Considering Casting

[bangerjim]

I don't know why everybody starting out casting/hand loading begins with 9mm ............one of the hardest cals to load for with cast.

Start with your 38SP first. Get that one down good and then move into the 9mm. 45ACP is not that easy either, depending on your guns and the throats.

I like looooong cases! 38SP, 44SP/MAG, 45LC. Lots of room in there.


And it is your GUN BARREL that determines whether you need sizing, not the mold. "FIT IS KING" today. Slug your barrel to determine what you need to cast/size to. BTW.........I have NOT found a "bad" mold.........just bad casting/loading practices by the user!

[a.squibload]

Search threads for "leementing": cast a boolit, drill hole in base, insert screw, coat boolit with valve compound or similar,
insert boolit in mould cavity, rotate by hand. I polish almost every mould I get, sometimes to increase diameter and sometimes just to polish the surface so boolits drop out easier. Smoking a mould is temporary & doesn't always work.

Also check metal scrap yards if there are any near you, some will sell lead, I get pretty good stuff for less than $1/lb.
If you use steel targets you can pick up a few pounds of bullets while the other guys are changing their paper.
I used to get 10 lbs or more every time I went shootin. Just easier to buy scrap.

Thrift store stainless pot and a ladle beats the price of an electric bottom pour pot, and it won't drip!
'Course you'll need a propane burner, easy to make, salvage regulator from an old grill.
Have fun shootin' your own boolits!

[MT Chambers]

good luck on your new endeavor, good tools will yield good boolits, stay away from Lee stuff unless you are destitute, even then, save until you can get some good, solid equip. I like good molds made from iron or brass, such as RCBS, saeco, lyman although you have to nail down " as cast dia." as these days some are coming out small(Lyman). Some aluminum molds are okay but they wear out ,Noe, accurate, LBT, are names that come to mind of molds I'd buy again. I have some molds made by NEI, Lee and others that are useless to me as they are worn out.

[cstrickland]

Hey All. I've been reloading for 15+yrs now, strictly for handgun, as that's all I really shoot these days. I only load for 45acp/9mm, occasionally 38spl. I recently ordered some cast bullets for 9mm, and if they yield good results in my M9A3, I think I want to try Casting my own. All I buy for 45acp & 38spl are cast bullets. What equipment do you guys recommend/suggest? 90% of my loads are for 45acp, as I shoot my 1911's the most. I've had success with purchased 200gr SWC & 230gr RN through the years, but willing to try other weights also. Any suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks!
PS: Is it true if you have a good bullet mold, sizing isn't necessary?

Welcome to the addiction ahh..... I mean hobby. You are now one of us who will save thousands in cost !!!

I will depart a little from what seems to be common train of thought. I cast for 9mm, 38 , 30 cal , 22 cal , 32 cal and some others. I do not feel casting for 9mm is anymore difficult than any other caliber.

I have been casting and shooting 9mm for a little while now. I started with a lee 2 cavity 356-120-TC, a camp stove and a ladle. I also started by powdercoating. Now I did read a lot first so I may have overcome the common issues that everyone says they have. I use a standard lee die set , but with a 32 SW expander in place of the 9mm. Now I will also state I do not use a FCD. Never had the need. the standard lee seating crimp die has worked fine for; I have lost count on how many rounds.

Best thing I can say is slug your barrel as I have heard Berettas, and Taurus 92 models all have over sized bores. I have head as much as 0.359, which will effect your size or not sizing question. Depends on what your mold drops. My 356-120-TC drop at 0.358ish, and then powdercoating takes them to 0.360 ish. In that combination if your barrel is oversized would be perfect as is.

[Dragonheart]

Search threads for "leementing": cast a boolit, drill hole in base, insert screw, coat boolit with valve compound or similar,
insert boolit in mould cavity, rotate by hand. I polish almost every mould I get, sometimes to increase diameter and sometimes just to polish the surface so boolits drop out easier. Smoking a mould is temporary & doesn't always work.

Also check metal scrap yards if there are any near you, some will sell lead, I get pretty good stuff for less than $1/lb.
If you use steel targets you can pick up a few pounds of bullets while the other guys are changing their paper.
I used to get 10 lbs or more every time I went shootin. Just easier to buy scrap.

Thrift store stainless pot and a ladle beats the price of an electric bottom pour pot, and it won't drip!
'Course you'll need a propane burner, easy to make, salvage regulator from an old grill.
Have fun shootin' your own boolits!

I have never polished a mold in my life and why should I? Quality molds like my H&G, Saeco, NOE, etc.are already cut to exacting measurements far better than I would acheive with stick in a hand drill. I have no undersized molds and if I wanted one I would order a custom mold. However I do have an old Lee mold where all the 6 cavities are different, but I don't consider Lee molds as quality molds. If I want bullets to drop I would simply color the bullet cavities with graphite from a #2 pencil of spray the cacities liquid graphite or a mold release. And I most certainly would not suggest to a person new to the process to start out by altering molds!

[a.squibload]

I have never polished a mold in my life and why should I? Quality molds like my H&G, Saeco, NOE, etc.are already cut to exacting measurements far better than I would acheive with stick in a hand drill. I have no undersized molds and if I wanted one I would order a custom mold. However I do have an old Lee mold where all the 6 cavities are different, but I don't consider Lee molds as quality molds. If I want bullets to drop I would simply color the bullet cavities with graphite from a #2 pencil of spray the cacities liquid graphite or a mold release. And I most certainly would not suggest to a person new to the process to start out by altering molds!

I don't consider Lee moulds as high quality but I have a lot of 'em and they work.
Also wouldn't characterize polishing as "altering" but it will fix the sticky mould problem.
Have a couple NOE hp moulds that were hell for sticking on the hp stems, polished the stems
with fine valve compound and Mother's mag wheel paste, they're a lot easier to use now!
My newest NOE mould drops boolits pretty easy, noticed the grease grooves are rounded,
that seems to help release as well. Buy what you can afford at the time, but new guys can't
always buy H&Gs, etc.

[dtknowles]

I actually consider being able to get good performance from as cast bullets to be an advanced activity. The easy button is slug your barrel, get a sizer that is one thou greater than your groove diameter and get an expander that is groove diameter. The reason you need the sizer is that depending on the mold, your casting temperature and the alloy it would be blind luck if your bullets will drop at one thou or even only two thou over your groove diameter. If you are feeling lucky you could wait on getting the sizer and see if oversized bullets will even function in your gun. This would not be the end of the world as you would only be stuck for the amount of time it would take to order and get delivered the sizer.

If you have dies you could measure your expander but I expect it is 0.355" so you are going to need to get a bigger one unless your groove diameter is 0.355" or smaller. Really you should have already slugged your bore and told us that as part of asking for advice.

I don't think anyone has mentioned it but you should have a micrometer or a good caliper so you can measure diameters. Other helpful measurements would be ID, OD of case mouths at all stages of processing. Factory ammo, fired ammo, sized cases, expanded cases, reloaded ammo.

The stars could be in alignment for you and as cast tumble lubed or powder coated bullets might be fine in your gun. Your existing expander might even be fine.

Tim

[a.squibload]

Start here: http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_Contents.htm

Ask questions after reading. It covers a lot and is invaluable.

Thanks for posting that link, finally downloaded it, kept forgetting to.
I've been learning the hard way: research on Castboolits! :>)
Thought I was an expert but there's always somethin' I didn't know I didn't know.

It says the .pdf file is pictures only but there are plenty in it.

Edit: it says no pics.

[robg]

i did compare sized to unsized boolits for accuracy and found my molds cast boolits that were consistent in size and were as accurate as sized boolits .i did not mean just to shoot them without checking first.sorry i was not clear.

[remy3424]

I have been casting and shooting 9mm for a little while now. I started with a lee 2 cavity 356-120-TC, a camp stove and a ladle. I also started by powdercoating. Now I did read a lot first so I may have overcome the common issues that everyone says they have. I use a standard lee die set , but with a 32 SW expander in place of the 9mm. Now I will also state I do not use a FCD. Never had the need. the standard lee seating crimp die has worked fine for; I have lost count on how many rounds.

I am sure "38 S&W" was intended and it will make life much easier when loading cast in the 9mm. Lots of great information in this site. Read every here related to what you want to do here, post questions when you have problems. Many great folks with a wealth of knowledge and experience to back them-up, many opinionated, but they believe in their methods, filter as needed and do what works for you. A fun hobby and one less component you need to worry about sourcing in short-supply enviroments, such as we are currently experiencing.