Building up my supplies

[Ural Driver]

Hey y'all, I am still in the process of gathering the necessary supplies together to begin my reloading/casting adventure.
I have about 80 pounds of certified Lyman #2 (from RotoMetals) and am about to place another order..... but....... lemme give ya a bit more info......
My plan is to stay fairly simple with bullets for my 45 RedHawk and 45 Rossi lever gun (I really like the looks of the 255gr RNFP).
My focus is to find a suitable "all purpose" load that will work in both guns. Everything from paper punching to hog hunting.
So, as an absolute beginner, am I good with just using the Lyman #2 for a while, or should I be ordering other "mixtures" also?
Also, I will likely be trying different loadings (no real hot-rodding but will probably try various loads behind my bullets) so, should I be adding gas checks to my shopping list?
Thanks in advance.
:popcorn:

[W.R.Buchanan]

You'll be fine with that lead. it is good for 95% of all boolit casting and for what you want to do you could use plain Wheel Weights and be just fine...

I am curious, is your Ural broken in yet? IE: has it got 20,000 miles on it yet?

Randy

[Ural Driver]

With all the "fake" wheel weights floating around I think I will be waiting on those until I learn a bit more about the whole process.......

And yes, she is broke in, but only has a tad over 20,000 km on the clock so far.
Good on ya for even knowing what a Ural is. :-P

This is my Mom and me....she is 81.

161672

[Artful]

You got the 2 wheel drive model or the 1 wheel drive?
And did you add the protection package?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN5PAwc1ns8

[runfiverun]

I'd cut that #2 in half with pure lead.

the 45 colt works on about 10 different levels, the hard part is just picking one.
my main every-day load for the rugers and the 92's is about 9 grs of unique and a 250 gr rnfp [lyman 452664] in star-line brass.
I'm confident in it's ability to take deer, as a home defense round, and it's great as a target round or even for smacking rocks in the canyon.
once you get used to shooting the same load and the sights set to it, it makes things super simple.

[Retumbo]

With all the "fake" wheel weights floating around I think I will be waiting on those until I learn a bit more about the whole process.......
And yes, she is broke in, but only has a tad over 20,000 km on the clock so far.
Good on ya for even knowing what a Ural is. :-P

Never seen fake wheel weights. Took me about 10 min on my first pail of wheel weights to figure out whats lead, of course this was after finding the pictoral of different wheel weights. Never seen the use of paying premium for lead for my uses

[Cherokee]

Ural...as already said, you can cut that Lyman #2 with an equal amount of pure lead and be fine. My Redhawk 7.5" shoot great with the Keith bullets that drop at 268 gr for me from the RCBS mold (wheel weights + tin) and just as well from the Win 94 Trapper. My general load is 7 gr of 231 but many powders can be used. Gas checks are not needed.

[Ural Driver]

I have the Gear-Up (2wd) that I bought new in 2008. My only protection plan is the one where I come out of the store and tell the goober having his picture taken while sittin on/in my ride to "git off my rig".

[Big Dangle]

As far as building up supplies, I did a ton of research and talking to people and keep my ears open for things. Plus when you talk to people about doing it they sometimes know an ol boy down the road or where you can get stuff you need. My advise would to not go out a buy a ton of stuff, just get a few things to start and keep your eye out for useful things.

[Ural Driver]

Never seen fake wheel weights. Took me about 10 min on my first pail of wheel weights to figure out whats lead, of course this was after finding the pictoral of different wheel weights. Never seen the use of paying premium for lead for my uses


I never knew ww's to be anything except lead. Now I see them made of zinc, steel and some sort of plastic covered metal......ie: "fake wheel weights".

[Ural Driver]

From Big Dangle "As far as building up supplies, I did a ton of research and talking to people and keep my ears open for things. Plus when you talk to people about doing it they sometimes know an ol boy down the road or where you can get stuff you need. My advise would to not go out a buy a ton of stuff, just get a few things to start and keep your eye out for useful things. "




Not sure what all I will need so I am still just guessing here.
So far I have gathered:
20 pounds of TiteGroup
3000 large primers
4000 pieces of Starline brass in 45 colt
80 pounds of Lyman #2 lead
A few boxes of commercial bullets (just to give me something with "known" dimensions)
Lee 4-20 Pro furnace
A couple of the cast iron Lyman Lead Pot's

Still no press but I am leaning towards a Dillon Square Deal B

....and I just found a copy of Lymans's Cast Bullet Handbook #3...

I am resisting the urge to buy all the "accessories" that I keep finding.......

[takasaki]

Like other have said already, try to find some cheap lead(plumbers,roofers,wheel weights) and mix with your #2 alloy. I prefer a little softer bullet and run coww with some soft in everything including non gc'd full house 357's

[richhodg66]

Wow, 20 pounds of powder and 4K rounds of brass??? I'd say you're in for the long haul.

The .45 Colt is one of the most rewarding things to cast and reload for. That 8.5 or so grains of Unique behind about any 255ish grain bullet works in everything it seems.

200 grain SWCs designed for the .45 ACP in front of 6.5 grains of Red Dot is a real nice plinking load and accurate.

[dondiego]

I load more ammo with my cheap LEE hand press ($30?) than I do with my Dillon 650.

[OS OK]

I see where you are heading with this…remember…you can horse-trade when supplies are thin and get good mileage out of those dollars spent.
Another thing, now your casting, friends will bring you all sorts of lead. That L.#2 is a great sweetener…

[Green Frog]

If you've never done any reloading, I would encourage you to start with any of the good single stage bench presses and load a couple of thousand rounds so you see how everything works and get comfortable with the whole process. You wouldn't jump on a big Harley if you'd never learned to ride a bicycle.

Be sure to get a die set with tungsten carbide sizing die... Most new ones have this, but some older types are still out there. There are several inexpensive powder measures and scales out there, and I would buy one of each, or else a scale and a set of Lee dippers. If I were just starting out as you describe I would use the "store bought" ready cast bullets to get started then add casting into the mix. Casting a bunch of the best bullets in the world and having no way to load them doesn't make much sense.

Welcome to the madness!

Froggie

[RogerDat]

I would think about a Lee sizer once you know for sure what size bullet your particular firearms like. With Titan Reloading a site sponsor selling them at $18 for a stock size or $39 for a custom one it can be one more "variable" that you can lock down.

I have no idea why a Dillon 650 would be your choice of press to start with. A Lee Turret can crank out 45 colt faster than myself, the kids, and grand kids can shoot it. Whole lot less money, and less expensive to set up for other calibers too. I think Lee Classic Cast Turret, powder and primer dispenser, plus the deluxe 4 die set for 45 colt only cost around $225 from Titan. Unique is good in 45 colt. I like Titegroup too, possibly better but I am not using it in a lever gun or rifle but in a Vaquero pistol. Lot of recipes for Titegroup in 45 colt if you search online for just that.

The $30 Lee Loader single stage press can be very useful for single step processing such as bullet sizing, or loading whole round one step at a time if you want to do some extra precise loads. Say for hunting. The $120 Lee cast single stage is an awesome single stage for the money. Can load anything up to and including 50 BMG. All three and still way under the cost of that Dillon. Now if you are going to load for 9mm or 40 S&W in really large quantities maybe a Dillon would make more sense but for 45 colt or a few hundred rifle rounds at a time I would go with the Lee Classic Cast Turret. Actually I did. Love it but then other than 7.62x39 and .223 everything I load is revolver or bolt. So at my volume of reloading it works really well. Plenty of time to make the auto loader rifle stuff during the evenings after work to use on the weekends.

You can always buy WW lead in ingot form from the S & S forum here. Running around $1 a pound for WW's already cleaned and made into ingots. Soft plain lead goes for about the same amount. Stretch that expensive Rotometals alloy out by cutting it with something softer. Sometimes a little softer works better. Obturation is the amount the bullet expands in diameter from being squished between pressure from behind and inertia. Softer lead can sometimes expand into a better seal which yields better accuracy. Can be a factor for slower velocity heavy bullets such as the 45 colt.

I will add the one caution for Titegroup it is very concentrated, hard to visually inspect for a proper load, double load, or half load won't be visually as easy to distinguish as say Unique and other powders that are "fluffier". On the other hand you use less Titegroup so that is good.

[runfiverun]

the 650 is waay too far in it.
the 550 is much simpler to operate and cheaper to expand into other calibers with.
I have both by both I mean 4-550's and a 650 [the 650 is left set up for 45 colt BTW]
I also have several 0-Frame type presses which see as much if not more use than the Dillon's do.
even with the Dillon's your well served by having the 0-Frame press on hand, especially to get started and learn the reloading process with.

[Ural Driver]

I think someone else brought the Dillon 650 into the conversation......:???:......I am looking at a Dillon Square Deal B as my first press.

[dudel]

I think someone else brought the Dillon 650 into the conversation......:???:......I am looking at a Dillon Square Deal B as my first press.

Square Deal is a very, very good press. HOWEVER, it only does certain pistol rounds, AND uses non standard dies. Almost sounds like you are prepping for a SHTF scenario. If that's the case, I'd go with a good single stage press and standard dies. I like my RCBS Rockchucker. Lifetime warranty is great, only if there is someone around to warranty it.

Hard to break a RockChucker. Mine is 30 years old, and it's a youngster compared to some you find here. I also like my 550b. Use them both.

[bangerjim]

Casting for your 45's............you will need a LOT more lead than you have! Conserve the #2 and dilute it with pure (as said) that you should be able to find in most local scrap yards. Forget the COWW thing. That free-bee ended years ago. And unless you can buy COWW's for 20-30¢ a pound...they aren't worth all the mess and fuss you have to go thru to sort and re-melt them.

Start with a single stage press and leave the "Dillon magic carpets" for your more experienced days!!!!!! Learn why and how things happen and work with a single loading press B4 diving off that deep end.

The 45 long colt is my favorite cal to load and shoot in 5 different revolvers and carbines. Fun! I cast every standard weight of boolit from 160 thru 310gn for them. The heavier the better! Just started dropping 268gn HP's from a MiHec 4 banger brass mold. SWEET!

TG was my go-to powder in the past. Fast, clean, and not much needed. Just watch for those illusive double fills!!!!!!! Now I load and shoot only ETR7. Same load data, just easier to find! And cheaper.

And I powder coat all my rounds for no smoke, no sticky boolits and no leading.

Good luck! :guntootsmiley:

banger

[robg]

One of the guys in our club gives me some scrap lead gas pipe,much cleaner than water pipe no lime scale etc I just add a little lead free solder casts great .

[Garyshome]

"I load more ammo with my cheap LEE hand press ($30?) than I do with my Dillon 550."
Not me!

[David2011]

Ural,

WELCOME!

Just my opinion but based on a lot of practical experience. I'm a huge fan of Ruger .45 Colt revolvers and all they're capable of. If you're only interested in plinking, by all means develop one light load that will work in the revolver and the lever gun. For flexibility I would recommend also developing a "Ruger and Contender only" load for the Redhawk. Another powder will be needed but the Redhawk is capable of power in the same neighborhood as the .44 Mag. It's my go-to in a .45 Colt Blackhawk when I'm hunting or otherwise in the field. I trust it to be effective on small game and big game up to 400 pound feral hogs. Cast boolits will do anything either firearm will do.

David

[W.R.Buchanan]

With all the "fake" wheel weights floating around I think I will be waiting on those until I learn a bit more about the whole process.......

And yes, she is broke in, but only has a tad over 20,000 km on the clock so far.
Good on ya for even knowing what a Ural is. :-P

This is my Mom and me....she is 81.

161672

As a former BMW owner I have known about Urals for 25 years + We have a Ural Dealer here in Ventura and I see them frequently.

I said that because the understood "break in period" for Urals is said to be 20,000 miles. This is because of the fact that there is no word in the Russian Language for "Deburring" nothing they make is deburred. Everything comes right off the machine and right into service.

Change oil frequently for the first 20K. They will last for along time after that.

Randy

[Artful]

Well, I generally would say you have a nice plan - got a stash of goods just need a press - While I have several presses, I usually use a Lee Turret press for teaching people on. It's a good press that can handle rifle or pistol and with quick change die holders. But if you only intend to ever load 45 colt I could see the attraction of the Square Deal.

I don't have one myself but I do have two other Dillon presses. I'm with most of the other guys here in that I like to start a newbie with a single stage or unit set up as a single stage so that they learn each process well.

[John in AR]

...Forget the COWW thing. That free-bee ended years ago. And unless you can buy COWW's for 20-30¢ a pound...they aren't worth all the mess and fuss you have to go thru to sort and re-melt them...
Probably 'mostly' ended, for most people in most areas. I'm just now getting into casting after reloading 30+ years, but have had surprisingly good luck finding coww's pretty close to free. I'm in a rural area in north-central arkansas and simply hit several tire shops and oil-change places; mostly places I've done business with on our company vehicles.

In just a couple weeks, I accumulated over 300 pounds of final ingoted weight (muffin-pan ingots) from wheelweights with a total material cost of $20. (Paid $20 for a bucket at one shop, all others were free.) Took several hours sorting & plier-testing, and more time to melt/flux/mold the weights into usable ingots, but other than propane cost my total material investment was just that one $20 bucket; for more than 300 lbs. I'm sure the day will come that the coww thing will be as bad here as in many places, but so far, it's been surprisingly cheap & easy.

Fwiw, I did also buy some lead at a scrap yard that was much cleaner, at 75 cents a pound. Have 417 lbs in ingots in all, but 300 of that was from the $20-total wheelweight supply. The four boxes on the left are all within one pound of 100lbs each, and the box on the right is the 'leftover' seventeen pounds:
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f360/quake316/LE2/417%20lbs%20lead_zpst04ycvti.jpg

Figure whenever we have a company vehicle get tires, brakes, oil change, or whatever at the several shops we use, I'll continue to ask about their castoff wheel weights. It means doing the zinc-sorting thing which is a nuisance, but for the return I can live with it.

At least until it dries up here in Mayberry the way it's already dried up in a lot of places... :-(

[CASTING MACHINE]

Some local ordinances may apply to having large amounts of powder. Keep it to your self. I wish we were neighbors.

[dondiego]

"I load more ammo with my cheap LEE hand press ($30?) than I do with my Dillon 550."
Not me!

At least 5000 rounds this winter with the LEE hand press. It hasn't broken once either, unlike the Dillon.

[jimb16]

Wow, 20 pounds of powder and 4K rounds of brass??? I'd say you're in for the long haul.

The .45 Colt is one of the most rewarding things to cast and reload for. That 8.5 or so grains of Unique behind about any 255ish grain bullet works in everything it seems.

200 grain SWCs designed for the .45 ACP in front of 6.5 grains of Red Dot is a real nice plinking load and accurate.

I like 8.3 gr of unique behind a 255 gr swc. Works very well in both my Blackhawk and my 94 Winchester.