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Thread: Master Caster.....should I?

  1. #1
    Boolit Bub
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    Master Caster.....should I?

    Let me start by saying I'm a competition shooter, that needs more practice. So I need to shoot more. I have tried casting with limited results. I don't have much time to spare so I am looking to make as many boolits as possible in a short amount of time. Powder coating is also what I like vs other lubes. I sell tires and can get as much wheel weight lead as I want. I must have 1500 lbs in my garage right now.
    It seems there is not much info on the master caster, here people rave about them......but the search function only gives me about 10 threads. Half are about automation.
    I want to increase the amount of good boolits, I don't trust my hand casting enough yet to not weigh and measure each boolit yet.
    If I get a master caster, can I use straight clip on wheel weight lead? I read many people even report stick on lead works with powder coating. That would be real nice for me as my shop uses stick on weight 3 to1 clip on.
    I guess the main questions about the machine are
    Is it alloy sensitive?
    Does it make consistent boolits?
    Does it take more of the human factor out?
    I would of course get the electronic temp control to take that out of the equation. I shoot 9mm right now, but will also get .40 for when I move to limited division and shoot major power factor.
    Any help would be appreciated as this is not a easy amount of money for me to spend......but it will be more cost effective than buying bullets after 2-3 years.

  2. #2
    Boolit Master

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    Just an idea. I bet these people would answer some of those questions.

    http://www.magmaengineering.com/master-caster/

    I'm sure you have already contacted them.

    762
    Hope for the best, plan for the worst.
    My amendment can beat up your amendment.

  3. #3
    Boolit Buddy
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    I don't have any experience with a master caster, (probably would be very nice for me though, maybe I should look into it) and have no idea how much one costs, but I just bought 1K 115g 9 mm ARMSCOR projectiles from Surplusammo for less than 75$.(and I bet you could do better if you look around) Seems pretty cheap to me. I got into casting to be able to shoot more too. somewhere along the line I got into swaging. I could of saved Boat Loads of money just buying components for reloading. But I wouldn't have had near as much FUN.
    Good Judgment comes from Experience, Experience comes from Bad Judgment !

  4. #4
    Boolit Buddy
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    Master Caster.....should I?

    I知 in a similar situation as you. I知 a competition shooter and I cast all my bullets on the Master Caster.

    First thing to know is that the Master Caster is exactly what you think it is. After warming up the mold the a Master Caster drops perfect bullets for as long as you care to pull the handle. Basically turns a pretty interesting process into a boring task but each bullet is perfect.

    I知 assuming you池e coating your bullets and if that痴 the case, wheel weight lead is a perfect alloy for 9mm and 40SW although you might want to add a pinch of tin to each batch of lead.

    If you shoot like me, the Master Caster will easily pay for itself in the first year but you値l lose a lot of free time you could be using to practice. (Smelting lead into Ingots, Casting, Coating and Sizing is time consuming).

    I知 always tempted to just buy a case a bullets when I start running low but inevitably I put the money back in my pocket and cast, coat and size yet another few thousand bullets to get me through the month. On the plus side, you値l never feel guilty about blasting a thousand rounds down range over a busy weekend, your ammo is basically free.



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    Last edited by razorfish; 02-25-2019 at 09:41 AM.

  5. #5
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    I have a ballisti-cast Mark IV that has the ability to hold several molds the Mark X holds 4 molds. The magma is much simpler to run. You need to know that casting takes time, sizing takes time also. If you don't have the time you have two options. You can purchase your bullets or you can automate the caster. The Magma's are a natural to automate and certainly worth the money to do so. Having said that there is a individual here on castboolits that sells a product to make automation a simple process. everything comes with a price however and you must weigh the costs of buying a caster, automation of the caster, or buying your bullets pre-made.

  6. #6
    Boolit Bub
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    Quote Originally Posted by 762 shooter View Post
    Just an idea. I bet these people would answer some of those questions.

    http://www.magmaengineering.com/master-caster/

    I'm sure you have already contacted them.

    762
    I did call them a couple days ago. They basically said yup just buy it.......typical sales answers. They were nice......and I tend to believe them, but asking here before selling a couple guns to fund this.

  7. #7
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    If I had it to do all over again I would purchase the Magma and automate it.

  8. #8
    Boolit Bub
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    Quote Originally Posted by razorfish View Post
    I’m in a similar situation as you. I’m a competition shooter and I cast all my bullets on the Master Caster.

    First thing to know is that the Master Caster is exactly what you think it is. After warming up the mold the a Master Caster drops perfect bullets for as long as you care to pull the handle. Basically turns a pretty interesting process into a boring task but each bullet is perfect.

    I’m assuming you’re coating your bullets and if that’s the case, wheel weight lead is a perfect alloy for 9mm and 40SW although you might want to add a pinch of tin to each batch of lead.

    If you shoot like me, the Master Caster will easily pay for itself in the first year but you’ll lose a lot of free time you could be using to practice. (Smelting lead into Ingots, Casting, Coating and Sizing is time consuming).

    I’m always tempted to just buy a case a bullets when I start running low but inevitably I put the money back in my pocket and cast, coat and size yet another few thousand bullets to get me through the month. On the plus side, you’ll never feel guilty about blasting a thousand rounds down range over a busy weekend, your ammo is basically free.



    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    This is the type of stuff I'm looking for! Thank you!

  9. #9
    Boolit Bub
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    Quote Originally Posted by 6bg6ga View Post
    I have a ballisti-cast Mark IV that has the ability to hold several molds the Mark X holds 4 molds. The magma is much simpler to run. You need to know that casting takes time, sizing takes time also. If you don't have the time you have two options. You can purchase your bullets or you can automate the caster. The Magma's are a natural to automate and certainly worth the money to do so. Having said that there is a individual here on castboolits that sells a product to make automation a simple process. everything comes with a price however and you must weigh the costs of buying a caster, automation of the caster, or buying your bullets pre-made.
    I already break my lead into ingots to clean it. I already size and coat my boolits. Im just making sure this will give me more consistent results. I would like it if I could take a day to cast and get a bunch of boolits in one shot. Thing is......I don't really like loading or casting......but I just need too to get better at shooting. I don't hate it......and I like it when someone asks....oh shooting acme bullets?
    I do feel a bit of pride when I say...nope made em myself.

  10. #10
    Boolit Grand Master
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    As an ex-competition shooter here is my experience.

    When I was poor, I used a 10 cavity mold and hand cast. Even though I was poor, I bought a Star lubri-sizer. GET THE STAR...nothing is faster if time is important to you.

    When I was not poor, I bought cast bullets or swaged bullets. Swaged were the 148 gr Remington HBWC....the most accurate bullet I ever tested for Bullseye.

    Now I have a Master Caster. Figure about 500 bullets an hour with the Master Caster. It works well and can be automated if you get tired of pulling the handle. Automating it will not increase production rate...that is dictated by bullet size (cooling), but you can operate it without fatigue so you produce more.

    It will produce bullets as good as any cast bullet you can purchase. I like to use one alloy to keep things consistent. If you want to run for long periods of time, have a second pot (like a cheap Lee) going to add hot lead. I like to keep the pot at 2/3 full as I believe keeping a more constant head pressure is beneficial to consistency.
    Don Verna


  11. #11
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    If you want to produce more bullets per hour you either purchase a used Ballisti-cast or purchase from the company that bought them out. A faster machine. The merits of the Magma is its simple to use simple to adjust and its like a Timex watch it just keeps going. The beauty of automation is the machine can be making bullets while the operator is powder coating or sizing and lubing or reloading. Sure, 500 bullets an hour isn't much but when you figure the machine is running and you are doing other tasks then its Godsend. Unfortunately I have found no way to automate mine so I'm stuck with it.

  12. #12
    Boolit Master
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    I'm a competition shooter also and use Accurate 5 cav molds, these can really put out a lot of bullets. I use the Hi-Tek coating which is much faster than powder coating and Yes I did try powder coating.

    "Thing is......I don't really like loading or casting" with this attitude you most likely won't like any casting system or loading system.

  13. #13
    Boolit Master
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    Bought a used one and never looked back. Changed my alloy to 92,6,2 and reduced my culls. I still inspect and weigh each bullet. I have a pile of cooling bullets, a pile of bullets I inspect while the pour cools in the mold, and a catch pan for the fresh out of the mold bullets.

    I reluctantly break out the Lee pot to use my multi cavity molds. I think I can mount my Lyman 4 cavity molds on the MC. I would just have to tap the sprue plate by hand.

    Emptying the pot to change alloys takes a while.
    QUIS CUSTODIET IPSOS CUSTODES?

  14. #14
    Boolit Master
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    adding a little bit of tin to the mix helps a lot for better boolits, and dropping out of the mold.
    my favorite handgun boolits for casting is bevel base, they fall out of the mold faster

  15. #15
    Boolit Master


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    Quote Originally Posted by 6bg6ga View Post
    If you want to produce more bullets per hour you either purchase a used Ballisti-cast or purchase from the company that bought them out. A faster machine. The merits of the Magma is its simple to use simple to adjust and its like a Timex watch it just keeps going. The beauty of automation is the machine can be making bullets while the operator is powder coating or sizing and lubing or reloading. Sure, 500 bullets an hour isn't much but when you figure the machine is running and you are doing other tasks then its Godsend. Unfortunately I have found no way to automate mine so I'm stuck with it.
    500 an hour? I can do 350 .45 ACP 200 gr SWC an hour with a 2 cavity mold and bottom pour pot. With a 4 cavity mold I can get that to around 650 per hour. With my 6 cavity brass MP 9mm mold I'm north of 1000 bullets an hour.

    For what an automated Master Caster costs......wow.

    The basic Master Caster at $1100 and manually operated is still a two cavity mold. To increase production use 4, 6, or 8 cavity molds.

    At least that's my thoughts.
    NRA Benefactor.

  16. #16
    Boolit Bub
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    Quote Originally Posted by Burnt Fingers View Post
    500 an hour? I can do 350 .45 ACP 200 gr SWC an hour with a 2 cavity mold and bottom pour pot. With a 4 cavity mold I can get that to around 650 per hour. With my 6 cavity brass MP 9mm mold I'm north of 1000 bullets an hour.

    For what an automated Master Caster costs......wow.

    The basic Master Caster at $1100 and manually operated is still a two cavity mold. To increase production use 4, 6, or 8 cavity molds.

    At least that's my thoughts.
    I have some lee 6 cavity, and a Lyman 4 cavity. I have a hard time dropping consistent boolits. I can drop plenty. Getting good ones to maximize my time is what I'm looking for. I think what my biggest problem in the past is temp. If I get the master caster with the digital temp.......sounds like that might be what I'm looking for.

  17. #17
    Boolit Buddy
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    If you want speed and even boolits, save up to a Magma Bullet Master. Then its no hassle to crank out 10 - 15 000 boolits a day, but with that volume you'll need a Lube Master to size..... and by then you can buy a lot of boolits from a comercial caster for the same amount of money!

    So..... What it all comes down to is, what speed do you need, and what are you willing to pay for that?

    Sent fra min SM-G930F via Tapatalk

  18. #18
    Boolit Bub
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    Quote Originally Posted by hunter74 View Post
    If you want speed and even boolits, save up to a Magma Bullet Master. Then its no hassle to crank out 10 - 15 000 boolits a day, but with that volume you'll need a Lube Master to size..... and by then you can buy a lot of boolits from a comercial caster for the same amount of money!

    So..... What it all comes down to is, what speed do you need, and what are you willing to pay for that?

    Sent fra min SM-G930F via Tapatalk
    The master caster will be fast enough. At least I'm not willing to put more than 2000 into this thing. It looks like it has an acceptable production rate for me.

  19. #19
    Boolit Grand Master
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    tbobbo,

    The Master Caster will do a good job for you, and even if you decide to sell it you will lose very little on it. The other thing to consider is that you can always automate it for about $1200-1500 and produce a lot of bullets with little effort if you need to produce more bullets. It can run "in the background" as you do other things, just set a timer so you fill it with alloy as needed.
    Don Verna


  20. #20
    Boolit Master


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    Quote Originally Posted by tbobbo View Post
    I have some lee 6 cavity, and a Lyman 4 cavity. I have a hard time dropping consistent boolits. I can drop plenty. Getting good ones to maximize my time is what I'm looking for. I think what my biggest problem in the past is temp. If I get the master caster with the digital temp.......sounds like that might be what I'm looking for.
    I was thinking about this today as I was doing some casting.

    1. What shooting sport are you involved in?
    2. What do you consider "consistent" bullets?

    With a bottom pour pot I can cast boolits with my molds and have a less than 2% reject rate. For example, my six cavity brass MP mold. The cavities cast within a grain spread. From start to finish in a session I'm no more than =/- 1 grain across all my boolits. With that mold I'll do ~1000 at a sitting (pot full). I've had sessions with no rejects. Now I don't weigh every boolit, nor do I need to. I shoot my club's defensive pistol matches. We use IPDA targets. I'm losing very little in score due to misses, however my scores will never be good due to mobility limitations. As long as I'm going 0 down on my targets I'm one happy duck.

    I use two pistols. A 1911 or a Canik TP9SFx with a red dot. My scores are a bit higher with the Canik due to fewer reloads and 9mm vs .45 ACP.

    During practice with the Canik I've put 100 rounds into an index card at 10 yards. Groups with the 1911 are just a hair bigger.

    This is all with bullets I cast and ammo I load. I don't sort my bullets by weight, I don't sort brass, and once the powder measure is set up I don't check powder charges. I use a Dillon 650 to do my loading and the powder measure is accurate to 0.1 gr with the powders I use.

    Note that with the 9mm I'm using a 150 gr MP slick sided boolit with Ramshot Competition powder. The load data goes form 2.6 gr to 2.9 gr. I load at 2.7. This means out of any batch I'll have loads at 2.6, 2.7, and 2.8 gr of powder. I've been unable to detect a difference in where they shoot.

    Many of our stages require a head shot. I have no problem getting those. We also use a lot of clay target holders. I can hit those with no problem.

    I'm not now, nor have I ever been a Bullseye shooter. The sport fascinates me but I know that it's not for me. I don't require that level of accuracy in my choice of shooting sport.
    NRA Benefactor.

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BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
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