Critique my getting started equipment list?

[xsquidgator]

Hello,
I've been reloading for about 6 months now, and am itching to move up to casting boolits as well. Been doing some reading, and would like to run my startup equipment list by some of you experienced guys so that I don't keep having to go back and order more stuff, I'd like if possible to make one big buy at the frontend to hold me for a little while.

I anticipate casting for 9mm/45/ 38&357, perhaps 380ACP also to start with. I reload these plus 8mm/7.62x54R/7.62x39, but I figure to try those later maybe. If I understand right all I'll need to do to cast rifle instead of pistol bullets will be another set of molds anyway.

So, here's what I figure to buy (I buy through Midsouth Shooter's Supply mostly) along with a couple of questions...

Question 1- should I buy 2 or 6 bullet molds? Is one mold for each caliber enough to get started?

Question 2- Is going with mostly or all Lee stuff ok? I know some reloaders debate this, for my needs going with an all Lee setup has worked well (Lee Classic Turret press).
Question 3: Should I buy some metals for alloying with lead? I have maybe around 50 to 100 pounds of what I think is pure lead scraps (medical waste lead) to start with, so I'm sure I'll want to alloy some stuff. Don't know what I'll want to do or what I'll need at this point.

My list of equipment to start casting boolits:
LYMAN LARGE DOUBLE & SINGLE CAVITY MOULD HANDLES
LEE RELOADING PRODUCTS.452 DIA. LUBE & SIZE KIT
LEE RELOADING PRODUCTSRELOADER PRESS
(I figure I'll just buy a cheap single stage press for lubing/sizing, and it can serve as a backup to my turret reloading press too)
LYMAN LEAD THERMOMETER
LEE RELOADING PRODUCTSLEAD HARDNESS TESTER
LEE RELOADING PRODUCTSMAGNUM MELTER 4" CLEARANCE HOLDS UP TO 20 LBS OF LEAD
LEE RELOADING PRODUCTS.356 DIA. LUBE & SIZE KIT
LEE RELOADING PRODUCTS6 CAVITY MOLD 356-125-2R
LEE RELOADING PRODUCTSINGOT MOULD W/ WOOD HANDLE
LEE RELOADING PRODUCTSDOUBLE CAVITY MOULD TL452-230-2R ..or...
LEE RELOADING PRODUCTS6 CAVITY MOULD TL452-230-2R

Anything else I should throw in there that I'll wish I'd gotten? I don't mind starting slow and then buying bigger molds and so forth later for greater throughput. When I started reloading I used my turret press as a single stage until I got comfortable with all the steps, and I don't mind doing the same kind of thing with casting. Thanks in advance for your advice. I did look around but maybe I wasn't searching the right way, I didn't see this exact kind of thread on the boards here.

[Bret4207]

Hello,
I've been reloading for about 6 months now, and am itching to move up to casting boolits as well. Been doing some reading, and would like to run my startup equipment list by some of you experienced guys so that I don't keep having to go back and order more stuff, I'd like if possible to make one big buy at the frontend to hold me for a little while.

I anticipate casting for 9mm/45/ 38&357, perhaps 380ACP also to start with. I reload these plus 8mm/7.62x54R/7.62x39, but I figure to try those later maybe. If I understand right all I'll need to do to cast rifle instead of pistol bullets will be another set of molds anyway.

So, here's what I figure to buy (I buy through Midsouth Shooter's Supply mostly) along with a couple of questions...

Question 1- should I buy 2 or 6 bullet molds? Is one mold for each caliber enough to get started?

Question 2- Is going with mostly or all Lee stuff ok? I know some reloaders debate this, for my needs going with an all Lee setup has worked well (Lee Classic Turret press).
Question 3: Should I buy some metals for alloying with lead? I have maybe around 50 to 100 pounds of what I think is pure lead scraps (medical waste lead) to start with, so I'm sure I'll want to alloy some stuff. Don't know what I'll want to do or what I'll need at this point. No, you need to find a few buckets of plain old wheel weights. Trade your pure lead to a blackpowder buff or hold it for alloying later with Linotype, assuming you can find any of that

My list of equipment to start casting boolits:
LYMAN LARGE DOUBLE & SINGLE CAVITY MOULD HANDLES
You don't need these unless you order a Lyman mould, Lee's come with handles on the 2 cavity, the 6 bangers require Lee handles
LEE RELOADING PRODUCTS.452 DIA. LUBE & SIZE KIT
LEE RELOADING PRODUCTSRELOADER PRESS
(I figure I'll just buy a cheap single stage press for lubing/sizing, and it can serve as a backup to my turret reloading press too)
LYMAN LEAD THERMOMETER- Not needed
LEE RELOADING PRODUCTSLEAD HARDNESS TESTER-Not needed
LEE RELOADING PRODUCTSMAGNUM MELTER 4" CLEARANCE HOLDS UP TO 20 LBS OF LEAD
LEE RELOADING PRODUCTS.356 DIA. LUBE & SIZE KIT
LEE RELOADING PRODUCTS6 CAVITY MOLD 356-125-2R-Stick with a 2 cavity until you get the hand of casting and see if you even like it. It's not for everyone
LEE RELOADING PRODUCTSINGOT MOULD W/ WOOD HANDLE
LEE RELOADING PRODUCTSDOUBLE CAVITY MOULD TL452-230-2R ..or...
LEE RELOADING PRODUCTS6 CAVITY MOULD TL452-230-2R

Anything else I should throw in there that I'll wish I'd gotten? I don't mind starting slow and then buying bigger molds and so forth later for greater throughput. When I started reloading I used my turret press as a single stage until I got comfortable with all the steps, and I don't mind doing the same kind of thing with casting. Thanks in advance for your advice. I did look around but maybe I wasn't searching the right way, I didn't see this exact kind of thread on the boards here.

You'll need a slotted spoon for skimming, about the size of a large tablespoon or a bit bigger, some safety glasses, a COTTON towel to drop the hot boolits on and a couple small metal pans, like cake pans or coffee cans for the sprues.

[MT Gianni]

I suggest that you play with pistol casting and shooting for a year or more before you move on to rifles. It is that much harder to get acceptable groups. Gianni

[454PB]

I agree with Bret and Gianni. Start simple and add equipment and expense as required.

[Buckshot]

..............xsquidgator, first of all welcome to the board, and to a very fascinating aspect of the shooting sports.

Question 1- should I buy 2 or 6 bullet molds? Is one mold for each caliber enough to get started?

If you mean 2 or 6 cavity, then a 2 cavity is a good way to go at first

Question 2- Is going with mostly or all Lee stuff ok? I know some reloaders debate this, for my needs going with an all Lee setup has worked well (Lee Classic Turret press).

It's fine especially if it's already worked well for you

Question 3: Should I buy some metals for alloying with lead? I have maybe around 50 to 100 pounds of what I think is pure lead scraps (medical waste lead) to start with, so I'm sure I'll want to alloy some stuff.

Scrounge son, scrounge! Any plumbous material should be glommed onto immediately. Plain old WW metal will serve for 90% of your shooting. I'd buy only what was needed for 'sweetening' the WW metal. You might buy lino, or pure tin, or maybe even pure lead. The most utility will come from Lino. Lino will add some tin, but mainly through it's antimony content it will add hardness if you need that.

Your startup equipment list sounds fine. The 20 lb pot is a good idea. Casting can be done sitting but I'd hazard the guess that most do their casting while standing up. Organization while casting is very important. Also your setup should be comfortably arranged. They should be at the right height and you should have enough room around you for easy movement and safety. Remember the stuff you're working with while casting is at elevated temps.

You should not have to hunker down to see while filling the mould. The container for the sprue's and the place where you drop the boolits should be handy for economy of movement.

http://www.fototime.com/EB8491CA90B0461/standard.jpg

This is my casting setup, and I show it only as an example. What you start out with may look vastly different 6 months from now as you adapt yourself to the operation. I have the pot at such a height and position so I only have to slightly look down a little to see the pour, but it's not so high that fluxing or adding lead is a problem.

To the right of the lead pot on the benchtop is a damp pad for cooling the sprueplate or blocks, and is not always required. To the right of that are 2 wooden boxes I made. One sits half on top of the other. The bottom one gets the sprues and the top one gets the dropped boolits. The top one has an angled piece that's padded (use ONLY cotton) and when the slugs land on it they roll to the bottom. To the right of those is the sprue knocker and a right hand glove.

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

[Three44s]

Welcome to the board!

And Welcome to Bullet Casting!!!!!

Like the above posts ...... I would go slow on buying what you want.

How you see things today and what they look like to you tomorrow may be different.

Further, as you get into this endeavor this board will likely serve you even better as you will have many many more questions that are more specific to the conditions at hand then.

My suggestion is to go slow but buy a good pot first!

Two cavity molds are easier to manage ...... yes, a six cavity is wonderous when things are working right .......

My thought is to start with the revolver first .......... and the very first mold I would buy is is a two cavity from Lee made for Tumble lubed bullets. You lube these with Lee Liquid Alox and can even shoot them "as cast" ....... (often don't have to resize them) and just shoot plinkers.

Many and more sophisticated molds can certainly be in your future ...... but a tumble lube two holer is CHEAP and will give you virtually free plinkers AND get your feet wet in casting in the least obtrusive way.

Three books stand out for you new endeavor.

The first and perrenial: The Lyman Bullet Cast manual

Second: A book from Beartooth Bullets ....... it's not about casting your own but rather on getting your guns dialed in for lead. (whether they be auto's, revolvers or rifles)

Third: Richard Lee's 2nd ed. Handloading book ....... this book's section on compressive strength will help you with matching bullet alloy with pressures and powder burn time curves.

May your new endeavor fascinate you ever more!!

Three 44s

[monadnock#5]

One item I don't see on your list that I wish that I had known about when starting out is a hotplate. Use it to preheat your moulds and ingots. It reduces the frustration factor tremendously. Also cleaning agents. Dawn dish washing detergent and brake cleaner. A clean mould is generally a happy mould. If you start out having difficulties, you won't know if it's your casting style, or whether you should leement your mould unless you know your mould is scrupulously clean.

[nicholst55]

I believe that you'll find your ingot mold of choice to be lacking. I recommend finding the CHEAPEST source for bakeware around where you live, and buying a couple of STEEL mini-muffin tins. They should only cost around $4-7 each, so buy a couple.

That way you won't have to wait for your ingots to solidify before you can empty the mold and pour more. BTDT, and it gets tedious, to say the least.

[montana_charlie]

If you plan to buy Lee moulds (SC & DC), you won't need those Lyman handles.
When you do get to a place where you need handles, the Lee 6-cavity pair costs considerably less than any of the others.
CM

[dromia]

You have received good and knowledgeable advice to which I can add nothing other than to suggest you treat your moulds with Bull Plate Lube from the Bull Shop, link at the bottom of these pages.

[Bret4207]

Be advised that a round nose plain base mould, even a single cavity, is about the best place to start. Rifle or peestol, they work fine. Work towards quality at first, speed later. I've spent hours getting a mould to work right. Sometimes a weeks rest seems to help things along. If you get wrinkles and non- perfect fill out, don't assume you have "zinc" in your mix or that you need to "vent it". It can be a number of things. My suggestion is turn up the heat and cast faster after cleaning the mould. Also make sure your alloy is pretty clean and flux it well. You'll over flux at first because you won't let the melt get hot enough. Let it melt and stay hot for 10 minutes of so before you flux. Anything gray you find on the surface you should try and flux back into the mix. Thats after you get you initial melt. Most of the crap will float to the top right off and you should be able to pick out any possible zinc WW 'cuz the float long than the lead ones.

I'm not explaining this very well. Just melt it up and observe. You'll see what I mean.

[mooman76]

I didn't see a cast iron pot in the suggestions but I could have missed it. You should do your smelting for ingots in a seperate set up to keep your bullet making set up clean. You can find a cast iron pot cheap at a thrift store and I'd get at least 2 qt. minumum. You can use a camp stove, one of those turkey outdoor cookers or even a hot plate but the hot plate would have to be a really hot one to smelt on. You cna get one of those slotted spoons at a dollar store. A plastic handled one will work as long as you don't leave it in the melt long.
Everyone here has given good advice. You might not want to get everything at once like stated previously because as stated your views might change after you get in it and you'll want different things. Gte a couple moulds that you know you want and buy more latter. You might even find a few moulds that you want advertized here.

[EMC45]

I too have recently started casting my own.(For the last year) I use a cast iron pot to melt my ingot and skim the clips out of the WWs. I have two Lee ingot molds and they are the way to go. I use 2 cav Lee molds for the pistols and the rifles. Shot a pile of cast this very morn and they were great!

[shotstring]

If you have never cast bullets before, I would recommend starting with as few items as possible. Pick one caliber and buy one mold for that caliber. You can buy more molds for more calibers based on what you learn from your initial experience. You might not like the brand of mold you are using so keep your investment small until you know what you like or don't like. Start with finding a some wheel weights from somewhere because they work for almost anything. If you already have a good heat source to melt the WW's than just use that to melt them, flux them, remove the clips and dross, and then try casting a few bullets.

Minimal investment will give you a lot of information. Then you can decide if you want to spend a lot more money for better equipment and more molds for other calibers. You will also have an idea of how many cavities you might like in your additional molds. You can spend A LOT of money on casting equipment - just ask some of the long time casters here at this site. Best to see how much you like it and how much of a commitment you want to make to it before spending lots of green. Welcome to the wonderful world of boolit casting. :drinks:

[xsquidgator]

Thanks much for the advice and welcome, especially the advice about "starting small"!

[Ken O]

I agree with the poster on the hot plate. I picked one up at a second-hand store for $2, but you could get a new one for about $10 at Wallyworld.

Check the adds in the classified section of this forum for used molds. Nothing wrong with Lee molds, but they do need a little altering to make them work right, check the stickys in the mold section of this forum for Lee-menting.

A thermometer is real handy, mine has been sprung and the number don't mean anything. I heat until the bullet frosts, then back off on the temp, I mark my thermometer for what the range is for WW, or 1-4 Lino-lead, then I know where I stand for temp, if it starts to get high I either turn down the temp, or throw an ingot in.

[xsquidgator]

Again, thanks for all the helpful hints and advice!

Time for me to ask more questions... my initial shipment of casting equipment arrived today. I bought pretty much Lee stuff including magnum melting pot, 2 cavity molds for .452 and .356, a lead thermometer, hardness tester, and sizing/lube kits for 9mm and the 45.

I'm a little annoyed after taking the magnum melter out to look at it, I had the impression that it was a bottom pour and it's not. Is bottom pour important enough that I should just ship it back unused and swap it out for a bottom pour melter? Seems like it would sure save some effort over using a ladle...

The rest of the stuff looks just fine, I opened everything up and read the directions, and I'm really looking forward to giving it a try with my pile of scrap lead. Still have to buy some other little stuff like gauntlet gloves, a face shield (seems prudent to me after some of the lead explosion pictures I've seen posted here) and some other little things. How important do you all think it would be to insist on getting a bottom pour melter before getting started?

[454PB]

Probably most all of us started with a dipper, some still use them exclusively. After I got my first bottom draw pot, I pretty much gave up dipper casting.

[Bret4207]

I'm ladle man. Especially the Lee's tend to have minor but very irritating problems. Bottom pours like the RCBS/Lyman are much nicer, but far more expensive. Pick up a ladle and try that first. You can always sell the Lee pot on Ebay for 300 gazillion dollars if you get a bottom pour later.

[xsquidgator]

All right then, this gives me a reason to fire this thing up soonest and give boolit casting a shot.