First And Last Equipment

[Sonnypie]

Boy Howdy!
These guys can sure spend your money for you!

I believe I will sit back, rock, and watch. Good luck, huckabuck.

I think you already know what you are going to do.

[Jammer Six]

As a matter of fact, I'm leaning more and more towards an Accurate 230B in brass, with four cavities.

A ladle. A pot. My hot plate. Some lead. Welding gloves. A leather apron.

That's where I think I'm going.

Oh, and I already have the press. I thought I said that I use a Square Deal.

[Bret4207]

You aren't going to need welding gloves or a leather apron. Plain old cotton gloves and clothing will protect you just fine from any splashes. In fact cotton masons gloves with the knit wrist are about perfect.

[Jammer Six]

I just saw the Cast Boolit apron. It'll probably make my boolits shinier.

[bfuller14]

Jammer Six,
You will not be disappointed with a Accurate mold. Tom is
great too work with. He does his work very fast also. I ordered
several molds and had them with in a week or two.


Enjoy the ride,
Barry

[MikeS]

After reading all the posts in this thread, I must say, first off, get a mould from Accurate Molds, you won't be sorry! Next, Jammer, you said in one of your posts that you were either going to ladle cast out of a cast iron pot or get a MasterCaster. I find that strange. You're either going to do it the most primitive method, or the most advanced, and skip anything in the middle. As I already said, get a mould from Accurate Molds, but get a brass mould, rather than aluminum. It's slightly more expensive, but brass is probably the best material for a mould!

I would seriously look into bottom pour casting. I have a Lee 20lb pot, and have never had a problem with it, but I read here that others have. You mentioned that you don't mind spending money to get better equipment, so I would go with one you already considered, the Master Pot. When I get another pot, that's what I'm going to get. With that pot, you can use it as a bottom pour pot, but you can also use it for ladle casting as well if you wish. For sizing, go with another Magma product, and get a Star sizer. You can search for them on eBay, or on the selling forum here (where they usually sell within an hour!), or you can just buy one new from Magma. Either way, the Star sizer is the way to go, don't even bother thinking about other sizers.

With the products I (and others) have recommended, you'll be able to figure out if you like casting your own boolits, or not. If you do, you'll have some good equipment that will last a lifetime or more, and if you don't, you'll have stuff that you'll be able to sell fast right here! (if you do end up wanting to sell the MasterPot, please PM me first!)

[BossHoss]

Master Caster, 2 molds , 45 and 38 Sup by Magma, Star sizer and two dies. Done.

No hassle simple bullet making....PID on the pot, for science.

Exactly what you spec'd out. Live easy,...no easier solution available for the OP's specs, IMHO.

[MikeS]

That's another advantage to getting the Master Pot, if after getting the hang of hand casting, and you feel you want to move up to a Mastercaster, you can get one without the pot, and the pot you already have mounts to it like it's made for it (because it is), and so no wasted equipment!

I really think that going directly into the Mastercaster would be a mistake, as with hand casting you'll be better able to learn some of the fine points of casting quicker and better by hand casting rather than machine casting.

You mentioned that you want to go with the 'automatic transmission' rather than the manual, and I would say that ladle casting is the 'manual', bottom pouring is the 'automatic', and the machine is hiring a chauffer to do the driving for you. That's how I see it, but again, that's a decision (ladle / bottom pour / machine) only you can make.

[1bluehorse]

A lot of "I started with this and I started with that" going on here. Probably not to many are still using what they started with, at least exclusivley. ( I mean come on, a tin can and a teaspoon, really?) Not much different for me, started on the cheap and changed when I got tired of that ****. It didn't make casting "fun" at all. I now use an RCBS Pro Melt (mo' betta) My molds are from Lyman, RCBS, and Lee. The worst of them is the Lee molds, however, if you're willing to dink with them a little they will make good bullets but they can die young if remotely abused. The Lyman and RCBS are just good molds, and the ones I have make nice bullets. So you can start where most have started, (and advanced from) or start where most have advanced to...Your choice...but acknowledge we changed for a reason....

[Jammer Six]

Here's my updated efforts. My List, v 1.0.

I've spent money on the book. I'm probably not going to spend any more money until I finish reading the book. (And it's killing me.)

• Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook $32.29
• Cast Boolit Apron $55.00
• Accurate Brass 4 cavity 230B $170.00
• Hotplate $000.00
  
• Mould Handles
• Pot
• Dipper
• Skimmer
• Sizer
• Lube
• Leather Gloves

Money actually spent to date: $32.29.

Projected budget, known items: $257.29.

MikeS, I appreciate your comments, and your reasoning is exactly the same as mine: no buying things twice. (You, too, 1Bluehorse.) The only reason I'm going with ladling and a hotplate is because I already have the hotplate, and I'm not going to buy an electric lead pot until I've produced some shootable boolits, and, more importantly, made a formal decision about whether I like casting.

I figure that if I don't like it, and sell everything, that I can still use the apron (assuming it's wide enough) Sunday mornings, when I dance naked around the kitchen and do the Full Jiggle Sunday Morning Pancake Boom-Boom Boogie.

I'll post more prices as I make decisions about which one I'm going to buy, and get hard prices for the item, shipping and tax. The reason I'm posting everything here is simply to document the trip, in case anyone else wants one documented example of what it cost to go from "hey! I want to cast!" to the target for the first time.

P.S. The reason I haven't decided on a full-dress Star is because it hurts me to think about spending more on the Star than I spent on everything else combined...

[1bluehorse]

Well, you're on your way...good....it is a good hobby unto itself...however it's done.

[tonyjones]

Jammer Six,

The part about dancing around your kitchen was WAY TOO MUCH information!

LOL,

Tony

[Jammer Six]

Does anyone know if the Cast Boolit apron will cover a fifty inch waist?

Home is a where a man has enough privacy to run around naked with his underwear on his head.

[cbrick]

I've spent money on the book. I'm probably not going to spend any more money until I finish reading the book. (And it's killing me.)

• Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook $32.29
• Cast Boolit Apron $55.00
• Accurate Brass 4 cavity 230B $170.00
• Hotplate $000.00
  
• Mould Handles
• Pot
• Dipper
• Skimmer
• Sizer
• Lube
• Leather Gloves

There is something that is not on your list and it's free and it's important. Use the link, download & print out the book. Best thing in casting since they figured out tin made the mold fill out better. This is something you'll refer to often.

http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_textonly2.pdf

Rick

[scrapcan]

Cbrick,

I agree wholeheartedly with your thoughts on reading the Fryxell book. Thanks for putting that link up for the folks here.

[Jammer Six]

I've read it, a couple times. Thanks!

Seems sort of revolver-centric, but other than that, yes, I appreciated it.

[1bluehorse]

Does anyone know if the Cast Boolit apron will cover a fifty inch waist?

Tarp??????

Home is a where a man has enough privacy to run around naked with his underwear on his head.

Hmmmmmm..........

[Jammer Six]

My Cast Bullet Handbook came!

And the first thing he says, right out of the gate, ruins my plans...

"Perhaps the best tip any prospective bullet caster could receive is this, 'buy an electric melting furnace.''*

So standard equipment is a Pro Melt or a Magma, not my hotplate...

*Mike Venturino, Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook, (Middletown, CT: Lyman Products Corporation, 2010), 28.

[tonyjones]

Get a Waage K4757 20# electric pot. They're GREAT! The last time I checked they were $162 + $25 S&H. Since the Waage is a ladle pot also get a Rowell #1 Ladle. They're $24 at Rotometals. I'd also look into the Ballisti-Cast Mark VI lube sizer. Equipped with an air feed and heater it costs about the same ($5 less) than a comparably equipped Star and is a better piece of equipment in my opinion.

Good luck,

Tony

[Jammer Six]

Updated list & budget:

• Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook, $32.29
• Accurate Brass 4 Cavity 230B Mold, $170
• RCBS Pro Melt Pot, $379.99
• Cast Boolits Full Dress Boom-Boom Apron, $55.00
• Handles
• Skimmer
• Sizer
• Sizer Die
• Lube
• Welding Gloves

Projected Budget: $637.28

Actual Cost To Date: $32.29

P.S. Anyone want to come over for pancakes?