...and when did you start casting?

[S.R.Custom]

Interesting bit in the other poll thread about our average age. It got me wondering... when did everyone here start casting?

Specifically: Is bullet casting just something 40-70 year old guys do, or was it something that everybody did at one time and we're all just getting older with few following in our steps?

[DragoonDrake]

I started about a year ago and still wonder why I waited so long.
Adam

[waksupi]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=14017&highlight=experience

This gives an idea how long many members have been at it.

[Buckshot]

..............About 30 years ago, and it took a few years to become "Serious" about it. Your wife may have another word for it, or your condition :-) Serious to me doesn't mean buying another mould because you've aquired a new caliber/cartridge. Serious is also not buying one because it may be better then the one or dozen you currently have in that caliber. It merely means you get it because it looks interesting or you simply don't already have it :-)

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

[carpetman]

My first effort at casting was casting a shadow. But I was too skinny and it didn't work. Guess I needed tin for fillout. But I don't know what I would have added the tin to as they didn't have wheelweights back then. I remember a bunch of us setting around a Coleman lantern ---fire had just been invented,but wasn't refined for camping yet so we had no campfire--we were discussing how we wished someone would invent wheelweights so we'd have casting material. We'd have done it ourselves but we had no idea what a wheelweight was. Which really made sense as wheels hadn't been invented yet. Felix had only invented his lube a couple years before--which was really a huge feat as there was no fire to cook it on yet.

[billyb]

Had a friend that worked in the Looboyles, was in the store browsing and spied a Lyman casting kit for 38/357. It had the mold master pot, two cavity mold& other stuff that I can't remember now. Bill

[Mtman314]

I just started casting this weekend. Had a good time and some fellowship and learned quite a bit. I casted about 210 balls of 50 cal and about 3 dozen 32 cal RB. Slugged guns and seen how to size boolits apply gaschecks, etc. Thank you clodhopper for your time, assistance and expertise.

[Slow Elk 45/70]

Hullo SuperMag, I started casting when I was 7yrs as I remember. My father gave me a set of toy soldier molds. I made a lot of them for myself and my friends and they were also good trading stock. Major dad was old school and I guess some of it rubbed off on me. I went on to fishing sinkers and from there to boolits for my 30 win. and 30/40 Krag. Been at it ever since.

I taught my son and daughter to cast and reload and they are at it today, we all enjoy this and I guess we always will. Starting Grand Kids now , ole family tradition, I hope it stays that way.

[Southern Son]

I started (first time) when I was about 23. Bought a .58cal muzzle loader and projectiles were kind of scarce. Started a second time just about 5 years ago when I got a 45/70. I wanted to load black powder and, once again, finding suitable projectiles was a little difficult.

[HABCAN]

First casting was lead soldiers circa 1942. First boolit casting was '48. We used a 5/16" round-end drill in the high school drill press to make cavities in a block of cherry wood. This was our mold. Pulled .22 bullets provided lead, melted on the kitchen stove which was poured into the cavities and quickly struck off flush with a kitchen knife. Inverting the wood block and pounding it on the floor dropped the 'boolits' which were then inserted in .32 S&W cases over two long rifle cases worth of .22 powder. Primers had been replaced by driving out the fired ones with a nail and inserting a kitchen match head. They worked rather well most of the time in .32 breaktop S&W's or Iver Johnsons 'borrowed' from parents' bedside tables, LOL. It was a different world!

My first real mold was a Lyman #358156 purchased to feed my new Ruger 4-5/8" flattop .357 in '56. Then I spent decades having moderate success casting for various firearms until joining this site and learning SO much. Now it's an enjoyable addiction and hardly a day goes by I don't cast SOMETHING even if it's only ingots! THANK YOU all!

[cajun shooter]

I started in 1971 at the age of 24 while working at a local gun store in Baton Rouge, La. We sold all the stuff and the owner was casting and selling bullets for the customers. Since I was not making a lot of money I asked to do it for extra income. He set me up with my first Star and several Lyman pots and molds. Here I am, many years later. Also used a Star loader to make and sell ammo.

[MT Gianni]

I started in 93 at the age of 38 due to the run on components started by the Brady Bill.

[Down South]

I started reloading in 1973 .I’ve cast fishing sinkers for years but I’ve only been casting boolits about 1-1/2 years. Actually I started casting to offset the high price of jacketed bullets. Now, I still cast for that reason plus a few more. Jacketed bullets may come in short supply soon like primers and other components. Plus, one of the main reasons I cast now is I just love to do it.

[sargenv]

I just started casting within the last two months out of frustration that nobody made exactly the bullet I wanted.. an elongated round nose for .40 cal Revolvers. Almost all the bullets available are truncated cone, semi wad cutter, or RNFP which just didn't work for me. I had Veral Smith make up the bullet I'd been seeking and started casting it last week when I received the mold. I'm waiting on a shipment of LLA that should get here tomorrow.. then I'll load them and see what my results will be.

I've been buying up lead from this board and another and now have a good supply.. I wanted to start doing this about 8 years ago but my better half was concerned and was against the idea.. I've obviously since convinced her I could cut my costs in half by doing the work myself.. I think the idea was rekindled in me by a friend after I saw how relatively easy it was. Otherwise I've been reloading since about 1988 for Rifle, pistol, and shotgun.

[theperfessor]

Started casting in early teen years when buddy and I hollowed out a coconut and poured it full of lead to make shot putt. It stunk up neighbors house real bad but we got a usable ball for efforts.

Started casting bullets in early '20s, (late 1970's) then got out of it for a while, not much money for hobbies then. Every few years I'd borrow BIL's lead pot to whip up a few bullets for occasional shooting. Started acquiring own equipment and casting again about 15 years ago and have been addicted to smelting and bullet making ever since, enough to start making my own molds to feed habit.

I consider this site to be the "institution of higher learning" where I have gotten a "graduate degree" in casting by reading other members posts.

Life is good.

[Cap'n Morgan]

Which really made sense as wheels hadn't been invented yet.

Oh, we had wheels, alright. Not that it did us any good, since they were all triangular. Some smart *ss suggested round wheels, and was promptly thrown off a cliff for heresy with one of his newfangled round wheels tied round his neck. I believe this was the first time a wheelweight was used.

[badgeredd]

I've reloaded my ammo and loaded ammo for several wildcats for 37 years. I cast round balls and conicals for BP starting 30 years ago. I loaded commercially cast boolits for handguns to shoot in NRA silhouette. BUT I really got into this happy addiction about 15 months ago.

What I've learned from here, from a fellow member, and my own experience in that short time amazes me! The casting of boolits and loading them to shoot "accruately" has become somewhat an obsession. I know for me that casting my own, loading them, and shooting them has renewed my interest in shooting.

Edd

P.S. I've become so interested in this hobby, that I am seriously thinking about selling of a bunch of the jacketed bullets I have. I simply don't use them! Now I work toward accurate cast boolit loads for hunting.

[Dale53]

My father was a "gunny" and we started shooting handguns when I was 12 or 13. He bought Elmer's "Six Gun Cartridges and Loads", read it, and suggested I do the same. He was busy working and suggested I might want to start casting bullets for our newly acquired .357 Magnum Smith. I got a Lyman cast iron pot (10 lbs), a bullet mould for Keith's (what else?) 358429 and a Lyman 45 Sizer/Luber. I cast my first bullets over my mothers gas range in the kitchen. Mom was VERY tolerant of us and our "peckadilloes". My father had a small business (hardware store and appliance repair) and he soon bought a Detroit bullet trap for the shop. After hours, we would shoot pistols. Boy, that .357 made LOTS of noise inside:mrgreen:. Dad was a pretty dern good pistol shot.

He was also a good gun trader. He had an FFL and we added firearms to the store's inventory. We sold powder, shot, primers and even black powder and factory cartridges. Times were tough and I sold many a partial box of cartridges. Many would buy five or six for their revolver. As I remember, factory cartridges ran about 6 cents apiece. It is hard to realize that our dollar is only worth about 1/12 what it was in the late 40's and early 50's.

I never quit casting. Just got more and more into it. I plan to csst at least ten thousand bullets in various calibers this year and that could end up double that.

I have cast for and successfully shot pistols, revolvers, rifles, and shotguns. These days it is mostly handguns and I still love every minute of it.

Dale53

[Ed Barrett]

I was about 12 years old in 1952. A WWI vet tought me to reload a 30-40 Krag and cast bullets for it. He was a shirt tail relative of mine and his wife was my 5th grade teacher. He hunted, trapped and shot every chance he could get. He had been gassed in WWI and had a little pension he supplemented by trading and fixing guns. He taught me alot that I still use today.

[Big Boomer]

I began casting in my 36th year (1976), which means I've been casting for 33 years. Started out casting for .357s and still have that original Lyman 358156 mold. Sure have poured out a lot of them over the years, but now I also pour lots of .45s, mostly from LBT moulds. 'Tuck

[69daytona]

I just started this year at 50. Never had time or a place to do it being in the USMC plus I aleways had all the ammo I could shoot for free, gets expensive when you shoot 400-800 rounds in one day at the range.

[dmen]

It would have been the summer of 72' when I ran out of j bullets for my k-31. I was 16 and didn't see any reason to spend $10 on 100 more when I could buy a mold for $15 and make as many as I wanted. dmen

[runfiverun]

learned from a neighbor when i was 8- 9 ,still have some of those boolits somewhere
at my dad's house.
we were going to load some of them up about a year ago, but we couldn't get the lid off the old jar.
dad showed me how to reload, i taught him how to cast.
now i do both and he just calls for boolits.

[TC66]

Started in 1988 to load a real heavy hot 30 30 round for wild boar while living in Germany. German guy I hunted with was not willing to let me hunt with my 30 30 wanted me to use his 8MM. I told him give me one chance. He did and he never questioned me again. In the front of the skull and out the back. 225 KG

[PineTreeGreen]

I started reloading in the early 60's. Had a Savage 110,.30-06. Bought Hodgden
4831 for $.55/lb,primers were$.39/100 and J word bullets were like $4.00/100.
Uncle Sam transferred me to Alaska in 1964 and the Savage went with me. I got discharged in 1966 and did a lot of hunting with the '06.
Used that until I aquired a Chilean Mauser that had been redone to .257 Weatherby. I didn't really like the gun and had a Douglas Premium .458X2" tube screwed on. Bought a Lyman 457483 and cast on the kitchen range. The gunsmith that had done the metal work warned me NOT to use WW to cast because the grit on WW would wear the barrel out. I would poo poo him today.
Found a .308 length FN action and had another .458X2" made up with a Douglas Premium Barrel. When I called Douglas to order the barrel I asked about using boolits cast from WW and whoever I talked to got a big laugh out of that question. In the early 80's I bought a couple more moulds. In the mid 80's it was stolen and never recovered.
I haven't had a hunting license since 1987. If I started hunting again I would be required to take a "Hunter Safety Course" which is NOT a problem.
I was at the Trading Post the other day and was fondeling(?) a Remington 673 in 6.5 Rem Mag. My girlfriends grandson wanted to know what I would want the gun for. I told him"Don't you realise how cool and neat this would be with a .450 Marlin barrel on it? :-D
I don't hunt but I still do a lot of shooting and mostly with boolits made from those dreaded wheel weights w/all that grit

[No_1]

My girlfriends grandson wanted to know what I would want the gun for. I told him"Don't you realize how cool and neat this would be with a .450 Marlin barrel on it?

Kids today have no vision....

Robert

[Psycho0124]

My dad was conscripting me to help cast and load ammunition at around 7 or 8 years old. He was real good about just ignoring that whole "Kids can't do that" mentality and I think I turned out the better for it. By age 12, I had loaded thousands of rounds of ammunition and, along with a firm understanding of industrialized manufacturing processes, I had found a very healthy respect for firearms and the chemistry and physics behind them.

Damn science class was boring compared to my youth spent out in the 'shop' making bullets!:-D

[GP100man]

I turned 21 in `83 , bought a Ruger Redhawk 44 mag , had to feed the need !!!!
bought a lee whack-o- matic & qwikly bought a press & dies but realized i could shoot more if i did`nt spend $$ on bullets, instead i`d try my hand at casting!!!!
got tired of the liguid mule snot in short order & bought a used 450 .
ive cast for all the calibers i had at one time or another with lee 2 holers & just recently trying steel & bottom pouring , which is working out ok!!
finding this site :cbpour: & the people on it have really helped me renew my intrest& better the results of my addiction!!!!

GP100man:castmine:

[smokemjoe]

about 1962, got a lyman reloading kit, tong tool in 30-06 ,bullet mold with handle and a dipper for about $25.00, complete reloading set to load 30-06, And then a 03A3 from the DCM for $14.00, powder was $.50 a pound for Ball-C, 4831,4895, Primers were $0.40 a 100, I was about 14 years old, a pound of powder lasted me 2 days. It was 15 miles to pick up powder in Beetown Wis. at a old gunsmilths shop, That was the days when 218bees, 219 Imp. 22 hornets,222s were the varmint rifles on Win, single shot action, Looking back now that was the good days, No gun laws, - Joe

[DuaneH]

Started when I was in high school, mid-70's. We had a neighbor then who worked for the local newspaper and would bring boxes of linotype pieces over. One time even a whole bar. I was loading for .38 Spl and 30-30 and for years EVERYTHING was straight lino.

[S&W-57Man]

I started casting soon after I turned legal to buy my first revolver. I read some interesting articles about the .41 Magnum in a magazine that I subscribed to back in the mid 80's, around 1984. The article started my interest in the caliber; it made some great points why it was great in so many ways. The article stated that this caliber was so close to the beast (.44 Magnum) without nearly as much recoil, I decided to go with a small monster. With the purchase of the gun, I also bought some ammunition. I was shocked with the price of it and decided to do some shopping around next time. Upon shopping around, I found out that this was an expensive gun to shoot. Immediately I bought the dies to reload with but needed to save just a little more, I was attending college at the time. I decided to buy a casting pot, molds, sizing dies and everything else needed to make my own bullets; this would save the cost of the bullets at least. I asked tire stores for their wheel weights and bought some 50/50 bar solder which I gave to a friend. My friend brought me back several ingots of #2 which I turned into .41 bullets mostly. I tried a little with my Win. 94 and cast some .38's.

I found a hobby which I enjoyed while saving money and gave me another hand in controlling the quality and cost involved.

[S&W-57Man]

I started casting soon after I turned legal to buy my first revolver. I read some interesting articles about the .41 Magnum in a magazine that I subscribed to back in the mid 80's, around 1984. The article started my interest in the caliber; it made some great points why it was great in so many ways. The article stated that this caliber was so close to the beast (.44 Magnum) without nearly as much recoil, I decided to go with a small monster. With the purchase of the gun, I also bought some ammunition. I was shocked with the price of it and decided to do some shopping around next time. Upon shopping around, I found out that this was an expensive gun to shoot. Immediately I bought the dies to reload with but needed to save just a little more, I was attending college at the time. I decided to buy a casting pot, molds, sizing dies and everything else needed to make my own bullets; this would save the cost of the bullets at least. I asked tire stores for their wheel weights and bought some 50/50 bar solder which I gave to a friend. My friend brought me back several ingots of #2 which I turned into .41 bullets mostly. I tried a little with my Win. 94 and cast some .38's.

I found a hobby which I enjoyed while saving money and gave me another hand in controlling the quality and cost involved.

[chaos]

I began at 35......less than a year ago.

[Charlie Sometimes]

I started back in the mid '70's when CB radios (IIRC- it was the dark of the moon on the 6th of June...) were hot, and muzzleloading and the American Bicentenial were in vogue. The muzzleloading movement picked up speed with the Bicentenial, and so did I with casting from then on. Moved on to handguns boolits shortly after, and then to rifle boolits in the '90's. Doing a lot more now that everything is so hard to come by and spendy.

Can't count casting shadows- but if you could mine is pure Pb @ 72 lb!

[Char-Gar]

I started at age 16 in 1958. It was the only way I could afford to shoot. I spend many evenings with a single cavity Lyman mold, a dipper and a plumbers furnace heating up scrap lead of dubious origin.

[mooman76]

I started in my early teen years also when I first got into shootin a wrist rocket slingshot. I had a crude but effective slingshot mould that would do something like 40 1/4" pellets at a time. You could get several different sizes out of the old Cabelas catalog. You filled one half the mould then fliped it over to fill the other half. You also had to cut the balls apart. I also used to reload them in shotgun shells.
I didn't get serious into it until 86 when I started ML shootin and found out how much them little things cost which was allot for me then. I started doing regular bullets about 8 years ago when I started reloading.

[Firebricker]

I started about 14 years old but that was just pure lead bought in clean ingots for my cap & ball revolver. So its only been about 5 years casting with alloys smelting , mixing metal and casting for several cals. Really hooked now. FB

[9.3X62AL]

I had to CALCULATE the age, subtracting year of birth from year of casting commencement. Age 26, because 32 caliber revolver bullets were non-existent as commercial offerings at the time I started--right after the Battle of Hastings, per my rotten kids.

[Bladebu1]

I remeber helping my dad around 8 years old we did .38 & .45 I stoped casting when I went in the Navy at 18 I started again at 40 as well as reloading again too

[Kraschenbirn]

Early 70's. Was participating in some local Civil War reenactments, shooting a couple of replica muzzleloaders...a 3-band Enfield and a Remington Zouave...and started out casting my own Minie' boolits using a Lee SC mould, a 10# plumbers pot, and a Coleman stove.

Bill

[Sprue]

I started about 6 yrs ago, I was 48 ish as best as I can remember. Three of us had a melting party. We had two pots going with one Lyman 4 cav in 358 and a 6 cav 452 mold.We made boolits all day. Shortly after that is when I learned about BBL leading....

[S.R.Custom]

That's funny! :mrgreen:

[oneokie]

IIRC, about this time last year. Has been a learning experience.

[HORNET]

Started casting at about 14 (1968?) using a mold I made myself to cast for a .22 cal Crossman Model 1422 (?) pellet gun. The mold was NOT a thing of beauty, in part because I'd never SEEN a boolit mold and partly because of the primitive tooling used (scrap aluminum, hand drill, dull 7/32 Bit) but it did produce a few useable projectiles. Still trying to get cast .22's to do what I want.

[clodhopper]

My first casting was about '82 bought a TC contender in 7TCU, a lee single cavity mould and a lee lube kit. back then the lee lube kit was a hammer powered sizing die, flat bottem pan, and stick of 50/50 lube. First load I tried worked! Shot that guns with enthusiam for 3or 4 years. My mould finally got so screwed up with stripped sprue plate screw and gaulling. That I quit useing it.
Got it out last summer, after reading much info here. Smoothed the top of the blocks with emery paper on glass. Drilled a hole in the side of the blocks to lock the sprue plate screw. Applied Bullplate lube and she's good to go!

[hollow-point]

started in 1972 age 61 now.

[cmkiefer]

I am 44 and will begin as soon as things dry up around here and/or my backordered mold, handles and top punch come in.

I've been sucking up info from you guys (Thanks! :drinks:) and reading up in the Lyman casting manual. Been collecting WW from a small exclusive source and scrounging pots and utensils for melting, smelting and making a general mess.

I wasn't using up enough of my quality time reloading, I had to find something else to do as well.

My wife thanks you for all the encouragement :rolleyes:

[twotoescharlie]

1957


ttc

[archmaker]

When I started to shoot IHMSA, back in 1986. I could not afford to shoot Jacket bullets as often as I wanted even at less than $10 a box. Found someone that was selling there setup, First bullet was the lee 255 SWC with GC. Got into heavy 44 cast boolits, with my heavist being a 355gr Cast :) Getting back into it after a layoff, due to career.

[hpdrifter]

way too late. I did cast some ML balls up years ago. But I cast enough up for years and years of shooting.

About 5 years ago when I bought a 45-70 and then added a 45 colt, I decided I just had to cast my own boolits.

[Leadforbrains]

I think about 2 years now???? I had lurked around here reading everything for awhile before actually getting started.

[waco]

i am 34 years old and have been casting since 1999
so.....24 years of age
learned a lot from my late uncle, and many a wise old man at my local gun range.
that is my favorite thing to do.
go to the range and see an older mans eyes light up when he sees a "youngster"
like me shooting cast boolits!
they have a TON of knowledge and are almost always willing to share what the have learned by trial and error over the years
i really think my senior friends enjoy seeing that younger folks like myself are picking up on what they have been doing for a liftime.
way more to shooting out there than just copper jacket bullets:castmine:

[KCSO]

Carpetman was so skinny he had to stand in the same place twice to cast a shadow. He couldn't walk across a sewer grate without snow shoes.

Started casting for a muzzleloadder in 1966 because I couldn't buy balls anywhere. A civil war revolver, from the civil war. I later traded it for two repro's and thought I was king of the world. I remember getting lessons from my grnadfather and we used his kitchen wood stove. I got my first lead pot in 1972 and we cast 1000 rounds of 38 wadcutters a week. Gang moulds and a Star sizer.

[dukenukum]

Started casting at 10 years old and I am 44 now . my dad decide I needed more " man type learning " ( not that I objected ) and set up the lead pot then I got into NRA JR shooting then black powder then trap shooting and center fire rifle so I had to learn to hand load .

[Baron von Trollwhack]

I started in 1963 when I was 18. I met a fellow in the mountains who made a caplock pistol and SC mold for me. My powder came in a paper bag from a country store and he gave me a tin of caps. He taught me how to mould and shoot a muzzloader. I still have the Navy arms '51 colt copy I got in '67 when I started skirmishing. Still a member but not actively shooting this year. No telling how many pounds of lead I've shot away, but I think of it as many multiples of my weight. Have come to prefer flint ignition for muzzleloaders and 25-20 for cast.

BvT

[gon2shoot]

I started in 72 while working for Uncle Sam; for some reason he didn't want to pay me enough to feed my new mdl. SBH and my kid.
I did have a buddy in the motor pool though and melted lots of shiny WW. [smilie=1:

[Snapping Twig]

Somewhere around 1984. My neighbor got me started. He provided everything and the deal was that I was to cast for both of us. I didn't yet own a centerfire at the time.

[shooting on a shoestring]

Grade school in the early 70's. Shortly after Dad got me to the point of reloading .38s by my self. He complained of the shortage of 358156 in his boolit stock, and showed me the remedy. Few months later the shortage was in the lead pile.

Now years later, I have more loaded ammo than I can burn in multiple range sessions, boxes full of ready to load boolits, plenty of components at the ready, and the shortage is empty brass. The remedy, more range time. Odd that now the bottleneck in my reloading is the unloading.

[trk]

About 1963 or 64. Reloaded for .357 mag and .30-06. Graduated from HS in 65. Making cannons and mortars now. Also into scheutzen now. Went through the full-auto stage, got over it.

[Corky]

I started casting about 5 or 6 years ago. Been reloading maybe a year
longer than that. I'm rapidly approaching the half century mark. Guess I
just got started late. Been reading this forum since I started casting and
have learned a lot. I would like to thank all of you for that.

Jeff

[stubshaft]

1976 - I used a tin can on a gas stove with a LEE 155gr 30 cal. mold. Pan lubed and cut out with a "kake-cutter". AAAaahh, the good old days...

[Marine Sgt 2111]

I was 16 when I first started casting wheel weight alloy in a Lyman 429421 double cavity mold in 1972. I couldn't afford to buy jacketed bullets for the Ruger Super Blackhawk that I saved up my "summer job" money for and that my Dad bought for me. I used a Lee Loader, pounding one case at a time into the sizing sleeve then back out. I used to reload while setting on the floor, watching TV, on Sunday nights. My mother called an end to that after I set off a few primers trying to seat them using that Lee loader.....I still have the mold and what's left of the reloader....

[Rooster]

19 for me. Just moved out and bought a RCBA Jr. and 357 dies.

[mold maker]

Hollow sinkers in holes punched in damp red dirt, at 8 years old, (1956)was my first experience. Necessity if I fished. As soon as I could own a hand gun I started saving money for powder and primers by casting bullets. In those days it was with a tin can on a coat hanger, and an open fire
I think it was more fun back then. We picked up lead from the plumber across town and ocasionally found stray wheel weight. Practice rounds were shot into a creek bank where we could recover the lead. I'll bet some o that lead got recast and shot a hundred times.
We had to compete with farm cats and dogs for rabbits. A fox was a rare shot, but didn't put meat on the table. I used to trade eggs for shotgun shells. Mom said my 3 rabbits went lots futher to feed the family, than the 4 eggs.

[RayinNH]

I started in 1972 when my folks took me to the Kittery Trading Post to buy a long sought after TC .45 Hawken rifle. I had just turned 16 years old. I still have the rifle and mould with handles although I haven't shot it in probably five years...Ray

[gnoahhh]

1969, age 16. I bought a Lyman 311241 155gr. PB mould. I cast my first batch of bullets with a tin can on a hot plate. My grandfather made me a sizing die by turning 7/8-14 threads on a piece of cold rolled steel, bored a 5/16 hole throught it and turned a push rod for it that fit into the shell holder in my Herter's press. I took that first batch of .312 diameter bullets and loaded them over a fairly stiff charge of 2400 in a boxfull of .30/40 Krag cases. No lube mind you, just bare-ass soft 155 gr. plain base bullets at probably around 2000fps. Did I mention no lube? Anyway, I hiked out to a pasture where I set up a target on a hillside and ripped through all 20 cartridges. 1st few shots grouped fairly well as I recall. By the end the bullets were hitting all over the place. Later, at home, I went to clean the gun and couldn't see any rifling in the bore. It looked like a smoothbore with all the leading in there. It took two evenings and several brushes and about a whole bottle of Hoppes to get it kind of clean. An old wise guy told me to just shoot a couple of jacketed loads through it the next time it happened. (Advise that I did not follow!) I bought a stick of Javelina and started pan lubing. Throttled back on the powder charge to 6 gr. Red Dot. I must have fired thousands of those loads after that. Still have that old mould, wish I still had that rifle.

[SciFiJim]

Age 45, about a week ago when my first moulds arrived from Grafs. The first was a Lee 452-200-rf followed shortly by a TL 358-156. I currently have about 300 lbs of alloy ready to cast. I am using a 3 quart sauce pan and a soup ladle because my bottom pour pot is on back order.

[Bert2368]

1970's, 16 years old with dad for percussion black powder rifles and revolvers. Just starting to acquire tools and supplies to start up again-

[jar-wv]

I didn't start till about 4 yrs ago, just made it in under 50. I thought about it for a long time and always thought it would be a lot to go through. Actually I wish I started a lot earlier. Had to start lurking around this forum before I decided to get started.

jar

[WILCO]

Just started this past summer. Price of FMJ's in a little box pushed me over the edge and I've enjoyed the free fall into the silvery stream. [smilie=w:

[Oldtimer]

1972 at age 21. 37 years. Was working with the police dept. Started out of necessity because being on the pistol team, we probably shot a thousand rounds each per week Range had a big dirt bank. After a good rain, a small scoop, would fill up a 5 gal. bucket in a couple of min with wadcutters. Meltem down, and shootem again. No tellin how many times those things had been shot. A thousand primers was about $3.50, and a pound of Bullseye was about $5.00. Figgured once with the free lead, I had about 15 cents in a box of 50. Not too bad. Bob

[azrednek]

I started casting at age 21 but really didn't get involved with it until I was in my 30's. Previously I was just casting hollow based minnies and round balls on a Coleman stove. In the early 80's I lucked into a garage sale picked up a RCBS pot and sizing equipment. On the way home I stopped and bought a Lee single cavity 357 mold used from a pawn shop. I remember telling my then wife at the pawn shop I only need a couple more molds and I'll be set.

[no34570]

I started casting at the tender age of 31,when I got my first blackpowder gun,a 58cal,needed boolits for it and been casting ever since for my .303 Brits and 45/70.
Could not live with out it.

[LostSoul]

I'm 28 and just started reloading in the last 6 months or so. Then I realized I could make my own boolits, and now my GP100 eats nothing but. My Glock 17 would also, but the polygonal rifling keeps me from doing so.

[Tom308]

I started in the 60s. I think it was TC Maxi ball and LEE Real bullets for ML. It was a lot more fun then. Now, it's a lot of work. I still enjoy casting when I can. I'm casting a BUNCH of .358 bullets for my nephew. He is involved with SASS and CAS. Don't really mind it but, it's still a lot of work. Good thing I like it so much.
Tom

[R.C. Hatter]

:grin:I began casting in 1960 at the age of 20, with a Lyman #358477 mould and dipper, an old cast iron pot, heated on a Coleman stove. I made a little money selling my own reloads over the years till I realized that the liability wasn't worth the return.
That money was turned into more loading and casting equipment, with a firearm or three added along the way. I still cast and enjoy the making and shooting of my own ammunition today at the age of 69.

[John Guedry]

1994 at age 51. Had just started reloading and dicovered them jword things were just too darn expensive.

[fecmech]

I started about 1969 with 2 4 cavity moulds, the Lyman 358429 and 358495 and things went downhill from there! Still have 358429 though!

[kbstenberg]

4 months ago at 58

[oksmle]

I started in 1948, at the age of eight. My grandad did blacksmith work & always had a pot of lead on the forge. He finally got tired of casting toy soldiers for me so one day stood me on two wooden beer cases so I could reach the pot, put a pair of welder's goggles on me, said, "if I burned myself Grams would be mad, so don't be stupid." Been casting every since & the novelity of casting boolits has long ago worn thin. And yes, I burned myself. But as far as I know neither he or Grams ever knew it.....

[HollandNut]

1971 at 15 or so ..

[runfiveswife]

when i met the husband 23 almost 24 years ago.

[Three44s]

I began casting in the mid 70s but it was not a boolit ......

The real deal began in the early mid 90's .......

Been picking up steam ever since!!!!

(Started handloading in 75 at age 19!)

Three 44s

[big boar]

I was about 24 and had a great job that allowed me to go shooting (rifle) 2-3 times a week. Even though I reloaded it was very expensive buying jacketed bullets all the time so I started casting and haven't saved a cent from it. Molds, pots, ladles, sizers....where does it end. Still it's one of the most enjoyable things to do and wouldn't give it up. I'm going to start paper patching to save even more money so I'll be broke soon.

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

summer of 1964

Rich

[Dframe]

I was about 19. A friend had bought an italian replica of a colt percussion revolver. He got a two cavity brass mould with it that cast a round ball and a conical. Didn't take but a few casts before those tiny handles were blazing hot. Thats when I bougt my first Lyman.

[Kskybroom]

1971 Started casting fishing jigs,

[aaalaska]

Started in 73 after getting out of the army at it till 78 when kids happened ,didn't get back to it till 87 ,but got a lot more serious about 5 years ago.Guess all the kids were gone an I have trouble tying flies, fingers just don't work like they used to.
Alex

[Lumpie]

I first had experienced casting in 1948. I was not allowed to cast the bullets, but my job was to inspect, and reject. I then was allowed to size them in an old mepose sizer lubricator at about age 10. I started casting when I was in the 6th grade, that was in 1955. My Grandfather was at that time about 63 years old. He had started my Father casting in about 1925. They had a marid of H&G,Ideal, and Cramer molds. Of which I still have many of them. He was strict on how you handled the equipment. I was not allowed to flux, or to formulate the metal. I did not discover this until I was in about 8th grade. I still remember that he would say that most folks will shoot anything that will melt. He would say that if this is not done correctly, it will be a disaster when you try to shoot it. He only used 1 formula for casting rifle bullets 9 parts pure lead, and 1 part highspeed babbit. The pistol formula was 12 parts pure lead, 1 part highspeed babbit. I never remember him or my Father ever useing wheelweights. I still do not use them for myself. I will melt and cast them for others. My experence has always been that what ever mold that you use, regardless of manufacter, If bullets drop from the mold less than .002-.003 Larger than bore size, they are not functional. I cast and shoot 22-50cal both hand gun, and rifles. I have found that if the metal you use,will not allow for velocitys over 2200fps, They should not used for MY applications. I never use any powder on cast bullets, that I would not use on The Jword bullets. Thing to remember is that cast bullets create less pressure than Jacket bullets. So a powder reduction is required. This is like show and tell. You just need to prove them out for yourself. I don't know if this was what I was suspposed to respond to, but just look at it as a leisurely excursion for my pleasure. Lumpie

[C1PNR]

In the late 60's I got started shooting the Holy Black in Civil War type arms and couldn't afford to buy round balls or Minié balls, so I had to start making my own. BTW, casting my own "egg" sinkers started just shortly after.

Got started in Center Fire reloading in the early 70's, maybe '72. It wasn't long before making my own pistol boolits started to make sense.

It's been expensive ever since!:groner:

[Rugg_Ed]

Some time back in the 70s for BP, Then got serious in the 80s / 90s when the need for large quantity of practice ammo for pistols was needed and then it has got worse but more interesting. Doing rifle and pistol boolits now.

[Adam10mm]

OK, I had to post and edit. I started March of 2007, when I joined this forum.:)

[The10mmKid]

My casting started accidentally. I helped clean out the indoor range backstop at our gun club last year. It's hard expensive work to farm this out, so we get to keep the lead. It was all lined up for a smelter to take possession of it when the bottom fell out last Fall/this Spring.

Four of us are sitting on +2000lbs, waiting for the market to improve. They were only going to give us 5-cents/pound (because of all their work involved cleaning the smelt)

Been almost a year now, soooooo, I thought I'd read up on what to do with my #500 share until things improve.

I learned I had the smelting equipment, so I labored and smelted it and figured "that was WAY too much work to send to the smelter guy for 25-cents/pound"

Now I'm here, soaking as much into my old brain(sponge) as I can, trying to figure out what to do with my indoor range ingots.

I'll probably go the LEE route as a start.

I pretty much only punch paper.

I really, really, REALLY need to own a .45 firearm. Seems that slow dude is the most forgiving. I also looked at what it takes to make shot. That's a steep learning/$$$ curve. Maybe someday.

Oh, and since the lead scrape market is still depressed, we'll be sitting on another ton here in a couple weeks.

Range cleaning is hard work, but it helps the club and looks like (from what I'm reading), I may be benefiting too.

Thanks for sharing, helping and promoting casting,
Mr. Bill

AKA
'da Kid

[wallenba]

I started last year at age 57. What prompted me to start was the shortage problem of reloading components in my area (S.E. Michigan). Except for the primers I have no problems now, and I have been finding enough primers to stay active. It now seems such a logical thing to do, that I'm surprised at myself for not doing so 30 years ago!

[bob208]

in 72 when i got my 4 5/8 ruger blackhawk. i used a 358429 single cavity mold. hand dipped the lead out of a pot i made for a old coal stove that was in my workshop. loaded them in .38 cases to .38-44 specs. because i could not aford .357 cases.

[Bucks Owin]

Started casting seriously about 10 yrs ago when I started doing a lot of handgun shooting. Used to cast round balls for my TC Hawken .50, and minies for a .58 cal muzzleloader 30 years ago but that was my only previous experience.....Dennis

[hicard]

I started casting when I was 15 years old, 47 years ago. Where does the time go?

[Digger]

YOU PEOPLE MADE ME DO IT !!!! .... started this middle of this summer because I happened across this forum one evening , and that did it... went off the deep end with people giving me strange looks and all when I am scrounging for lead .
But has it made reloading so much more enjoyable ! ( especially now at the moment I am trying out two new molds from Mihec ! ) ..:smile:
oh yeah...saving money ? ... a yea , sure I am ![smilie=1:

[HandLoad]

I first saw it done in about 1959 or so...I first did it in about 1972, age 20, while Home from U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. Have been doing it since. "Saved" myself a buncha money, but can't put my finger on where that money went?

[jrayborn]

I started about 4 months ago, and have saved so much money I will soon be bankrupt...

Well not really, but it will take a bunch of shooting to break even on the investments...Damn it Mihec stop making molds!

The honest truth is that I first got into reloading to save money on guns I shoot a lot (.45ACP) and guns that are too expensive to buy factory loads for (7.5 Swiss). That was about 8-10 years ago and now all guns are too expensive to shoot without reloading, and using the same logic I needed to start casting. I will have to shoot a lot more to find the break-even point but I'm not worried about it because the best part of it all is the time I get to spend doing it all with my 8 and 10 year old boys. They both shoot too but are still a little small but I think I have them hooked!

Many thanks to this site, it is one-of-a-kind in how helpful it is. There is so much information here.

[testhop]

i started the hard over a camp fire (true)it was while i was in the air force. down in Texas
i was at the sac base in el paso . a old hand at casting and i went out on the masa bult a fire and casted up 400 or 500 lyman 358466s he had the sizer i got the mauld we split the bollits . all were good as we checked them while casting returning bad ones to the pot. never want to do that again . it is the hardest way to cast except using no handles.

we loaded them in 38 specals to hunt jackrabbits on the masa loads of fun.

[higgins]

It was 1968, I was 18 and in college at the time, living in the dorm. I wanted to cast bullets for .38 spl. midrange loads. An older student who lived in married student housing had the Lyman furnace and molds, and he told me if I would cast and size for him some number of .44 SWCs, I could use his 358477 single cavity mold (which he ended up giving me and I still have) and other equipment to cast and size as many .38 bullets as I wanted. I made the rounds of the small town tire shops which at that time were glad to give away wheel weights. I got my roomate, who was interested in shooting anyway but not a handloader, involved and we cast and sized a few thousand bullets with a single cavity mold. We were putting the wheelweights directly into the pot, so we could only cast when the wind was from a certain direction so the smoke would blow out the window and not smoke up the dorm. We were on the back side of the top floor of a four or five story dorm on the edge of campus, so the smoke didn't arouse any suspicions. When I was in grad school I didn't have access to the equipment so I got a small cheap cast iron skillet (which I also still have and use for smelting weights) and cast under an exhaust hood in the biology building using a Bunsen burner. This was at a small college in a small town at a time when many students kept hunting guns in their car trunks because if you were discreet, no one cared if we had guns we just weren't 't allowed to have them in the dorm. We shot high power rifles and handguns at a rock quarry behind the county garage which at the time was outside town; it's now between the Super Walmart and a mall. After casting and shooting untold thousands of pistol bullets since then, I got around to casting my first rifle bullets about four months ago.

[stephen perry]

Getting so old 59 don't remember if I Posted this already. I started Casting in 1962 when my dad started. He took me to the desert near every weekend back then and told me I had earn my 22's or cast the 22, 38, 30 carbine, and 30 cal we shot. Started out with a Lyman drop pot burned it up in a couple years. My dad took my mom's chicken cooker and I dipped out of it for years until I burnt it up.

When I started buying my own stuff I went with a LEE 4# still have it. I bought a LEE 10 still use it and bought a SAECO you guys call it 24. The SAECO I use only for pouring ingots.

I try and have a mold for each caliber I shoot. Some like 38 and 30 cal I have 10 of each. Ideal, Lyman, LEE, and RCBS molds. I have lots of WW and Lino still getting more. I use a Ideal 45 and Lyman 450 lube/sizer. I cast from .22 to .338 and everything in between. If there is such a mold my favorites are 225 415, 311 291, and 358 87.

Stephen Perry
Angeles BR :brokenima

[saidnuff]

I can remember starting making my own round balls when the little woman got me my first blackpowder rifle on our 1st Christmas. I decided I wanted to do my own to get in the spirit of the season ( read old time). I just got a 44 keith mold so now I want to see if I can make them as well. So far so good and this site has really helped a lot

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
Was reloading, & melting Pb for sure, by 1971.

[harrya]

Started reloading about 1975 or so, Lee-wam-o-matic on the kitchen floor of AF Base houseing. Couldn't afford to buy bullets, the neighbor gave me a lee pot, bought a mold and it all started there and then. Both for .38 and ML ball and minis. Been casting ever since, lots in base housing (what they didn't know, didn't hurt me). Kids helped reloading just to stay up later, daughter was de-priming at age 8. Now cast in the shop in its own area, smelt with a fishcooker and dutch oven pot. Have learned a BUNCH in the past couple months on this site with all the knowledge. Also enjoy the back & forth kibitzing that goes on. Nice family!!
harrya

[KCSO]

In 1965 the Centennial of the War of Northern Agression was being celebrated and I wanted a musket in the worst way but there was no way an 18 year old high school kid working for .50 an hour was going to come up with the $90 they wanted for a Zouve so I setteled for a Numerich kit gun. I boought a round ball mould and cast bullets under my grandfather's direction on his wood stove with an old Ideal pot and dipper that he had bought in 1910. After that it was just natural to make my own loads when i finally graduated to a Smith wheel gun. I started making cast loads for my 270 for cheap practice in 1972 and it kind of expanded from there.

[MtGun44]

IN 1976, when I was 25 after getting out of college. I was so broke in college that I couldn't
afford anything but .22LR ammo, owned no centerfires except my 12 ga. Got a Browning
HiPower and a Lee 105 SWC and started turning out ammo, then bought an Automag and
a Lee .44 SWC 215 and loaded for it, too.

Bill

[shooter75126]

I'm 27 now. My uncle got me into casting, and reloading, and big bore sixguns and rifles. I didn't always cast on a regular basis, but I always cast some. Now that I have my own house, I have a permanent set up and cast, reload, and shoot quite often. It's a whole lot more satisfying, and less expensive than playing golf.

[btroj]

Starter back in 1984. Was tough to cast roundball for muzzleloaders by the future father in law.
Have been casting ever since- and rarely shoot anything but my own cast. Last 5 deer have been with my cast too.
Have a hard time understanding how some of the guys i see at the range can afford the factory ammo they go thru.

[excavman]

I was in the service in 1966, bought a 30-30 Win. at the PX $72, started loading my own and casting boolits so I could afford to shoot.

Larry

[.357]

I was 26 so last year. I grew up with a father who was apathetic towards guns my mom was super anti so i had to recover a little....

[flint45]

hello everyone I started when I was 13 years old in 1970 at nite on my moms elec. stove top. Didnt get caught untel the first time I fluxed house full of smoke and very mad parents.Would of made it if I woujd of turned on the exhust fan first but I panicked.

[nes4ever69]

i have been at it for a couple years now. had a boss years ago show me the equipment needed but rcbs was way to expensive back then. if only he showed me lee i would have done it. and a book i read covered every detailed aspect for competition reloading and i didnt think i could all that. turns out, its easier then i thought and fun to do.

[don45]

I began casting in 1961 when I was just 16. Years earlier my uncle almost blew off his thumb while reloading .45-70 so I had to keep all this low-key because my dad never approved. We had an unused bunk house with a gas burner hot plate. That's where it all started. I had just bought a Winchester model 71 (.348) and I bought a Lyman ammo bullet casting set together with a 310 tool. It all came in one very neat box (wish I still had that!), including the little melting pot, a cake-cutter, a 310 bullet sizer die, and even a stick of the black bullet lube. The mold was a 350447 as I recall. Over the years my casting has mostly been for 357, 44 Mag and 45 Auto, and also a lot for 30 cal rifles.

[EMC45]

I started melting lead on my Mom's stove top at around 11 or 12. It was the Dungeons and Dragons figurines. A friend had given me a bunch of them. Didn't cast them into anything, but I liked to melt them down in a table spoon. Also used to dig bullets out of the bank at a shooting range at a campground in the Poconos. I would melt them down too......It started early I guess....I first pulled the handle on a Lee bottom Pour in Puerto Rico in 1999 when I was deployed down there. My buddy Robert stashed it in his seabag and a couple SWC Lee molds. One for a .357 and the other for a .429. Cast a good bit out under the pavillion in front of Charlie Co. Barracks. He got the WWs from Alpha Co. Maint. shop. I started scrounging WWs for him when we got back to homeport and he would trade off ammo for my efforts. He was given a bunch of sizing and casting equipment soon after and he got busy. I started scrounging WWs for me in about 2004......Bought my equipment in 2006 and it has been maddening ever since!!! I still scrounge and still buy molds. Will it ever stop?...........:shock:

[NVWalt]

Started in 2006 and made my first NCBS in 2007. I am pretty much a newbie at it but so far have found it to be not only challenging but more fun than I ever thought it would be. Also, and it is a big also, the folks I have met after I got into this aspect of reloading to be about the best group of shooters I have found...Walt

[bearcove]

I guess it was 1977 to feed my ruger blackhawk .357. 13 years old and shot alot. With little money.

[stephen perry]

My family moved to our then new house in 63, I was 13. My dad bought reloading equipment mainly CH and Lyman. Our family was then desert dwellers in So Cal on the weekends. We had a desert cabin and I got my first 22 in 1963. My dad, a Vet, bought a GI .30 carbine and a GI .45 along with a Smith Model 36, a Rem 722 in .222 and a Rem 742 in 30-06.

My dad was the reloader I was the bullet caster. He bought me molds for the .222 225415 and 225462, for the carbine 311359, for the 30-06 311466, 311467, and 311291 and for the 38spl 358495and 358156. I didn't Cast for the .45 back then as we had a near unlimited supply of military ball. I have since acquired numerous molds for all my centerfire rifle and pistol reloading including .45.

We started out with a Lyman pot it was fine but several years of heavy Casting burnt the element up. We replaced the pot with my mom's stainless deep fryer. I Cast with the deep fryer for 25 years. When I moved to my present house I felt the amperage was less then where I Cast before. My pot would heat the metal but not to a melting stage. I recycled the pot and now I have a SAECO for melting and making bars, A LEE 20 for dipping , a Lee 10 for pouring molds and a LEE 4 for dipping.

I use a Lyman 45 and 450 lube/sizer and have a good source of WW and space metal. I also make jacketed 22 and 6mm benchrest bullets so at times I am busy making bullets,wouldn't have it any other way.

Stephen Perry
Angeles BR

[101VooDoo]

Apparently 50 is the magic age for casting.

Jim

[Mal Paso]

Seems a lot longer but it's only been 8 months. I figure in that time I cast about 12,000 Boolits. I have factory ammo sitting on the shelf, I just don't shoot it any more. Last weekend I shot WW alloy 240g 429421s at close to 1400fps into a solid Cedar round and after penetrating 11 inches of wood only lost 9g of metal.
I got started when I was having problems with the bullet I was using and BLT Sandwedge put me on the right track. I had found this forum before then but once I started casting I was here every day. I like the part where you're open 24 hours a day. Pebble Beach Casters are nice enough during the day but get really grumpy when you wake them up with boolit questions.

[PAI-Scott]

Never owned a gun until I was 40, in the 7 years since I've been making up for lost time. I started with shot guns and haven't missed a bird season since. I played around with droping my own shot about 3 years ago, about the same time I discovered wheel guns, a year later into reloading, now casting. Its a great hobby glad I found it, and glad I found this board.

[Beekeeper]

I just revisited this post and am amazed at some of the answers.
I started almost 50 years ago now.
I was stationed with a guy who made 45ACP boolits for the local police range (target shooting only) and spent an afternoon in his garage watching him.
The entire garage was a boolit factory and reloading room.
My first boolits were 45 ACP for the pistol matches I shot.
The Navy would have provided bullets but I wanted something different.
I still have about 1000 of the 45ACP brass I got from the Navy range.
Family responsibilities got in the way for a lot of years but I always kept the gear and cast when I couldI guess that qualifies me as having been casting for 50 years.
I looked in a box of old books recently and found a 1962 NRA reloading manual. God what a walk down memory lane.

Strange how many memories some of the posts here can bring back (both good and bad)


Jim

[Reload3006]

I believe I was about 19 a first class petty officer in the Navy got me into casting.

[Uncle Jimbo]

My son and I started casting in July of last year. After we got started, I really wonder why we waited all these years to start doing it. We both enjoy it.

[pipehand]

Probably around 1979 or so. Initially for a muzzle-loader in .50 cal that I built at the age of 15. Round balls and Maxis. Started shotgun shell reloading around 1982 and metallic cartridge reloading and casting in 1987.

[sljacob]

I started casting round balls in the 70s for my muzzle loaders at about 15 or 16 years old... I (regretably) never got into casting for pistol and rifle until just the last few years.
Without the fine people here I may have never gotten as far as I have now. Thanks to all the folks that have lead me and many others into this satisfying hobby.

[Valley Forge]

I changed over to casting my own in 1981 at the age of 27, my first two moulds were from a local outfit, Santa Anita Engineering Co. (SAECO).

[Wilsknife]

I casted musket balls for about two hours when I was a senior in HS(1973), then had my BF talk me into reloading/casting, and then scored 500# of Linotype for $100 and a trip to Southern California. I'm currently casting and loading for .380 acp, 9mm, 38 Sp/357 mag, 44 mag, and 45 acp. I am so into it I have an average of 3.5 molds per caliber.

[Johnk454]

Born in '62. My first experience was RBs for a C&B Navy, around 1977. Then a friendly gunshop owner loaned me a four cavity Lyman (452374?, can't remember for sure) and a Star sizer perhaps a year later, so I would quit complaining about ammo shortages for my 1911. Gung ho caster ever since.

[mktacop]

I started reloading last July, and started casting last month. I was always a little intimidated by the process until I actually started doing it. Now I know that it is a lot of fun and is a good way to relax. When I'm focused on the tasks of reloading/casting, I don't have time to think or worry about anything else! :)

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I started about a year ago and still wonder why I waited so long.
Adam

exactly what i was thinking

[coloraydo]

Started casting three years ago. Had reloaded since mid ‘80’s, shooting IHMSA, but got out of it for a while. Got the interest to get back into silhouettes, but one trip to the reloading stores and went WHAT????:veryconfu

An older gentleman at work had cast and reloaded previously, and we got to talkin’. Next thing I know, searching the web, and run across this site. Ordered a pot, dies, and a few molds from Lee to get started. Stuff arrived, and I told my friend at work what I got. Next thing I know, he gives me his used pot, 8 or 9 molds, a BUNCH of primers, some other casting goodies, and probably 500 lbs. of lead in ingots. :drinks:[smilie=w:

The rest is history, some of it unwritten as of today.

[Don Purcell]

I was around 9 years old casting round ball and 250 grain Keith .44

[Gliden07]

I actually did this a few times when I was 12!! I had a friend whos Dad would sell the bullets at local gun shows. He would pay us a penny a bullet, we would cast, size and lube 2K get our 10 bucks a piece and go to the movies or store etc... After that I did'nt do it again until I was 48!

[Alan in Vermont]

I was 23 when I cast my first 429244 to feed my SRH. A little later if got a 4 hole 429421 and moved right into the production world.

[ErikO]

Got my first mold a little over a week ago, should be dropping pills out of it before 2013. :)

[AaronJ]

I started when I was 16 casting REAL boolits for my 45 cal John Browning mountain rifle. Unfortunately the 1 in 66 twist hated the REAL boolits and it discouraged me from delving deeper into casting. When I really got interested in casting was when the cast boolits I was buying for my 45 auto jumped up in price by 250%. At that price I could easily justify a new pot molds and sizer.


Sent via mental telepathy

[27judge]

1960, i was 22, 52 long years ago and just out of the service. still have the 311291 lyman 4 cav mold and still using it in serveral rifles tks ken

[carbine]

Started casting 30 years ago, when I started skirmishing and Boolits were not available

[chsparkman]

I started casting at the same time I started reloading, 20 years ago in So. Cal. I was 32 at the time. That was when I started shooting more and buying more guns. I had just started my career and could finally afford all the accouterments.

[badboyparamedic]

About 3 months ago. Think I am hooked. Spend all my spare time hunting wheel weights.

[mold maker]

I had forgotten that I helped Dad cast sinkers at about 8. We made the mold out of a book sewing jig by drilling holes in it.
We melted lead in the wood furnace and poured up to 20 at a time.
Just one of the many things Dad found for us to do together.
That was 62 years ago, and a memory almost lost.

[P.K.]

Hmmm, Started? With my Da when I was 8-10 y/o. Mostly watching him cast for the Blackhawk. As for myself about 4 years now, started with REALs for my front stuffer and natural progression took over from there. ;-)

[GaryN]

I started in about 1974 casting on the gas stove with a Lee mold for my newly acquired Thompson .50 cal. Hawken. I guess I am cheap. I didn't want to pay for factory round balls. I have always liked to shoot .44 mag. and .357 mag. And I can't remember ever not shooting cast.

[bucklind2]

I actually started this year at age 49 with a lot of help and encouragement from my 25 year old son.

[rhadamanthos12]

I started when I was 27, after buying a 45-70 I realized that I wouldn't be able to shoot it as often as I liked unless I casted. Now im almost to the point where I can cast for everything I own, on top of that it is also a fun hobby.

[dagger dog]

I didn't read through the long list, I was in the 31-40 range.

I would imagine that a lot of casters started with muzzle loaders as I did.

Round balls in .440", for a CVA "Kentucky" longrifle kit @ 1977-78

Then the reloading bug bit about a year later, pounding on a Lee Loader for 357 Magnum, thats when I found out about cast boolits, not casting them myself but buying them, was way cheaper and shot well too.

I hung it up for a while ,work got in the way until about 1989-90 then the monster rose again with a vengance, and this time the lead bug with it. I was on my own reading what I could afford to buy, then the digital revolution made it to my house and opened the rabbit hole.

The years hard work paid off and was able to persue the shooting sports and hunting hobbies which lead to ( pun intended ) casting and this sight.

[Friends call me Pac]

I've been reloading since 1985. I have cast round ball and minnie ball for my muzzle loader but never cast any modern cartride bullets. I have done some lurking, research and picking the brains of folks that i know that do their own casting. Two days ago I made my first .45 lrn for my 45 acp. I got to shoot them today. Sure was sweet. everything went without a hitch. Guess i'm in neck deep now.

[tinsnips]

I started in 1972 when Lyman molds were great and ww were everywhere for free.

[jp99]

Hopefully start casting this spring, I'm 24 and have been intrigued for a couple years just haven't taken the plunge quite yet.

Regards,

JP99

[eck0313]

My first attempt was when I was 19 or so, failed miserably and hung it up for awhile. After asking a lot of questions of a dear, departed friend (RIP Bal) I was casting good bullets about 10 years later.

[Ilwil]

My college job was running the lead pot in the composing room of the Seattle Times. I casted about 200 20lb pigs a day. My Dad was a linotype machinist there, so we used linotype to make lead soldiers at home too. I never forgot the hypnotic effect of the silver stream, so when I learned of bullet casting in the late 80's, it became my favorite hobby, next to shooting.

[saintdel]

I started casting in 1972 at age 23. Started with handgun calibers then soon moved into 30 cal rifle which I enjoy the most to this day.

[Errokk]

Assuming all my gear arrives by this weekend, I'll start then! :D

[Ozarki]

I started about 1994. Had a friend who cast and he got me started. Learned by reading everything I could find. Didn't hav a computer until 2005 so didn't know what was available in the way of information on it. Blundered into this site and have made all my sticky Lees smooth as glass. Also turned new handles for Lees dripper pots (twice as heavy as originals) and drips all gone. All because of the sharing, and caring of this forum..Thanks to all Wes

[K7addict]

Today! Well, half way there.. Still looking for a mold but I melted down WW & Range Scrap into muffins & mini muffins. No mixing metals just yet, just melted it & scratched an appropriate mark into each ingot. It was fun and I was able to play with the temps a bit to start learning how the flow changed.


http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/02/08/yhugezy5.jpg

[xrae21]

Started casting when my wife started shooting. I can shoot 50-200 rds and call it a day. My wife goes through 500-700 rds everytime we go out. I've always reloaded since I was a kid but casting started a few years ago. On the plus side my wife likes casting/reloading so it all works out. Also she's hot and shoots a 1911.
60729

[Reverend Al]

Bought an old muzzle-loader as a kid and got hooked up with a bunch of local "black powder" crazies that started me casting my own round balls at 18 years old! Now I'm turning 60 this month, recently retired, and will get back to casting and lots of reloading so that the wife (also just retired) and I can get out and shoot LOTS more than we have over the past 14 years that we've been together. I'm going to convert our old single car garage into a reloading and casting workshop, with the casting bench located right up front at the roll up door so there will be lots of fresh air and ventilation. Most of my equipment has been in "hibernation" for years, so it'll be nice to get it set up again and get back to it!

[nouseforaname1246]

I started casting back in 2009, right after I got out of the military. I started because it was a cheaper (Hahaha) way to feed my pistol. Its amazing how much money I've saved! Now I've got half a 3 car garage full of casting/reloading stuff.

[Wal']

Waaaaaay to late.................but catching up fast.

61913

The ingot's sure are pretty though. :-D

[427smith]

started casting 1975. the most I have ever cast and fired in 12 months is 11000, my yearly average is only bout 3 to 4 thousand. mostly 44 and 45 revolvers.

[Larry D.]

I'll be 52 in October and just started. In fact, I've only made a bunch of ingots (and 20 pounds of cream of wheat yesterday) because all the molds I ordered are on backorder.

[roberto mervicini]

started late, couple of yrs. a go I am in the 60/70 group. Was motivated by 3 reasons:
1st - I got myself a 45/70 rifle. and found a nice NOE 458350GC mold
2nd- a friendly garage offer me plenty of WW lead
3rd- I like the hobby so I got myself more mold for some of my other rifle and one for WC 38 caliber
So far only use boolits for target, but I plan to hunt with it this fall.

[Garyshome]

About a month ago started with #00 Buck then some slugs [easy as it gets]. Went to 356 for a 380 and 356 for a 9mm last week. Results were very good for someone who doesn't know a damn thing about what he is doing! I'm 57 yrs old.

[waynem34]

Been shooting cast. Later I was born. Been shooting ever since. Still new to casting but Dad had a bunch 250gn lc 45 I like the 45 but would like to have more .357. Been gathering lead. I've learned how to smelt thanks to yall. I have lots of lead and no mold lol. Smelting is the drama. Haha. BEES WAX. lol. "None of your bees wax " was what I heard.

[bikerbeans]

Started 6 months ago, better late than never.

BB

[2thepoint]

Started around 1995 casting jumbo conicals for my muzzleloaders....now I'm casting pistol & rifle for most everything I own.
Never enough molds!

[Ohio Rusty]

I bought a T/C hawken in 1971. I was gonna be one of them thar Mountain Men !! I knew I could make round ball cheaper than I could buy them for. I bought a .490 mould that year and that is what started it all ..... then I started buying revolvers and needed boolits .........
Ohio Rusty ><>

[Uncle Jim]

I started Feb. 2013 at 55 years. Wondering why I did not start sooner. Loads of fun!

[snuffy]

As near as I can remember, it was 1974, give or take a year. The first boolits were 240 44's for my SBH, practice rounds for my new passion, silly wet.(Handgun metallic silhouette) The J-words were simply too expensive to shoot all the time, so I started casting. Price per round came way down, so I practiced much more, scores went up. I even shot a few matches with the cast, the steel targets fell over right nicely!

Since then, I'v spread out into other pistols/revolvers and rifle. Even making slugs for the slug gun, and the new lee buckshot molds for buck.

[gwpercle]

1967 I was a senior in high school and had gotten my first real handgun, Ruger Blackhawk 357 mag. ( old model ), a 1-cavity Lyman mould and my best friend's father owned several tire shops...We bought all our tires from them and I was given all the wheel weights I could carry off whenever I wanted them... Back then if you wanted a cast SWC , like Elmer Keith said was best, you had to pour them yourself, nobody sold them like now.
Life was truely good then.
Gary

[enfieldphile]

1983, I was 27 years old.

It cost me $17.00 for a box of 50 Remington .357's, I was ready to call the Rape Crisis Center!

I took up reloading and casting that year. A # of powder was only $8.00 then. I could get a number 10 full of WW for $1.00

Back then, every single piece of brass was like a family Heirloom. ;)

[Pb2au]

Started at the age of 15 casting round ball for muzzleloaders and cap and ball revolvers. Downhill ever since!

[220]

I didn't start casting until I was nearly 40, had been reloading for 25 years by that stage. Started shooting pistols in my mid 20's but reloaded commercial cast for about 15 years before I decided to give it a go myself.

[Smoke4320]

casting muzzleloader at 19 just started alloy bullets at 55

[BoolitBullet]

Hopefully before Thanksgiving. I am still gearing up. So far, I have a mold.

[CastingFool]

I learned how to melt lead when I was about 9. A friend of my dad's took me fishing on the ocean. He cast his own sinkers, and I wanted to do the same. My dad made a ladle and that is what we used to melt the lead on top of the kitchen stove. Got bit by the lead collecting bug, although never did much casting, just melt the lead, pour it into something, and let it get hard. Some time later, do it again. I finally started casting my own pistol and ML bullets about a year and half ago. Oh, I did cast about 400 shotgun slugs about 30 yrs ago, but could never get any accuracy out of them. Incidentally, that's what got me started reloading.

[propwashp47]

I cast for the first time in September this year at age 59.first mold lee 6 banger 255 lc tl .I cast 200 for break in of mold and remolded them for the fun .i wound up with 200 good ones , but I was dripping wet from leftover heat from summer . I my have got spoiled with the 65lbs of hardball alloy I bought on ebay for 2.00 a lbs shipped .and traded 223 ammo for 190 lbs 60/40 solder. come on cold front

[Buzz64]

1969
.38 (.357) / .44 (spc & mag) .45ACP
Since then added .380 / 9mm / .40 / .45LC and even .38-55

Lee, NOE, Accurate, MiHec, Lyman and RCBS molds - 21 and counting

[Hickok]

1973. My first casting was lead round balls for a percussion .44 revolver. Soon obtained my first cartridge revolver , a Ruger BH .357 magnum, bought a Lee 150 gr. swc mold, (which I still have and it makes great boolits after 40 years), some 2400 powder, and a bucket full of COWW, melted in a pot over a Coleman stove.

[Certaindeaf]

Around sixteen.. well over thirty years ago. Odd bird that I was, started loading (casting my own) heavy and medium weight SWC's for my beautiful target sighted Hi-Power (9mm Luger) with a Lee Loader.. moved on to a Rockchucker within months or so though.

[gbrown]

I started casting when I was 18-19 years old and cast for about 4 years. Went into the military and when I came back, got a job with the local SO. Didn't need to reload or cast, as we were given all we needed/wanted. Left there, around 40 yoa and wanted to get back in reloading--2 buddies cast, so I didn't really need to, but did sit in and help on casting sessions with them. Got back in it about age 60--still had some old molds and then stumbled on a trove of them. Kept some, sold the others off.

[Swede 45]

Gave castin a first try in my late 20`s.. borrowed a pot, a rcbs sizer and a mold from my brother. Casted up about 20 lbs of lead WW I got from the nearby tireshop.. It was a pain to do all the processing in a small 1 room apartment, so I returned the gear and shot the boolits.. Stuck to commercial thereafter. During 2014 I picked up casting again, and now cast all my boolits for my 38spl/357 mag and 45acp and some for my 9mm.. plan to also do .40S&W and an odd bird I got, the 401WSL.

[trapper9260]

I first started to cast fishing sinkers with my dad and brother when I was about 8 or 9 years old, but to cast boolits is about 23 years old.now I am 54.

[BrassMagnet]

Kindergarten!

Daddy, Daddy, can I make bullets?
My Dad would fire up a Coleman white gas stove and I would dipper cast 148 grain wadcutters with a single cavity mould. I made so many of them I was still shooting them in my early twenties.

[robg]

my wife bought me an rcbs 158lswcgc mold for my birthday in98 .shes a keeper,thats when i started.

[Gelandangan]

In October 2003 on a whim I purchased a secondhand bottom pour Lee 10 lbs pot, a secondhand .358 BNWC steel mold and a pair of mold handle.
When I gone home, I melt all my fishing sinkers and attempted my first casting.
Failed miserably, wrinkled every boolits due to (I think) the zinc contents on the sinkers.

Learned a lot since and the majority is from this forum.. You guys rocks!!

[leebuilder]

I started casting tin solders when i was 8, still have the moulds. Cast babbit bearings and such in my twentys when i worked as a machinist. Started casting boolits in 09. Hooked now, always liked to pour molten metal. Learned so much here, thanks to all!!!

[country gent]

Started casting round balls, Maxi balls and a minnie for a 50cal TC Renegade. Started out casting enough for deer season and sighting in plus a little plinking once or twice a year. Dang has that changed A session now is 400-600 bullets for the BPCRS more in 1 session than the first 5-6 years when I started. I was 18 and bought the rifle round ball mould and accesories in one purchase.

[TXGunNut]

Only been casting a few years, wasted quite a few (OK 30 or so) loading J-words. But they were really GOOD J-words. Guess that's why it took me so long.

[35 shooter]

Started in the 70's casting for a 44 mag. hand gun and a 54 and 50 cal. muzzleloader.
Only been casting for modern rifles for about 2 years now after a 30 odd year lay-off from the others. Don't know why i wasted all that time on those old j-thingy's....oh well...having fun now!:smile:

[tygar]

I did a little with my uncle in the 50s & early 60s until graduated from HS & went in Marines. After 1st hitch ended in 69, stayed in reserves & went to college & was in Lacey PD in Washington & they had free reloading components for pistols, so I would load tons of stuff. The chief would use another guy as an example since he had spider webs in his holster as not shooting enough & me who would shoot at least 100 rds a day as the other end of the spectrum.

Using their equipment got me to get my own pot & molds for my guns 38, 41, 44, 45 & start making my own. So been making a lot since 70 but "helped" in late 50s.

So I guess it's been a dam long time. But on rifle I'm a relative nebie! When I popped my cherry I guess I was about 10 or 12.

[Silfield]

I shamefully didnt start casting until I was in my 40's but now cast for .577, .451, .44, 2 different 8mm's and .308.
Recently got my son to start helping me (he was 8 at the time) so hopefully he will be showing me what to do in a few years time.

[rking22]

Started casting in my mid teens to shoot a friends 38 and my cap locks. Still have those molds and lots more. Never really took a break but slowed down for quite a while, just casting for my rifles. Got serious again about 10 years ago. I spent something like 10 years as a controls engineer in an automotive foundry. Love the hot/molten metal, forging too! If you count pouring plastic worms I was probably about 10 years old :)