Why some new members will do better than others here.

[rwsem]

Regarding the original post...
I couldn't agree more. I've been hear for years, reading, and asking very few questions... There is a trove of information on this forum.

[GoodOlBoy]

So we got off topic, and we didn't agree. I don't see that as a reason to call for the mods to zap a thread.

On topic. Yeah I agree I have spent a long LONG time surfing this forum before I ever joined. For years I have checked here for info, and usually got fairly good leads on what trails to follow to get to where I wanted to be.

GoodOlBoy

[olafhardt]

There is another long winded sticky on here about fillers. The last poster just said he did not want to plow through it to find out if his question had been answered. I thought he came off as somewhat arrogant but he is also demonstrative of the weakness of expecting everyone to dig through huge piles of duff to find an acorn. Expecting a quick answer for a quick question is not uncommon. A serious weakness of this expection is that often responders don't know as much as they think they do.

[GoodOlBoy]

Well Said!

GoodOlBoy

[pjames32]

Recluse, you started a great thread and made your point very well.
I'm new to this site. Just found it this week.
I've been loading nearly 60 years and casting 45+.
I'm still reading the sticky's and learning as I go.
When I started reloading/casting, I was mostly self taught and read everything I could find.
Fortunately there was an old gunsmith in town who was willing to answer my questions and at least keep me safe.
Now, with the internet, there is a lot of knowledge at our finger tips.
With the search feature on this site I've found old posts to answer every question I had.
If a new user asks a question that has been covered, I think steering them to use the search function might be a good idea.
I look forward to tapping the knowledge I see here and learning more about casting.
I too am old, cantankerous with a strong feeling that you can't fix stupid.
With that said I've started a lot of people reloading over the years and I'm willing to share my limited knowledge.

PJ

[rcsch]

Hello,
After asking some questions on another site I was directed here to learn. I've lurked around for a week or so searching and been searching and reading.
I'm almost 65 and have been learning reloading & handloading - shooting & hunting since my mid teens. Been in the US Army & Colo National Guard (shot some Bullseye Pistol and some smallbore rifle for the All Guard team and got introduced to some really fine shooters.
At 39 I changed careers (from a mechanic) and became a Correctional Officer (needed to make a living) which eventually worked into the Facility Armorer & Locksmith Lieutenant. Not a much better job in the DOC other than the warden - I worked directly for him. Being an NRA certified & DOC certified handgun, shotgun, and rifle instructor for 17+ years out of my 21yrs service, I agree - you can't fix "STUPID" you can "ONLY" try to keep them out of "DANGER" and not let them "HARM" anyone else or themselves.
I've always been interested in boolit casting but never got involved until recently - I purchased a bunch of old casting equipment - later to find out some was good and some was not so good. This week I hit the local tire shops searching for lead and acquired a couple 5 gal. buckets of WW - I sorted (learned here how) before I paid.
Now I'm on to some sort of economical device to render down the WWs. From searching your site I have located some suggestions but I want to find out more so I will start reading some more stickies. Is there a particular forum/place for us newbee's to begin with in the world of lead processing?
thanks again for the fine suggestions.
Roy

[s mac]

Welcome rcsch, this place is full of info. As far as your question about rendering your whell weights into usable ingots I'm not sure where to direct you to a particular thread, i'm sure there are several. Basically you need a sturdy vessel, a heat source, i use a cast iron pot, a fish fryer, propane fired and a large ladle to fill a muffin pan. Heat until melted, skim off the trash, clips, throw a handfull of sawdust let it turn to carbod stir in well and skim that off after a few minutes. Maybe repeat a time or two, this will flux the impurites out, ladle into your ingot mold. Do this with good ventilation, outside .

[fifty4]

I have been reloading, and casting since 1972. I have 9 or 10 reloading manuals plus all of them that the powder companies put out , I have dozens of bullet molds. BUT every once in while I cant find the info I need. so I ask. if anyone will ask me a reloading question I will try to help or guide them in the right direction.

[smokeywolf]

Welcome the forum. Sounds like you'll be quite an asset and positive influence.

smokeywolf

[Old Rvr.]

Regarding the original Post. Well Said . I'm 59 and taught myself to reload in the 1970's without any outside help by Reading Books long before the Internet and without anyone to ask questions to. I never had an accident . You really nailed it on some people "not getting it ",mostly the younger GEN. I recently got interested in Trapdoor Rifles and now have two. I will be loading again and will be learning to cast my own bullies to go into my loads. The forums are a great source of info ,but should never be 100 percent relied on .
I fall into the catagory of target shooting once a week mostly with my Historic Mil. Surp. And other old Guns all of witch I know the year of Mfg. And take great pride in owning.
I will probably read and learn more than anything here. Thanks in advance for any info I will learn here. Sorry for the long post., Bruce

[TXGunNut]

Welcome, Bruce. Some of us learn better by reading and figuring it out on our own, so many young folks seem uncapable of learning that way. I blame it on the instant gratification mindset.
Old historic guns do bring a certain amount of pride of ownership as well as the intrigue of shooting a gun that has been there, done that, but is unable to tell it's story.

[CBMC]

Welcome, Bruce. Some of us learn better by reading and figuring it out on our own, so many young folks seem uncapable of learning that way. I blame it on the instant gratification mindset.
Old historic guns do bring a certain amount of pride of ownership as well as the intrigue of shooting a gun that has been there, done that, but is unable to tell it's story.

While that is true, I find it much more "instant" to read and figure it out. Because most questions have been asked before, takes me less time to find the answer then to ask and wait for a response. Maybe it is just me.

[TXGunNut]

While that is true, I find it much more "instant" to read and figure it out. Because most questions have been asked before, takes me less time to find the answer then to ask and wait for a response. Maybe it is just me.

No, not just you. I've trained more than a few folks in a variety of skills and the teaching method must often match the type learning the trainee is receptive to. Seems I learn everything the hard way (think I heard my dear departed dad chuckle just now ) so I've learned to address all the possibilities. Work with a former trainee now that seems to have forgotten most of what I told him, if he'd listened and retained what I told him he'd be way ahead of the pack in our field.
Sadly, he keeps asking the same questions that I've covered more than once. I won't answer his questions, quite obviously he can't learn by being told how to do something and lacks the ambition or wherewithal to figure it out. I can't (and won't) help him. I'd be wasting my time and his.
In my years past I trained more than a few cops, some have made me quite proud. I tried hard to pass on what I knew but some folks are better off learning that they're not suited to a particular job. In law enforcement staying with a job you're not suited for can get you killed. In boolit casting it can get you and others seriously hurt.

[woodbutcher]

Outstanding thread,Sir.Thank you.REo you do house repair/work on your vehicles?Yes to both.From minor to very major.
Still have bunches to learn.Learned a few of the basics from my Grand Father who just loaded for two calibers.45 Colt and 45-70 pre smokeless powder..His two working calibers back in the day.Thanks again for an excellent thread.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[Linstrum]

Maybe new member should have to pass a basic "Cast Boolits" knowledge test to join Boolits? One of the many purposes of the Cast Boolits website is to dispel the old myths and to sort out and get rid of misinformation about bullet casting and shooting that causes problems for the cast bullet community, and to replace the old problematic methodology with the latest and best up-to-date information regarding bullet casting and cast bullet shooting, USING INFORMATION DEVELOPED AND PROVEN BY OUR OWN MEMBERS, which is for the most part not found in published books BUT IS NONE-THE-LESS WELL-KNOWN HERE BY MOST AVID LONG-TIME CAST BOOLITS MEMBERS.

With regard to that information being known but un-published, one of my major complaints is that in helping newbies, I, as well as the Cast Boolits Website generated information I'm trying to impart, way too often gets shoved aside and pooh-poohed by the less well informed participants here at Cast Boolits who insist that the well-proven information DEVELOPED BY CAST BOOLIT MEMBERS is all wrong!

To avoid a "urinating match" that these confrontations often have a tendency to turn into, I usually halt my participation on a thread instead of patiently doing all the research necessary to prove my point so I can quote it and help educate a truly worthy newbie because I just no longer have the time and energy to devote to it. I have my own guns to build, ammonpulver loads to shoot, vacuum rifle dryers to make, and my time to devote to someone who is too lazy (or unskilled?) to use the search function here is limited. I also won't go running off to the nearest moderator to tattle on every thread I participate in that has gone astray because the participants want to disseminate bad or wrong information, LIKE FOR INSTANCE SHOOTING 0.001"OR 0.002" UNDERSIZE CAST BOOLITS IS GREAT AND REALLY DOESN'T CAUSE ANY PROBLEMS AT ALL. THAT IS A SHAME THE GUY GOT AWAY WITH PUTTING THAT OUT AS GOSPEL HERE ON BOOLITS, I didn't have chapter and verse from a published book like he had that said it was okay. Anyone who wants to try that go ahead, it shoots, all right, but you will very like end up spending half a day digging and scrubbing the leading out of your bore.

Too bad there isn't a good way to re-establish putting out good information, but I feel that the purpose of Cast Boolits is getting perverted by too many "entitled" members WHO HAVE NOT READ OUR OLD ORIGINAL RESEARCH DONE BY US ORIGINAL MEMBERS, BUT NONE-THE-LESS THINK THEY KNOW IT ALL AND END UP SPOUTING THE OLD USELESS MYTHS AND MISINFORMATION THIS SITE WAS SPECIFICALLY MEANT TO DISPEL! To keep these Know-It-Alls or the "entitled" out, perhaps new members should have to pass a test that makes sure new members have read our basic necessary information, like how to slug the bore, choose a correctly sized boolit for it, etc. I don't know, but things aren't going right lately with participants who have an "entitled" mentality of "I'm right simply because I am and you are wrong simply because I said so" spouting bad information and getting away with it, and I hate it!

rl1217

[9.3X62AL]

Oh, mang. A test to determine fitness for membership? Who writes the test? Who approves the questions and their content? Is it essay a la old-school Blue Books, or multiple choice? Who grades the %$#@ things? This is a can of worms that morphs into cobras once opened. No flippin' way.

[cbrick]

Cobras? Yeah, very big ones. Besides, what would you expect a newbie caster to know? That he is a newbie looking for answers is the reason he is here. If he could pass an admission test the odds are he isn't a newbie but rather knows something of the subject.

I agree with Linstrum though about all the years spent by so many to dispel old wives tales and now we have a whole crop of new members once again spreading them like they were gospel. But a test? I don't think so.

Rick

[stephen m weiss]

I don't think that teaching things that work in bullet casting really requires faulty physics. It simply requires relating what is really known, with some humility.

Learning bullet casting from someone does not require that someone perfectly understand the physics behind their process, but it does require listening with some humility.

Creating processes that are better than the best that thousands of others have achieved frequently requires a very good understanding of physics, a lot of creativity, persistence, and luck! It can be done, and happens all the time.

[Linstrum]

Naw, you guys are making a monster out of what lives down in that mole hill. The test has one question:

DID YOU SLUG YOUR BORE?

When they answer "yes" to that one extremely simple question they are granted all rights and privileges. Simple, and that ONE question gets ASKED A LOT and when answered it solves all sorts of problems that didn't need to exist in the first place and wastes everybody's time jumping through hoops trying to solve non-existent problems.

rl 1,218

[9.3X62AL]

Oh, OK. WHEW! If I see another Blue Book or bubble sheet in this lifetime, I'll warp out.

Linstrum, that would be a great litmus test. Even better--"Have you slugged your grooves and throat(s)?"