master caster questions

[Lefty bullseye shooter]

I am ordering a new Master Caster from Magma and have a few questions.

1. I will be casting almost exclusively 195gr SWC 45 bullets is the digital conversion (PID?) necessary. I know I will never cast rifle boolits.

2. I have been casting with a Lee pot and ladle so bottom pour is new to me. Do you, should I, put something like cat litter on the melt to keep down oxidation? If you do does that eliminate the need to reduce with wax or just cut down on the frequency?

3. Are they as sweet to use as they appear to be? People that have them love them. People that don't say you don't need it and can cast faster with 3 or 4 molds by hand. By the time I buy 2 more molds and a better bigger pot I'm getting close to the cost of the master caster. Also I might have a couple friends use it and I would think the learning curve of using the master caster will be much steeper than trying to teach somebody to cast with multiple moulds. I cast once with 2 moulds and after a little bit I got the hang of it but it seems like its a lot like trying to learn to line dance. I CAN'T DANCE.

Thanks guys!

Scott

By the way I came home with 677#'s of range scrap (no jackets, lead only range) free for the labor of cleaning the "pit" yesterday to help feed this thing!

[landers]

Scott,
you wont be disappointed. As for your questions I can only speak from my Experience, I have two of them.
1. Yes the PID is worth every penny
2. I don't put anything on top to control oxidation
3. They are easy to learn to use, it may not be as fast as a six cavity mold or multiple molds but they are so much easier on your body, you can cast longer and get consistent results.

enjoy your new machine and have fun

landers

[VHoward]

I am ordering a new Master Caster from Magma and have a few questions.

1. I will be casting almost exclusively 195gr SWC 45 bullets is the digital conversion (PID?) necessary. I know I will never cast rifle boolits.

2. I have been casting with a Lee pot and ladle so bottom pour is new to me. Do you, should I, put something like cat litter on the melt to keep down oxidation? If you do does that eliminate the need to reduce with wax or just cut down on the frequency?

3. Are they as sweet to use as they appear to be? People that have them love them. People that don't say you don't need it and can cast faster with 3 or 4 molds by hand. By the time I buy 2 more molds and a better bigger pot I'm getting close to the cost of the master caster. Also I might have a couple friends use it and I would think the learning curve of using the master caster will be much steeper than trying to teach somebody to cast with multiple moulds. I cast once with 2 moulds and after a little bit I got the hang of it but it seems like its a lot like trying to learn to line dance. I CAN'T DANCE.

Thanks guys!

Scott

By the way I came home with 677#'s of range scrap (no jackets, lead only range) free for the labor of cleaning the "pit" yesterday to help feed this thing!

#1 No, the PID is not neccesary. The Master Pot on top of the Master Caster holds it's temp just fine
#2 I don't put anything on top of my melt and I also do not flux the lead in my pouring pot. Only clean lead goes in. I haven't had any issues doing that.
#3 There is a learning curve, but after you have used it a few times, it is easy. I think it is easier than using a RCBS Pro-Melt with molds on handles which I still have. I can produce more bullets on the Master Caster with it's one 2 cavity mold in one hour than I can with the RCBS Pro-Melt and a 6 cavity mold in one hour.

The Master Caster is going to be close to $1100 without a mold with shipping. Magma charges $93 per mold plus shipping. Accurate Molds will make any of their designs in Master Caster style blocks, but you will need to buy mounting hardware and sprue plate for the Accurate mold from Magma.

For that kind of money, you can get a Pro-Melt and a lot of molds.

[ReloaderFred]

The Master Caster is easy to use, and you don't need a PID. I set the temperature on both of mine and they hold it just fine. As long as you put clean alloy in the Master Caster, you shouldn't need to flux, and I certainly wouldn't put kitty litter on it, since some kitty litter is nothing but clay.

Once you get a rhythm going with the machine, it's simple to operate. Be sure to wear leather gloves, especially on your right hand, as the constant contact with the lever will wear a sore spot after several hours if not wearing gloves.

I've given up handcasting completely after using my Master Casters. When I'm in the mood, I can cast for 8 hours with the Master Caster, but hand casting wears me out in about 2 hours....

You can also find some deals on the auction sites for molds set up for the Master Caster. I just bought one for half price yesterday that I needed to fill a hole in my .32 mold list....

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Lefty bullseye shooter]

Guys,
Thanks for the reply's. Like I said before the people that have them seem to love them. I am looking forward to getting mine! I know I can do it cheaper by hand casting but ease of use is worth something also. I plan on casting for a couple of guys. I'm a highmaster bullseye shooter and another buddy is a highmaster also and two more are masters so we shoot a fair amount of 45. It's a lot of work to hand cast and lube then give away bullets. I've talked with my highmaster friend and I think he's gonna come over with a couple of cold diet Pepsi's and i'll cast and he can lube/size (previous cast and aged) bullets in my shop with the fire going and the radio on and get some good bullets at a very nice price.

another question. Do you pre-heat the molds or just cast a few then dump the bin and get started?

Scott

[VHoward]

I have used a torch on the mold for a few minutes. It cuts the amount of culls down a lot.

[ReloaderFred]

I've found that once a mold is broken in, it only takes a few casts to start getting good bullets. When I turn on my Master Casters, I make sure the mold is in the pour position, directly under the spout. The radiated heat from the pot helps to warm up the sprue cutter and that helps get good bullets faster. I seldom have to do more than 10 casts to get good bullets from a broken in mold.

Be sure to lube the sprue cutter and top of the mold. I use a small spray bottle and I spray some generic Pam in the bottle and put in an equal amount of denatured alcohol and shake it up. When I feel the mold starting to get a little sticky, or see some lead on the top of the mold after casting for awhile, I manually open the sprue cutter and turn it all the way back, leaving the bullets in the mold and the mold closed. Then I'll give the top of the mold a little squirt, move the sprue cutter all the way in the opposite direction and give the rest of the top of the mold a little squirt. That way the entire top of the mold where the sprue cutter contacts is lubed. I also squirt the top of the sprue cutter and that helps the sprue to slide right off. The key is not getting too much lube, or you're going to get wrinkled bullets until the lube is no longer inside the mold cavities.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Tazza]

You won't look back. I was lucky enough to get mine second hand years ago, it has more than paid its self off. It's not as fast as a lee 6 banger, but it is much easier on your body.

I ran mine for years without a PID, the only reason i have one now is because the thermostat rusted up, so it was changed because of necessity.

[truckerdave397]

I have this one coming. Just a matter of picking in up.

[Tazza]

Looks exactly like mine, can i ask how much you got it for?

[wlkjr]

Wish I could find a used one. I hate to go whole hog

[Tazza]

They are expensive.... I'd never have thought i could justify the cost new, but with the amount i have cast with it, i think i could have. Mine cost me $400 plus $200 shipping by sea. It came with 3 molds.

Over here, our cast projectiles in the shops for 9mm 125 gr are about $60/500. I don't get to shoot as much as i used to, but it's nice to know i can go have a huge day at the range and i won't be worried about the cost of reloading the empty cases. A mate and I used to go down almost every weekend at shoot at least 200 at a time, one day was 1,200 just to get rid of loaded ammo. What a day that was!!!

[wlkjr]

I thought they took away all your guns.

[Tazza]

Thankfully not ALL. First they took all semi-auto rifles, i got into shooting after that BS came along, so i have never shot a semi-auto rifle we can still own bolt action ones though, also, pump action shotties are gone too.

The pistol buy back came later, i owned a .45, it was deemed to be too dangerous. It could be kept but you needed to use it for silhouette, a semi-auto for that? not gonna fly. Plus, it really wasn't a comp i enjoyed so it went by by. H&H USP expert.

The stupid thing is, i used that money to buy a .38 super race gun. It cycles insanely fast, shoots flatter than the .45 ever did, same energy but a smaller hole. You explain the logic there?

We can still fairly easily own .38 revolvers, 9mm and .22 pistols. They have a minimum barrel length of just under 5" i think, so no more pocket pistols etc.

[wlkjr]

So I assume you don't have crime now.

[Tazza]

Of course that has eradicated the problem, the government decided it would happen, so why wouldn't it work? You offer a no questions asked surrender of non registered firearms, of course the bad guys will hand them in for no pay what so ever, what were you thinking?

I do agree with the licensing side of things, to get a license here you need to do a safety course so you have a better idea of what to do and not to do, yeah it's obvious but it's still a good idea. The register of guns in a way is good too, but it means they know what you have and if they decide to change the laws, they know where you live to come collect it. The part that really pi$$es us off is the fact that someone does something with a gun, the licensed owners get the blame, even when it's an illegal gun used.

*end rant*

[wlkjr]

I found a used Master Caster with PID and jumped on it. I have three different molds on the way also. I'll be a casting fool before long. I have a good supply of lead and also found some 50/50 solder bars that I bought. One of the good members here sent me some raw .45 boolits and I have practiced coating them with H-Tek powder. They turned out beautiful. I can't wait to make my own. I hope that experience will be as good as the coating turned out to be.

[ProfGAB101]

There are few better ways to spend a sunday afternoon when the weather outside is in the crapper. Fire up your fav mp3 playlists and crank out a few hundred lbs of raw bullets. I have a vent hood for mine but since I use only clean known ingots I don't have any smoke and only turn on the fan when I flux the pot which might be twice in a 12hr casting session. Using quality clean ingots makes it so much easier.

[ProfGAB101]

So I assume you don't have crime now.

Don't be Ridiculous! The conspiring criminals who succeeded in outlawing private weapons are still in office, crime goes on as business as usual except perhaps with less unflattering news coverage for the common folk.