First time casting!! (pics)

[supv26]

I finally got to make some boolits!!! It was easy after reading how to do it on this site!!!
My work station
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e300/supv26/GUNS/100_2085.jpg
First ones!
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e300/supv26/GUNS/100_2084.jpg
close up of a few
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e300/supv26/GUNS/100_2086.jpg
Finished for the evening
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e300/supv26/GUNS/100_2087.jpg

Now I just need to get my lube and sizer and I will be ready to load them!

[94Doug]

Looks Great! Love the Gavel for the hammer. Some of those boolits had a some signs that they maybe needed to sit in mould a bit longer... some air pockets. If this is your first attempt, you are well on your way!!

[45&30-30]

+1 on the hammer and very nice looking bullets. Great photos too.

[kamikaze1a]

Nice job! Actually, you got some tumble lube boo's there so you don't actually need a sizer...just a bottle of LLA or JPW and you can start relaoding!

[Buckshot]

.................supv26, looks to me like you've got it hammered. Nice looking production run. I don't know what commercial cast boolits cost these days, but whatever it is you DID NOT have to pay it :-) You might not have to size them at all. Load one in a case as a dummy round and chamber it. If it chambers easily you're good to go in that respect. Don't add stuff you don't have to, to your chores!

Oh yeah, don't get the 'Big Head' around your shootin' buddies at the range. Remain humble, HA :wink:

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

[supv26]

Thanks for the ideas on the sizer! I will mock up a dummy round in the morning and see if it will fit! I saw a video on the tumble lube so I will get some of that.

[copdills]

Great JOB, good looking Boolits:lovebooli

[Bret4207]

Nice to see a noob try a ladle. You'd think a BP was a requirement these days. The ladle wins for me. Good on you!

[Recluse]

Nice to see a noob try a ladle. You'd think a BP was a requirement these days. The ladle wins for me. Good on you!

I'll second that. First thing I noticed was the spoon and ladle setting on the work area. For a first-time attempt, aluminum mould and ladle-pouring, you did GOOD. I'll guarantee you my first attempt with a bottom-pour pot and steel moulds didn't turn out that well.

For what it's worth, I have that same Lee mould, and that boolit shoots great with some W231 or HP38 behind it. My favorite--and I mean absolute favorite--.45 mould is also by Lee, and it is the 200 gr SWC with the regular lube band and bevel base. Bevel bases scare some shooters off, including myself on occasion. But I ordered this mould kind of by mistake, and now it is one of my three favorite moulds and boolits out all the calibres and variations that I have.

And, get this, I tumble lube this particular boolit. The accuracy of it with 4.3 grains of Bullseye behind it is other-worldly consistent. That's why I'm about half-afraid to try lubesizing it in a machine. It ain't broken, so why try to fix it? (Except that I'm a hopeless tinkering fool who can't leave well enough alone.)

Regarding that boolit you have. It will pay to get you the Lee push-through sizer and run 'em through. The kit (easy and fast to use, comes with Liquid Alox) costs something like $15 bucks through MidSouth Shooters or Midway, and since you're in MO, you'll probably get it next day. I ALWAYS size each and every boolit I cast--that way I know if accuracy is awry, it's not in the sizing. One less variable to consider. Biggest mistake new casters make when using LLA is using too much. It's part of the baptism process. Make sure your LLA is warm (not hot), and just drizzle a VERY, VERY small amount on your boolits. You'll look at it and swear it won't be enough and be itching to squirt some more on them. Don't. Stay with what you've got and swirl/tmble the boolits until evenly coated. Size, repeat, store/reload, shoot, gloat, repeat.

Great job on your first attempt. Belay that, those are good looking boolits for any casting session.

[jnovotny]

I love the gaval for the mould mallet super idea. Keep up the good work.

[Ben]

supv26 :

Welcome ! ! !

Those are some nice looking pistol bullets. I don't remember my 1st ones ( about 40 + years ago now ) looking that nice.

If those Lee T/L round nose bullets ( they appear to be .45 ACP bullets ) aren't much over .452 dia, you can simply lube them with Lee Liquid Alox and you're ready to go.

No sizing needed if they are .451 - .452 Have you miked them to see how big they are on the driving bands ?

Good Shooting.

Ben

[supv26]

:lovebooli
Thanks for the compliments!!!!
So far, I really like this mold. Granted, I've only cast 480 bullets with it, but it's easy!

[supv26]

supv26 :

Welcome ! ! !

Those are some nice looking pistol bullets. I don't remember my 1st ones ( about 40 + years ago now ) looking that nice.

If those Lee T/L round nose bullets ( they appear to be .45 ACP bullets ) aren't much over .452 dia, you can simply lube them with Lee Liquid Alox and you're ready to go.

No sizing needed if they are .451 - .452 Have you miked them to see how big they are on the driving bands ?

Good Shooting.

Ben

Last night I measured a few and found they were right on the money! Infact, the needle would be in between .451 and .452!

[TAWILDCATT]

Right on: very nice and your ready to go.I use Bullseye 3.5 and tack driver and works my longslide. :coffee: [smilie=1:

[sundog]

Some folks do not like the Lee ladle. I do, but only after I put a curved bend in it so that it is easier to reach into the pot and pour into the mould. Makes all the difference in awkward and easy. Be careful if you bend it so that you do not break the handle. I've used mine for so long that I'm on my third handle (stolen off of my first Lee SC mould).