1st post - now throwing bullets

[MKT]

I've been reloading for close to 30 years and never have cast my own (not counting the old .454 round ball I did during my college days). I recently decided to join the crowd of those who cast. For my first mold I went with an RCBS 2 cavity for the .41 Mag, a 210 gr SWC.

My pot, dipper and mold arrived Friday, I began rendering down some wheel weights last night after work. Ended up pouring ingots until almost 2am! This morning I started to render down some more and started getting things warmed up. While that was happening I went about cleaning uo my mold blocks and get the mold mounted to the handles.

By the time I was finished with the mold it was time to skim the clips and dross of the melt. I poured another block of ingots and decided I should try my hand at dipper casting. Learned quickly that casting by the dipper is pretty much an art.

I threw about 75 bullets. The first 10 or so weren't bad but not filled out, they went back into the pot. Out of the next 65 or so I kept 60. I need to figure out if I want to continue with the dipper method, and if I do then I need to decide on right v left handed. I threw today's left handed (holding the mold in my right) which might have been part of my miscoordination (is that even a word?).

Anyway, back to my bullets. The mold was for a 210 gr bullet, mine are running about 217.5 gr on average, using straight WW. They threw at a steady .411 and resized to .410 nicely. Shoot, I even got the lubricator set up to get lube in the lobe groove on the first bullet.

We'll see how things go after my Lee drip-o-matic pot arrives one day this coming week. Until then I keep reading prior posts and learning all I can. I noticed that there are several folks here who also hand out at another gun forum I do. Makes it feel like home.

Mike

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Hi and welcome to the forum and the sickness. You appear to have mad a great beginning. Ladle casting is a good way to go; slower and less convenient than a bottom feed pot. But it produces excellent bullets that shoot very well. Riflemen of a hundred years ago had only this method to use and many of them shot records that stood for a long time. If you use a Lee "dripomatic" ( I have one that I use for single cavity molds) I would suggest that you do not smelt and clean new lead, especially dirty wheelweights as the crud dropping to the bottom of the pot will cause havoc with the valve; use clear/clean lead only. Once you get the hang and rythm of ladle/dipper casting it can be and usually is a consistent method. Best of luck with your casting and shooting. LLS

[Kuato]

Welcome to the board MKT. All my casting is done with a ladle. You catch on quick & get a rhythm going with practice. Sounds like you're on your way to a new addiction. :)

You'll love it!

[Tom W.]

Hey! I have a ladle, and every now and then I even pick it up and look at it....

I'm happy with my drip -o-matics.....

[Buckshot]

...............Welcome to the board MKT. Just don't get that superior attitude because you're still shooting, while your buddies pack up to go home :-)

.................Buckshot

[Sprue]

Welcome Mike,

I use both ladle and bottom pourer. I like 'em both but do usually opt out for the Pro Melt vs the Lee magnum.

Most of my molds are RCBS although I do have some 6 bangers, gotta make the best use of time.

Casting is sorta like Lays chips 'round here. I usually never quit till I've gotten 4-500. With a 2 cav that take a few minutes :)

I've also got the 41 mold as you, but I don't have that cal.

Best to ya

[mooman76]

I've ladle cast for allot of years and that's all I have ever done so nothing wrong with that. There are some advantages to it. If you do opt to give the bottom pour a try nothing wrong with that either. Just do what's best for you and welcome aboard!

[MKT]

Thanks for the welcome y'all.

After supper and a little R&R I decided to run off a few more. This time I swapped the ladle over for right hand pour...I think I'll go back to left hand. I'm right hand dominate but I'm very surprised I had more difficulty running the ladle with my strong hand :???:. I was completely uncoordinated, plus any excess, if I slipped with the ladle) covered the sprue cutter bolt.

As I've read many times while lurking here, this is an addiction. Well, it'll just be another addiction on my addiction list.

Tomorrow I will probably load up some .41 Mag ammo with the projectiles I threw today. I have all next week off, can we say vacation time, and I'll even squeeze in time to go to the range.

[copdills]

Welcome to the Forum I know you will like it here , I always feel at home here too:castmine:

[Wayne Smith]

I ladel cast, never had a bottom pour. My consistency went way up when I got a theremometer and was able to keep a relatively constant temp!

[dragonrider]

Mike, welcome to the site,

[opentop]

Looks like I'll be ladle casting for a while. I broke my small Lee pot today. It kept dripping and splattering lead all over the place, even though I had an ingot mold under it. I would tap on the plunger about every other pour to make it stop dripping. Well, I guess I taped a little too hard and busted the nipple off the bottom of the pot. I hear the bigger Lee 20 pound pot is better than the smaller 10 pounder, so I’ll have to try one of them.

[Bret4207]

Welcome aboard. AFAIC the ladle is a needed skill you ought to develop. If you're right hand dominant then get the ladle in your right hand. There are at least 2 basic methods of pouring - contact and drop I like to call them. With contact you have the ladle in contact with the spue hole and turn them right side up together. That works with a lot of boolits, but not all. Drop is where you steady the mould on something and aim the alloy stream at the sprue hole. Sounds harder than it is. IMO this will almost always make a good boolit of consistent weight. The alloy seems to force the air out better this way. I have a 358156 that will only cast a good boolit with a drop on an inch or so and a very frosty hot mould. It's a bit of a pain but it makes perfect boolits every time.

Ladle casting is just more flexible than a BP. Both will make good boolits and if I ever get a decent BP, (sorry Lee, they stink AFAIC), I'll try and learn to use it.

[NSP64]

Welcome Mike, I'm an addict. I have Lee drip-o-matic, and use it for WW boolits and I have a homemade laddle( big stainless steel one) that I use for those rare times a cast pure lead. The big laddle allows the lead to stay hot longer and I use the drop method. I use a ingot mold placed under my lee to catch the drips.:drinks:

P.S. don't forget the pics of the boolits and targets. Also we like to call them 'boolits'(see 45nuts signature)

[mdi]

I use both bottom pour and ladle pour, depending on how I feel. Yesterday I started casting with my Lyman ladle and when I got tired of standing, I switched to bottom pour. I noticed a bit of temp difference with the top/ladle pour being a bit cooler (my Lee molds require less melt temperature than my Lyman mold). All I did was crank up the temp setting and sat there casting till the pot was empty!

Enjoy your new hobby. And like guns, you can't have too many molds!

[MKT]

Bret,

I was using the ladle with the contact method. With the ladle in my right hand it felt very awkward while left handed it felt natural. Next batch I will try pouring, that might work better for me right handed. Good thing that little Lyman ladle is easily swapped left for right.