Please help me get started!

[Beaverhunter2]

I’m extremely new at the cast bullet game. All I’ve ever cast were round balls for my squirrel rifle and anchors for my duck decoys. However, I’d like to start casting for my 1895M because I love to shoot it, can’t afford to keep feeding it jacketed bullets, and have been really impressed with purchased cast bullet performance out of my SRH .480. I got a good deal on a Lee .476-400gr coming that I'll be using to start casting for that pistol.

My rifle has ballard rifling, and after a bunch of research, I’d like to start out with one of RanchDog's TLC460 molds. I still haven’t decided on 350gr or 425gr. I hunt deer with a Remington 300gr JHP (Sorry! :oops:) at about 2300fps. I’m leaning toward the 425gr because it would give me better bullet option for hunting larger critters than I‘d want to shoot with the 300gr HP. If you have any thoughts on this, I’d appreciate it.

Now for a few more questions:

What type of lead alloy do you suggest I start with? Since I only have pure lead right now, the sky's the limit.

I was planning to use the Liquid Alox lube. It goes with the TLC-style bullet, right? Will this work OK with the .476 bullet, as well?

How important will it be for me to size the bullets when I'm starting out? I have a RCBS Rockchucker press. Will this work with the Lee sizing kits and will it seat the gas checks for the TLC460?

Sorry for all the questions! I think I may be falling into a new obsession! :eek: :wink:

John

[HeavyMetal]

Welcome to Castboolits!

You've got a bunch O' questions! I'll start with the easy ones first!

The lee push through sizing dies will work with gas checks just make sure the base is flat when you put them on and push them through! The only way to get a gas check on a boolit is to run it through a sizing die to crimp it in place! Otherwise they can come off, guess what happens then?

I'm not a fan of the liquid alox but it is a decent place to start. Suggests you find the sticky that freakshow10MM did on using a Star sizer. It will change your ideas on sizing bullets.

I don't know what your planning on huntin but a 300 gr slug at 2300 FPS ought to put a dent in anything in the northern hemisphere! If you need more load than this I will suggest a nuclear airstrike! That way it will be dead and cooked!

On the serious side you'll find plenty of good loads to use with either 300 or 400 grain boolits in any of the reloading manuels. Will suggest Lymans cast bullet manuel if you can find one.

The Rock chuck will have no trouble with the lee sizing set up!

You might find plain lead a little soft for rifle needs. I will point out that most newbie's source for lead is wheelweights, refered to on this site as WW, WW has other metals in it than just lead and will usually serve as a good starting point for casting.

As you gain experience you will see threads and notes posted here on blending alloys for different tpye loads I will suggest you get Lee's reloading manuel! It has a great section on lead and bullet casting as well as an explanation of how his hardness tester works.

[mooman76]

Beaverhunter2, a big welcome and the questions are always welcome as well. Any standard press will work the Lee sizers. Yes LLA goes with the TL design bullet but you are not limited to that if you wish to try another lube. If the bullets are coming out .001-.002 over you bore size you do not need to size them, shoot them as is. I'd start out with staight WW's and go from there. You can water drop WW's to make them harder.

[44man]

First all of the boolits you describe love Felix or Lar's lubes, no need for the Lee LA stuff. Have Lee make you a .476 die or buy one for the lube sizer. The .480 will shoot super with a .476 Lee 400 gr boolit with 23 gr's of 296 and a Fed 155 primer.
The Lee sizer works fine with the press you have but make sure you get the checks on all the way before running the boolits through the die. You might have to start them and tap the boolits against the bench top to get them on.
For the 45-70, buy both RD molds, they are reasonable. Then you can see what the rifle likes. Size them .460 to start. I would not go below .459.
Use good lube.

[cbrick]

Beaverhunter2,

Your questions have been pretty well answered so I'll just say hi and welcome to Castboolits.

Don't ever apologize for asking questions. A question is simply someone that doesn't know something that they would like to know. Every single person casting started out as a complete beginner at some point and we all love this stuff, helping out a beginner is a good thing.

Be warned, you have begun on a hobby that is extremely addictive and the sky is the limit. Once started there is no turning back and you to will worship the shiny goddess. :-D

Rick

[waksupi]

Welcome aboard, John. You have left the path well traveled, and fallen in with a good group here.

[MT Gianni]

One other thing I would add is to by a 6 cavity Ranch Dog mold. There is a learning curve to casting though and 6 cavity's are not really the place to start. Get a 2 cavity pistol mold and run it until you are happy with the results that you get. Read what you find on search about casting with a 6 cavity and you should make a smooth transition. Gianni

[Blammer]

Not haveing most of the stuff you have but some experience, here is what i would suggest.

Get the Lee sizing die in the size you want, it will generally come with a bottle of LLA. A good place to start. Yes you can use it to put on the GC's too. So it's an all in one cheap package to start that works well.

Get some WW's and start from there. Generally they are consistent when you make a big batch of ingots. Pleanty hard and you can water quench em if you need em harder.

I'd start with the lighter of the two boolits. The 350 gr one if I remember right.

350gr with a good meplat at about 1900 fps (conservative starting place) will more than put the whammy on anything you need.

[Beaverhunter2]

Thanks for all the info, guys!

I picked up Lyman's Cast Bullet Handbook today. It's going to be hard to put down. I'm planning to slug my guns tonight. (I learned how to do that while lurking on here! :-D)

I'm sure I'll have a lot more questions in the near future.

Re: the "addictive nature of casting". I give folks the same warning on our site (www.michigantrappers.com) about beaver trapping. They never seem to listen! :confused:

Thanks again!

John

[Beaverhunter2]

One thing I missed in the last reply:

The reason I'm looking for something to hunt with in addition to the Remington 300gr JHP is that this bullet opens up pretty quick and I'm concerned about penetration on big, heavy critters. Especially if a heavy bone is hit. Most of my handgun hunter friends use cast bullets for bear and other bigger stuff. They are looking for penetration and so am I.

The way I see it, a .450 Marlin or .480 Ruger starts out with 150%+ of the frontal diameter of a .30-06 so the wound channel is definitely going to be something that will put a hurt on a critter. Now I just want that wound channel to reach to (and through) the vitals. My buds all tell me the only thing that penetrates better than a heavy, fairly hard cast bullet is a FMJ solid. I'm not going to use FMJs, (even if it was legal) so there you go.

Thanks again for the advice!

John

[cbrick]

A medium hard cast WFN will penetrate far more than a HP. A 350 gr WFN @ 2,000 fps will penetrate clear through most things on this continent, just don't need more penetration than in one side and out the other side.

[dromia]

Welcome to these forums John, see your sorted already. :-D

[Beaverhunter2]

OK, I think I did it right. I slugged my 1895M and the largest OD (groove diameter) on the slug is .4575. 90 degrees from that measurement is .4570 This seems a lot smaller than most of the reported bore diameters for .450 Marlins. My land diameters are about .452

Does this sound right?

Now to my next question. How much can you size a bullet in one push? I'm still thinking about RD's TLC460 mold. Can I take this down in one step or do I need multiple sizing dies? Lastly, the big one- what sizing die should I finish at? .459? .458? .457?

Thanks again for the help!

John

[cbrick]

.457" groove diameter is fine. Don't know what RD's mould casts at so I don't know how much you would be sizing. I'd start with the .459" die and depending a lot on your alloy, velocity/pressure you could experiment with .458" and .460". I wouldn't think the mould will cast so big that one step with .459" die wouldn't work. If you haven't cast any boolits with this mould yet send him a PM and ask how large they cast.

Rick

[Lead melter]

Beaverhunter2,
I suppose I will start a war here with this possibility, but as you progress, you can use linotype to make alloy, that is it you can't find any WW. Look for it on some of the 'net auction sights, [and no, I will not mention THE name] and normally it can be picked up fairly reasonably. I have trouble getting WW myself and have had to commit sin using the stuff. Just remember, a little usually goes a long way and it's just like dirt...they ain't making any more of it.
Welcome to the site, and I will expect you to help me out when the rest of the gang come to ride me out on a rail.:veryconfu

[Beaverhunter2]

Did a good bit of reading last night. Now I think I have more questions than I did when I started! :lol: Don't worry! I won't ask them all now! :wink:

I need to think and reread some more. This alloy thing has me thinking a lot. Looks like lead's going to be harder to come by than I thought. Apparently casting is pretty common in Detroit! I'll probably just buy some to get me started.

Thanks for all the help, Guys!

John