range lead is dirty and gritty and messy. I'd recommend something like a turkey fryer and a thrift store 2 quart cast iron pot or dutch oven. Then you can do all your crappy melting down of scrap without junking up your casting setup. If you are going to smelt, you will need ingot molds as well, although a simple thrift store muffin tin will work fine for that.

[Sasquatch-1]

When I started I had a single cavity Lee mold, a ladle and a tin can I heated on the kitchen stove. My wife bought me a little Lee 10# bottom pour after the tinsel fairy visited one day.

I disagree with Tatume, Get the lee bottom pour. You can always ladle from the pot but you can't bottom pour from a pot that doesn't have a spout. If you are getting up in age where your hands start to shake when trying to do fine motor skill work, like bring the spout of the ladle to the mold, you may end up with a disaster.

Also, USAFROX, Where did you find a lee pro-4 20lb electric melting pot (bottom pour) for $50.00? I have been looking for one and the cheapest I have seen it is in the $65.00 range plus shipping.

[Muddydogs]

I'd recommend a lee pro-4 20lb electric melting pot (bottom pour - $50), a lee 6-banger mould in your favorite profile ($40), and a lee .452 push-through sizing die ($14). The sizing die will come with a bottle of lee liquid Alox lube. With the alox and a $5 tub of Johnson's paste wax and a small bottle of mineral spirits, you can make some recluse 45/45/10 lube. This gives you everything you need to cast for one caliber - a melter, mold, and lube. If you pick up lead from the berms at the range (free), you can then cast for free.

Don't forget the mold handles!
This is how I started and I still cast 45,44 and 40 bullets this way. I was casting .38 lube groove bullets and using the Lee push through die and 45/45/10 lube on them but once I got a lube sizer I started to use it for these. If you have a camp stove or propane burner for smelting you would be set. Just hit up the local junk store for a pot, spoons and a few muffin tins.

To save yourself some frustration get a thermometer to put in your pot.

[Tatume]

I disagree with Tatume, Get the lee bottom pour. You can always ladle from the pot but you can't bottom pour from a pot that doesn't have a spout.

Not really. The bottom pour mechanism gets in the way of filling the ladle. Only when the pot is completely full is dipping a ladle practical. However, I'll note that this is like anchovies on pizza. There is no one right answer.

Take care, Tom

[Gliden07]

My list would go something like this (I'm in school and on a tight budget to so I know where your at!)

Lee Pro 4-20 - Bigger pot will come in handy when you decide to cast other calibers (and you will :grin:) plus 45 ACP uses a lot of lead!!
Lee 2 cavity mold-2 Cav molds come with handles. Just bought my first 6 Cavity mold. Once you get a rhythm going 2 cavities works fine!!
*Option 6 cavity mold for production, need to buy mold handles separate
Lee sizing Kit - Slug pistol and buy correct sizing kit to prevent LEADING your barrel. Recluse 45-45-10 works GREAT but LLA works fine on its own.
*Lee sizing kit needs a single stage press to use, I'm assuming if you have been loading you have one of these? If not the Lee C frame press is Cheap and up to the task!

If you have a Single stage press you should be able to get all of this for $100-$120 (New) depending on options. I had a ladle setup when I started and it worked fine but ended up replacing it with the above setup. I would have saved $50 or so dollars had I done this out of the box. I don't care for ladling although some prefer it. This is close to other posters lists here because it works! Good luck whatever you decide, if you get hung up just ask lots of information here!!

PLEASE NOTE: This is for casting prepared lead only (Smelted) I would not suggest smelting with this setup! This is the cause (I believe) many people have problems with the Lee bottom pour pots dripping.
Checked out Natchez - 4-20, sizing kit and 2 cav mold was about $93 without shipping (with DHL shipping to MA $105)

[lj1941]

Thank you all for the advice. I am at the +70 age group so my motor skills are just a little on the shaky side.I see there are anti Lee people as well as pro. I have always had good luck with their dies. I have an RCBS single stage press I bought back when Gander Mountain was THE mail order place to buy. I think it is a Reloader 2 press. I have an out building where I will be able to work and keep the fumes out of the way. My children are all grown up and even my grandkids are on the way to being adults. Enough of my comments. I will try to digest the info and start looking for the tools.

[Idz]

I got Lee stuff years ago because it was cheap enough to scrap if I didn't like reloading. It still works fine so I see no reason to change. I can see spending more money on other stuff if you're not mechanically inclined but since I have a basement full of machine tools I can do whatever repairs/ tweaks/ maintenance are needed (which have been very few).

[Jammersix]

I'll be starting with a Magma Master Pot, a Star and an Accurate mold.

My logic is that in the beginning I won't know if it's me or the equipment, so I'm trying to eliminate any equipment problems.

[USAFrox]

Also, USAFROX, Where did you find a lee pro-4 20lb electric melting pot (bottom pour) for $50.00? I have been looking for one and the cheapest I have seen it is in the $65.00 range plus shipping.

Well, I got into this just before the Newtown shooting began the insanity and higher prices. As far as I can remember, I got the pot from Midwayusa.com for around $50, but I AM getting old, and they say the memory is the second thing to go... Can't remember what the first thing to go is...

[Gliden07]

Also, USAFROX, Where did you find a lee pro-4 20lb electric melting pot (bottom pour) for $50.00? I have been looking for one and the cheapest I have seen it is in the $65.00 range plus shipping.

Natchez has them in stock for $57. I would suggest putting an order together to save on shipping though? Thats the only way to do mail order now.

[fcvan]

I would be on the lookout for other casters in your area to help show you the ropes. I started casting with my Dad, and he bought SAECO equipment. They were more affordable back in the 1970s when SAECO was just down the road a piece. When I got out on my own I bought a Lee 10 lb pot, a two cavity mold, and a push through sizing die. I pan lubed for a while until I purchased my own Lyman 450 sizer. I still use Lee 10 lb pots and 2 cavity molds. The Lee pot lasted 25 years before I had to replace the heating element and it is still going strong after 28 years. So is the first 2 cavity mold which has cast over 500k boolits. I did have to replace the sprue plate screw a few years back.

[Boyscout]

1) Lee 452-200gn SWC X 2
2) Bucket of Pine sawdust
3)10" piece of hard tool handle for a mallet
4) .452 Lee Push through die
5) Lee ingot mold or muffin pan to make ingots
6)Regular bullet lube (NOT LIQUID ALOX) to lube your mold
7)Butane cigarette lighter to smoke your aluminum molds

[MtGun44]

I know I could never have afforded to get into this hobby if I had
been forced to use a Star lubrisizer, Magma pot and Accurate mold!

Getting your feet wet for a modest cost is a good thing. You can stay
there with the inexpensive tools as long as they are acceptable for
your needs and you don't want or cannot justify more expensive
gear.

Look up "pan lubing" - it is a great way to start lubing boolits, and sizing
them in an inexpensive Lee push thru die.

If you budget is generous, the equipment list at the first para is great
stuff, but I am sure that some can afford it and some cannot.

Bill

[Manchu9inf]

I use an old Army steel pot (left over from yesterday), burner is one of those used to deep fry a turkey (left over), a stainless steel ladle now equipped with DIY wooden handles (garage sale), a two cavity Lee mold, old hammer handle, old dive weight mold, spoon from Momma's kitchen :) and push thru dies, bullet lube, pillars (to move the pot)

[Jammersix]

Why is your image so much clearer than mine?

[clownbear69]

This maybe obvious to some but not to all: Safety equipment ie Safety goggles, long sleeve shirts/ pants with good work boots gloves, possibly an apron . You can do with out until you have an accident then think differently.

I don't have all my equipment yet either, I've been moving one piece at a time. I've been taught buy once cry once meaning don't be super afraid to buying good equipment. I can understand going with a LEE pot over um RCBS' pot but moulds are your life and if you plan on using it a lot and or passing it down to your successor you may want to look at buying a quality piece over an economic piece

I will state if you find an awesome deal and you need, get. Many people use the swapping section here and there's deals to be made. Made one with a fellow on here not to long ago and was quite pleased.

[turmech]

Very first thing I would suggest is download the book in this sticky, if you have not done so already.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?110213-From-Ingot-to-Target-A-Cast-Bullet-Guide-for-Handgunners

This will give you some knowledge into what might work best for you. It also will give you the harder questions you can ask here.

[USAFrox]

+ 1. :goodpost: Heck yeah! That book was my very first reference when I got started in this hobby. Mr Fryxell and his various writings should be among your required reading before getting into all this.