BEST ADVICE to a NEWBY . . . . ?

[OS OK]

We have lots of Newbs that come through this forum but many are afraid to post...for whatever reasons.

What would be your best couple of tips for them?
Think about when you first got started...what tripped you up or what was hard for you to grasp?

Maybe you have a good tip on what not to do...what would that be?

[Winger Ed.]

Spend some time here reading the 'stickies'.

It will greatly shortcut their learning curve.

And don't make extra work for yourself.
There's plenty of other people who are more than glad to do that for ya.

[sureYnot]

Do not cast up 15 pounds of boolits with a new mold until you've had success in your firearm.

Sent from my XT1710-02 using Tapatalk

[RED BEAR]

Read read read and ask questions the only dumb question is the one not asked.

[truckjohn]

First is to buy or get gifted some cast bullets to try out. Figure out what size your guns need. Make sure that shooting them goes like you think before you drop a pile of $$$ on the stuff. Remember that 500 rifle bullets will last a LONG LONG time for most people. You can still buy 500 cast rifle bullets for less than the cost of the initial setup and that would last most of us well over 10 years. And 500 pistol bullets will still last a long long time unless you are a high volume target shooter.

Why try before you buy? Well - it's another hobby all of it's own. It takes up time. It also requires a stack of dedicated equipment.

Anyway.... So you are getting into it....

Be sure to buy a pair of heavy leather welding gloves. This stuff gets flaming hot and you will burn your hands bad.

Next is to buy a big dipper. You can use a cheap soup ladle if you want - they work fine. The little Lee dippers are cheap but way too small. The RCBS cast iron pouring dipper is fine for smaller molds but too small for the bigger ones.

Last is lube stuff... I waited way too long to buy a lube sizer and wish I had not waited. It simply makes everything 10,000 easier and so much less messy than trying to hand lube bullets.

[mattw]

Best advice... read here and re-read here. Next thing would be.. stick to published loads for a good while. Learn your load, your gun and what to expect. Blowing up a gun would not be a good time to learn that W231 is not a universal fill the case powder for your use! To that end, be very careful when working up a load, start low and ladder it up a few tenths at a time and monitor for signs that indicate you have topped out.

I actually was told one time that most loads work best if smokeless powder is compressed, even though many of those loads are over max load data! I got away from that dude!

[JBinMN]

We have lots of Newbs that come through this forum but many are afraid to post...for whatever reasons.

What would be your best couple of tips for them?
Think about when you first got started...what tripped you up or what was hard for you to grasp?

Maybe you have a good tip on what not to do...what would that be?

I was recently berated by a longtime member here that I was giving out "too advanced" of info for a beginner, and I am supposed to "assume" every beginner is just an ignorant slow learner, rather than posting the info to Help them learn & let them ask questions about what was posted if they did not understand it...
{ I guess I am supposed to take the view that every person who is a new member here is a beginner & is a slow learner as well, so not to overload them with what I consider "pretty simple" methods to make accurate boolits or reloads. How could I think such things?}

So, I think I am not gonna post anymore advice to beginners, or if I do think it is worth it, I will do it by PM. Since I am supposed to just "assume they are ignorant" as a beginner, or that they can't comprehend detailed instructions on how to do something.
{ Killing the whole reason for having an "open forum" about casting & reloading. Because then no one gets the info, but the person that receives the PM... Ain't that a great idea, eh?}


Or, I might just stop posting anything handloading related at all...
{ Just spend my time in a CASTBOOLITS & GUNLOADS forum, talking about other things... ??? Since one is supposed to keep things so simple(K.I.S.S.) that an ignorant "beginning caster", or reloader can understand it & not share anything more complicated about casting & reloading until they have a higher post count, prove up their experience & knowledge, or some ** like that...}

I am now understanding more & more why people leave this forum, and/or, just post to folks to help them by PM.

{Not surprising anymore at all. Just might have to adopt that style myself...}

I have now explained what I was told to do with beginners by someone else here who has been a member for some time & am sharing it so you all can know about this method as well...

{BTW, I hope this post was not too long & complicated for "beginning casters & reloaders" to read & understand. It would be a **** shame now , wouldn't it... Just doing what a longtime member here says is the "right thing to do for beginners"...Since he has been here such a long time, he must be right, eh?}

[country gent]

I have a couple for new reloaders and casters from experience.
1) keep detailed notes on what your doing, what has worked what didn't
Casting, temps alloys preheats style casting pot used every detail for the given session mould
reloading: dies set used detailed load, brass, any prep done, rifle , press used evert thing you may think of.

this way you can repeat what works and skip what didn't, or repeat results at any time in the future. As time goes and the notes become more complete and detailed they become more valuable.

Read and use a good published source of load data and information. Lymans manuals are very good all around RCBS, Sierra, Hornady, And others are good also. Have a current one on the bench and use it.

[quilbilly]

Do not cast up 15 pounds of boolits with a new mold until you've had success in your firearm.

Sent from my XT1710-02 using Tapatalk

Ain't that the truth!! Don't get too caught up in details of casting. That comes later. High velocity is overrated.

[Kraschenbirn]

Before casting that first batch of boolits, go out and invest in a copy of the Lyman Cast Bullets Handbook and read the text chapters, page by page, taking notes on anything he/she doesn't understand, then, post questions here.

Bill

[swheeler]

1-I would say get yourself a couple reloading manuals and a cast bullet manual, Lyman Third is great. Put one of them beside your bed and start reading at page one until the end, and so on until you have a few under your belt.

2-Never take any load data off the internet without comparing it to some form of published data, verify-verify-verify, typos happen, people get old and transpose numbers and they will swear under oath they are correct- WRONG!

3- Above all else use common sense, start low and work up!!

[bmortell]

if you have a micrometer, when buying a push through sizer die buy the size .001 under and lap it to the exact size you want. the increase in tolerance roundness and smoothness is worth it. the last .430 I bought measured .4295 by .4305 oblong.

you just need to chuck a round rod of anykind in a drill, tape a strip of paper on the front to roll up, and a strip of sandpaper, grit depending on how much to remove. shorten the paper or add tape to fit tight. start by taking a boolit cast of pure, push it through the sizer make sure it contacts fully, measure. spin the drill contraption in it for a moment, squish the boolit top to bottom till it measures a few thousands bigger so it will contact the new larger sizer, size, measure. and repeat till happy. to determine final size you can base off of bore slugging, leading, accuracy ect., I prefer also catching a boolit in water jugs will cloth backstop and seeing if there's any gas cutting from being to small. most times if your close but getting a tiny bit of gas cutting you only need to lap .0005 bigger and it may stop.

guess that's not completely beginner advice but its good after you got basics of casting and loading

[mdi]

1. Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook.
2. K.I.S.S. Don't overthink casting.
3. Peruse forums here and read stickies. Trust in castboolits.com for true/good info
and ignore "they said" or "I heard" info.
4. Practice. I've read; "the only way to cast bullets is to cast bullets...

[wv109323]

Get Lyman manual
Bottom pour furnace
Good mold for caliber
Verify lead temperature via thermometer or PID
Hot plate for molds
Star lubrisizer

[OS OK]

I was recently berated by a longtime member here that I was giving out "too advanced" of info for a beginner, and I am supposed to "assume" every beginner is just an ignorant slow learner, rather than posting the info to Help them learn & let them ask questions about what was posted if they did not understand it...
{ I guess I am supposed to take the view that every person who is a new member here is a beginner & is a slow learner as well, so not to overload them with what I consider "pretty simple" methods to make accurate boolits or reloads. How could I think such things?}

So, I think I am not gonna post anymore advice to beginners, or if I do think it is worth it, I will do it by PM. Since I am supposed to just "assume they are ignorant" as a beginner, or that they can't comprehend detailed instructions on how to do something.
{ Killing the whole reason for having an "open forum" about casting & reloading. Because then no one gets the info, but the person that receives the PM... Ain't that a great idea, eh?}


Or, I might just stop posting anything handloading related at all...
{ Just spend my time in a CASTBOOLITS & GUNLOADS forum, talking about other things... ??? Since one is supposed to keep things so simple(K.I.S.S.) that an ignorant "beginning caster", or reloader can understand it & not share anything more complicated about casting & reloading until they have a higher post count, prove up their experience & knowledge, or some ** like that...}

I am now understanding more & more why people leave this forum, and/or, just post to folks to help them by PM.

{Not surprising anymore at all. Just might have to adopt that style myself...}

I have now explained what I was told to do with beginners by someone else here who has been a member for some time & am sharing it so you all can know about this method as well...

{BTW, I hope this post was not too long & complicated for "beginning casters & reloaders" to read & understand. It would be a **** shame now , wouldn't it... Just doing what a longtime member here says is the "right thing to do for beginners"...Since he has been here such a long time, he must be right, eh?}

JB...it's been this way for along time now, I suppose that there's just one forum left where NEWB's are welcome & encouraged, they have no fear of being berated and we try to bring them up with sound advice and plenty of links to the 'primer' type reading materials. Then we do a lot of discussion and follow through...they have been up and running for a year now this April.

thereloadersnetwork.com and their slack.thereloadersnetwork.com chat channel, lotz of content creators there, it is a most unusual place.

*If I were to give just one sound bit of advice, I'd say to try your best to find a seasoned reloader/caster near your home and get some first hand-hands on experience even before you invest a lot of money in what you think you want...the shop equipment will morph quickly the first year. Most of us have a junk drawer full of miscellaneous tools and gizmos that we have outgrown.

But where do I find a mentor? Just ask...

[daloper]

My best advice is to update their location. It is possible that there will be someone close by that would show them the ropes first hand. Don't be afraid to seek out a mentor.

[GhostHawk]

Bullet fit is king, worry about the other variables after you know you have that sorted.

1-3 thousandths over groove is what I aim for. Most cases 1 or 2 but a given gun needs what it needs. I have a couple of 9mm guns that get .359 or .3595 cast. Smaller keyholes, and shotgun patterns.

Each new caliber is a journey, each will teach you something if your paying attention.
Or in some cases remind you of something you may have forgotten.

Don't sweat the speed. A big cast lead bullet will kill from 800 fps clear on up to high speed jacketed range. Also speed can be counter productive for penetration.

Fast powders like Red Dot to go slow, Slow rifle powders to go fast.

Your choice, you want to spend 3-6 grains of Red Dot? Or 40-55 grains of slow powder?
7k grains in a pound. Do the math.

[JBinMN]

*If I were to give just one sound bit of advice, I'd say to try your best to find a seasoned reloader/caster near your home and get some first hand-hands on experience even before you invest a lot of money in what you think you want...the shop equipment will morph quickly the first year. Most of us have a junk drawer full of miscellaneous tools and gizmos that we have outgrown.

But where do I find a mentor? Just ask...

Funny.. I made that same "suggestion", about finding a "mentor", in the very first post for another "new member" asking a question, and it was the very first suggestion I made in that topic where I got the **, but apparently, I guess it was too complicated for a "beginning caster" or reloader...

Have a look...

Here is the first part (1 of 3 or 4) of my first post there in that topic:

Welcome to CB.GL Forum!


I have a few suggestions for you...

Since you said you got the lead/alloys from a LGS (Local Gun Shop), it means they must know of someone who is casting their own boolits, as well as someone who knows what WW & 60/40 means & how the may be used for casting boolits. ("WW" could mean, SOWW= "Stick On Wheel Weight", or COWW = "Clip On Wheel Weight. While I would reckon they meant COWW, it would be worth asking about them, as there is a difference in hardness with SOWW being about 6-7 BHN & COWW being up around 10-12, IIRC) , and that will also make a difference on how hard or soft your boolits turn out & that can be an issue with leading & other performance problems down the line...

So, #1, I would suggest you ask them there if there is someone who you can talk to ( like a "mentor) to learn a bit more from someone who actually has cast boolits for a while & maybe get some good knowledge from someone "right there" in your area who can help you get on your way.

While there are well experienced & knowledgeable folks here at CB.GL Forum, IMO it is much better to have a source nearby if you can find one to help you pick up on some of the more basics of casting, then add to that with more as you progress in your own knowledge & experience.

Up to you, but that is suggestion #1.

And later on... The following...

Hint; K.I.S.S. Some of the "suggestions" are involved enough, long enough to be a magazine article, and way overkill for a new caster.

Range lead is fine for a beginning caster. I even bought range lead from a Vendor Sponsor here and it normally runs 9-11 BHN (when I started casting I wasn't overly concerned with BHN and 98% of my casting was with wheel weights and range lead). Alloying can wait for now, as making good bullets, learning how to process and load them is more important (bullet to gun fit is very important). BTW, 60/40 is solder not bullet lead.

For now, your most important measurements; Bullet diameter and for your 9mm, groove diameter, and OAL. Just make sure the finished cartridge fits the chamber.

Load data is in your manual, stick with that.

Look at your Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook for casting and loading info.

Most forum responses are good, but many new reloader's threads start out with a simple question, and the next few posts are good answers then they morph into advanced techniques and theory, very often just adding confusion to a new reloader/caster's simple request. Since the newbe isn't informed enough to separate the "wheat from the chaff", he is often left frustrated and confused...

So, again, K.I.S.S.
Go slow. Double check everything. And most important, have fun...

Source:http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...=1#post4627906


---------------

So, here is a tip for "beginners" or "old hats" alike...

If you are gonna go "sniping" at someone for their posts content, make sure to "kill your target", because otherwise, they will likely "return fire" when they get the chance to "snipe" back...

How is that for a "tip"...

[T_McD]

Meh. Best advice is to just do it, learn a little then ask questions. None of this is terribly difficult and most people learn more from trying for 20 minutes then hours of “reading the stickies”.

[brewer12345]

Lyman 4th
use a hotplate
pick a basic 2 cavity mold for an easy caliber (38 special, 45 ACP, etc.)
figure out bullet fit. much more important than alloy, etc.
consider powder coating. Just started and it is easy and works well.
use safety gear: welder's gloves, leather apron, face shield. This is molten metal we are dealing with.