Thinking about getting into casting, have a few questions.

[Bwell]

I have about 40-50lbs of lead at my house and isn't being used for anything and thought I would put it to good use.

Things I have read, need to pot to melt the lead and get the imperfections out by fluxing, need molds for the bullets, and sizer and lube.

The sizer and lube is where I am lost.

I will be casting for 40 S&W, and wondering what all I will need.

So far I have read using lee alox lube is the cheapest and easiest way to lube, then put the casting through a sizer. Is it necessary to add a gas check?

Also, is quenching important?

[runfiverun]

gas checks are generally not needed.
they are base protectors, and for alloy's that are too soft [think hollow-points] they help grab the rifling and impart spin to the boolit that might otherwise skid.

when using a tumble type lube the best practice is to heat the boolits and the lube.
apply the lube in a thin coat.
let it dry.
size the boolits.
add another coat of the tumble lube, using the same heating process and another light coat same as the first time. [ I use a hair dryer to heat the boolits]

quenching the boolits is a very cheap [free] and effective way to harden an antimonial alloy.
it works when needed and is always an option.
I generally water quench for my rifles and just work with the alloy for my hand guns, there are some exceptions of course.
but it is an option for either manipulating a softer alloy, or as a quick trick to see if a harder alloy would be helpful.

oh yeah. welcome aboard the site,
those are great first questions.

[Wolfer]

My son aquired a 40 awhile back. I just bought a lee tumble lube mold, I already had lee liquid alox. Cast em, lube em 2 coats, shoot em. Worked fine. Most Lee boolits can be shot as cast. If they do need to be sized the lee sizers are cheap and effective. You don't have to have a tumble lube mold to tumble lube. Woody

[Redd508]

Not to be argumentative but i thought gas checks were to keep the gases from melting the base of the boolit in the barrel when you increase pressures to increase velocities, thereby reducing leading. I've pushed soft lead at low velocities and accuracy didnt suffer. Please correct me if i'm wrong. Gas checks shouldnt be necessary if you stay south of 11 or 1200 fps regardless of alloy.

[Bwell]

Looks like if I am shooting 40 caliber I will be shooting under 1200fps.

I am unsure if the lead I have is pure lead or a mix. I am pretty sure my grandpa used to when he had is plumbing business…

If it is pure lead, I should probably quench my bullets right?

[Bwell]

Whats the difference in molds? Why are they so different from one another? Like the Lee 175 TC and the 175SWC

[MtGun44]

Welcome.

Sorry to be negative, but I will point out that 9 mm and .40 S&W are some of the
more problematic cartridges out there for cast. If you have a .38 Spl or .45 ACP, I suggest
you start with it and get things working before moving on to either of the problem
child cartridges.

And understand that tumble lubing is a fairly marginal lube system that
works well some of the time and badly some of the time. It will be
stressed up a bit with .40, most likely, but that doesn't mean there can
be no success, just it may be a bit elusive. The big benefit of tumble
lubing is lower cost to enter the game. IME, the conventional lube
designs with conventional lubes in the grooves are more predictable and
certain to work well. Not that TL can't work - it does for many, but it
is marginal, so will not work sometimes. It is a good, inexpensive place
to start.

Getting a good design and sizing it large enough are the key first steps.

Bill

[bangerjim]

Looks like if I am shooting 40 caliber I will be shooting under 1200fps.

I am unsure if the lead I have is pure lead or a mix. I am pretty sure my grandpa used to when he had is plumbing business…

If it is pure lead, I should probably quench my bullets right?

Water dropping or quenching will do NOTHING to pure lead................other than cool it!

You really need to read a bunch of the stickiest on here and all your questions will be answered. Read up on everything at www.lasc.us for many answers!!!!!!

Only if the led has antimony in it will water dropping harden it. And you also need tin in there to give your molds the fill-out you want. Pure lead will not cast well. Tin lowers the surface tension and allows fill-out. 1-2% is all that is needed.

You have picked a rather "difficult" cal to start with. 9 & 40 are two of the toughest ones. You would be better off with 38 SPL or 45LC. Lots of "headroom" (literally) in those carts.

I cast for 9 and 40 and have troubles at times getting things just right.

Check out the leeprecision.com website for explanations to the differences in their molds. TC = truncated cone. SWC = semi wad cutter. There are a bunch more of them!

Buy the book :Lyman Cast Bullets" and read it! You will need all the load data in there also.

You need a way to test hardness. Either buy a hardness tester ($80-200) or use the "on the cheeeeep" method of artist pencils. Again, search this site for info and directions how to do it.

Welcome to our habit.

bangerjim

[runfiverun]

plumbers lead should be dead soft [pure]
that's not really bad news though, it gives you the opportunity to make your own alloy and know [pretty much] what it really is.

drop some on the floor if you get a thudding sound it's dead soft.
if a little plink sound it probably has some tin in it.
and a patink sound indicates it's fairly hard [12 bhn-ish]
if it rings like a wind chime you have linotype or mono-type.


redd:
if the base of the boolits were/was/are gonna melt, we would use a gas check on everything.
the gas check does a lot of things but basically what I said above, it also resists gas cutting better [far better] than a plain base does, and that [gas cutting] may confuse some into thinking the base is melting.

[tomme boy]

Getting into cast takes a big commitment. Most start out with LEE stuff because it is cheap. For me it was a continuation of reloading. I wanted to further my own knowledge the art of guns. Add up the cost before you jump in. $150-$200 will get you started. After you get a little knowledge, that is when it is going to cost you. You are going to want the latest and greatest in molds and gear. Everytime I buy a new gun, I have to look at at least another $200 just in equipment I will need to cast for it.

Like was said above. 45 acp and 38 spec are two of the easiest to start with. 9mm is a real pain. The barrel specs are all over the place.

[Bwell]

Why are 9mm and 40 cal so different if they all come from a molded cast? Do 40 caliber just involve resizing ?

[jonk]

They are harder to start with because they are fairly high pressure cartridges- you have to have everything just right to get accuracy, good operation, and no leading.

I wouldn't let anyone scare you from it though, nor from using Lee stuff with push through tumble lube. Quick test: see if you can scratch the lead with the fingernail. If so it is soft, and you might trade it for hard stuff (I might be interested) or harden it with some 50/50 solder.

[jonk]

Where are you located? If you can get another caster to help you it will solve so many issues and answer so many questions. If you are in Ohio by chance I'd be happy to help.

[Bwell]

Can I use Lee TC bullets with their alox lube or do I need to use hard lube with that style? From what I have read on this site, thats the mold to go with for 40 cal.

[Bwell]

junk, do you just add the roll of solder to the pot or is there a certain calculations to use depending on how much you are melting?

[Echo]

Bwell, welcome to the madness. Your questions show that you haven't studied the contents of this forum sufficiently. Go back and read ALL the stickies, then read them again. Then download the book 'From Ingot to Target' by Glen F (available on this site), and read it thoroughly. 90% of your questions are answered there - make that 98%. We are all quite ready to assist any nooby that has questions, but we all fairly well believe that the reloader/caster needs to be self-sufficient to the extent that he studies a lot before he starts asking questions.

[Bwell]

Echo, agreed. I have finally been able to do some reading after putting my kids to sleep. Looks like it might not be as cheap as i thought it was going to be but will still save me money down the road.

Looks like I will have to win a couple fishing tournaments to get the stuff I really want lol, so I will be doing a lot of reading in the meantime.

Thanks for the welcomes, and everyones help so far!

[leeggen]

Bwell welcome to the madness of casting. I cast for a 40 S&W PX4 Storm. As others have said read read and read again. Do search after search on casting for the 40 S&W. Read "From Ingot To Target. I beleive it was Gearnasher that posted the best imfo on the 40 cal. This seach engine will make it easeir to find imfo.---https://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=001951264366462437169:ggn3vg-bjum Don't get scared about the 40, if you study and study somemore you'll do fine. It takes some shooting and testing but it will work. Besure to slug your barrel first thing and size boolits about .002 over the barrel diameter. SIZE MATTERS when casting.
Good luck you'll do great.
CD

[Silvercreek Farmer]

You're going to need more lead! Or you could just sell that lead on ebay and quit while you are ahead! Casting is going to seriously eat into your fishing time, be warned!

[sidecarmike]

Wanted to add a thought here. My wife and I cast thousands of Maxiballs when we were both competing. We did it with a quart cast iron thrift store pot, a propane camp stove, and a Lee mold. We did it for years before we decided we could afford to buy a furnace. Pick up an inexpensive ladle, like this one. http://www.titanreloading.com/mold-melters-accessories/lee-lead-ladle . If you find that casting is for you, you can always add the expensive stuff.

[runfiverun]

casting is going to eat into your fishing time :lol:

definitely keep on looking around the site.
just about all your questions are answered here somewhere.
https://www.google.com/cse/home?cx=001951264366462437169:ggn3vg-bjum
anyway this is a custom search engine for the site it will help immensely.

oh and when you do give casting a try keep your initial loads in the 900-950 fps area for a while, this will give you confidence, function, and decent accuracy it also gives you something to base your next step on.

[Redd508]

Run5run gas cutting is what i was thinking. I realize the base doesnt contact the rifling but the gas cutting causing leading was what i had in mind

[JeffG]

Can I use Lee TC bullets with their alox lube or do I need to use hard lube with that style? From what I have read on this site, thats the mold to go with for 40 cal.

Assuming you are talking about their traditional lube groove type TC bullets, I think you'll find the standard NRA formula Alox/Beeswax lube is relatively soft and works well. I haven't seen the need to go with a harder lube. They also have their tumble lube designs in TC that you'd use with the liquid alox. I actually had good luck with liquid alox on their TL356-124-TC with no leading. I get the same results with their 356-124-TC using the NRA formula. I have also tried liquid alox with their standard lube groove design but didn't feel like there was enough lube. I started with the TL design then advanced to the traditional lube groove type.

[RogerDat]

Thing I'm rapidly finding out is this hobby can be as expensive or budget minded as a person has a mind to make it. Some are focused on precision ammo and experimentation to craft the best possible round. Others are just trying to cast some decent ammo so they can do more plinking for less money. Some purchase alloys of known composition from RotoMetals (site sponsor link at top of the page) others haunt scrap yards, garage and estate sales for useful alloys to harden plain lead. Some build or purchase precision equipment for casting or smelting. Others use a hot plate or Coleman stove and cast iron or stainless cook pots from Wal-Mart, or thrift stores.

You will want to add a thermometer to that list of items you purchase. You need to control your temp or at least know the temp you are casting at to have a repeatable process. The hotter the lead that fills a mold the more it will contract when it cools. That impacts finished bullet size.

[dbosman]

Welcome.
Like others said, read the stickies before you get too far in to casting.
It's easy to spend more money than you need to. The more you learn, the less your initial investment needs to be. Especially if you're a paper puncher. Steel plate shooters need different boolits than a hunter or bullseye shooter or a tin can bouncer.

One solution, already pointed out, is find a casting/reloading buddy or lots of them. The more the merrier and everyones investment can be less.