How many casted boolits can you stack?

[Stilly]

I casted up a storm the other week and now I have boolits all over the place and I have no real place to store them until they are powder coated.

Is it wrong to just put them in a 5 gallon bucket and let them sit? These are mostly COWW and slightly mixed with range lead.

Is there some sort of calculation that I can do to see how much weight the bottom boolits can take before they start to deform?

[Rustyleee]

I always store mine in Pringles cans. Just about the right size.

[mjwcaster]

I don't powder coat and just got into casting last year, but I use coffee cans.
A blue maxwell plastic 'can' holds 25-30lbs of boolits, but I try to keep them only about 20lbs.
They stack nicely and are easy to move.
Only issue is that they are small so it is easy to overload my desk.

I don't think there would be any issue just pilling them up in a bucket, unless they are pure lead.
Besides not being able to move the bucket, and overloading the bottom or handles of the bucket.

[Petrol & Powder]

You know you are a reloader & caster when your decision to buy coffee is based on the can the coffee comes in and not the coffee.;)

[imashooter2]

Boolits in a 5 gallon bucket are as good as any other vessel. I like to cast in the winter and lube if / as required. I'll have way more on hand than can fit in a coffee can. A single bucket makes way more sense than multiple small containers to me.

[DougGuy]

My Lee .452" sizing die likes to stack them high enough to push the case up and off the top of the die and boolits go everywhere when it does.. :sad:

[tja6435]

My Lee .452" sizing die likes to stack them high enough to push the case up and off the top of the die and boolits go everywhere when it does.. :sad:


Yes, that drives me nuts when that happens. I try to run some packing tape around the seam nowadays if I'll be doing large amounts

[Bo1]

You guy's must have some kind of super human strength... I would have MUCH trouble moving around a 5 gallon bucket full of cast boolits... :sad:

[therealhitman]

You know you are a reloader & caster when your decision to buy coffee is based on the can the coffee comes in and not the coffee.;)

Glad I'm not alone. Coffee cans loaded up to 30-ish pounds each stacked under the house. 1800 .356 124gr, 1200 .452 185gr etc.

At my Dad's shop he does just leave em in 5 gallon buckets, but you can't move those. Or at least don't wanna try!

[Springfield]

Unless you powder coat thousands at a time, why cast so many that need to be stored?

[bstone5]

I cast several thousand bullets at a time with the Automated master Caster.
I store the cast bullets in baking pans I get at Wall Mart.
The same pans are used to store the coated bullets during the powder coating process.
After coating and sizing the bullets are stored in small screw top containers I get at the grocery store.
The small plastic containers with the screw on lids are cheap and can be used over and over again, the lids in blue are to the left in the picture.
The red bullets are wad cutters in 357 to be used in 38 Special loads, each container has 500 bullets ready to load.
In the picture on the right the bullets are having gas check installed with the Lee Push Thru Sizing Die.

[therealhitman]

Unless you powder coat thousands at a time, why cast so many that need to be stored?

Ummmmm...

So we can cast?

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

You guy's must have some kind of super human strength... I would have MUCH trouble moving around a 5 gallon bucket full of cast boolits... :sad:
Yep, that was my first thought.
I use small containers, like the type peanut butter comes in.
If I were to want to store enough of one type, that would fill a 5 gallon bucket, I'd choose to use 50 cal military ammo cans. For the most part, that's what I store ingots in...once they are near full, that's about all I can lift, and the metal cans CAN handle the weight. When you fill a 5 gallon plastic bucket halfway or so, then move it around from here to there a couple times, let me now how that bucket lasts for you...Yeah, I've busted a couple 5 gal plastic buckets that were half-full of raw wheel weights...move them from here to there, set them down...and BUSTED !
Good Luck,
Jon

[hutch18414]

One of my grandsons is into weight lifting and brings me the containers protein powder comes in. I get about one per week from him. They average about 25 lbs. each, could put a little more but then they would be too heavy for me to want to move much.. I have 36 of them filled with lubed and sized boolits. I just can't seem to quit casting even when I don't need more boolits.

[therealhitman]

I just can't seem to quit casting even when I don't need more boolits.

Amen Brother Hutch. Amen. You will need them eventually.

[Stilly]

Unless you powder coat thousands at a time, why cast so many that need to be stored?

Long story short, I was banned from Calguns for 10 days so I decided to be productive and see what I could get done instead of sitting around in front of the computer looking for jobs.

I had a really cool metal cart that the g/f brought home and I was going to show someone how I cast so I set the cart up with all of my casting stuff and wheeled it out in front of the garage and ran an extension cord and plugged it in.

I had 5 boxes of COWW that were starting to flatten out and smash the lower ones so I thought, okay, I will cast and use them all up.

In the process I decided to burn up some of my ingots too. On TOP of that I had gotten a couple of new molds that I wanted to try out including the 50 AE from my other thread.

The mess was so much easier to manage on the cart and I had so much fun that I was casting for about 3-5 hours a day for almost a week straight making everything from 9mm 105gr swc to .50 AE 280gr and some .45 and 38/357 and .44 as well.

Before you know it, I had multiple containers of lead in various states of drying (water dropped) and then when I went to add them all together, the result was several large boxes filled to the top.

Now, I am in the process of designing/building a wooden frame/shelf set that will enable me to hold my PC pills and I think I have a good idea of what it will look like and I am basign it on the Xtreme boxes that I have leftover from buying 44 pills from them. I like their little boxes and I reuse them, but when I was casting, I was casting to use up lead. So now I have boxes ready and waiting, but I have to still resize and Pc and then resize them again.

Yeah, I have an OCD like that. I want to pull all of my bullets off of my free standing shelf and put only loaded ammo up there. That would allow me to clean up part of the garage. I do not like having boxes of lead all over the place and empty bullet boxes there.

I would have made this bullet holder months ago but I have the hoarder gene in me and I have a 50 or 60 gal fish tank sitting under the bench where the bullet holder will go and I am trying to talk myself into getting rid of it, but it is so nice and some day I might want to settle down and have fish...

But when that day happens, I do not want to deal with having to spend the money buying another one. SO, now I have about 130+ lbs of unsorted boolits all mixed up waiting to be resized and PC, but I do not need them all just yet.

I just got back my Lee .44 mag 6 cavity 240gr TL SWC mold and I picked up 2 more 6 cavity Lee 9mm molds to play around with so I need to cast for another 2-3 hours today to use up the final few pounds of that COWW that I had.

I remember seeing drums of plated rounds sitting somewhere, but I do not know how hard their stuff is.

I DO have various small containers now though. Maybe I can sort it all out and put them into the clear peanut butter containers that I have and some other things too.

Yeah, I know what you are all saying. I have about 30 + Folgers containers that I have labeled holding my brass that has been prepped.

I DO have several large containers, and I DO buy containers and food now based on how fast I will eat it and how large or small the container is. I just ate through several bottles of Star Wars childrens gummy vitamins so that I could have another two containers to hold different sizes of pins to clean my brass with... I love how they are clear and rectangular so they seem to group together nicely, like my squared PC bottles.

I could put these boolits into a 5 gal bucket, I think I have one or two sitting around, I have gamma lids on all of my 5 gallon buckets so that would keep them fresh and not go stale... ;)

I will look around. I only need temp containers mostly, but one day those boxes WILL be filled completely and I do not want to have to have TWO boxes of each bullet type. I do not think I will have the space for them all there. And I WILL need over flow containers for pills that are not PC, but resized and waiting...

As for the 5 gallon bucket, I have a partial solution for moving those around. I have a large ammo can. It is vintage to me, It is one of those special military cans, It is like this: http://www.majorsurplus.com/30-mm-HD-Ammo-Can-P17287C1943.aspx But taller.

I have it sitting on top of a 4-wheeler/ furniture mover that I bought from harbor freight and it is filled with lead ingots that are over the top and the lid sits on the top layer about 2-3 inches from the top of the container. I can pull it around with no problems since it has wheels under it now.

I do like those screw lid type of containers that bstone5 posted. Thanks. I will look into those for stackable temp storage.

[RogerDat]

Cool weather is casting weather grasshopper, waste not the opportunity to cast lead for tomorrow one may find dripping sweat bars you from the way of the silver stream and throws you into the realm of the tinsel fairy...... Or if you get a new mold, or want to see how this alloy of scrap shoots, or decide to clean up some "stray" ingots, or some gas checks arrive and need to be tried out, or you get some new powder coat to try or lube or....

I like the red plastic Folgers cans and drink a lot of coffee so.... I don't like moving 5 gal. buckets that weigh more than about 60 lbs. I also find the bread loaf pans useful. Like them better than reaching into can when loading. Use them just as shown in picture above, for moving stuff through processing on the bench. Be it boolits or brass they just work well and can stack if not over full. Good way to store the .38 SWC and WC stacked on a shelf together, or store other variations for same caliber.

[gwpercle]

Stilly, you're spending way too much time casting....shoot some of them.
Can we say "addicted to casting " ! You got it bad !

[therealhitman]

I have a 50 or 60 gal fish tank... I am trying to talk myself into getting rid of it, but it is so nice and some day I might want to settle down and have fish...

Spit coffee a long way... some out my nose. Thanks for that.

[dragon813gt]

I use 30cal ammo cans. Not to heavy to move around. And they hold enough to keep me shooting for awhile. I store them raw as I had issues w/ lube running off since the cans are stored in a hot attic.

Five gallon buckets are way to heavy. I will put fifty pounds of ingots in a bucket to move them around. I'd rather take more trips w/ a lighter load.

[imashooter2]

You guy's must have some kind of super human strength... I would have MUCH trouble moving around a 5 gallon bucket full of cast boolits... :sad:

I put them where I want them and fill them up. The system might not work for everyone.

[BNE]

You know you are a reloader & caster when your decision to buy coffee is based on the can the coffee comes in and not the coffee.;)

+1. I do this.

[DeputyDog25]

Please tell me why I would even want to stack boolits?

[country gent]

I size and lube my BPCR bullet and store them in the 100 rd plastic pistol ammo boxes. These stack nicely and with the lids closed keep bullets safe they are stored in individual compartments and protected from banging ,rubbing, and sticking together.

[williamwaco]

You guy's must have some kind of super human strength... I would have MUCH trouble moving around a 5 gallon bucket full of cast boolits... :sad:



ME 2.

Half full would be tops.

[Geezer in NH]

I casted up a storm the other week and now I have boolits all over the place and I have no real place to store them until they are powder coated.

Is it wrong to just put them in a 5 gallon bucket and let them sit? These are mostly COWW and slightly mixed with range lead.

Is there some sort of calculation that I can do to see how much weight the bottom boolits can take before they start to deform?Flat nose will stack better than round nose or truncated. IMHO

I cannot lift a 5 gallon bucket of cast bullets nor a 1/2 filled.

[slim1836]

149205
I put brass, boolits, primers, ASBB's, etc... in coffee cans and label with black marker in the handle area.
I use acetone to erase the markings if I repurpose the can. Works for me.

Slim

[hickfu]

I buy containers from the dollar store, they hold quite a few boolits but not too many that you cant lift them... And they stack in milk crates very nicely.. They also come with different colored lids.. blue, red and green

149206

I have a lot of these because I cast a lot of boolits before my hands got too bad to cast.

[mjwcaster]

I just use write on labels for my cans, I have a bunch laying around.
I am planning on casting a bunch before cold weather sets in (love my new 6 cavity mould) and was eyeing the cans on my desk yesterday while sizing.
I think I will print up some sheets of labels, with
bullet type/weight,
a spot for date,
#of lbs,
sized(so I can check or circle after sizing
lubed (again so I can circle or check, I tumble lube for now)

I have been using these labels/cans for a while and just put a new label over the old one when I change the purpose of the can.

I try to keep sheets of these around every where with a sharpie and label everything, otherwise I suffer from CRS syndrome.

I prefer to use clear plastic cans from pretzels for brass, nice to see what is in them.
But still labeled, brass type, cleaned, sorted by headstamp, etc.

I am actually redoing my reloading bench and moving it inside right now.
I put longer legs on it to use while standing/sitting on my new rescued bar stool.
And I am putting a shelf underneath, high enough to put my tallest tote underneath (that I store reloading supplies in) with enough space on top to hold 2 coffee cans stacked on top of each other.

The weight of the lead will help with the stability of the bench (I hope) since it isn't perfectly stable on carpeting, I get a little rocking when it is empty.

[bruce381]

""just can't seem to quit casting even when I don't need more boolits.""

yeah I got over 30K sized and lubed waiting for my home made shelfing system to cave in.
Anyway I finally order 50 boxes from some box place that are 2x4x8 and hold about 500 each

[DeputyDog25]

oh, now I see what you mean by stacking, I thought you were stacking bullets like stacking dominoes. Silly me...LOL

[trixter]

I love nuts, so I use Costco nut jars (plastic). The labels peel off real easy and I can see what is in each jar.

[Gunslinger1911]

I guess I have to step up, nobody wants to go there ..... haha

I think I could keep going on the left - that'd a .50 cal wadcutter.

[kbstenberg]

I also like to cast as much as shooting them. But I use our emptied butter containers. With my bad wrists that is about all I can handle.
The only down side I can see with using a 5 gal bucket. Is not having a cover to keep the unlubed bullets from getting some form of contaminate on them while in storage.

[Gunslinger1911]

149272Actually, I use a combination of coffee cans, cheap plastic bins from WM, and a couple MTM shotgun cases with the insert removed.

[NavyVet1959]

I guess I have to step up, nobody wants to go there ..... haha

I think I could keep going on the left - that'd a .50 cal wadcutter.

Yeah, but let's see how many of the Lee 309-230-5R you can stack...

[GaryN]

I know if you put too much weight in plastic it will eventually split. I use plastic containers because they are free but you have to watch how much you put in them. I have never had a bullet smash from too many on top. Metal would probably hold the weight better.

[Geezer in NH]

5 gallon buckets are for brass not Boolits. :bigsmyl2:

[edler7]

I use round metal cans from cookies or fruit cakes. They hold up well to the weight, stack on top of each other and seal well.

Between cookie cans for storage and cool whip tubs for powder coating, boolits has become a fattening hobby.

[Gunslinger1911]

Had to look that one up - ouch, would take a steady hand to stack 2


Yeah, but let's see how many of the Lee 309-230-5R you can stack...

[NavyVet1959]

Thanks to a couple of hurricanes, I had quite a bit of scrap cedar fencing when my fence blew down along with a good many others in town. I decided to replace it with a metal fence (wrought iron style), so I had a lot of cedar pickets that still had a bit of life in them. I pressure washed some of them and let them dry out and used them for storage boxes in my garage for nails & bolts and in my reloading room for brass and bullets. The ones for brass can be quite a bit longer than the ones for bullets. Here's a couple of photos of the small ones being used for bullets and brass. These are made from 5 pieces of the cedar picket and they are all the same length (about 7" long). The pickets are about 5.5" wide. By making all the pieces the same length, I can set up my power miter saw with a stop block and cut them all out very quickly.

http://images.spambob.net/navy-vet-1959/cedar-box-bullet-storage-320w.jpg

http://images.spambob.net/navy-vet-1959/cedar-box-brass-storage-320w.jpg

So, by recycling the old pickets, the cost of the boxes were a few nails, a bit of glue, and a minute or two with my small electric pressure washer (I don't break out the gas powered one unless I've got a large project).

New pickets are around $2.40 each at Home Depot. They are 5/8" thick -- a bit thicker than my pickets were after all these years and numerous pressure washings. You can make 2 boxes out of a single new picket.

The joints are just glued and nailed, no fancy joinery, but they hold up nicely. The above box that is partly filled with bullets weighed 38 lbs. I could see that hitting 50 lbs if it was filled all the way to the top. As far as I'm concerned, the size of the box is limited by how much I'm willing to carry from the storage area to my reloading bench at one time.

[Doggonekid]

I also like to use 30 cal amo cans. They hold about 60 LBS of boolits. I have 10 different molds I use. After filling all my ammo cans I PC enough boolits to fill Costco's nut jars. They hold approx 800 45 cal boolits. Then I go back and cast more boolits to fill my ammo cans. From the nut jar I size and lube my boolits and stack them in 3x5x2 cardboard boxes. Next I have to go back to my amo can and PC more boolits for my nut jars and then cast more boolits. From my cardboard boxes I load my boolits and stack them in MTM cases. Here comes the best part, then I shoot them and start all over again. That is how I stack my boolits.

[Green Monster]

I get the little 2-3gallon buckets from home depot and store them in those. They are cheap enough to have 3 for every caliber (cast-pcd-sized/finished) they stack well and arent crazy heavy when loaded up.

[jkl1861]

Yeah, but let's see how many of the Lee 309-230-5R you can stack...

Six. I was able to stack six….

150470

the trick is to get them to touch end to end when you're powder coating them (smoke's clear), then stand them up as a unit before you break them apart...

[Geezer in NH]

Yep and super glue don't count.

[Walter Laich]

Long story short, I was banned from Calguns for 10 days so I decided to be productive and see what I could get done instead of sitting around in front of the computer looking for jobs.



which begs the question, what did you do to get your '10 day vacation?'