Started a year ago at 47
Printable View
Started a year ago at 47
I piddled a bit about 20 years ago and now last youer started to rock and roll with it.
Hey, finally an age poll where I am not old!
I, Quail4jake, consecrate myself in the presence of God and these our friends to be the first boolit caster in the 85 and older category! In fact, if any one lives long enough to challenge me I will be the first supercentarian still casting. Take me on, I dare you!
First post,been at reloading and casting since mid 1970's.
40+ years casting. Slowing down, but so's everything else.
I turned 65 last August. Started reloading when I was 25, in college, and a starving student. I started casting about the age of 36, under the mentorship of my stepfather, who allowed me to use his equipment. I had a hiatus in casting for a few years while I was working, raising kids, and moving around the country. In 2009 I joined this forum, and began to take up casting again, seriously. At this point I have a couple of boxes of jacketed bullets that I don't think I'll ever use. I shoot cast in everything I own, rifles and pistols. I have a small collection of molds, mix of Lee and Lyman. The ones that get the most use are the Lyman 35891 and 358477. After that I use the Lee 100 gr 30 cal mold for my two com block pistols. Since I acquired an in-line muzzle loader, I have been casting 50 cal RB and REAL, but I don't shoot it much.
Wayne
This is an amazing poll.
Keep in mind due to the technical savvyness of younger people, the lower numbers, particularly in millenial category, are actually inflated. And even with that, the lower generation is dwarfed by the 60+ crowd.
Kinda sad. younger folks don't even seem to be interested in iphones and such as much as facebook and whatever goes into their fake life online. Much less cars, or learning about the real world.
I was 29 when I joined this message board. I don't have many peers interested in the same topics.
i started casting when i was kinda young,remember on of my first products was lead coins.In plaster moulds.Didnt go down well.Also cast bullets in plaster moulds.Very versatile,and could be used today for say 20 new designs or whatever.First proper mould was brass blocks stuck to a pair of pliers with a drill hole for the cavity.Worked Ok in a Cadet and a 92 in 32/20.Then a Winchester mould in 321/170,blocks well out of line.Along the way got some Lyman,Ohaus,RCBS,P/H real iron molds.Nowdays ,I cant see any value in $100 blocks so I buy Lee and nothing else.Pushing 70.
Like tazman said I'm still learning, after 47 years. I'm 76 and just last friday I cast up about 300, 230 gr 45 colt boolits with two 6 cavity Lee molds. From prep to finish was just over an hour and a half. It took about 35 minutes to empty the Lee 10 # pot. My casting limit any more is about 2 hours, just don't have the stamina any more.
Hey there Quail for Jake, if God allows me to live two more years I will be in the .o16 percentile group right behind you. Made molds to cast 1/2 lead balls, 5/8 sinkers for cast nets w/ 3/16 holes in them (1959) then poured lead soldiers for my young son. Started reloading bullets (1972). Loaded more boolits last three years than all before. Back in the day at seven years, Dad would hand me five 22 shorts and I was off to hunt cottontails. Upon returning, had to give a report of each bullet. Sometimes I would give back two or three. I cleaned the game and two sisters had to do the cooking. Ate a lot of fried rabbit. Yep it does pass fast.
I'm pretty green at this. I got interested when I was 18, the tire shop I worked at made all the fishing weights the sporting goods department sold. Now, at 41 I am casting boolits. I just started. I always had interest......never had the time. Now that I shoot uspsa.......I need to cast or I can't afford to shoot. I think I have it close......just need some more practice. I have made some boolits that worked phenomenal.....some not so much. I'm getting tuned in now.
I remember casting sinkers with my dad when I was a kid in the early 1980s, and watching him reload for his .32 Win Special deer rifle with an old Lee Loader kit. By the time I left law enforcement due to a duty injury, I had acquired a collection of Class III weapons that became increasingly expensive to shoot, so they just sat in the safe. I found that old Lee Loader one day when I was going through some of my dad’s things after he passed away and decided to start handloading for all my weapons, so I bought a bunch of dies and a press and got to it. I forgot how much I missed shooting every day, and soon found myself running out of bullets very quickly.
I felt that the 230gr .30cal bullets I was shooting were too expensive for what they were, so that led me to casting about two months ago. I bought a little Lyman pot and dipper and just got to it. I’ve had real good success with the 300 BLK bullets, and I have now begun to acquire additional molds and tools to cast other calibers.
This site and its members have been an invaluable resource for all my newbie questions, and I learn something new every time I log in.
I still look at that .32 Lee Loader siting on my bench and I pull that old deer gun out of the safe every now and then and just look at it. I haven’t shot it since my dad died, but maybe someday I will, and maybe I’ll even cast my own bullets for it.
I cast and loaded my first bullets when I was 16. I am now 75 hoping to make 76. I have cast and loaded for the past 59 years except for the time I was in the Navy and on board ship. I shoot between 25 and 30 thousand rounds a year, (mostly hand guns) so casting saves me a few bucks. Casting and reloading can be a life long hobby and it is one that I enjoy about as much as shooting. It involves chemistry, physics and mathmatics and if you really get into it, it can be a neat intelectual experience. Most guys do not get into it that deep, but enjoy it just the same.
Currently 53 here and I started sometime in '09 after joining this site. I haven't cast as much the last couple years but I'm considering another mold soon.
Well,,heck I won't be 73,,till next april (2018),,hand cast back in the late 60's,early 70's,,just starting back,,it sure seems like learn'n all over again.But I still enjoy try'n to make "that perfect bullet".
Coffee's ready,,,,Hootmix.
Do lead soldiers count? Real bullets at 16 and been going every since.