Just joined the forum after lurking for a few weeks. Looks like a great place with a lot of knowledge. I am from Iowa and most interested in muzzleloaders, though I do have other guns for the ladies in my house really enjoy shooting.
With advice from this forum and youtube I dove into casting this week. It went very well IMO but room for improvement no doubt. Here is my experience so far.
I am using what is pure soft lead from an ebay seller. May not be 100% pure but it is certainly very soft. I picked up two Lee molds. A Lee R.E.A.L. 250g and a roundball in 50 CAL. Both are double molds. After a few pours the bullets appear "correct" 90% of the time. My ladle technique isn't perfect yet. I cull everything that doesn't look excellent. After they cool, I mic them and it seems I get two sizes. About 60% of them seem right according to what I have read on forums. First land about .501-.502, last land about .510-.512. The smaller bullets are several thousands smaller though they appear nice. First land at .499 or it hits the remelt pile. The roundballs are consistently at .489 to .490. I use some DIY bullet lube, (Paraffin wax, toilet bowl rings, a bit of Johnson paste wax). I added some olive and veggie oil to thin it down a bit after a few tests. I definitely free styled the lube recipe a bit. It kept the fouling down so I am good with it as is for now.
So off to the range to the range I go for a test fire. A Traditions Pursuit rifle, and a couple 50 cal pistols. My first impression was these REAL bullets load way too darned easy in all my guns. Nothing like I am used to. The round ball shoots just like any store bought RB I have ever used. The REAL 250g were respectable with my limited experience. I only shot about 15 rounds with the rifle and I am playing with the powder charge still . Groupings were typically about 2-3" at 50-60yds with an occasional flyer. I'd like to tighten that up a bit. Inexpensive playing at the range is my intent for these bullets. We don't have wide-open range spaces I can shoot in Iowa. My intent is to use sabots for longer ranges and hunting. If I could eventually cast my own for longer ranges that would be great, but it's not required for this to be a success.
I am getting a little windy for my first post so I will stop typing now. Any advice welcomed and ask away if I left out any critical info.
P.S. I have a powder coater to include the spray gun. I can make these bullets a little larger if it will actually help.