Help a brother out

[Mausermeister]

I'm boolit virgin.

I had not even shot any until a couple weeks ago when I loaded up a few I got from an estate sale with some other reloading stuff. Now I'm looking to make my own.

My current inventory of equipment is:
A friend is giving me a lee bottom pour pot he used to make fishing weights and jigheads with.
I just bought a mold and handles on e-pay.
I've also got a few pounds of wheel weight lead.

What else do I need to roll my own? Just the bare necessities, I'm working on a budget.

How do I attach the gas checks? Must I have a special tool or die or can they be done by hand?

What about applying lube? Pan lubing sounds easy enough, anything I need for that other than to steal some of the wife's bakeware?

[semtav]

go to your second hand store and get a big wooden handled spoon and a big spoon that has lots of holes in it. reg spoon to skim off the top and the spoon with holes to sift out the wheelweight metal. then find a broken shovel handle and get a 10-12" piece to hammer your sprue open. a small pie tin and hotplate to heat up the mold while the lead is melting helps too.
All that can be had at the second hand store for less than $20 bucks.

[Edubya]

You might want to go look for some videos on you-tube to see that there are a lot of things that you need. I'd suggest that you get several manuals and read up on the whole hobby, it does get involved and will cost considerably more if you're just going to shoot once in a while.
Good luck,
EW

[thebigmac]

yea--- those videos on you tube are fantastic, although some are medioker, there are some worth watching. You can tell the "newbies" from the guys that know their stuff.

[1Shirt]

Befor you cast anything, buy the most current Lyman Manual and read the portion on casting. Then read it again, repeat, read it again. Suggest you find an experianced caster and watch him thru one casting session. Good luck
1Shirt!:coffee:

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Hi and welcome to the forum and the sickness. So far you've gotten some good advice. Its ok to work on a budget, but having the right tools to do the job is important. If you can access videos that will help, especially if you're a visual person. I would suggest that you do some reading first, the more the better, before you go much further. And you've got to read on this forum as well...do searches om threads and articles. And most important of all ask a thousand questions...someone here will always answer and help you. No question is ever inappropriate. To answer a couple of your concerns; gas checks are put on by hand and then seated/crimped on when you size the bullet. The most economical method is to first pan lube and then push the bullet thru the Lee sizer die. It comes in a kit at a reasonable price. It includes a small tray for the pan lubing so you don't have to get in trouble with the director of kitchen operations. Cost for the kit is around $15. Is available thru Midsouth or Midway etc. Don't smelt and clean wheelweights in the Lee Bottompour pot; it will crud up the bottom of the pot and in particular jam the valve and you will have a runaway drip scene not to mention dirt in your bullets. Also you will have a nasty job of cleaning out the pot. DO NOT get any water near the pot/melt...EVER. Do not even sneeze in the direction of the pot with melted alloy. It will result in an instant and dangerous explosion of ejected lead. (called by forum members, " a visit from the tinsel fairy") Wear goggles and gloves anyway as lead spatters. Learn how to flux and what to use for it...theres a lot of info for you to read on all this stuff...it'll make things easier for you and save making a lot of mistakes. Good luck. LLS

[semtav]

I bought a cast iron pot from the local army -navy surplus ( you can even find those cheap at the second hand store) and borrowed the neighbors turkey cooker (less pot) to smelt the wheel weights outside. then you can cast some ingots. small muffin pans (also found at the second hand store) work great for this.
once you have reasonably clean ingots, you can move indoors to cast with your lee bottom pour .

[Mausermeister]

Thanks for the replies. I've got a cast iron pot I used to smelt the wheel weights when I made a bunch of decoy weights. I understand completely about getting H2O anywhere near molten Pb. I guess I will have to call Lee Precision and order a lube & sizer kit. No dealers stock a 6.5mm and even Lee says I must custom order it. I posted a wanted ad in the swappin' & sellin' forum, but no response so far.

[HORNET]

If you go to the top of the main forum index page for this site, there is a forum entitled Classics & Stickies. The 11 th thread down should get you to The Goatlips Casting Pages. Good How-To video to help you with the basics. It's not that hard, even I can do it.....on good days....

[Wayne Smith]

If you are shooting a 6.5 do a search for threads on that caliber, if you haven't found them yet. Full of information you will need.

Eventually you will want to get a thermometer simply to know what temps your pot is putting out. Harbor Freight has several with a flexible probe that are very accurate and cheap. Several others here can chime in and tell you exactly what to look for, I'm at work and don't have that information at hand.

Have you slugged your barrel? Don't order a sizer until you have and can fit the slug to your barrel. Until then you are guessing as to size, and that is probably the most important variable among the dozen or so important variables. This means having and knowing how to use a mic - calipers aren't accurate enough for this job.

Molds - you WILL get more - don't be disappointed if this first one is not all you have dreamed. It's not like casting sinkers, as long as they sink they are OK. Fit is all important in this game and one mold may not fit your rifle while another does.

If you follow Goatlips advice you can't go far wrong. You will want to go to the bottom of the page and click on the BullShop logo and order some Sprue Lube. It will save your molds and make a useful lube as well.

Have fun, and welcome to the addiction!