Greetings

[Base534]

Greetings guys !
I am astounded at the amount of knowledge here. I have been reloading for over 13 years but just started casting my own with a friend. It was done on his equiptment but i did a lot of it and am going to get my own.
Question is this : We pan lubed some bullets and i shot them and they shot well. Do i have to wipe the bases off each of the bullets to get the lube off to avoid contaminating the powder ? I have a bunch of rounds left that i didnt load and before i load a batch of 500, i would like to know what to do.
I forget what mixture he used but i guess it would pertain to any mixture, wouldnt it ?
Also im looking to get a basic kit to get started, is the Lyman kit a good one or does anyone have any recommendations ? Would buying individual products be the better way to go ?
Thanks for any and all help.

[WILCO]

Greetings guys!

Welcome aboard Base534!!

[Shiloh]

I wonder what the combined centuries of knowlege is on the forum. I cast better, more accurate boolits from knowledge gained on this forum. It's the best casting forum there is.

Shiloh

[mold maker]

If you intend to ladle cast, it's a bargain. You can always use the pot and ladle to preheat alloy, to add to a bottom pour later. The price of the kit is about the price of the sizer alone.

[mdi]

I wipe the bases of my pan lubed boolits. I use homemade and Carnuba Red and I don't know if they have anything that will contaminate the powder, but I wipe anyway. I've been using a Lee Pro4 20 lb. pot for about three years and haven't had any problems with it. It's a bottom pour, but sometimes I'll use a ladle depending on how I feel. Mine does not have the "Drip-o-matic" feature.

[JSnover]

I wipe mine to keep the lube out of the powder, also to keep unburnt powder from sticking to the base

[HORNET]

Shiloh,
There's a thread up in the Shooters.com forum titled "Accumulated Casting Knowledge" that's been running for a while. The current experience total is about 5569 years. Even more in dog years......

[canyon-ghost]

I use the Lyman kit, bought a second one. The part I like is that it's portable enough to carry out into the carport and back in. My current count goes something like this: 600 rounds of .22 Hornet, 300 rounds of 9mm, 200 rounds of 32-20. All of this is loaded ammo, made single stage benchrest style. The Lyman lubersizer sells for about the same price as the kit it comes in. The Master Casting Kit is a bargain, the book is great but, you'll need current load manuals too.
The only addition, a lube heater. Easy to install. I'm pouring several calibers (all ladle cast from the Lyman) and some are gas checked (included gas check seater). I just use Lyman and RCBS most of the time.

I learned something by not wiping the bases on the 9mm, that lube can be blown up into the throat, causing some heavy fouling. You only want the grooves in the bullet lubed, that's all.

[geargnasher]

I wipe my bases if there is any lube on them except for the ones I tumble lube with Liquid Alox/Johnson's Paste wax blend. I use a thin rag or blue paper shop-towel misted with paint thinner spread out on a board and just wipe after I size in my Lyman sizer.

The Lyman kit you mention is very good, but IMO you may do better and spend much less money piecing together your casting kit from a few different places. Depending on your budget and whether you think you might want to ladle pour or bottom pour, I would highly recommend the super cheap and very effective Lee furnaces. Lee push-through sizer dies are also really handy, very good and also cheap. (use for pan lubing and tumble lubing) The venerable Lyman sizer (or any of the other virtuall identical ones from other makers) is very tough to beat for a "Universally good" sizer/luber. RCBS or Saeco Moulds get my vote for storebought beginner's tools. Lyman has been making lousy moulds lately with scored and rough cavities that often cast undersized boolits, a real headache, so I would avoid them. Lee moulds are ok once you really get the hang of casting, but they can make you pull your hair out. A good, expensive, iron or steel mould is a joy to cast with and is one place I would say pony up and spend the money.

Lyman, RCBS, and others make fine furnaces but I can't justify spending the money on one.

Just my little .02.

Welcome to the addiction!

Gear

[Base534]

Thanks for the help guys, its truly appreciated. Im thinking along the lines of using a ladle pour as the bottom pour one worked well but how long do they hold up for ? And do they ever seize up or clog ?
Anyway, thanks for the advice about the lubeing. I will try to use the search function so as not to post questions that have been posted dozens of times over and over. I have been reading gun forums for quite a while now and it seems like this one is decidely different than the others in a few respects, all good ones i might add.
Anyway, thanks again. Its appreciated.

[wiljen]

Thanks for the help guys, its truly appreciated. Im thinking along the lines of using a ladle pour as the bottom pour one worked well but how long do they hold up for ? And do they ever seize up or clog ?

The bottom pours last pretty well. I relined one of the 10 lbs bottom pours lately, after a mere 15 years of use, and parts were about $15 from lee to put it back in service. They can clog up but a small nail and a blow torch will usually open them up again in short order.