cast boolits save money

[white eagle]

I figured I would save money by casting my own boolits
makes sense take out the factory
do it yourself
I must have a grand tied up in molds,sizers, punches and varies other can't do withouts
and lead for me it aint free
so when is the savings going to happen ?????8-)
but it sure is a fun addiction :castmine:

[deltaenterprizes]

I have found that I do not save money, I just get more bang for the buck!
Your tooling is an investment that you reap the benefits from every time you use it!

[runfiverun]

a grand phhhh.
i got more than that in the stars.

[Blammer]

check's in the mail

I'll respect you in the morning

you'll save money casting your own

which one is true?

[Beerd]

"so when is the savings going to happen ?????"

any day now.
that's what I keep telling myself.
..

[mooman76]

When I first got into it, I saved money but that was about 60 moulds ago.

[chuckbuster]

The "savings" just get "re-invested"

[firefly1957]

I think this thread is already out there? But I will let you know again I have almost saved enough to buy a gun! (we need a smilie with a tongue in it's cheek)this one I like but not right for this thread response :takinWiz:

Now you got me wondering just how much I have in molds swaging and reloading stuff? :groner:

[Moonie]

SSSHHHH!!!!!! don't say that loud enough for SWMBO to hear that!! I still have her believing that we are saving lots of money...

[frankenfab]

check's in the mail

I'll respect you in the morning

you'll save money casting your own

which one is true?

"you'll save money casting your own"

This one is true, but it is the resulting addiction to casting that causes you to spend even more than you saved. Worse deal than a "Catch 22, it is"
:cbpour:

[bhn22]

I suppose there's a savings to be had by casting what you need and avoiding unnecessary experimentation. Buy a 2 cavity LEE mould, melt down some scrap lead & cast a mess of 38 Spl bullets, then pan lube them & load up. The extra cost come in when you want to improve your situation, go faster, better, longer, & add calibers. I started out with a Lee 4 lb electric pot, a LEE ladle (sucks), a single cavity LEE mould and an old style LEE pan lubing kit. Back then, this was about $35.00, and the bullets at least left the barrel & traveled pretty straight. Now I have a pair of 20 lb pots, a dedicated fish cooker for smelting, 2 Star sizers, many misc tools and about 'lebenty-nine moulds. This is just for the casting side. The reloading side is worse. I too am waiting for the savings, I don't know where all the moneys going.

[smoked turkey]

I think white eagle knows the answer to his own question and I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but there is more to it than saving money. The satisfaction of casting your own boolit; then using it in the handloading process; crafting a load that is right for you and your rifle or handgun; using that boolit to shoot a good group, or taking a nice game animal that is good to eat. I know I am not alone here in that we are a group of people who enjoys the whole cycle from beginning to end. This has become my number one hobby. Also this board has become my favorite computer pass time.

[rockrat]

If I saved any money, it has been spent on more moulds, dies, lead pots,lead, ect. You CAN save alot with the bigger calibers and oddball calibers. Price 500 nitro ammo? $100/bx. I could load (if I had one) it for about $15. My 338win, 460S&W and others would be $$ without casting. But always another mould to buy. I might have had 20 moulds before I came here, now, I have no idea, but I think I have at least that many Lee 6 cav and no telling how many NOE and BRP and MM and AM. You get the idea.

Save money, yeah right!!!:)

[btroj]

It does save money. It keeps you out of bars, movie theatres, etc. It makes you a die hard scrounger.
As far as actually saving on shooting expenses, no way. It costs more. But I can shoot a lot more for the same money. I get lots of satisfaction from casting, etc.

It is a state of mind to me.it has little to do with money in the long run. It is the desire to tinker. The desire to make my own stuff. The need to be all I can be as a reloader. The need to be the odd guy at the range who shoots them funny bullets.

Nah, it isn't about money.

[CLAYPOOL]

Pleaseeeee.........who cares. I am going to spend and buy as fast as I can. I bought like crazy when Bill + Hillary were coming into office. But I see they still haven't left, sooooo. I keep coming back to this CASTING STUFF thought and I just seem to want to fool with it more as time goes on. I know I've got it and even if I don't use it so what. I get a item out and look at it and THAT is ALL good.
SEE YUW
CLAYPOOL

[Three44s]

I saved money casting .......... when I bought a Lee TL mold and shot as cast!

I saved money when I bought a Lyman 450 for $15 .......

When I just cast for one handgun bore size ..... with the above eqiupment ..... I saved money.

But when I branched out into many calibers and started buying rifles expressly for casting .....

........ I did not save money!!!


I could also sit on my hands and save money ..... but what fun is that???

Three 44s

[alamogunr]

There is no end to it. I'm about $200 into materials for shelves so I can get stuff off my bench and off the floor. Trying to make it more convenient to cast and reload so I can justify more stuff to do both.

John
W.TN

[RP]

You do save money in the long run only if you shoot the more you shoot the more you save. Or you just want a stockpile of ammo go and buy it or make it yourself. Now the key is how fast how easy and how special do you want to make it. I have alot of coin in my reloading and I enjoy casting and reloading its a good stress relief and if that dont work shooting will.

[captaint]

Heck - I really never got too sweaty about the savings thing. What like is, I can shoot what I want, when I want to. And when I need anymore of whatever boolit, I'll go pour up some more. Done. Pure enjoyment. enjoy Mike

[Wayne Smith]

I've been reloading since age 16, casting since about 2003, and just took it for granted. I had no idea how much I really was saving until I checked the prices of loaded ammo. I am saving big time - just 100 rounds of 32-20 is enough to pay for the dies off eBay!

[curator]

Boolit casting is my second most expensive money-saving hobby, reloading is my first. I don't really save money but I do a whole lot more shooting. I am not dependant on others to stock the ammo I use and can claim to actively participate in an "earth-saving" recycling program. How else could I shoot my 577-450 Martini Henry, .310 Cadet, or my 11.7X51R Danish Remington?

[Freightman]

Save money! what for, I have seen more saving families tore apart after the saver passed than thoes who live from week to week. Spend it on something you enjoy you aint never seen a U-haul behind a hurst. You can't take anything with you. Think I will order some more primers.

[HollowPoint]

As much as I love casting my own bullets, I much prefer shooting than casting.

The problem for me was that the steady increase in the price of manufactured bullets lead me to bullet casting and having started on that trail has lead me to realize that I actually do save money by casting my own bullets.

Granted, I've kept it as simple as possible. My most expensive molds are a 44 cal group buy mold and a Lyman .45 Devastator mold. I have two other molds in 30 caliber. (one of those acquired two day ago)

The other five molds I made myself with the help of the information I gleaned from this website.

My lead supply was free. I worked right next to the tire department at the dealership where I used to work before quitting my job. The two tire techs that worked that department (non-shooters but, good friends of mine) have since opened up their own tire shops.

I completely agree with the truth in all the statements regarding the positive aspects and benefits derived from casting your own bullets; even the fact that it's incredibly easy to drop large amounts of cash into this hobby over time but, the truth be told- if I could afford it I'd just buy my bullets so I could go out and do more shooting, hunting or plinking.

I got into this hobby as a money saving venture. So far I've been able to achieve that most of the time.

I say, "most of the time" because there have been periods where I just had to have this-or-that item in order to speed up the process or tweak something or other. During these periods I'd say that I drifted to the break-even-point of casting my own.

My all time favorite J-word bullets? V-max, A-max, Hydroshocks, Golddots.

Have you seen the price of these bullets lately? Darn right I'm saving money. And with the help of alot of the informations some of you guys have shared on this forum, I'd stack my home made bullets up against these store bought bullets any time.

HollowPoint

[canyon-ghost]

Let's see here...factory is $45 per box of 50 and I have 600 rounds of hornet loaded. That means I have $540 worth of ammo I loaded for about $15/100.

There's about 300 rounds of 32-20 at the same price, that's $270 worth of ammo at the same $15/100.

I could go on but it's not interesting.

Ron

[Jim]

I cast and load for .45-70. It costs me about ten cents to make one round. .45-70 factory ammo is goin' for about a buck an' a half to two per round. I'll stick with mine, thank you very much.

[geargnasher]

I have a couple thousand in casting and reloading equipment, a few hundred in powder/primers, a few hundred more in brass/ammo boxes and related shooting stuff. I built my own range, shooting benches, traps, and targets. Next project is building the gun vault and finishing the new reloading room as I remodel that part of the house. Guns, well I don't even know how much. All told, thousands and thousands of dollars worth of "stuff" associated with the hobby.

However, when I was in college 15 years ago, I had a 10-lb bottom pour, a couple of Lee moulds, an RCBS Ammomaster, a pound of Bullseye, two bricks of primers, half a bucket of wheel weights a Lee sizer, pan lubed with Lyman Alox, and shot my JP Saur K-38 clone on the weekends. All my brass and ammo boxes were "recycled" from the local range trash cans, and I spent more on bicycle inner-tubes and patches than I did on shooting a couple of boxes every other weekend, and it kept me from chasing loose women or spending money on beer. Also kept me sane at a time when I really needed a cheap, rewarding hobby to help me keep it "together".

Gear

[white eagle]

Idea
what about a government bailout for us casters
Obama should like that one

[shdwlkr]

white eagle
the bailout for anyone who thinks firearms are useful is a nice dark cold piece of ground. Our government doesn' t like us and sees us as the reason they can' t do everything as fast as they want to take all our freedoms away.
Now to your original post I have been casting more or less for 45 years and I can honestly say I don't know how much of anything I have because it is in so many boxes that I don't know what is in them anymore. I can't wait until my life gets back to sort of normal and I can have a place of my own so I can find out what I have and just how much of what.
I know that I have a large collection of moulds that are getting bigger this year even something like 9 new ones coming to me.
As to rest of my stuff I have to wait until my divorce is done and I have a place that is mine not a rental and then I can maybe answer your question.

[Wayne Smith]

Another advantage is that I cast and load for 40-70, 41LC, and 10.5x47R, two of which are not commercially available and the 41LC is extremely expensive. I can shoot guns that no one else wants cause they can't get ammo!

[casterofboolits]

If you compare to shooting factory ammo, your savings will pay for your casting and reloading equipment. Depends on how much you shoot. The more you shoot, the more you save. Yeah, that's the ticket! :bigsmyl2:

[No_1]

There are many ways to see it. You are spending money for sure BUT the money you are spending is better spent casting your own. You may have (at this point) on 1k tied up in it plus the cost of lead, brass, powder and primers but what you get out of it is worth millions when you consider self saticefaction into the equation.

Let's say I have $100 to spend on ammo. I can buy 2 boxes of 41 mag or cast / load 1000 rounds of it. The amount of money I spend is the same, the amount I shoot is way more.

[FISH4BUGS]

I shoot a number of pistol caliber sub machineguns. If you don't think it saves money for me, man, you are wrong.
If you are going to shoot, then SHOOT!!!!!!!! 9mm, 45 and 380 subguns eat up ammunition at a ferocious rate. Luckily they use the same ammo as the pistols. The revolvers are another story.
Casting allows me to shoot. If I had to buy a box of 50 9mm's for let's say, $12, it would be gone in less than 6 seconds with a full magazine dump.
But then, I never figured out how much I have in smelting equipment, Hensley & Gibbs moulds, Star sizers, Dillon reloaders, etc. I am too afraid to do it.

[Alchemist]

Some time ago I was drooling over a 41 Mag, just about had myself convinced that I had to have it. Then I started figuring up what else I'd need. Brass, dies, mould(s), sizer dies, top punch(s), 550 conversion unit...I finally decided to pass on it.

See, I saved a lot of money! [smilie=1:

[EDK]

My dad said that "Buying a freezer for the home doesn't save you on groceries, but you sure eat a lot better." Reloading, especially if you cast! follows that vein of thought. It's been awhile since you could run down to the corner store and buy a box of 44 wadcutters.

Remember the days of gas stations and country stores that had ammunition...usually 22 LR, 38 specials and 30/30.

[white eagle]

yeah and gas was 12.9 a gallon too......

[alamogunr]

You're older than I am. I only remember 21.9¢/gal. Of course, I didn't have a car until I was 21.

John
W.TN

[buck1]

Just think if you had to buy these.
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=193534

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=688036

And my favorite..

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=304237

After I get the brass, I save lots of greenbacks.

[Jim]

$12 a shot, WOW!!

[Land Owner]

Into the future, after Armageddon, those with the skills and equipment to smelt, cast, reload, shoot and hunt will be King. It is good to be the King.

[Lively Boy]

range brass and range lead. free ww . used molds and lee molds. I get off pretty cheep. 32 s&w longs around here are upwords of 38$ for 50 i can do a couple hundred cast and reloaded for that. so i'm lucky in that respect,but my teenagers keep me at the casting bench.... fun for all and wouldn't trade it for anything. Very glad i got into it. Happy shooting!

[buck1]

With current ammo prices I do save lots . But like Livly boy above I scrounge and bargan hunt.
But its not cheep even then but I shoot all I want and couldnt if not for casting whit J words 20-35 bucks a box. Becides mine are better anyway! ;)