How cheap can I be??

[lylejb]

So, where do I find some pure tin for cheap? I really don't want to buy a big bar from RotoMetals just yet.

back to the thrift shop!!

Genuine pewter is 90%+ tin, sometimes as high as 98% tin. Close enough to pure for our uses.

Lots of threads on here about how to recognize real pewter vs. fakes

Just remember were not looking for collectables, were going to melt it anyway. Bent, dings, dents, that's ok as long as it's cheep.....it all melts the same.

so far, I'm at less than $5 / lb for pewter vs. almost $20 / lb for pure tin. The trick is only buy it if your sure it's genuine pewter, and only if it's cheep!

[TXGunNut]

Doing it on the cheap is quite possible but my initial casting outfit cost more than the rifle I was trying to cast for....and it was cost-effective because my first casts were better than what I was able to buy. I've bought another pot, well over a dozen moulds and a smelting outfit and I figure I'm still ahead of the game....just waiting for those "savings" to show up in my checking account, lol.
We reload to shoot more, we cast to shoot even more and a benefit is that we cast better boolits than we can buy. Yes, it helps to be a tightwad when getting into casting but nobody's saving any money here; we're just casting good boolits and having fun.

[sigep1764]

I just recently started casting. Bought a Lee 356-120 TC mold, handles, turkey burner, propane tank, cast iron skillet, muffin tin, Lee ten pound bottom pour pot. In it for a couple hundred bucks. Instantly saved that on my first two casting sessions. Also invested in a lyman4500 lubrisizer. $125 from cabelas. Pretty cheap if you ask me.

[sigep1764]

You just end up shooting more which equals a better shot. I went from shooting once a month to shooting once a week for less money when I started reloading. Now its even less cast I g by at least $200 a month.

[22 rifle]

i started with one of those small cast iron lead pots that sold for about 10 bucks a ladle and bullet mould.used step fathers propane lead melter,guy was a retired plumber.pan lubed and sized my bullets with a cheap lee kit that had a metal pan a tube cutter to get the bullets out of the hardened lube and a die and punch that you used with a hammer to size the bullets.had a grin on my face a mile wide when i shot my 1st ones thru my 44 mag.all of the stuff that i've got since then just makes it faster and easier.honestly can't say that the bullets that i make now are any better than the ones i made 35 years ago with my cheapo setup.

[rhead]

Just remember that for a lot of people they only needed one cigarette a day at the first.

As to calculating the savings do not neglect that any time spent casting, reloading, or shooting is therapy and should be charged out at $75 per hour.

[dondiego]

$75 seems low to me. I figure that my hobby time is worth more than any lawyer's time is. I am thinking $400 per hour.

[myg30]

Well, you don't *need* the smelting pot if you start out with an alloy that someone else has already smelted into a castable alloy.
You don't *need* a PID and although a thermometer is useful it is not absolutely necessary.
And I'm sure most of the rest of the stuff that you listed would be on the "nice to have" list instead of the "must have" list.

You need at the bare minimum the following:

• Pot (avoid aluminum, stick with steel or cast iron)
• Heat source (gas, electric, fuel oil, wood, etc)
• Ladle (stainless steel condiment ladle can work)
• Lead ingots
• Bullet mold (the Lee 2-cavity molds come with the handles)
• Bullet lube (Lee Alox Tumble Lube works even on non-Tumble-Lube design bullets)

The other stuff just allows you to produce a more uniform quality product or produce it faster.

YUP, I agree too. That's where I started. Almost no investment at all. First cast was on my stove ( I was single then :-} ) same set up. Cast some good bullets for a friend cause I did not have a gun for that mold I was given, along with a ladle, small cast iron pot and some lead scrap's.
I enjoyed it so much and electric 1 element hot plate from walgreens ($10.99 then) and went outside. A bigger cast iron pot with lid from Goodwill came next as well as searching and collecting lead. Saw dust from the shipping dept at work.(free) Finding used molds on here was the ticket for less costs in mold collecting, along with ordering lee molds from titan.
Lee bottom pour 20# pot made it so much more fun and was worth the cost ( staying cheep). Ladle casting was not for me but its a fall back and fun to teach new casters with it.

Al this started because another guy at work told me it was really cheep to cast for .38 spl !! Pot, spoon, lead, lee TL mold n wood fire. His biggest expense was the beer !!!

Its very addictive ! Good casts and be safe, Mike

[NavyVet1959]

Al this started because another guy at work told me it was really cheep to cast for .38 spl !! Pot, spoon, lead, lee TL mold n wood fire. His biggest expense was the beer !!!

Hmmm.... Come to think of it, even after all these years and a lot of extra equipment, my biggest expense is STILL the beer. I'm just able to produce more bullets per 6-pack though.

[Walter Laich]

As I got into casting I found new and shiny things that really did improve my enjoyment of this hobby/obsession
Since I do it for fun and decided to get the stuff that improved the 'fun' factor.
to each his own, though

[warf73]

Oh, and also, I don't have a single stage press: Just a Lee Classic Cast turret. So the in-expensive Lee sizers would require a press frame of some sort...

No you don't I size for my 480 ruger on the Lee Classic Cast Turret with a push threw die made by Lathesmith(board member).

It takes very little to get into casting I could do it with $150 and that would include 40lbs of alloy.

Alloy is $1 per lbs 40lbs = $40
Lee 20lb pot = $68
Lee 2 cavity mold= $20
Lee sizer kit = $21
Total $149

Thats $150 for brand new items, if you go used it will be cheaper(check out the swapping and selling forum area).

Warf

[bruce381]

for tin you can also buy high dollar lead free solder (tin) in a roll from the hardware store. I see rolls of solder at garage sales all the time too.
Look up stickys on wheel weights and that they are now mostly zinc. which you want to seprate from your good lead.

also your lee press is fine for a push through sizer thay are all 7/8 thread size