Help a newby out

[Gatch]

Good evening ladies and gents

I'm Gatch, I live in Aussie. I have started shooting IPSC (shadow 2) recently and started reloading (xl650) as soon as my license showed up and I was able to buy powder and primers. Mostly as a cost saving exercise, factory ammo is about 30c a pop and I reload for 20c. Recently I chanced across some videos on youtube by elvisammo and fortunecookie45lc, covering bullet casting and powder coating. After doing a little math I think that with my own cast and pc boolits I can get that cost to under 10c. Which is awesome cause I'm burning about 500 rounds a week at the moment.

So I have absolutely TRAWLED the castboolit pages looking for relevant info and I think I have most of it nutted out. I have copy/pasted below some notes I have made for myself, regarding what I'll need, cost, methodology etc. Something I noticed is there isn't much written about how much time it takes and how much weight you lose from removing the wheel weight clips. If any of you fine gents could take a look through and tell me if I'm missing something glaringly obvious, I would welcome the feedback. I slugged my barrel already (.356). I also attached a .txt if the following text is useful for you to keep or send to another newb you might know.

*** Preparing the scrap lead for ingot making ***

Lead - wheel weights @ $2.20/kg (1kg/15,432gr of prepared lead = approx 104x 147gr or 114x 135gr)
- straight wheel weight lead should be ok when powdercoating
- to compare, 100x 147gr rn copper plated "tigershark" bullets = $14.40 (6.5 home cast : 1 commercial made)
Tin - only if necessary from northern smelters

melting pot (iron or alu) - second hand store $20
lead ladle - long handle ladle - second hand store $10
Spoon for slag - long handle ladle - second hand store $10
3 ring gas burner - $80
gas bottle - $60
saw dust for flux - $5
molds (angle steel, toes up, ends cut 45°, weld on flat or more angle steel to close ends)
metal buckets ($15) or make crates from plywood ($90/sheet) for raw scrap, and another for slag/dross
thermometer up to 500°C ($50)

1- add lead to pot and bring up to temp (start around 375°C)
2- scoop off slag and chunks of ****
3- flux with handful of sawdust
4- mix a bit and scoop off slag again
5- repeat 3 and 4
6- turn heat down and ladel lead to molds (dont go below half pot)
7- turn up heat and repeat step 1-

*** Cast the bullets ***

Melting pot - lee 4-20 $180
Bullet mold (.356 or similar) 5 or 6 cavity (135-147-158gr conical flat nose or round nose) $150-200
Bucket with water for fresh cast bullets and another for sprue
Slag bucket

1- add lead to pot and bring up to temp (start around 375°C)
2- scoop off slag and chunks of ****
3- flux with handful of sawdust
4- mix a bit and scoop off slag again
5- repeat 3 and 4
6- start to pour into mold, discard first few casts into sprue until bullets come out shiny and detailed
7- repeat step 1

*** Pooder coat ***

Plastic tub (recycle #5)
Black bb - $20
Convection oven - new $100
latex or nitrile gloves
oven tray
non stick paper

1- add bullets to tub
2- add bb's
3- add a spoon of powder
4- swish and shake for a few minutes
5- with a gloved hand place on non stick paper and bake in preheated oven at 200°C
6- tip into water

possible molds
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1010197875/lee-6-cavity-bullet-mold-358-158-rf-38-special-357-magnum-38-colt-new-police-38-s-and-w-358-diameter-158-grain-flat-nose

*** Size the booolits ***

Lee breech lock press - new $70
lee size kit .357 - new $35

1- put boolit on punch
2- pull handle

235905

[Land Owner]

Gatch - nice! Welcome to the Forums.

Well thought out - you have trawled with a wide net. How far from civilization do you live? Some savings may be realized from your process as you scrounge for containers (plastic is OK), wood, ladles and spoons, which can be the ordinary culinary type, free wheel weights and lead sources, candle wax vs. saw dust as flux, etc.

To your question, when lead (Pb) is molten and you are skimming off the dross, you will also remove the steel clips at that time, which are now floating. The clips are less than 2% of the total weight (an educated guess), though I have not done any math to prove that.

You won't know the chemistry of the wheel weights (WW) anyway, though some have gone the distance to investigate that and report here, but mostly we are working "in the blind" in regard to stoichiometry of constituents, adding a bit of tin (Sn - say 2%) to our mixes to aid mold fill out.

When I report my alloy as 49/49/2 - Pb/WW/Sn I am "wishing" for those percentages as approximated in my combination of constituents. Only through lab testing would I know for certain, and this hobby just doesn't need that expense thrown into the mix. YMMV.

[toallmy]

You have been doing some research and seem to have a good idea of the process . While you are accumulate the items you can get started with a burner , iron or steal pot , ladle , mold , lead .
Be safe

[Cherokee]

Welcome Gatch, you've done a lot more research than a lot of beginners. I would avoid aluminum for the melting pot.

[OS OK]

When you are putting a new batch of wheel weights into the smelt pot...

Use all but the last 1/2 inch in depth of lead from the previous pot. Be certain that the wheel weights are absolutely bone dry when you add new ones to previously molten lead . . . or . . . you'll get a steam explosion. Always wear large face covering shields or large safety glasses around the molten lead.

This is a very handy mould for the Lee 20 pound pot...they stack well to fill the pot on the first load of ingots.

https://i.imgur.com/EO5CU3q.jpg?1

After a hot couple of hours at the ingot pot these ingots are a pleasing sight to see...they are ready to stack somewhere for stowage, turn them all the same direction and they take minimum space...

https://i.imgur.com/97GyJHW.jpg

They average about 2.5 pounds each...

https://i.imgur.com/sjomoql.jpg?1

I like how they stack in the pot and all at once they come up to temperature, melt and fill the pot on the first ingots...

https://i.imgur.com/EN6Vx3y.jpg?1

A hot plate, a skill saw blade and an old tin can will make a good prewarming oven for your casting moulds. This little 1K watt hot plate can pre warm the moulds to 375º ~ 425ºƒ depending on outside temperature but that's plenty good enough to get good quality, filled out cast from the first or second pour. Put your mould in the oven and turn it up to high at the same time you load your pour pot, they will be ready to go at the same time. That temperature gage is from the local hardware and was meant for the BBQ...works just fine...

https://i.imgur.com/X936R7j.jpg?1

You'll need to add weight to the valve assembly on the Lee 'dripomatic' pot...this spring handle off an old wood burner stove is threaded female 1/4" X 20 thd. at the base, all it needs is a set screw added to fix it tight to the valve stem at the top. It's very handy now to make small flow adjustments as the pot empties and the stream slows down. You may need to add a better mould support too, there's a lot of examples out on the YouTube.
Save yourself a lot of fuss by not using sawdust in the pour pot, use candle wax or paraffin only.

https://i.imgur.com/XDEf4Pf.jpg

Save your dross off the pour pot and re-run it in the smelt pot to keep that tin and antimony...I use a little metal mini-bucket on the right.

https://i.imgur.com/K0ZeVhi.jpg

Use a casting thermometer in the ingot pot so that you don't melt any Zinc weights that may have snuck into the pot...
Use the thermometer in your casting pot or use a PID control to control for even heat and your casts will weight very close to the same from cast to cast.

https://i.imgur.com/A7VISZR.jpg?1

Get yourself a good casting reference, any of the latest publication numbers will doo...

https://i.imgur.com/Y4kZbMS.jpg

Don't make ingots or cast over any floor surface you don't want lead on...it's gonna get there.
Do your work where the breeze will pull the smoke and toxic vapors away from you...if you cast in the garage use a fan to blow the smoke out the door.
Don't smoke or eat while melting lead...wash up good after.

It's all in the cast book...

[Hossfly]

You can spread cost out over a long period of time, if your going to get all that in short order you might break the bank. Start off with the basics, then add as you go. It’s like buying a complete tool mechanics tool set, some tools you will not ever use. This hobby takes a lot of time, which to most is cheap, if its cheap and you got lots of it that’s ok. You can’t count your time in the equation, if you do you will loose. Better to just buy your boolits. Fun hobby, keep it fun and enjoy, lots of free boolits LOL.

[Hickory]

Do not use aluminium pots for melting lead, it will in time disqualify its self with use.

[WHITETAIL]

Gatch, welcome to the forum.
As said do not use a alum. pot.
Steel or cast iron.
The first thing you do is spread the word,
that you will take all lead you can find.[smilie=s:
You never know where the next load
of lead will come from.
I do not flux in my bottom pour pot.
A lot of members use milk crates to
store the ingots in.
They put a thin plywood on the bottom.
I use plastic buckets that I get from cat
litter.
Also tell all your friends that you are looking
for kitchen wear.
Good luck and keep in touch.:cbpour:

[Wayne Smith]

Gatch, you are well on your way. What the guys are trying to explain without the details is that, while the melting temperature of aluminium and lead are very far apart the slump temperature of aluminium and the melting/casting temperature of lead are very close. This means that, if yoy use an aluminium pot for melting lead eventually it will give, usually close to the bottom of the pot. You can imagine the result.

[lightman]

Welcome Aboard Mate!

It looks like you have a good workable plan. I have never timed my casting but a good 4 or 6 cavity mold and a good technique should produce 500 bullets in a couple of hours. Maybe even less.

Wheel weights have always been my favorite and have served me well for hand gun bullets, whether lubed conventionally or powder coated. If you powder coat, you can even go with a softer alloy. Don't overlook other sources of lead. Isotope lead also works well and you can blend the various kinds of type metal with pure lead to make a uasful alloy.

The only thing I question in your post are the prices. Are things that much more expensive down there?

[JBinMN]

Welcome to CB/GL forum!
:)

I am not going to add anything to what is already being offered so that you do not get overwhelmed, even though I too would have a few suggestions as well as questions for you to help add to the conversation.

You have come to the right place to get your answers though! Lots of info s you appear to have laready learned & plenty of helpful folks to offer a helping hand when they can!!

G'Luck! in your endeavors & take your time, no need to rush things. Take your time & do things right!
"Too fast" usually ends up , "Half Fast" (halfassed).
;)

[Gatch]

Good morning gents. First of all thanks for the feedback. I'll edit my notes later today.

A few things to clarify. Supply of lead right now is no problem. I drive past a metal scrap dealer on the way to work. They currently have about a ton of wheel weights @ $2.20/kg. And a few more ton of roof flashings etc for $3.30/kg. I plan on buying simply so I dont have to search around. I spend about 90minutes driving each day... Also I can buy pre made ingots of hardball or lyman#2, or tin etc from northern smelters on the other side of the city. Its just a bit more pricey.

That angle iron mold is basically what I had thought of. Only I'd thought of angling the ends simply to make it easy as possible to bang out the ingots.

Thank you re the aluminum pot. I would not have thought about the pot softening until it happened haaa.

Re pricing, australia is not a cheap country to live in. CHEAP factory 9mm ammo is around $15 for 50 bullets. I currently reload for $10. My dillon 650 setup was about $1300 with the carbide dies. I made my own powder check :) A new shadow 2 retails for about $1800. I'm not sure how that compares to usa..

Thanks again for the feedback. No doubt I will have more questions as I go further down this rabbit hole.

Regard
Gatch

[Conditor22]

Welcome to CB Gatch, PM sent.

[reddog81]

Are they certain the wheel weights are all lead? Steel and Zinc are now very common in the US. $2.20/kg would be a good price if they are all lead. I wouldn't worry about the weight of the clips...

Buying pre-formed ingots would save the expense of the whole smelting process assuming the ingots will fit into your melting furnace.

[mattw]

Holy cow! Dude you really came prepared for you second post! Welcome onboard and happy casting. I do not see a lot to add to the otherwise wise posts above. Casting will become an addiction, along with mould buying. It allows for so much freedom and experimentation and really allows for growth of learning.

[woodbutcher]

:D Welcome aboard Gatch.10,000 great folks and three old grouches here[smilie=1:.
Any questions that you have will be answered here eventually.Superb knowledge base here.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[William Yanda]

Do not use aluminium pots for melting lead, it will in time disqualify its self with use.

Hickory beat me to it, but I second what he says. The Al will get weak before it melts and a volume of molten lead is not something you want running around willy nilly.

[Bazoo]

Howdy from Kentucky USA. You do not have to separate the smelting and casting operations to start with if you're not going to use a bottom pour pot. If you get the lee 20 pound ladle pot. The three main reasons people separate the operations is 1, to keep dirt out of a bottom pour pot 2, to keep fumes down if casting inside 3, to make larger batches of homogenous alloy. For pistol ammo it won't matter one bit if your alloy changes slightly from pot to pot.

Now you want to be careful of getting water in the molten lead from a wet wheel weight so what you do if you're melting weights and casting straight away is this... Fill you pot with weights and turn it on letting them melt, clean and flux and cast till you're pot is almost empty. Then carefully pick the pot up and pour the last couple pounds lead into ingot moulds, set the pot down and refill with weights and start again. Or just do a pots worth in each session, which will be more like the amount you'll want to do before stopping.

Plenty of folks started out smelting and casting in the same pot, I did, and it's totally fine unless you're wanting to make a very consistent alloy for a specific purpose such as competition rifle ammo.

Just a thought for you to consider so you can get started quicker without as much cash outlay.

Also as for lubing the bullets... Powder coating is time consuming (I've never done it just read about it), you should consider tumble lubing. 45/45/10 lube is very fast and easy and the learning curve is very short.

Bazoo

[tankgunner59]

Looking at the prices for you Down Under, I have to agree with Bazoo. Even if you just want to shake and bake PC you will need a few things besides a #5 butter or non-dairy whip topping tub.
1) A toaster oven with ability to heat to 400 degrees F.
2) A small pan that fits well into the toaster oven.
3) A roll of non-stick aluminum foil.
4) Something to grip the pills with to place them on the foil in the pan. I use reverse tension tweezers so I don't grip them to tight.
5) Paint powder
6) If you plan to water drop you'll need another tub for that.
If you plan to spray the paint on you'll need a powder coat gun, I don't know about Australia but in the US these can be hard to find.

For tumble lubing you will need;
1) Tumble lube itself.
2) A #5 tub for tumbling.
3) Wax paper to place the pills on for the lube to cure.
I don't know what the ingredients for 45/45/10 will cost there if you can find them. When I started casting I used Lee Liquid Alox. Follow the instructions and it works very well. It is kind of smelly but it is a good tumble lube. It's available in the US for $7 to $10, but a little goes a long way. Just a little info, I hope it helps.

[Gatch]

Evening team.

I am fortunate enough to have a foreman at work who allows us to do personal jobs in our spare time. So I knocked up a couple of ingot molds. They are 50x50 angle @300 long. Or 2" ×2" ×12" long in american money. I took a die grinder to radius the welds so hopefully no ingots get hung up on my dodgy welding :)

Only thing is the angle steel is galvanised. Will the zinc negatively effect the pouring if the lead ? If so I'll just throw them in a fire for a bit to burn it off. Staying upwind of course...

236424

[Conditor22]

Gatch, those are some nice looking ingot molds.
If you make more, cut a slight taper on the ends of the 50x50 angle pieces and wield on the back side of the mold. these thing help the ingot fall out better.

[Gatch]

Gatch, those are some nice looking ingot molds.
If you make more, cut a slight taper on the ends of the 50x50 angle pieces and wield on the back side of the mold. these thing help the ingot fall out better.

Yeah man I thought of that while I was tacking together the second one. I hit the sides of the first one a bit harder with the die grinder. Hopefully there's enough relief.. Proofs in the pudding I guess.

[Bazoo]

Agreed, very nice ingot moulds.

[Gatch]

Evening booliteers

Had my first shot at melting down scrap today. Went pretty well overall. I had 30kg of wheel weights, separated out all the non lead before I started. It all went into a 9qt iron pot, took about 40 min to melt down. Surprisingly little smoke came from the pot, which is good because I live in suburbia... Candle wax in the form of those little 9hr tealight candles worked a treat. My ingot molds are pretty big so ladling out the lead was uneven. I think I'll make a bigger pouring ladle until the pot weight is low enough to just pick the whole thing up.

Something else that surprised me is the reduction in volume from scrap to ingot. I did the math beforehand to see if I had enough space in the ingots for 30kg of lead, and my sums told me if I filled each ingot fully to the brim it would only be 7 bars, which I was sceptical of. However in practise, once all the clips and slag came out, it didn't even fully fill 7 (of the 12 cavities). This tells me I can probably use 50kg (110lb) of scrap and still not be fully filled haaa.

I'll weld up a base for my gas ring to sit on, as the ply wood it was sitting on caught fire. Weld up a bigger ladle too. And an additional handle to help tip the cast iron pot. Also loaded up a few hundred more 9mm rounds on the dillon. Because why the hell not.

Heres a few pics
236694236695236696

[jonp]

Welcome aboard, Gatch. I cruised this site for some time before starting to cast but wasn't half as prepared as you when I melted my first wheel weight. Get a cheap stainless stock pot, ladle, wooden spoon at WalMart or where ever not aluminum as others has said. I bought the cheapest stainless pot they had and as long as it's not run dry it will last. Mine is 3 or 4yrs old now and shows no sign of wear and is lighter than the iron pot your using but you seem to have it figured out quite well!

As for the base to set it on, do you use Hardie Plank Cement Board Siding down that way or have someone remodeling you know? Stop by the building site and get some scrap from the garbage container and put that down on top of the plywood. I have my entire bench covered with pieces from my home siding remodel and it works great. What would also work fine is a piece of cement board like they put under counters, sinks, bathtubs etc.

Those molds are first rate.

[Stephen Cohen]

Welcome Gatch as a fellow Ausy I can feel your pain at the cost of ammo. I would ask at my local tyre place if they have any wheel weight they wish to get rid of, if you don't mention the word sell you may get them for free. If you have to pay I would expect you to get 10 litre drum of weights for no more than $15 which I doubt you will be able to lift with ease, but do check it for steel weights which are common now, I would also pick out any zinc before you smelt, it is generally marked with a zn but any I am not sure of I check by trying to cut with side cutters. As others have said do not use aluminium pot it really ruins your day when a pot lets go and its flowing around your feet. I would also look at getting lead from the range berms if you can as that is free. I got some 400 kg at my last mine session at my range which only took me a couple hrs most of which was carting it to my vehicle. Regards Stephen

[barrabruce]

Ghee they want more than the price of gold for ww around here!
They can keep them.

A bottle of Lee mule snot thinned with a bit of shellite will lube thousands of rounds.
Roll around until coated and spill on to baking paper.
Pair of tweezers to pick up and seat on bases to dry over night and done.

I’d try with out sizing to try and avoid another step.

You are only shooting a pistol so there is no need for much ado about anything.
As long as they go about peeing distance and hit that huge black circle all is well.
:wink:

[Lloyd Smale]

yup you can do it cheaper
pot to smelt in 30 bucks
heat source to melt the lead 40 bucks (turkey fryer)
ingot mold or two 5 dollar muffin pan
lead casting pot 50 bucks if you go lee
mold 20-50 bucks If you go lee
alox 10 bucks or if you want to get fancy a lb of pc a shedds container and a used toaster oven maybe 50 total
a lee sizing die (not allways needed) 25 bucks
ww's. I can honestly say ive never paid for a single ww or even pure lead. I have paid for linotype though. Ive seen them sell for a buck a lb on here many times though already smelted. 40 lbs in a flat rate box is 40+15 bucks for a flat rate box. want it even cheaper. Buy a ladle and cast right out of your smelting pot skip the sizer and use alox its how I casted my first bullets. melted ww in a old kitchen pan on a coleman camp stove. Skimmed and fluxed and started making bullets.

[Burnt Fingers]

If you want a good mold that will rain bullets take a look at MP molds. He's got some 8 cavity aluminum and 6 cavity brass molds for 9mm. The have no lube groove as they are made for PC or Hi-Tek. I've got this one https://mp-molds.com/e-shop/molds/solid-molds/9mm-38-147-rn-bb-6-cav-brass-nlg-mold

AWESOME mold. It will empty my 25 lb RCBS pot real quick and make a big pile of boolits.

[Gatch]

If you want a good mold that will rain bullets take a look at MP molds. He's got some 8 cavity aluminum and 6 cavity brass molds for 9mm. The have no lube groove as they are made for PC or Hi-Tek. I've got this one https://mp-molds.com/e-shop/molds/solid-molds/9mm-38-147-rn-bb-6-cav-brass-nlg-mold

AWESOME mold. It will empty my 25 lb RCBS pot real quick and make a big pile of boolits.

Hey thanks for that man. I didn't know about mp molds. That 8 cavity one looks the business, and miles cheaper than accurate molds one. Cheers for the heads up

[Land Owner]

Your cast iron pot has two holes in each handle. It is feasible to install a "U" bolt through each handle, above which add ~0.5 m of chain or cable to each side, and a tripod over the whole thing. "Build up" and fire proof the receiving mold foundation adjacent to the pot so that the tripod does not have to carry the total tipped weight, though for safety it should be much stronger than that. Adjusted properly, tipping the less than (say) 150 pound (68 kg) pot from the fire would be easier as the tripod supports the total weight and the "platform" of the heating element is the third point of rotation - the first two being the chain/cable attachment points.

When the pot is ready to be emptied, wear gloves and long sleeves, reduce the pot temperature (so you don't burn your arms in the heat), use vice grips on the "tab" handle of your pot, tip the pot toward the "stacked" and ready to receive mold, and pour slowly. No more dipping or dripping. These are concepts for your consideration.

My pot is 1/2 of a 25-gallon (95 liter) steel propane tank, with the maximum capacity of about 100 pounds (45 kg) of molten lead, and a welded "V" as a pour spout in the rim, which could also be just a pronounced "dent" in the steel rim. I do not believe your cast iron pot will tolerate such a dent or inclusion of a spout without breaking, so your pot may be "messy" when tipped - depending on how aggressively you pour. Some trial and error may be messy at first.

I added a 15" (375mm) piece of threaded rod at 90 degrees to the steel rim (something that may be possible with careful drilling on your pot) and 180 degrees from the pour spout, used a piece of metal tube for a spacer, a few washers, and made a 2 x 2 x 8" (50 x 50 x 200mm) wooden handle with a hole through it to receive the threaded rod. I compression bolted the wooden handle to the end of the threaded rod (against the washers and spacer). Now, I can easily tip the pot using the suspending chain and tripod, which serve well when the pot is melted and ready pour.

I used this same set up with a monorail overhead instead of a tripod and it worked great (not the setup as pictured below...for illustrative purposes only. Monorail has to be significantly stout - not electrical taped - and not suspended by a string). Actually, monorail was 3/8" (10mm) diameter eye hook (from a hammock) screwed 3" (75mm) into the 2" (50mm) side of a 2 x 6" x 6' (50 x 150mm x 2m), which worked great.

Third and small(er) chain is to balance the weight of the handle, not accounted for in the initial pot setup.

https://i.postimg.cc/GtHCkGjg/IMG-0806.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/xCsQJtLb/IMG-0807.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/G23rmZTC/IMG-0809.jpg

[Burnt Fingers]

Hey thanks for that man. I didn't know about mp molds. That 8 cavity one looks the business, and miles cheaper than accurate molds one. Cheers for the heads up

You're welcome.

[Taterhead]

I can't help with your question about galvanized steel and zinc. I can say that those ingot molds look great. The handles will be a nice touch. Well done!

[kevin c]

You may have seen the posts here, but just a reminder that HiTek is a popular coating option both here and out your way. AAMOF, it was invented and is manufactured in Australia. Ive heard that fortunecookie45lc didn't like it, but that's his personal opinion and experience and I wouldn't say it's universal.

[Gatch]

You may have seen the posts here, but just a reminder that HiTek is a popular coating option both here and out your way. AAMOF, it was invented and is manufactured in Australia. Ive heard that fortunecookie45lc didn't like it, but that's his personal opinion and experience and I wouldn't say it's universal.

I have been reading with great interest the hitek thread. It looks like an awesome product. Something that I have seen varying numbers on though is the thickness. Not having to size would be awesome.

[Conditor22]

Molds come in different sizes, and each mold will drop at a different size depending on the alloy you use.

HiTek will add .001 to .002 depending on how many coats you use and how thick you mix it.

[kevin c]

I fall into the group of casters that prefers the assurance of uniform and even diameter by casting over the desired diameter and sizing afterwards. The HiTek is slick, and the sizing lube the company also sells works very well, so no excessive effort needed. Still, sizing is a chore, for sure.

[Gatch]

I can't help with your question about galvanized steel and zinc. I can say that those ingot molds look great. The handles will be a nice touch. Well done!

The galv on the molds didn't seem to have a negative effect. The lead cools so quick that it doesn't heat the zinc enough to smoke it up.

[Gatch]

Molds come in different sizes, and each mold will drop at a different size depending on the alloy you use.

HiTek will add .001 to .002 depending on how many coats you use and how thick you mix it.

Probably worth planning on sizing regardless then. One of those lee single stages presses mounted upside down seems to be the go ?

[RogerDat]

Push through Lee sizing kit is relatively low price and IF you purchase one in the size that works for your firearm it can really improve potential accuracy. Wife has a .38 caliber that is able to shoot approx. 20% tighter groups after PC and sized bullets were tried.

The other aspect of sizing is different alloys will cast to a slightly different size in the same mold. If one sizes after casting then the alloy change can be eliminated. I seem to recall different casting temperature can also impact final size. Might be hotter lead shrinks more when it cools or something along those lines. But again if the mold cast .359 and you have a .358 sizing die mostly you will be shooting the same size .358 bullets. Some might be softer, or harder due to changes in alloy but the size going down the barrel won't vary.

Consistent is good. Removing a variable (size) can be useful too when trying different molds or loads. I do sometimes just tumble lube in an Alox based lube (45/45/10 homemade) for some fast plinking bullets but if I'm going to bother to PC then I bother to feed through a push through sizer afterwards.

Anyway you have a lot of good information accumulated in your posts. Char-Gar has a nice additional tutorial. The angle iron bar ingots are great and what I prefer for the bulk of my lead. Plain and WW's end up in those for sure. You might keep an eye out for steel muffin tins at thrift store or boot/garage/yard sales. The round "pucks" they make can be a way to easily segregate other lead or lead alloys. I also take scrap solder and pour the tin only around a 1/4 inch or less deep (2 to 6 mm) to make "coins" of mixed solder I can use to add tin. By doing scrounged mixed solder larger batches I get one tested for tin percentage and know what the rest are. End up with a coffee can of 24% tin coins to "spend". :-) Have hit in the 30% to 60% range also, luck of the hunt.

[Ausglock]

Gatch... Give me a Cooee.
I'm just down the road in Grafton.
We can have a yarn.

[Gatch]

Gatch... Give me a Cooee.
I'm just down the road in Grafton.
We can have a yarn.

Well, I did it ! I have cast my first batch of roughly 1000 356125 ! It's fairly straight forward once the molds are hot enough and not a bad way to spend an afternoon. I tossed maybe 50 of them, wrinkled, badly dented, bad groove shape, base all rounded over etc

A few things of note. I am glad I bought 2 molds of the same kind, I will put them both to use next time. The bullets come out a little patchy when the lead gets low in the pot and the temp rises. That leads me into realising the value of a pid or thermometer. The lead at one point was starting to go a dull red... 6 on the dial had the lead cooling to the point it was leaving little stalactites and wrinkled bullets. 7 started the lead glowing.. not ideal.

I think I will invest in an infrared temp gun. Unless someone can point me in the direction of a 240v pid setup ? I've searched around but don't want to search for the components when I don't know what I'm looking for.

Next stage comes purchase of a convection oven and then hitek them all green. I have a lee single press in the mail with a sizing kit as well. I cant wait to load up a few dozen and hit the range..

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