don't hurt the new guy

[camotruck]

:-I think I'm ready to get started getting started, Oh what a slippery slope. I decided to start with my 45/70. pretty tough thought pounding that led ball down the bore:-? I got one of my .490 roundballs some greese and my small brass mallet with the plastic on one side and went at it. once it got past the muzzel I was able to push it the rest of the way down with an old cedar arrow shaft. Much easer that I thought:-D The mesurement come out .4575 to the groves and .451 - .4505to the lands. Where do I go from here. In other words how do I pick the right mold and sizer. I have a RCBS pro 2000 I dont guess ther's any way to use it to size my Boolets is there so what do you guys sugest I start with as I have a limited budgett and cant afford to buy my equipment twice.
My other question is based on the groups vast experiance would I be better of starting with a smaller caliber. I have a .35 Rem and some smaller as well as .357 and a 40 S&W Glock. but after reading about the rifling used in the Glock ( I can't remember what it was called right now) I decided not to cast for it.

I hope that if this doesnt work out one of you fine gentelmen can help me dispose of all the lead I have here[smilie=s:

[clodhopper]

My experience is mostly with smaller calibers. Bullet casting should please the practioner, by all means get a .45 mould and .458 sizer.
You are gonna love the cost of boolits once you write off the equipment.
Warning you never save money..but you do get to shoot a lot more!

[Kawfeegod]

Lee makes a sizer die that fits presses, not sure if it will fit in a progressive. I'm sure that someone else here will chime in on that.

[IcerUSA]

Really depends on how much time you have for smelting, casting , sizeing , and reloading . :)

You could get buy with a good single stag press for most rifle loads , I got a Lee Classic Cast Turret and run it in manual mode most of the time for load development , just leave the advance rod out .

I might go with a .459 dia. sizeing die just to make sure you get a good seal , I size mine at .460 dia. for my Marlin and Buffalo Classic and both shoot well but my bores are at .458 dia. .

You could look at Ranch Dogs moulds , link at the bottom of the page or go with any of the makers 405 gn. FPGC moulds and you should be good to go .

Keith

[Buckshot]

...............Welcome to the board camotruck, and also welcome to this group of ner-do-wells :-) The 45-70 is an excellent cartridge to start out with, using cast lead. Oddly enough I seem to recall that was the original projectile when it was invented. Slugging the barrel was a smart move so you'll go far in this game, and it sounds as if your's is about perfect.

I don't know what platform your 45-70 is on, nor what you want to do with it? However assuming that you probably just want to get your feet wet to start out, and a further guess is you have wheel weight metal? My suggestion is for a plain based design of a lower/mid weight design. Forty five caliber rifle boolit designs generally start at 300 grains and about the heaviest 'common' weight is 500 grs. So a good weight would be from 350 to maybe 420?

The Lee 457-405F would be a good place to start IF we knew for sure it would cast large enough, as all 3 I've owned (and I know of others) that drop a wee bit on the small side. Lyman is the next least expensive set of blocks to buy. You'll also need a set of handles. Thier 457124 is a nice 385gr RN, then you have the 457643 and 457193 both of which are 405gr designs.

There is no reason to size if you don't have to. You can pan lube and load the slugs just like that. A lube-sizing press can also be used to add lube without sizing by using a die a thousanth larger then the 'as cast' diameter. This is a MUCH faster, cleaner way to do it if you want to lay out the money to start that way.

Fill us in on some of the details of what you'd like to accomplish.

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

[BIGGUNGOBOOM]

Cant go wrong with 357, pretty easy cartridge to start loading for and has a huge amount of load data out there. thats the first round I learned how to reload for back about 15 years ago

[missionary5155]

Good morning and WELCOME !
I would start casting with whichever shooting iron you like the best.
357 mag is easy and there is no lack in molds for sale. 45-70 molds are just a bit more costly... but if you stick with the Lee brand you can come up with reasonably priced 2nd hand molds. Other companies sell higher priced equipment but I recom hald my molds are Lee and they shoot as good as any IF they are the right size which is easily adjusted.
Your 40 Glock CAN shoot cast. I bought a #22 10+ years ago and "Ignorantly" shot cast throught it by the hundreds before a "better informed" shooter told me it would blow up... Every time I looked down my barrel there is the rifling still visible with just little specks here and there. Use the right size boolit and the right mix and it will shoot nicely. Look into the "Wheelgun, Pistol.... " area . There is a Glock thread that discusses the issue.
Start hunting up some wheel weights ( Box of dounuts at the tire store where you buy tires) and some pure lead (plumbers) and you have the basic material needed.
So again... just decide what caliber you like or shoot the most and jump in. Lots of fine feller here to jam you full of advice.
God Bless ya

[Slow Elk 45/70]

Hullo Camotruck, welcome and good casting. I agree with most on the 45/70 molds, I'm not going to favor any brand of mold I have several and several different sizers, the thing is you can size the boolits down if your cast is oversize.

You may need the info on "beagling" your mold if yours is undersize for your BFR. I have the Ranch Dog molds now and I like them because they drop the boolit at about .460, which works in my Marlin Rifles real well. he has a 350 & 425 GR

I have a couple of others that don't need a boolit this large , so I use a .458 sizer for them.

The reason I mention Ranch Dog , is the price and the product, both good. So Far and I have several of their molds. Lee makes the molds for RD on special orders, but they keep the price down.

You did not mention what brand of BFR you are loading for, but if you want more info on the 45/70 , just ask I will try to help and I'm sure there are lots of others that will help you also.

You may find that it is a lot easier starting out casting with a single or double mold will be easier for you to get it down to where you can cast a good boolit easly.

Enjoy yourself above all. :drinks:

[dromia]

Oddly enough I seem to recall that was the original projectile when it was invented.
................Buckshot

So you were around then Rick and here's me thinking you just had a hard paper round. [smilie=1:

[Wayne Smith]

My Encore 45/70 barrel is .4575 too. I'm sizing the Lyman 457122 to .459 - no, I don't recommend you start casting with a hollow point mold! This is the Gould 330gr HP boolit. I haven't worked it up enough to tell what I'm doing yet, I've just discovered that it doesn't like crimped rounds. At least not with 3031 pushing the boolit.

[Leftoverdj]

If it's still available, go with the Lee 459-405-HB. It'll cast big enough for you, has an effortless system for the hollowbase pin, and I've never heard anyone complain about the accuracy. It is velocity limited, at least for me, but if you can live with a max of 1200 to 1400 fps, depending on the rifle, it's the way to go.

WW works fine for alloy, although I do a little better with 50/50 ww/lead.

[camotruck]

BFR:confused: Boolet Firing Rifle. or BFP Boolet Firing Platform I think thats what it means. Might take me a hile to get used to all the acronyms let me know it thas is correct.

My 45/70 is a Marlin lever action MODEL 1895SS
I do have some lead...
about 200# of WW (Wheel Weights) I got that one;)
and another 130# or so of PB (Pure BLUE , Pure Lead is that one right) I think its pure I got it from a... well I better not say
and 5# of 50/50 solder. Ho much is too much when it comes to lead?

I realy like shooting the 40 and I have a 25/300WSM wildcat that is my favorite rifle to shoot but I wasn't sure about pushing a boolet down the tube @ 3600 FPS.

I have way to much to learn before I start that.

What are the groups thoughts on presses for sizing lubing and at some point gas checking for my faster rifles. I don't mind spending $$$ for quality equipment worst comes to worst it will hold its vale better. I was reading here that someone on the board makes sizing dies I'd like to get products from someone here that knows his stuff.

Not sure what Beagling is.

at this piont i guess I need a 45/70 mould and maybe a .458 or.459 sizing die. Which one I'm not sure. What are the pitfalls of a dit that is too large. other than the obvious BOOM.

I was reading alot bout lubes :veryconfu how bout I just fill the groves with lard got a lot of that.[smilie=l: one thing at a time.

[camotruck]

Whats the problem with smelting all my WW and then casting from the same pot

[snaggdit]

The main prohibition is smelting in a bottom pour pot. Easy to end up with a plugged bottom pour. If you are ladle casting, probably OK. Still, best to keep the 2 processes separate. Less chance of contamination that way.

[carpetman]

Camotruck the main difference in using the same pot is can you do the remelting(smelting) outdoors. When melting down wheelweights for example you get a lot of smoke. Once melted down and you do the actual casting, there is not as much smoke. On bottom pours most of the crud does float to top, but overtime you can get an accumulation that tends to stop things up. I've heard that a woman that cooks carrots and pees in the same pot is unsanitary.

[Slow Elk 45/70]

Hullo CamoTruck, FYI[for your information] the usual meaning for BFR is [big f--king rifle] and BFP is[ big f--king pistol] , BFHC is [big f--king hand cannon][smilie=1: Of course this is all IMHO [in my humble opinion]
Regards and good casting shooting:Fire:

[44man]

BFR--Biggest, "finest", revolver. Magnum research's way to keep from swearing! :-P
Two of them in my avitar.

[jnovotny]

welcome camotruck, I still haven't got the acronyms down so don't feel left out. You have embarked on a great journy and have started in the right place. This is the best site on the web to learn .

[docone31]

Welcome indeed,
I started reloading the 30-30. Made a few mistakes, but learned as I went.
The firest castings I made were .45ACP. They came out real well. The second were .303 British. That is where the crap came out of the mold! Wrinkles, voids, etc.
I would, with your stock of alloy, jump in with either .357, or .45. They cast well. Pan lubeing is my way, and I have stuck to it. No leading. Sizing is real important.
What I did with my alloys,
I melted wheel weight in a seperate pot. Made ingots of them. Melted roofing lead in the same pot, made ingots of them. I kept my solder seperate.
I then proceeded to cast, watching my final castings. That is where I could decide whether I needed to add lead, or wheel weight to keep my sizing of the finished casting.
I do my casting out of my bottom pour pot. I do not melt wheel weights in it, just the ingots. So far, I have not had but one issue, and that was when I added zinc. The nozzle slowed down, and I got short castings.
I skimmed most of the zinc out, cranked up the heat, and today I use high heat all the time. I do add some zinc once in a while. I like my castings hard. For my pistol castings, I do not add zinc.
If you find your mold small, you can LeeMent, or paper patch. LeeMenting, I feel makes for a good smooth, consistant size cavity.
Depends on what you come out with mostly.
If the 45/70 is undersized, you can paper patch! I started doing that for my .30s, and .303, and that is all I do now.
Welcome to the world of molten metal!
It becomes a lifestyle.

[badgeredd]

OK for the newbies...and anyone else that is curious,

There is a thread on the acronyms. I had to search for it and it might be a good idea to make it a sticky for everyone. Here it is:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=3857&highlight=acronyms

Sure is a big help when a guy can't figure out what the acronym means, for sure!

camotruck,

Welcome to the board.

One thing you may want to consider. You can pan lube the big boolits fairly easily and use a push through sizer from Lee to get you started. It isn't that hard to get the process down, especially if you're doing a few (50 to 100) boolits at a time. Unfortunately I don't recall where I saw a pretty good thread that explained the pan lube process. I just recently decided to try it and I found it fairly easy although a little more time consuming if that is all you're doing at the time. I've been pan lubing the 45-70 boolits because I shoot fewer of them at a time.

"Beagling" is explained in the member articles on Castpics.

Once you've gotten used to the forum, you'll find a lot of info in some kinda centrally located places.

Since you have a Marlin 1895, (I am assuming it is "Micro-groove) you might want to take a good look at Ranchdog molds and the like Lee molds. Watch ebay for used molds too, although the prices lately have been bordering on ridiculous, and then some. Also there is a boolit exchange thread in the "selling and swapping" thread that can get you some boolits to try without buying the mold.

It sounds like you are doing your up front work before you ask questions and I think that is the way it should be done. You'll learn while searching and often find more info than if you simply ask questions. WE ARE ALL willing to help if we can when you do ask.

Oh yeah, the 357 will be quite user friendly to cast for with a lot of mold availability. I'd suggest the Lyman 358156 as one of your molds.

Good luck with your new interest (CAUTION: BOOLIT CASTING IS ADDICTIVE!)

Edd

[Wayne Smith]

As to sizing and lubing - you have three basic choices. The differences in them seem to be speed, mess, and cost.

1) Pan lube, Lee sizing - this is the messiest and the slowest and the cheapist. I do it with boolits that I am going to shoot as cast and don't have an oversized lube die yet. I do it with boolits that I am going to shoot a relative few of and shoot as cast.

2) Lyman/RCBS lube sizer, probably add the Saco in here. Moderately fast, high availability of die sizes, relatively clean when you use pre-cast sticks of lube. I have one of each, would probably prefer the RCBS because of the guarantee.

3) Star, the Cadallic of lube sizing. Most expensive, dies most expensive, very fast and, apparantly, clean. I don't have one, I don't do that much high volume shooting, at least not yet. I still work!

[geezer56]

You have done it now. Shooting equals having a hobby. Reloading so you can shoot more, equals having a disease. Casting you own boolits, so you can reload and shoot even more, you have a serious addiction. And this bunch of enablers will just drag you in deeper and deeper. That's my story anyhooo. As I tell my wife, though, it's cheaper and safer than a girlfriend. And probably more fun to boot!

[partsproduction]

I do my casting out of my bottom pour pot. I do not melt wheel weights in it, just the ingots. So far, I have not had but one issue, and that was when I added zinc. The nozzle slowed down, and I got short castings.
I skimmed most of the zinc out, cranked up the heat, and today I use high heat all the time. I do add some zinc once in a while. I like my castings hard. For my pistol castings, I do not add zinc.
If you find your mold small, you can LeeMent, or paper patch. LeeMenting, I feel makes for a good smooth, consistant size cavity.
Depends on what you come out with mostly.
If the 45/70 is undersized, you can paper patch! I started doing that for my .30s, and .303, and that is all I do now.
Welcome to the world of molten metal!
It becomes a lifestyle.

Docone, (And anyone else who has ideas)
I think I have some zinc in my wheel weight pigs, I used a stupid method to melt the wheel weights. I set a steel plate on an incline and used a propane weed burner torch and caught what ran off the bottom in a cast iron pot. Some of the molten top had funny looking crud floating on it that wouldn't melt in the pot, so I skimmed it out. I'm sure there is still some zinc in the mix. (See my batch pot in the sticky, #39 http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=707&page=2) The batch pot, as I call it, is bottom pour, and I did that in hopes I could leave the zinc at the top of the melt when I pour the ingots.

Do I have a problem now? Thanks,

Parts

[camotruck]

I was worried I may not have enough casting material so I went out and did a little legwork. came up with a little. I got 50# of Tape on WW after smelting them down and still have a five gallon bucket of WW with clips. I thought I read here somewhere that the tape on were pure lead, so I kept them seprate. Is the picture good enough for a tutorial I know the top row is feris I used a magnetthe third row invilves some zink and the bottom row is tape on. The second row from the top on the right have some sort of grey coating on them but are soft when squezed with plyers. Does anyone know anything about them?

[camotruck]

me and the boy and some of the spoils I know some of you guys would go through this in short order.on the left the pure led I had in the pot and up front the tape on WW. We havent done any with the clips yet.

[partsproduction]

Great looking casting pot!

[camotruck]

I was reading back in the post and someone mentioned lamenting a mold if it didnt cast large enough. What is lamenting?

Also I was thinking about these http://www.ranchdogmolds.com/TLC359190RF/ for my .35 rem and this for my 45/70 http://www.ranchdogmolds.com/TLC460350RF/TLC460350RF_Bullet_Sketch.jpg. do I have to use GC' for these? Will these work with my 45/70) the BBL sluged at .4575 and the .35 REM sluged at .3585 .

Thanks

[partsproduction]

Similar to "regretting", wished they had a larger mold.

[HORNET]

The term is 'Lee-menting' and there a couple of stickies on it in one of the stickies & classics sections. It's basicly a light lapping process done with a very fine abrasive (like toothpaste) to remove burrs, etc from the cavities and get better performance without the boolits 'hanging up' in the blocks. Full lapping uses a coarser abrasive (like 320 grit Clover) and will open the mold to a larger diameter.
You might also want to check the sticky on 'Beagling', a reversable process to provide larger diameters from the same mold.
It's NOT addictive, just very,very habit-forming.

[camotruck]

Similar to "regretting", wished they had a larger mold.

Sorry 'bout that. it was late I looked at LEE_Menting twice then went right back and typed lamenting anyway.

I went and read that post and a few others. Looks like it might just be easer for me to just buy larger or :eek: more expensive moulds to begin with. Time is $ and if I want to shoot more I may as well have the ability to cast mroe at a time anyway. I just dont want to buy the wrong ones to begin with.