looking to start casting need help

[farmallcrew]

i gave all my dad my reloading stuff for my rifles and pistols. he mentioned to me before christmas that he would like to cast my 45LC rather then buy them. and i told him if he cast my 45LC than why not 30-30 as well.

I know I would need a melting pot

but what molds would i need and any other stuff to start casting.

i like a 250 or 255 gr out of the 45lc
and a 150 flat nose out of the 30-30.

[Stick_man]

Welcome aboard. You have come to the best place on the 'net for questions like this. There is such a wealth of knowledge here, you won't find anywhere else.

Sounds like you may be looking for a couple moulds and sizers. The Lees are on the less expensive end and make for a pretty good starting point. They perform pretty well too. Some need some work, but others work well from the start. The push-through type sizers work well for low volume casting, but can slow you down a bunch if you have higher quantities of boolits to size. There is a variety of lubrisizers available if that is the route you want to go. Keep an eye on the For Sale / Trade section here, they come up every once in a while.

You will also be looking at some kind of lube for your boolits and likely gas checks (depending on the boolit type you choose to cast).

The list could continue to grow, depending on how far you want to dip into the insanity/addiction. The sky is the limit.

Happy Casting!

[mroliver77]

If you want to try casting all that is needed is a heat source like a hotplate, Coleman stove etc, a steel saucepan or something similar, a ladle preferably one that pours from under the melt like a Lyman,rcbs or rowel and a mold. I started with Lee molds and have many others now but still use certain Lee molds and will buy a 2 cav for something I want to try out or shoot low volume. Quite q few Lee molds drop a boolit close enough to not need sizing. Many use Lee liquid alox to tumble lube but if I were without a lube sizer I would pan lube or dip lube. I have also used commercial type lube in a warmed skillet to tumble lube. I heat enough to melt lube, pour in boolits, remove from heat and roll around until lube is set up on booluits. If your lucky a Lee 255gr RF mold will drop close enough to use as is. If not Lee sizers are cheap but come in ":stock" sizes thats are usually too small and need opened up. If one is a tinkerer all is well. Lee also makes a 170gr flat point that may work unsized for you. If not see above for sizing. Get Dad on this site to read up on casting and loading. If you need more help fill free to ask.
Jay