howdy folks!

[RedDogForge]

new fella here :)
Ive been tapping into this site relentlessly as I leap down the rabbit hole of reloading, figured it was time to belly up to the plank and join in.
names Shane, Im a custom knifemaker in texas, and every time someone would tell me they wanted to be a knifemaker Id warn em it leads to gunsmithing and reloading.
do both a lil as a hobby to relax from forging and grinding knives.
been focusing primarily on tooling up, reading up, and hoarding lead, lino, and WW.
this fall when we get back from out annual trip out east Ill be building a dedicated gunsmithing and reloading room off the custom knife shop as its become blatantly obvious that the two arnt going to play nice together, lol. man oh man what a great problem to have, love this stuff....any way Ill stop blatherin on now and go back to a bit o lurking and poking around a bit. thanks again everyone for your help over the last 6 months of me snoopin about as a non-member.
Shane Stainton
Red Dog Forge

[Tom W.]

Well, hello! Don't be shy about asking questions or sharing tips..... the rest of us sure ain't!

'Cept fer Fred. But maybe he'll come around.....

[Grmps]

RedDogForge - welcome to CB. If you decided to start casting to save money, forget it. You won't, you'll just shoot more.
Casting boolits (lead bullets) properly is a science, once you know the basics, not a hard science.
There is a lot of good information on CB. The Google search (top right of every forum page) is a gateway to all the knowledge on this forum. IF you can’t find your answer there ask the question (Please be as detailed as possible, pictures help http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?344661-Capturing-amp-Posting-screen-shots I would be very surprised if there wasn’t someone on this forum that could answer ANY (firearm related) question you might have)
http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_Contents.htm
1. Boolits need to be cast .0005 to .003 (normally .002) over the slugged diameter of your barrel for accuracy and to avoid leading. If the fit is wrong nothing else will work right.
a. slugging a barrel (it is safer to use a brass rod or a steel rod with a couple of coats of tape to avoid damaging your barrel http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinSlug.htm
b. chamber casting https://www.brownells.com/guntech/cerrosafe/detail.htm?lid=10614
or pound casting http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?356251-Pound-Cast-instructions-(for-rifle-chamber)
2. the right alloy needs to be used for the velocity and purpose of the boolit (don’t fall into the trap of going with too hard an alloy
Economical way to easily test lead hardness
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?355056-Easier-pencil-lead-hardness-testing
https://i.imgur.com/TGUQsIe.jpg
Some alloys harden over time
http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_Chapter_3_alloySelectionMetallurgy.ht m
different alloy’s different end sizes
https://i.imgur.com/emuBC2T.png?1
Lead alloy calculator
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=45784&d=1341560870
3. velocity the bullet needs to be pushed hard/fast enough to get the proper spin, have the proper velocity to accurately reach the target but not so hard as to be dangerous or strip the lead off in the grooves instead of spinning the boolit..
The boolit needs to be the right weight for the riffling/twist rate of your barrel
Powders range from fast to slow, you need to choose the right powder for your barrel length & application.
Loading manuals list the best powders for certain calibers and boolit weights.
NEVER use any posted noncommercial load data without first checking commercial load data to see if falls in the safe parameter for your firearm!! There are several firearms out there that can handle much higher pressures than others!!
Link to free online load data
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?337910-CB-load-data-online-sources

[sigep1764]

Welcome, need new youngins to learn from the elders. I cant be the only one interested! Its addictive to hold your own ambitions and fates in your abilities. Share yours. Knives? I carry one every day and Im the only one out of 30 or so people that work for me. Its only right to share your accomplishments! Whats your company?

[RichardF]

Welcome from a long time lurker. [emoji16]

[lightman]

Welcome Aboard! Feel free to ask questions and join in. Share your progress as you learn and get better. Would love to see some pictures of your knives.

[randyrat]

Welcome to the Silver stream of lead, pull up a chair and pour a couple. Be aware Galina (top of the page riding the bullet) will mesmerize you for life.

[44MAG#1]

Before you do anything get at least three current loading manuals. Read those manuals. Study those manuals.
Find someone local that may be able to help you in person.
The reason? Because on a forum, eapecially for a new loader if a question is asked you will receive several responses that can be close or far apart. That seems good but is it. If you are new how do you know which advice to take? Most of the time you don't. Advice is generally worth what you pay for it on the average. Bullet casting is as hard as you want to make it. It depends on you. Reloading is the same way. Just try to find someone to help you where you live. There is always someone that is willing to help to get another started and also to be able to help along the way.
Remember what I have said is "advice" just like the others before me. Take it for what it is worth from someone who has been reloading for 48 years in many calibers.

Again I meant no harm in what I said. Just giving an opinion based on my findings. Please dont take it in any way as to be mean or harmful to any one.

[GhostHawk]

Well howdy back at ya from the great white north (almost)

Northern Minnesota jack of all trades who jumped the river and is living in North Dakota here.

Your off to a good start. Keep reading. Good crew here.

Enjoy!

[Minerat]

Welcome aboard Shane. If you've been lurking then you know there are no dumb questions with this group. If they have been asked and answered some will direct you to that thread and others will just chime in.

Now my moderator hat. This is not to preach to you just maybe help as you work your way thru this forum. In the General section when you first log on is a frequency asked questions section in it is information you may need. Also, while you are not eligible to POST in Swapping & Selling (S&S) until you have 30 posts, you should read the rules. Doesn't mean you can't buy.

You can see how many posts you have by looking at the top of the page when you log in. Post count builds when ever you post something except in S&S or The Pit. The other number is the forum post count since you last logged in touch that and it will show them to you.

If you have a technical question or problem about the Forum, the Moderators are here to help. Just Private Message (PM) one of us and we'll get you an answer.
Off soap box.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Welcome to the forum, Shane. There are lots of folks here interested in knives and knife making, so I'll bet that you have a lot to contribute besides benefiting from what they know about boolit casting. We'll be looking forward to chatting with you. :-D

[castalott]

Welcome to the madness! There is amazing knowledge and honest goodness here. You will soon have a bunch of friends that you have never met....

[RedDogForge]

thanks everyone :) and thank you very much for that bH chart! Id just downloaded that book last night from here! VERY handy that, making a BH tester soon, ie the spring back bolt mounted to a tailstock on a lathe style. Ill post pics and how to's when I actually get around to farbicating it. we leave in a couple weeks and have to get ready so itll wait till I get back.
as far as my work heres a couple pics.
Im a custom maker primarily and my books are closed for now but if anyone needs any knifemaking advice Im a phone call away :)
518 703 5312
dont let that albany area code fool you im in texas so CST, no calls after 9 please
222961
222962222963

[Murphy]

Welcome RedDogForge.

You won't find a better site to learn about the hobby and art of boolit casting than this site. I joined the site New Years Day in 2006. A tremendous amount of information to be had here. I've been casting for about 32 years now. I learned more my first 6-7 months here, than I had ever known from my own experiences on my own.

As some have already stated, there are no dumb questions. So don't be shy about asking regardless of how silly you may think it is. It may just be a heck of a lot more important than you thought and save you a lot of problems.

Great looking knives by the way, I'm a sucker for a Bowie.

Murphy

[dondiego]

I love Damascus blades! Those look like nice work.
Don

[sureYnot]

Wow. Those are pretty.

Sent from my XT1710-02 using Tapatalk

[RichardF]

Nice looking knives!

[Outer Rondacker]

Welcome to the forum. I can be found in the 518 but I see you got out. Good for you this state sucks. Nice looking knifes you have there. Ask read and ask some more. Welcome aboard :cbpour:

[RED BEAR]

well howdy back at ya and welcome aboard.

[Jayhawkhuntclub]

Welcome Red Dog! Best thing you can do is keep collecting lead! Eventually start smelting. Then when you're ready, start casting.
I have a feeling you'll do real well at it!
BTW, nice looking knives!

[RedDogForge]

got about 80 lbs of pure lead, 100 lbs of WW, 60 lbs of lino, 50 lbs of roto hard, my stash goal is about 2k lbs :D
done a lot of smelting ingots, not mixing yet. no hurry at this end. as I sid before gotta get the reload building up, too dang cramped in the custom shop and only production equip allowed in the production shop. were also putting up a 40x60 metal fab shop this year, so in the mean time its books, dies, brass, lead, powder and primer hoarding.

[RedDogForge]

and thank you again everyone for the compliments on my work :)

[Rcmaveric]

Welcome aboard. Only dumb question is the one not asked.

Those are some beatufull knives. I am a hunter and fishman. Which leads to skinning and butchering. I am partial to good knives.

Sent from my SM-G925T using Tapatalk

[Driver man]

Welcome on board RedDogForge . What calibres and guns are you looking at reloading . Good looking knives but a bit fancy for me.

[Hossfly]

Yes welcome RedDogForge to the best place on the net to learn the craft of casting. I’ve learned so much by looking here, that my casting, power coating, sizeing boolits, have been a breeze. Learned a lot from all the knowledge here on this site. Once you get accustomed to how to do searches, I don’t think there’s anything these guys haven’t seen or done.

[RedDogForge]

ill be casting for various rifles and pistols, 308, 30 06, 454, 45lc, 357 mag for lever, 9mm, 556, 762x54, and 7.5x55 swiss.
lots of slugging and sizing in my future as well as Ive got multiple firearms sharing cartridges, ie levers and pistols for both 454 and 357.
again though at this point its all about stockpiling and reading, ill be having at it head on some time this nov. REALLY got to build an addition to the custom shop before I get any more in depth. the custom shops small, its a 12x20 with a complete machine shop and knifemaking equipment crammed into it heh.

[Wayne Smith]

Yeah, I see what you mean about needing more space! Are you reloading already or are you learning that too? If not, a Lyman or RCBS reloading manual will give you all the basic information you need to start loading.

[Rcmaveric]

Make a pound cast for each gun to see if it can share bullets and get the dimensions. Make a dummy round for each caliber with each bullet you plan on using.

The frankford aresenal COL gauge is kind of expensive at 20 bucks for 2 peices of plastic. Cheaper than the Hornedy gage though. If you have a friend with a 3D printer they can print you the Frankford Aresenal replica for a few bucks.

Sent from my SM-G925T using Tapatalk

[RedDogForge]

wayne done a lil with lee loaders for 308, I have an old rcbs that needs a new nylon index bushing swapped out, rcbs sent me one already, this falls under the no time until we get back thing. also have a lubrisizer that ill need to get dies for, likely going to machine top punches for it since there seems to be some lee dies that dont have a corresponding top punch avail, not a big deal, love an excuse to fire up the ole atlas 12 lathe heh. likely also going to get a lee O ring press for pushing up resizing. definately need more reload manuals, have the current Lee but more the merrier. Future projects include dipping into powder coating, figuring out a couple press dies for the hydraulic 50 ton forging press for at least gas checks, ie plate punch a batch at a time. see if im able to make my own cartridges with a set of progressive dies for the same hydro press etcetc, this for me has VERY little to do with saving money and more to do with tinkering, i LOVE tinkering *grins*

[RedDogForge]

Rcmaveric pound casting is definitely in my future for a couple rifle builds im working on, ill likely get the hornady gauge set, hate plastic, love excuses to buy more machine tools *grins*