here i is!

[KYODE]

hello i'm KYODE.........a handgun only user. ain't never shot many of them cast thingys, but reckon it won't hurt none to learn more about it. i hang out at specialty pistols site and handguhhunt.com a lot :)

45nut is my friend. am i in a world of hurt now? :-?

[sundog]

Welcome, Kyode, and yea, you're in a world of hurt, gettin' deeper by just comin' by here! But we'll just let you find out on your own.... sundog

[45nut]

Kyode is one of them fellas that thinks casting yer own boolits gets expensive.
No matter my obvious distaste for buying any jacket wearing projectiles that are not on sale there are certainly a few good arguements that you guys can use to persuade him over to the "Bright Side".

I leave it to the forum to reply ..Thanks in advance. :-P

[waksupi]

Welcome aboard, Kyote.

I have no idea where you got the idea that bullet casting is an expensive hobby. I probably don't have much more than three or four dollars wrapped up in the whole proposition. I also have glaciers for sale, delivery available, as long as you live down hill, and it ain't too hot.

And you have some spare time.

[Buckshot]

.........You haven't been totally responsible for your ammunition so long as you're shooting other people's boolits, jacketed or cast. In most any peestol, a cast boolit will go as fast, be as accurate and do most anything any other bullet will. How's shooting 5 times as much, for the same money grab ya?

You wouldn't happen to have a cousin or other relative named Mark would ya? Maybe going by Jumptrap? There's about enough of you guys in that area to have your own get together.

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

[wills]

hello i'm KYODE.........a handgun only user. ain't never shot many of them cast thingys, but reckon it won't hurt none to learn more about it. i hang out at specialty pistols site and handguhhunt.com a lot :)

45nut is my friend. am i in a world of hurt now? :-?


No indeed! You may have BEEN in a world of hurt, but now you are here and salvation is at hand!

[carpetman]

Welcome Kyode-----There is an expense to getting set up to cast bullets--no doubt about that. Whats more,the more cals you shoot,the cost goes up more for each one. But once set up you can have a lifetime supply of virtually free bullets. Reading these boards for several years,many buy alloies. I started casting at the same time I started reloading--back in 1967. I kept hearing add tin to wheelweights to get better fill out on small cal (.22 cal--shoot a lot of them)so I bought some solder for the tin. Thats the only alloy I have ever bought. Couldnt tell any difference,so it was a one time deal. There was recent discussion by some of us old geezers about shooting costs in the past. There was a time when primers ran about 69 cents a hundred and that was the most expensive part of my .357 mag load. Unique powder was about $3.50 and you get 1,000 7.0 grain loads. Minimal cost of bullet lube and gas checks were fairly cheap---don't remember exact cost of them,but probably about the same as powder cost. Prices have risen,but so have the cost of factory loads, if you do much pistol shooting,casting your own is the way to go.

[9.3X62AL]

I got into casting about 1981 to service a caliber that had no components available at the time--32 S&W Long. It was instantly obvious how incredibly cheap this made my pistol shooting, so I expanded to 38/357, 45 ACP, and 30-30 WCF rifle within months. It was all good, and has remained so to this day. I almost never fire a j-word bullet in a handgun anymore, and the rifles don't see many either--mostly the 22 centerfires.

[BLTsandwedge1]

Did someone ask about cast bullets and cost? My forte! I can't shoot worth a damn but I can crank out the Excel spreadsheets.......

........a while back I created a workbook that calculates the exact cost of each round loaded- with the cost of all the equipment included (amortized over 5 years). The savings is surprising- using cast bullets the cost per round runs about 12% to 16% of the cost of a factory round for pistol. A box of .38 special can be reloaded for $1.75 per 50- compared to a factory box @ $12.00. That $1.75 does consider at least $350 in reloading tools- again amortized over 5 years.

Cast bullet rifle reloading is a bit more expensive- gas checks and much more powder. The already inexpensive .30-30 can be reloaded with a 170g flat point for $6.24 per 50 rounds- that compared to $32.50 for the cheapest 50 factory rounds to be found ($13 per box of 20). If anyone shoots more than a handful of rounds per year, this is the way to go.

Having said that, quality is more important to me. Factory ammo for a popular caliber must perform reasonably well in hundreds of different firearms. Cast bullets and reloading allows for tailoring ammo to your specific application.

Regards.............................

[45 2.1]

Cast bullet rifle reloading is a bit more expensive- gas checks and much more powder. The already inexpensive .30-30 can be reloaded with a 170g flat point for $6.24 per 50 rounds


Reloading the 30-30 doesn't have to be expensive. Currently i'm loading a 160 gr. cast freechecked bullet to 1650 fps with Unique for about $1.70 per 50 component cost. The equipment was amortized alot of years ago.

[beagle]

well, welcome to the menagerie. Being as you're from KY, you'll fit right in with this mob.

You got me down here in Lexington and Jumptrap up there in greenup county and there's a few more scattered about and over in west virginny.

Man, casting's cheap. It's that disease that you get after you start casting that gets expensive.

"Got to have that one more mould that will shoot better than any one in the world and it's on E-Bay, or one of the guys has it or Jon Vivas has it for only $$$$$".

That's when it gets expensive./beagle

[BLTsandwedge1]

Hi 45,

Yep, that $6 and change includes a bunch of stuff that I bought over the last year or so- not much pertains to the .30-30 but I like to account for it all. You're absolutely right- components tally just about the same thing as pistol rounds. That's lots of shootin' for not a lot of initial outlay!

Regards.........

[Jumptrap]

Kyode

I was going to keep a low profile but now that the secret is out.....uh, just whar in eastern Kentucky are you? These fellers here are mostly harmless, but keep your boots on.

Beagle is down in Lexington and I think in 5 or 6 years, I've managed to get him to Greenup County maybe twice. Buckshot is our resident prolific writer and muleskinner. Waksupi, he's a hermit up in Montana. Felix is our chemist and mad scientist. The rest is a motley crew of half wits, tinkerers, desperados and good ol' boys in general. For a fact, this is a real fine crew, you won't find no better anywhere on the 'net. I ain't sayin' none of them won't skin you, given half a chance, and if they do, they won't rub it in too deep.

You need to git yourself a riflegun though, them pissolas are just for fun and pimps. HAR!

[KYODE]

:shock: hey! i'm in greenup county [smilie=s:

i'm just out 2 miles out of greenup on rt1 towards greenbo.

youins are tryin to get me in trouble LOL ;-)



You need to git yourself a riflegun though, them pissolas are just for fun and pimps. HAR!

hmmmmmm..........pimpin might not be so bad....LOL

i love them pistols!....TC's especially!

i might have to try casting one of these days. the 44mag, and 30-30AI might be good candidates huh?
don't think most of my others are??

.223, 6tcu(2 of em), 6br, .243, 7-08, and 300 win mag......all in handguns :cool:

[waksupi]

Now, Jumptrap, I wouldn't say I'm a hermit. I just don't care for people who don't burn a lot of powder, so stay away from them as much as possible, and don't come out of the mountains too often. Does that sound like a hermit to you?!! Sheesh!

[Jumptrap]

Now, Jumptrap, I wouldn't say I'm a hermit. I just don't care for people who don't burn a lot of powder, so stay away from them as much as possible, and don't come out of the mountains too often. Does that sound like a hermit to you?!! Sheesh!

Ric,

sounds good enough to me that I'm ready to move in...you got a spare bunk in the cabin?

Kyode,

You're too close for comfort, I live at Oldtown. I shot 2 Contenders years ago, a 35 Herret and a 30-30. Glad they were borrowed and more glad to send them home. When did you graduate from school?

[JohnH]

hello i'm KYODE.........a handgun only user. ain't never shot many of them cast thingys, but reckon it won't hurt none to learn more about it. i hang out at specialty pistols site and handguhhunt.com a lot :)

45nut is my friend. am i in a world of hurt now? :-?

He He He....Sounds to me like another Ryder of the Silver Stream saddlin' up. Don't listen to these guys, watch your wallet. All this 'mortisizing going on.... either some kinda fancy reloaden die or slang to use when we have to justify our busted budget......

I've been casting for the best part of 25 years, don't know that I've saved a dime, though I have lost a lot of hair.....had a 357 octagonal TC barrel once that was awful found of them shiny lead boolits, prolly pushed near 200 pounds of lead down that one before I decided it wouldn't shoot Had a 1911 Springfield once that had a thirst for them uncoated boolits too. And it would shoot.

Save money? What the hell is that????? I didn't git into this to save one red cent, I got into it to shoot, a bunch, a whole bunch. These days it's the cost of powder and primers keeps a handle on my appetite, not the cost of boolits.

[carpetman]

Kyode---I have not shot cast in handguns in some of the cals you dont think would work in rifles. I have shot the .243 in rifle and it does great. I have had no luck with .223 in rifle--but .222 and 22-250 have done well.

[KYODE]

:shock: jumptrap.........we are dang near neighbors! i graduated in 1981 from gchs. i got lots of relation that lives on "northfork" at oldtown. heck.........we may know each other n not even know it yet. [smilie=l:

why don't ya just email or pm me n we can introduce ourselves. reckon thats in my profile :-?

hey 45nut!...........are these fellers tryin to corrupt me? lol

[waksupi]

Kyode - Walk towards the light.......

[45nut]

Kyode - Walk towards the light....... [smilie=l:


Excellent !

Hey Kyode,told ya we have some of the best on the WWW over here didn't I?

And YES,even though you may not "think" you want to cast and shoot your own,once you get the idea planted in your head it's a done deal.

I would appreciate it very much if you could take him for a run around a casting pot and a few molds Jumptrap. :wink:

Hey Kyle,
Jumptrap has been around the boards and dispensing wisdom longer than I have known him and thats about 5 years. I am SURE he has been dropping boolits far longer than I have so you will be in good hands.
I even bought a rifle from him a few years back and have never regretted having met the man from greenup county. There must be something in the water..

PS Kyle: Don't let on about the pics from your last fishing trip :wink:

[KYODE]

:-? hmmmmmmmmm........"jumptrap".........????? who is this masked man????

might even be one o my cousins er sumpin :grin:


:cry: i can't afford to buy casting stuff right now. i ain't even got enuff time to shoot as much as i want! booooo hoooooooo! whats a man to do?

[KYODE]

so, carpetman............yer sayin cast would be good in a .243? :-? or even possibly 6tcu contender chamberings?

ol jumptrap has probably scarfed up all the wheelweights around here! [smilie=l:

[Oldfeller]

Now now, it doesn't cost that much to add on a caliber. Mold, reloading dies, gas checks, gun, modifications to the reloading dies and some primer and powder. You can do a custom strange caliber for not more than a couple of hundred bucks invested .....

I added 30-30 caliber just recently (after I finally ran out of XXmm calibers to do) and it only cost me $70 including the FAT 30 mold to do it. The gun cost an additional hundred and a half ?? (I forget already ...)

It is amazing how much stuff you gather over the years though. Yes, cast shooting costs you money -- but it offers ongoing amusement for years and years and years while you do it.

Kyode -- what you do is declare which new caliber you are going into and see if somebody has gotten out of it completely or has swapped/traded into an extra spare set of what you need.

For example, I need a set of 7.62x51 NATO (aka .308 Winchester) dies to feed my Spanish Senorita. I could wait until I had accumulated an order's worth from a mail-order house and buy a set or I could find a list member with a spare set to swap, sell or donate. Somebody out there has a set of .308 Win dies that they don't ever plan to use again.

As a newbie, you can ASK and they might just give you what you need to get started.

Heck, I'll donate a Lyman Mini-Mag electrical melting pot to getting you started. We all have stuff we never plan to use again lying around in the corners.

Oldfeller

[KYODE]

:shock: a melting pot? i don't like to bum, and probably don't know how to use it...yet. but if yer offferin???? :wink:

[Oldfeller]

First, you gotta get somebody to give you a ladle and some POS mold that fits you desired caliber. That means you got to declare what you are going to try to start on (hint: the larger the caliber the easier the learning curve).

Oldfeller

[carpetman]

Kyode---Yes,Im saying the .243 would be a good contender for cast bullets---as long as you aren't planning on hunting deer with them. Dont see why the 6tcu wouldn't work either. The load I use will give you right at 300 rounds per pound. How much does 15 boxes of ammo cost off the shelf? Run you about $30 using cast bullets. That difference would go away towards buying some casting equipment.

[KYODE]

cool on the .243. might be something to look forward to later on.

i reckon 44mag may be the easiest start. i got 2 of em, a 14" contender and a 7 1/2" ruger redhawk. 240-300gr cast maybe?? can wheelweights handle all out magnum loads without a lot of leading? i'm usually pedal to the medal in 44mags. :grin:

as far as reduced cast loads.........my 14" 30-30AI might be interesting with say a 165gr hard cast maybe.

[waksupi]

Kyote - With wheel weights, you will still be short about 1000 fps of what we push them in rifles with no leading. Get the right size bullet, right hardness, and right lube, and you should have no problem. I doubt you even get into gas check velocities with your pistols.

With your .30-30 AI, you can most likely run cast WW's right up to specs.

[Rrusse11]

Kyode,
Welcome aboard, methinks you've swallowed the hook, line, and sinker already,,,,,,. 44Mag's a good one to start off with , the Lee 429-240-2R would be just the ticket I reckin in a Contender.

Oldfeller,
There's a coupla' 308 die sets sittin in the bargain bin at one of the local gunshops. I grabbed the 257Roberts RCBS set for $10,,,,, whatcha' got to swap?

Cheers,
R*2