Through The Years

[OLPDon]

Being now a Old Timer (age wise) more age then wise. I did save my first Cast Boolit just don't know were it is. Wish I could find it to see how far I have advanced in the craft.

Was wondering if anyone had done the same and if they have, could you post pictures of the proud 1st born (so to speak). It would interesting to see what has transpired over the yrs
Don

[beagle]

Didn't save mine. I think it was a reject and went back into the pot. I remember the concoction was some WWs, a couple of fishing sinkers, a lead soldier or two and a couple of battery clamps. The mould was a SC 311291 and I got a LOT of wrinkles to start with and then things smoothed up. With all of those shiny bullets from old nasty lead, I figured there had to be something illegal about it.

Now, many hundreds of thousands of bullets later, the thrill is still there when you pop the mould open and a shiny bullet falls out./beagle

[R.C. Hatter]

My first cast was in the fall of '61, from a Lyman SC 358477, using wheelweights. It went back to the pot as a wrinkled reject, but I finally got enough to load me a box of .38 Special with. A lot of water has gone over the dam since, more moulds, more sizers, more loading equipment more casting & shooting, and a lot of pleasure, and it's STILL FUN !

[docone31]

If you can imagine, a simple brass mold for a cap and ball revolver, smothered in wavy lead, with frozen jaws and lead drips on the ground.
I do not have a picture of this, nor of my fishing sinker castings. I am glad I do not, they would serve no purpose. It would have been simpler back then to just have tipped my pot over and push it into shapes as it froze.
I will never forget that.
I had an old coffee pot, with a fire under it. I had tossed into it wheel weights. The smoke, mostly leaves I threw on the pot. I had a soup ladle which I could not hold onto when it kept the lead liquid to pour. I had never imagined heating the mold before pouring.
Fast forward,
I got some Lee molds and started pouring away!
Wrinkles, voids, just plain old crap. I finally sized a few with gas checks and got 20min of berm!
I joined this forum and got success.
I am so glad my table did not need my skills back then.
My experience with high temperature casting did accelerate my ability to get reasonable, then good castings.
There is a learning curve indeed.
I am glad I never gave up, even though I took an Hiatus for several decades. I never stopped thinking of why I failed back then.

[AZ-Stew]

My first cast projectiles were round balls for a muzzle loading rifle. What I cast, I shot. Lyman single cavity mould, Lyman dipper, pipe tobacco can with rolled seams (soldered seams can fail with disasterous results) heated on the wife's gas stove in the apartment kitchen for a casting pot.

Regards,

Stew

[mrbill2]

Well I don't know what the bullets looked like the first time casting. But I do remember the FIRE. I was doing ok with melting on the kitchen stove till it came time to flux. Book said add a small piece fo bullet lub. Well, what's a small piece look like if you have a stick 1" dia. and 4" long. Half inch long looked small to me, untill it hit the lead pot. Yes, fire and black smoke all over the kitchen. Damn near killed myself looking for a frying pan lid to smother the FLAMES. That was about 45 years ago. Something I'll never forget. The wife remembers also !!
Mr. Bill

[monadnock#5]

I tried casting in the mid 80's. It was no fun. Not knowing any better, I smelted and cast out of the same bottom pour pot. Their were no good boolits out of that first effort, some were better than others, but that's not saying much. It didn't take long to lose interest. Then....... along came the 90's and an ebay account. I figured, let's give casting one more shot before I put the whole mess up for bid....Oh, and let's see if I can find any good advise on the net......

[FN in MT]

My first casting or reloading experience was for a very clean 1873 Springfield trap door in
.50-70 . I bought a single cavity traditional looking tong mould from Navy Arms as well as five TWO DOLLAR apiece .50-70 brass.

I recall casting several VERY wrinkly slugs before they started coming out looking decent. Lubed them with some stick lube, stuck them in the primed cases over 70 grs of Black and away I went. Shot that old Springfield for several years. Then very foolishly sold or traded it for God knows what.

This was circa 1972 or 73.

FN in MT

[runfiverun]

my dad still has some of the first ones i did in a old glass baby food jar, i wanted to load/shoot one.
but we couldn't get the lid off.

[Slow Elk 45/70]

I understand old age and treachery, way better than youth and exuberance. been there done that an lived to tell about it.

Started casting in 64 for my 30/30, the disease is progressive and I see no end in site.

Cast and shoot and enjoy doing it!!:-D[smilie=1:

[qajaq59]

My first ones were back in the sixties. Had a small cast iron pot and a ladle. I cast them and shot a few, but when I look back on it now I realize that I should have tossed them all back in and given up. Hmmmm, come to think of it that IS what I did. Now I've started over with a bottom pour pot and all the trimmings. It is sooo much easier this way.