Looking at starting to do casting. Looking for advice.

[tayous1]

I have been reloading for a little over a year now and have done some lead rounds in 45acp and 40 S&W found that I liked the lead round for every day shooting. Now I'm looking to pick up a 45 cold Blackhawk as a hiking weapon and maybe to use hog hunting.

After looking up a lot about the 45 colt round I saw that you get the most from this round by reloading and casting your own lead rounds. So that has gotten me started on trying to find out what I need to get started casting. I have a friend who has lead Ingot 99.9% that he is selling for $1.89 a pound. I'm not sure what type of mold to go for right now to start I just like one that would be a good all round boolits for fun shooting and hunting. I'm also not sure about what gear I might need also I know somethings I'll need.

I know nothing about casting so any advice would help out. Thanks

[Cherokee]

Welcome to the forum !! Try the search routine to find postings on how to get started and you'll get lots of opinions, all of which we base on experience but experiences do vary. Also, you should buy the latest Lyman #49 Reloading Handbook, read the instructional material, study it.

OK, the 99.9% pure lead is not what you want to cast bullets for smokeless powder use, pure lead is for cap & ball and other black powder firearms. See if you can find some wheel weights. I like the RCBS 45-255 SWC and the 45-230CM bullets in 45 Colt. Lee also has some but I've never used their 45 Colt bullets.

After obtaining suitable wheel weights, you will need a heat source (Coleman, plumbers furnace, turkey fryer, etc), a pot to melt the alloy in (cast iron pot best or SS, not aluminum) and some kind of ingot mold to pour the alloy in. To cast bullets you will need a heat source and pot from which to cast bullets. Most people will not use the same pot to melt WW's and cast from. I like the Lee 20# pot, holds enough alloy, is bottom pour and easy to use for casting. Gotta go, others will chime in to be sure.

[tayous1]

Welcome to the forum !! Try the search routine to find postings on how to get started and you'll get lots of opinions, all of which we base on experience but experiences do vary. Also, you should buy the latest Lyman #49 Reloading Handbook, read the instructional material, study it.

OK, the 99.9% pure lead is not what you want to cast bullets for smokeless powder use, pure lead is for cap & ball and other black powder firearms. See if you can find some wheel weights. I like the RCBS 45-255 SWC and the 45-230CM bullets in 45 Colt. Lee also has some but I've never used their 45 Colt bulleets.

After obtaining suitable wheel weights, you will need a heat source (Coleman, plumbers furnace, turkey fryer, etc), a pot to melt the alloy in (cast iron pot best or SS, not aluminum) and some kind of ingot mold to pour the alloy in. To cast bullets you will need a heat source and pot from which to cast bullets. Most people will not use the same pot to melt WW's and cast from. I like the Lee 20# pot, hold enough alloy, is bottom pour and easy to use for casting. Gotta go, others will chime in to be sure.

Thank after just writing this I saw lead and brass.com they had way better prices then my friend does. I have looked for the wheel weights around my area but scrap dealers are paying a lot more money then I would for them every place I talked to said they would sell for $3 a pound. It would cost me a lot less just to buy lead. Thanks for the book you know being in reloading you can never have to many books on the topic.

As for the molds I'm looking for two of them one for light loads like a 230gr that I can use with my 45acp. Then I have been looking at the Mihec and NOE molds kind of like the JHP and I think I read you can do solid boolits also (might be wrong.

I have looked at the Lee 20# it was one of the pots I was thinking of. Dumb question for anyone. I have seen people say they cast there own boolits yet on the ogive they will have a blue or red ring on it. How do they do that?

[Doby45]

They lube it, either by pan lube, hand lube or a lubrisizer.

http://i45.tinypic.com/30k94es.jpg

[Cowboy T]

The other way of lubing is called "tumble lubing". With this method, you use something called liquid Alox (also known by the name Xlox") to completely coat your boolits. It's a brown, viscous liquid. You dump it into your bowl of boolits (I use an old plastic ice-cream container for this), swish it all around to mix things up really well, and then pour your boolits on some wax paper to dry overnight. You don't need that much.

The result is a boolit that has lube all over it, including the driving bands. However, it doesn't have the red, blue, green, whatever "wax" in the lube groove, so some folks think it looks kinda funny that way. But it works. I shoot a lot of .45 Colt, both "mild" and "wild" loads. All of my boolits are lubed using this method, and I get very good results.

[tayous1]

The other way of lubing is called "tumble lubing". With this method, you use something called liquid Alox (also known by the name Xlox") to completely coat your boolits. It's a brown, viscous liquid. You dump it into your bowl of boolits (I use an old plastic ice-cream container for this), swish it all around to mix things up really well, and then pour your boolits on some wax paper to dry overnight. You don't need that much.

The result is a boolit that has lube all over it, including the driving bands. However, it doesn't have the red, blue, green, whatever "wax" in the lube groove, so some folks think it looks kinda funny that way. But it works. I shoot a lot of .45 Colt, both "mild" and "wild" loads. All of my boolits are lubed using this method, and I get very good results.

Thanks I'm looking at the liquid alox. Have any hints on how to make it not so sticky after it dry's?

[Doby45]

Search for recluse 45/45/10

[462]

Tayous1,
Welcome.

To become familiar with boolit casting, read the stickies and the archive: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/archive/index.php/f-8.html

Also, Lyman's "Cast Bullet Handbook" is invaluable. The third edition is readily available. The fourth edition was supposed to be out last spring...we're still waiting.

[danski26]

If you ask around on the forum, I'm sure you can get a few boolits of different styles to give a try, before you buy a mold.

[Recluse]

Thanks I'm looking at the liquid alox. Have any hints on how to make it not so sticky after it dry's?

Welcome to Cast Boolits.

I use a blend of easy-to-acquire items for my tumble lube, and wrote about it here: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=67654

Per your original post and question(s), easiest thing to do initially is read, read, read and then read some more on this site. The stickies at the beginning of each forum in the Cast Boolits section is the best place to start. You'll learn about molds, smelting, fluxing, different lubes, how to make your own lubes, where to buy your lubes, how to take care of your molds, how to Lee-ment the Lee molds, about furnaces, ingots, etc etc.

Basically casting is a three-step process. First is smelting your raw led (wheel weights, plumbers lead, roofing lead, lead pipe, linotype, etc), cleaning it up (fluxing) and then pouring the molten alloy into ingot molds for later use.

I use different ingot molds to keep my alloy blends straight. For instance, I use Lyman ingot molds for my basic wheel weight (WW) blends, Lee 1 lb molds for my pure lead, Lee 1/2 lb molds for straight linotype, RCBS molds for my "super alloy" that contains much higher contents of tin and linotype (making a much harder boolit), and Saeco molds labeled with a Sharpie for experimental blends.

At a glance, I can tell exactly which alloy I'm about to grab, how much I have in inventory, etc etc. Some folks do the same thing using muffin tins, custom-made ingots, old cast iron skillet molds, etc. Lot of folks keep it even simpler by using Sharpies or by etching their ingots. Me? I like to collect things, so any excuse to buy a new ingot mold is good.

Once you have your ingots (which you can also buy from various folks right here on Cast Boolits--check out our vendors as well as Swapping & Selling), the next step is melting the alloy down in order to pour into boolit molds.

For this, you need a minimum temperature, some basic safety equipment (eye protection being number one, gloves being number two), a thermometer is useful when you're first starting out (I still use mine each casting session to this day).

Some folks cast using little as a Coleman stove or oven burner, cast iron pot and a ladle. Others use several furnaces, bottom pours, etc. I have RCBS and Lee bottom pour pots and trust me, BOTH brands leak. That just comes with a bottom pour. On the plus side, I like bottom pouring for the smaller, shorter boolits. For longer rifle caliber boolits, I prefer to ladle pour.

Final step is to size and lube your boolits. Some folks load "as cast" without ever sizing them. I micrometer will tell you if the boolits are of the proper diameter. You want lead boolits to be a bit larger in diameter than jacketed bullets. I size every single boolit I cast--I do it for consistency. Lot of variables when you cast and reload. Eliminating the possibility of varying diameters in the same caliber of boolits is one variable I can eliminate. :)

Again, welcome and read the stickies. They'll teach you more than enough to help you formulate specific questions you'll need to ask. Everyone here has been a beginner at this at one point in time. For most of us, it's a passion and we enjoy passing along our experiences and helping new folks discover the joy that we have.

:coffee:

[Echo]

Welcome, tayous 1, to the forum. And +1 for what Recluse said. To add to that - sizing for revolvers should be based on the throats of the chambers, boolits sized a couple of tenths over the largest of the throats. For autos, boolits should be sized as fat as possible, while still chambering. In other words, even though a .45 ACP bbl may mike at .451 for the groove diameter, if a boolit sized .453 will chamber reliably, use it!
If the unsized diameters meet the above conditions, sizing may not be necessary. You will have to let Professor Gun tell you.

[missionary5155]

Good morning and WELCOME tayous1 !
The above pretty much covers it.. You do not need much to start and keep going .
Yard sales.. rumage sales.. tire stores.. those big truck weights laying along the street..
And get in touch with the castors near you.. most have all sorts of no longer used stuff that you could use.

[Bret4207]

Pot, heat source a ladle of some sort and a mould, that's all you need to cast. I suggest you start off with a single or double cavity mould- NOT a hollow point. HP moulds require some finesse in getting them to cooperate. Save that till you find out if you even like casting. I'd suggest a simple, inexpensive Lee mould to start. Many people HATE casting. Why sink a lot of money into something you may not enjoy? You can lube with Mule Snot (Lee Liquid Alox) and to get rid of the sticky just dust with mica, graphite or even cornstarch.

Give it a try, you might just enjoy it.

[Three44s]

For a beginner I HIGHLY recommend that you start with Lee tumble lube molds and liquid alox lube.

No sizer required ....... keep it simple until you see how much you like boolits.

Even if you upgrade you'll still use that tumble lube mold ...... and shooting them unsized in my revolvers they make GREAT dirt clod busters and more .......

More exotic equipment will follow if you "will it".

As to the stickiness, I do two things:

I thin my Lee Liquid alox with mineral spirits .... just a wee bit of it will do the trick ..... and then I apply the thinned LLA twice ...... with a drying session after each application.

Then, I use a bit of Mica and dust them.

After I got into LLA lubing ..... I tried Moly added to my thinned LLA and like that as well .....

It sure takes some serious hand washing to get it off your mitts however!


WELCOME to casting!

Three 44s

[quilbilly]

Welcome to the fraternity. You will soon be feeling like an alchemist from the middle ages but that is part of the fun.
The simple way to get started is to get a Lee 10# lead pot, a Lee mold of your choosing, and a Lee sizing die to fit your caliber. in this case it would be a .451/2 sizing die. When you get the Lee die from your retailer, it will include a free bottle of their Alox lube which is also a good starting point until you discover your own preferences.
I agree with the previous responders that pure lead is too soft and I also think the price you mentioned is a tad high as well. Since wheel weights are getting harder to come by all the time, I would recommend doing your own alloys using pure lead. Once you have acquired the lead ( either the pure or scrounged up roofing lead, etc.) check out you local fishing tackle stores for lead-free splitshot sinkers. Those are tin which you can mix with the pure lead for the appropriate percentage. You will now feel like an alchemist. Just mix up various batches until you get an alloy right for you by testing some round with each run. This is definitely part of the fun and fascination of this enterprise.
In my case, I add in lead birdshot to my pure lead to about 60% pure and 40% birdshot then add just a couple tin splitshot to get what I like. Birdshot is much too hard for my needs and needs softening.
Have fun and enjoy the testing process.

[tayous1]

Thanks I'm buying the Lyman's "Cast Bullet Handbook" even thou I still have not bought the pistol. I'm looking at the LEE molds 230gr ones so right now if I don't buy the 45 colt pistol I can still use it for my XD-45 .

[Az Rick]

Not long ago I was in your shoes. 462 posted to read all the stickies, do that. I did and it will lead you to read the older threads and you'll start to understand more and more. Casting need not be expensive to start. Thrift stores are excellent places to pick up old pots/pans for smelting. Moulds can be expensive I have RCBS and like them. Lees' are much less expensive but maybe not as durable. I bought a Lee 10lb. bottom pour pot and like it but have only used it once. I cast for fun/hobby so am not concerned about production for now.
For an all around bullet you just can't beat a Semi Wad Cutter the RCBS 255 would be very good as Cherokee said.
Guys here are happy to help, so as you have questions, just ask. You'll be casting like this (or better) in no time.

[azrednek]

tayous1 why don't you let us know where you live and possibly somebody in your area will invite you over and show you how everything is done

[XWrench3]

Welcome to the wonderful world of boolits! to get started, another source of information (FREE!) is your library. in our system, i have checked out a ton of books, including "the abc"s of reloading" which is a very good souce book. like others have said, read, read, read! also, do some financial consideration. go to a couple of websites (midway usa, grafs and sons, natchez, midsouth shooters supply) and price out the equipment you will need. i have to tell you that the prices you are quoting for lead make me cringe! if i had to pay that much for lead, i probably wouldn't cast. the biggest cost savings are in getting CHEAP lead. if you are only going to shoot a thousand rounds a year, at the prices you have now for lead, you will never save any money over just buying cast boolits from a retailer. around here, i buy a 5 gallon bucket of wheel weights for around $25.00. that usually = about 100 pounds of smelted good clean lead. you will need to go to several tire stores to find this. if you want softer lead, a shooting range is a really good source, as most bullets that are jacketed use soft lead inside of them.

[tayous1]

Welcome to the wonderful world of boolits! to get started, another source of information (FREE!) is your library. in our system, i have checked out a ton of books, including "the abc"s of reloading" which is a very good souce book. like others have said, read, read, read! also, do some financial consideration. go to a couple of websites (midway usa, grafs and sons, natchez, midsouth shooters supply) and price out the equipment you will need. i have to tell you that the prices you are quoting for lead make me cringe! if i had to pay that much for lead, i probably wouldn't cast. the biggest cost savings are in getting CHEAP lead. if you are only going to shoot a thousand rounds a year, at the prices you have now for lead, you will never save any money over just buying cast boolits from a retailer. around here, i buy a 5 gallon bucket of wheel weights for around $25.00. that usually = about 100 pounds of smelted good clean lead. you will need to go to several tire stores to find this. if you want softer lead, a shooting range is a really good source, as most bullets that are jacketed use soft lead inside of them.

Where are some good places to buy lead? I know I can't find any near me in the WW that would be a good price. I'm looking at buying a LEE mold just to start out with.

[tayous1]

tayous1 why don't you let us know where you live and possibly somebody in your area will invite you over and show you how everything is done

Sorry did not place where I live. I'm in Southern IL near Marion IL.