How many is too many...

[whitewolf68]

I am just starting my casting hobby and loving every second of it. My question is how many boolits is too many to have at one time? Currently I've got about 400 waiting for lube and sizing. Just curious what others warehouse.

Cheers!

A.J.

[torker]

I guess you can never have enough! I have several K in various stages waiting for final assembly. I don't like having to cast during the summer months when it's hot out there. Cast,prep boolits,assemble in the winter, Shot my tail off during the summer.

[mpmarty]

There is no such thing as too many cast boolits or ingots or buckets of wheel weights.

[UtopiaTexasG19]

If you are on a roll casting keep on going. The nice thing about a catch of cast lead is that it isn't exactly perishable and will be there when you feel like sizing and lubing in the future!

[geargnasher]

+1 Mpmarty!

Refer to the following selections from Gear's Rules:

#5 The mould will finally start dropping gems five minutes before suppertime.

#7 Properly stored ammo and components don't spoil, eat, or increase your rent. So stock up.

#8 It's true what they say that you can't shoot straight wheel weights. (They have to be made into boolits first!)

Due to aging and composition, I usually have about 2-300 lbs of various cast boolits on hand at any given time, not counting lubed or loaded ones. I hope it's enough.

Gear

[cbrick]

How many is too many...

How much do you shoot? How much lead do you have? How much time do you have?

We cannot answer your question, only you can.

I used to cast all night for any bullet I needed to cast for, would have coffee cans full of each bullet. That was 20-25 years ago and long before I could use up all the bullets cast for a gun I would either no longer have the gun or have moved on to shooting something else, I am still re-melting some of those bullets.

So . . . How many is too many?

Rick

[timkelley]

I've let my stock go down this summer. I'm down to around 4000 but intend to build back up.:-)

[Charlie Two Tracks]

I have cast many thousands of boolits and later melted them down becasue I was getting better at casting. Just a few weeks ago I melted down four Folgers cans of .358 boolits because I didn't like the way the looked. They shot ok but that is part of the fun of casting. You don't ruin the lead. Have fun and get all the lead you can, while you can.

[462]

+2, Mpmarty.

I melted 2000 Lee 452-255 RF's after selling the gun that ate them, and 500 Lyman 429244's after realizing that the S&W 624 didn't need them. I'm tempted to melt 500 Lee C-358-158 SWC's, as the Blackhaek doesn't need them. but I'd like to get a .357 Magnum rifle.

[whitewolf68]

Judging by the responses I guess I need to just keep casting and stock pile as much as I feel necessary. My necessary and my wife's however are two completely different ideas. LMFHO

[johnho]

You guys don't keep many extras on hand. I cast when I have the time regardless of what I have in inventory. That happened when I retired a couple of years ago and now have extra time which I can't stand. I probably have some 32,000 sitting in boxes just waiting for lubing and sizing. I load them into boxes, duct tape them and weigh and label whats in them. Oh, that doesn't include what is lubed and sized. Have bunches of them. Maybe I don't shoot enough?

[geargnasher]

Yes, Johnho, I'd say you don't shoot enough. Like they say about people's dogs: If they're fat, the owners aren't getting enough excercise.

Gear

[josper]

I don't know how many boolits I made but I went through better than 200lbs of alloy this month and I just finished lubing and sizing them.whoo!! Another 200lbs to go. This is for four different styles of boolits for my 45-70.

[whitewolf68]

You guys don't keep many extras on hand. I cast when I have the time regardless of what I have in inventory. That happened when I retired a couple of years ago and now have extra time which I can't stand. I probably have some 32,000 sitting in boxes just waiting for lubing and sizing. I load them into boxes, duct tape them and weigh and label whats in them. Oh, that doesn't include what is lubed and sized. Have bunches of them. Maybe I don't shoot enough?

32,000 good Lord man. Are you still casting without shooting? Me thinks you'll have to add another wing onto the house for the boolits.

[dverna]

I really like geargnashers rules.

Too many bullets??? Is that like having too much money? I have never had either dilemma.

But if I had bullets for a caliber/gun I no longer owned it makes more sense to sell them or trade them for say twice the amount of alloy. Melting them may be an option if they are not very good - but most people will shoot almost anything if they get bullets at the right price.

Don

[williamwaco]

A.J.

If I may interject here, you are asking the wrong quesion, and thereby getting the wrong answers. Don't get me wrong, they are good answers but to the wrong question.

You should be asking: "How many is too few?" "What is the minimum number of cast bullets I should have on hand?"

My opinion on that question is one years supply of every bullet you shoot in every caliber you use regularly. That might be 3,000 of one bullet and 250 of another. My current numbers look like this.

.38 Wadcutters 500
.357 H&G #651 2000
.357 Lee TL.358-158-SWC 2000
.357 Lee .358-158-SWC gc 500
9mm Lee TL356-124-TC 9mm 1000
.45ACP 452-200-SWC 45 ACP 500
.44 TL430-240-SWC 500
.375 Lyman 375449 38-55 WCF 500

These are cast, inspected and culled. All are "match" grade.
None of them are sized or lubricated. Since I have more than one gun, I don't size them until I know which gun I am going to shoot them in.

[whitewolf68]

William,

I thank you for the correction, you're spot on. How many is too few IS the better question.

Hopefully you can forgive my noobness here. I am use to reloading with FMJ and CMJ bullet. I've just recently gotten into casting and thus getting my feet wet. I can see now I've got a ways to go to catch up. LOL

Right now I am only loading .357 Lee .358-158-RF for my Rossi lever action. There are more mold that I want but money is tight right now but there will be more. :smile:

[jimb16]

I've got at least 15K in 10 different calibers and at least a ton of prepared bullet metal. I've got around 400 lbs of wheel weight ingots and 50 lbs of 50/50 solder in 1/4 pound ingots. AND I'm still grabbing up any WWs I can lay my hands on. After all, I'm a skeet shooter who makes my own shot!

[Beau Cassidy]

I cast well over 300 lbs of alloy in July while waiting to start a new job. I figure I have 15K H&G 68 bullets and about 4K or more 358156 bullets. I am working on a slug of .45 rifle bullets right now. After that I am going to run off 100 plus lbs of 9mm bullets. When I get my new .40 mold in January I will probably not stop before I hit 5K on it.

[EDK]

A dedicated boolit caster figures his inventory by the container. I favor steel coffee cans (getting harder to find) or gallon baked bean cans (from the "feeds" at work...our scrap scrounging nets a meal for us every couple weeks and retirement celebration feeds and supplementing a co-workers pay check when he goes to half pay or is out of paid sick leave entirely.)

A serious pistol shooter uses a lot of boolits to get good...and maintain a level of skill.

:Fire::cbpour::redneck:

[williamwaco]

William,

Right now I am only loading .357 Lee .358-158-RF for my Rossi lever action. There are more mold that I want but money is tight right now but there will be more.

:smile:

Wolf,

Money is, and always has been, tight. Don't worry about that. Buy what you can, when you can. Buy good stuff and take good care of it.

You will be amazed in a few years how much "stuff" you have accumulated.

[Ole]

I usually cast a pot full (14-16#) of whatever I'm making, unless i'm using more than one mold. An example of where I might use two molds would be the Ranch Dog 460's for my .450 Marlin. They get too hot pretty fast and I've found it's best to make 425 grainers until that mold gets too hot, then set that mold aside and switch to the 350's until they get too hot, then switch back.

Those two are about the only molds that I own that I can overheat from casting too quickly.

[MtGun44]

A variation on the old pilot's adage: You can never have too much fuel unless you are on
fire.

You can never have too many boolits, unless you are swimming.

Bill

[geargnasher]

A.J.

If I may interject here, you are asking the wrong quesion, and thereby getting the wrong answers. Don't get me wrong, they are good answers but to the wrong question.

You should be asking: "How many is too few?" "What is the minimum number of cast bullets I should have on hand?"

My opinion on that question is one years supply of every bullet you shoot in every caliber you use regularly. That might be 3,000 of one bullet and 250 of another. My current numbers look like this.

.38 Wadcutters 500
.357 H&G #651 2000
.357 Lee TL.358-158-SWC 2000
.357 Lee .358-158-SWC gc 500
9mm Lee TL356-124-TC 9mm 1000
.45ACP 452-200-SWC 45 ACP 500
.44 TL430-240-SWC 500
.375 Lyman 375449 38-55 WCF 500

These are cast, inspected and culled. All are "match" grade.
None of them are sized or lubricated. Since I have more than one gun, I don't size them until I know which gun I am going to shoot them in.

How correct you are! I say an absolute minimum is a cylinder- or magazine-full in the bedside gun, SD carry gun, front door gun, and the SHTF gun, or however you choose to arm yourself in your home. Any more than that is gravy.

Gear

[Lizard333]

In my family you don't even get to shoot your guns unless you have a minimum of a 1000 bullets loaded. Once you reach that, you can shoot anything more than that. Some calibers, like my AR, I easily have 10-15000 rounds on hand. Pre-casted boolits I might 2000 per type. I also do a lot of casting and sizing for family and friends so some boolits I try to keep more on hand. I also cast between 10-15 hours a week. It's like therapy. I get to go to my happy place. Keeps me sain :-)

[whitewolf68]

Wolf,

Money is, and always has been, tight. Don't worry about that. Buy what you can, when you can. Buy good stuff and take good care of it.

You will be amazed in a few years how much "stuff" you have accumulated.

I certainly do try and take care of things. I am blessed with a lot of nice equipment thanks to my father for a lot of it and items I've collected over the last 20 years of reloading.

I am starting out with one Lee mold but hope to expand to more in the near future, job depending.

[fredj338]

Hmm, 400 would be a long day shooting for me, so I usually cast in 1-2hr runs, about 600-1200 depending on bullet mold used. Then size/lube in one sitting. You can never have enough on hand.

[noylj]

If the pile is so high you can't reach the door, you may too many.
If the floor begins to cave in, you may have too many.
If you have to move them all, you may decide you have too many.

[bpratl]

I usually cast and shoot about 50 to 100 per week since I started casting in January 2011.

[koehlerrk]

How many is too many? I don't know. If I ever get there, I'll tell you.

[Wayne Smith]

I would say it's the right question, just phrased wrong. The real question is in two parts: How strong are my floors? How tolerant is my wife?

[Bret4207]

At one point I had 2- 5 gallon joint compound buckets filled with a couple type of boolits. Thought they'd last forever! Both are empty now. And all of them were produced with 2 cavity moulds! Where did I find the time?

Can't have too many, but you can have too few of the ones you need.

[captaint]

I guess I have about 3,000 cast up, waiting to be sized & loaded. I do have to pour up some with that new NOE H&G 130 mold. I ought to be able to knock out 1000 of them pretty quick. That H&G 130 is a great boolit. enjoy Mike

[Blammer]

When I go to start loading some ammo and then realize I'm out of said projectile I want or only have 15 or so left, I then realize, I have too few and didn't cast enough.

That recently happened to me with my rcbs 35 200.

I thought I casted up a really nice pile of them, but alas, I guess not.

[Cherokee]

20-30k

[olafhardt]

The Lord spoke to me in a dream, "If you run out of ammo you will die. "The next day I bought a brick of 22 long rifles, then I took up reloading, and then casting. I cannot promise casting boolits will bring about eternal life, but theres a lot of old farts on this most excellent endevor. o

[colt 357]

I was thinking of that myself with winter moving in fast. think I have anuff.40 but may cast up some more 9mm and .44 conical for the black powder. I want to have anuff so I can reload a bunch this winter.

.40 1500 casted and about a 1000 sized and pan lubed.
9mm 700 casted and about 400 pan lubed.
.44 conical BP about 200 and round ball about 300.
Range scrap made into bar about 180 pounds.

You can shoot wheel weights without being made into bullets if you have a cannon or blunderbuss

[blikseme300]

In my family you don't even get to shoot your guns unless you have a minimum of a 1000 bullets loaded. Once you reach that, you can shoot anything more than that. Some calibers, like my AR, I easily have 10-15000 rounds on hand. Pre-casted boolits I might 2000 per type. I also do a lot of casting and sizing for family and friends so some boolits I try to keep more on hand. I also cast between 10-15 hours a week. It's like therapy. I get to go to my happy place. Keeps me sain :-)

+1 for keeping sanity.

No matter how many boolits I have, I will cast to relieve the work stresses.

Somebody asked me, "How many boolits are enough?" When I run out of alloy!

Bliksem

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

I load about sixty different cartridges. I think the last inventory showed about 14,000 cast all told. Maybe half of them are sized and lubed, and about 1/4th of them are loaded.

I mean, what if they gave a Zombie War dress rehearsal and everybody came...?

Rich

[mstarling]

I keep a rough inventory of what cast is ready to load. Is abt 30k now. Probably have another 3k cast but not sized. Need to do some cast for rifles at the moment.

Would like to have about a thousand pounds of material/alloy in reserve. Not quiet there.

[whitewolf68]

WOW!! I guess there are some extreme castaholics around here. LOL

I am working towards that. I am trying to scavenge some WW from local shops but it's really tough here in Ohio, least in T-Town it is...



I keep a rough inventory of what cast is ready to load. Is abt 30k now. Probably have another 3k cast but not sized. Need to do some cast for rifles at the moment.

Would like to have about a thousand pounds of material/alloy in reserve. Not quiet there.

[josper]

I built some boxes about the size of a shoe box to keep my unprocessed boolits in.The lubed boolits I put in plastic food containers with lids.

[josper]

whitewolf68: Try hitting the small shops.The big tire stores say they sell only to the recyclers.I also remember who helps me out when it comes time for tire service.

[Will]

When the floor where you store the boolits starts to sag from the weight, you need to make a change. Like get a bigger room or reinforce the floor

[mpmarty]

I guess it's time to show pictures of our alloy / ingot stash

[Taylor]

My wife has started going to the range with me.We go most every Sunday.She shoots a Smith M37.She can go through 200 rounds real quick.Got to have lots of boolits on hand for her.She wants some zombie targets,hey if it makes her happy....

[G__Fred]

I started casting last year (9mm, 45 ACP). My "working" limit is a full steel coffee can. There is several hundred by the time it is topped out. When I am reloading and have passed the lowest indentation on the side can, time to go again!