Hardline and other casting machines

[hunter74]

I'm thinking about buying a casting machine and the specs of the "loaded hand caster" from Hardline Industries looks tempting for my use. Does anyone have any experience with this company or know anything about when a finished product may be available?

I also have considered the Ballisticast Mark X but I understand the turnaround time is rather long and it has been some trouble with customer support from this company. I may be wrong but, I think I have seen something about this on this forum….
Of course Magma’s machines also spring to mind and the customer support there is excellent..I know from I bought my new Star. But in my opinion there is a couple of drawbacks with their machines. Compared to the Mark X and the Hardline handcaster machine Magma’s Cast Master seems rather slow and the Mark 8 is very expensive compared to the others. The mark 8 is a excellent machine no doubt, but shipping of the big machine to Norway and 25% tax and custom fees added it becomes a rather expensive affair.

Any advice...anyone?

Thanks!

[376Steyr]

I recommend waiting for Hardline to firmly establish themselves as a successful business. They are a very new company, and small businesses in the USA often fail. Dealing with something going wrong from Norway would be a difficult thing to do.

[andre3k]

Are there specs on the hardline machine anywhere? There was nothing on the website last time I checked. When shopping for my caster Ballisticast quoted prices that were cheaper than what was posted on their website. However after that they stopped responding to e-mails. I took my money and went to Magma. Good communication and no issues with ordering or getting my machines out. The Mark 8 is an expensive machine no doubt. But I flew to Phoenix prior to purchase and met the guys there and it helped ease the buying pains. Seems like they are the last game in town for a factory built automated caster.

[Sgtonory]

Stay away from balisiticast. Had a mark x. Was cap and took forever to get my money back.

[hunter74]

Stay away from balisiticast. Had a mark x. Was cap and took forever to get my money back.

I thought so...

Magma is a safe company to deal with. Great customer support and quick support by mail, just the way I like it.

I've started up a small casting business so I need something to make good boolits a little faster than I can do with my hand cast moulds. With warmup time and blending of alloy in the pot for different uses I can get about 500 boolits an hour today. I then often do a smelting operation on the side.

Does anyone know the weight on the mark 8? DHL charged me over 200 dollars just for delivery of the Star including tax and customs. Makes me dizzy to think of what they would charge for the Mark 8 from Magma.

Guess I'll wait for the hand caster from hardlineindustries.com

Thanks for any advice!

[hunter74]

Hardline saw my post and sent me an informative PM. I quote some of the answer here in case some of you also may be interested in this information

I would like to let you know that as of right now we are concentrating on bullet molds and our sizing machines, not on the casting machine. There is no definite time frame for release. The prototype we currently have does work, but it isn't up to our quality standards yet. Rest assured we will finish developing the casting machine, but interest in our currently available products has significantly increased in the last few months and we no longer have the time needed to continue developing the casting machine.

It's a shame that Magma don't make a machine that fills the gap between the Master Caster and the Mark 8. The price difference is in my opinion huge, and I’m sorry to say that the Mark 8 would be very good for my use but because of the price it would be out of my reach. Including all expenses it would be over 10 times as expensive as the Master Caster.

I’m not sure what to do to get my production rate up….it’s either to buy a 40 lbs pot and handcast with two 6 cav moulds in tandem or to buy a Master Caster and maybe get someone to automate it for me. I guess Magma don’t deliver this option because they sell enough of the Mark 8’s to people/businesses who wants more speed than the manual Master Caster can deliver. That said, I’m sure they could sell a bunch of “automated kits” for the Master Caster to members on this forum, if they would make them

[Ausglock]

G'day.
I am running 2 Ballisti Mark X machines.
Had them for 9 months now with no issues at all.
They were actually made by Northern Valley Machine, not Ballisti.
NVM aftersales service is first rate.
They can also supply Ballisti molds.
I run NVM and Hardline molds.

[VeryOldGuy]

I have a little story to tell. Myself and my two sons own a bullet core company. We mostly manufacture hard cast plated bullets. And NO I do not work for or have ever worked for either company I am speaking of, nor am I a competitor of either company.

Ballisitcast/North Valley Machine molds and machines are subpar to Magma's design. NVM make a lot of mistakes. They don't pay attention or follow your order specifics. They all act very lackadaisical.Their customer support is lousy. They don't return calls/emails. They have all new employees that seem to be learning as they go. They lie about delivery dates. They deny their mistakes. Awful experience with them.

They are not a bullet casting machine company. North Valley Machine is primarily a robotic/fabrication/welding and machining shop. Bullet casting equipment manufacturing is a very very very small part of what they actually do for $$$. They actually added a bullet casting machine company to their primary company just by chance when their business deal to manufacture parts for "Ballisitcast" went sour and they broke ties with that owner. Ballisticast is no longer in business, but NVM inherited that name from all the machines and parts they were stuck with after their business with Ballisticast went sour. We got fed up with their **** and went to Magma.


Magma specializes in bullet casting equipment and ammunition component manufacturing. I'm pretty sure that's all they do and that's what you need from a company that sells casting equipment if you're planning on spending a **** load of $$$ on casting equipment.


Magma's well built machines deliver a flaw free bullet core for us. Great customer support and they return all emails same day and usually within an hour. Absolutely NO issues with defective machines, bullets or cores from Magma machines. We ended up buying seven Mark 8 machines and are running them eighteen hours a day without issues.


If you're gonna spend your hard earned money on a machine or casting equipment, make sure you spend it wisely on a machine built by a company that is well experienced and specializes in this business, is well planted in the industry, and that will take care of your machine requests in a professional manner. I would stay far away from some company that just fell upon a casting machine business as a result of a sour business deal they had with someone.

[Ausglock]

Well. The NVM built Mark X machines are still running 100% fine.
Just took delivery of 3 sets of molds from them last week. No issues.
Email response is a bit slow, but they are busy.