Man I dread having to cast 1K boolits.

[TNFrank]

Just got my 45acp brass order in today and counted out 1050+ rounds of 45acp brass. I have a Lee 2 cavity 230gr Truncated Cone, Tumble Lube boolit mold and ran off about 50 the other day just to see what they'd be like. Nice looking boolit, loads nice, OAL at 1.211", hand fed great and should function great as well but I really dread having to cast up another 1050+ boolits using a 2 cavity mold. I'm almost tempted to just see what it'd cost to order 1K of already cast boolits just to load the bulk of my brass then I can cast up 50 or so for what's left.
I mean I really love saving money by doing it myself and I don't mind casting a couple hundred at a time but dang, 1000+ is going to be a full time job. Guess I'll probably just have to get at it and start doing what I can as I can until they're all done. :violin:

[Westwindmike]

Just be glad you have a 2 cavity mold. I use a Lee 190gr mold for my .45 and it's just a single cavity.

[Moondawg]

Seems like it would be cheaper to buy a Lee six cavity mold, and go to town. I have a H&G six cavity 45 mold and casting 1K bullets would only take a couple of days and thats taking my time. The most I usually cast at one time is arounnd 500 and that is easily doable in a day with some time left over.

[41 mag fan]

We each love to tell a tale, love to spell a spiel...but some love to cast, some love to reload and some love to it all...me I'm the all of the above

[Love Life]

I have to agre with 41 Mag Fan. Once you get that mould dropping boolits you will be amazed at how fast you can turn out 1,000 boolits with a Lee 2 cavity.

I cast until I start getting super frosty boolits. Once that happens I cool the mould. The i cast again until I have to cool again. Doing that I can put out several hundred in short enough order. Do this over a couple days and you are set.

[zack]

Just got my 45acp brass order in today and counted out 1050+ rounds of 45acp brass. I have a Lee 2 cavity 230gr Truncated Cone, Tumble Lube boolit mold and ran off about 50 the other day just to see what they'd be like. Nice looking boolit, loads nice, OAL at 1.211", hand fed great and should function great as well but I really dread having to cast up another 1050+ boolits using a 2 cavity mold. I'm almost tempted to just see what it'd cost to order 1K of already cast boolits just to load the bulk of my brass then I can cast up 50 or so for what's left.
I mean I really love saving money by doing it myself and I don't mind casting a couple hundred at a time but dang, 1000+ is going to be a full time job. Guess I'll probably just have to get at it and start doing what I can as I can until they're all done. :violin:

Ahh Frank, be a big boy now. Four hours work and it'll all be done, then won't you be proud of yourself!

A river is never as wide as seen from the far shore.

[zuke]

Just got my 45acp brass order in today and counted out 1050+ rounds of 45acp brass. I have a Lee 2 cavity 230gr Truncated Cone, Tumble Lube boolit mold and ran off about 50 the other day just to see what they'd be like. Nice looking boolit, loads nice, OAL at 1.211", hand fed great and should function great as well but I really dread having to cast up another 1050+ boolits using a 2 cavity mold. I'm almost tempted to just see what it'd cost to order 1K of already cast boolits just to load the bulk of my brass then I can cast up 50 or so for what's left.
I mean I really love saving money by doing it myself and I don't mind casting a couple hundred at a time but dang, 1000+ is going to be a full time job. Guess I'll probably just have to get at it and start doing what I can as I can until they're all done. :violin:

I have the same mold in a six cavity.
Get one,you'll be amazed

[gefiltephish]

I cast about 1000 158 swc's this afternoon, but that's with a 5 cav mold. Thankfully I also have a Star lubesizer!

[mdi]

There's only one way to eat an elephant; one bite at a time. :razz:And nobody says you have to cast 1,000 bullets at one setting. So, do 200-300 a setting, three or four times (much easier to handle thinking about 200 rather than 1,000! :shock:)...

I like casting and 1,000 bullets sounds like fun streached over a couple days).

[btroj]

With a Lee 6 cav that is only a couple hours work. Now sizing them, that is a different story. Situations like that are why I bought a Star.

I would far rather cast a bunch than I would size them.

[Michael J. Spangler]

i cast 31# of 200 grainers today. thats over 1K
i used a 4 cavity. i admit by the time i got towards the end i was ready to shut down for the day. it probably took me about 3 hours to get it all done. with some breaks and time to get the pot back up to temp as i don't have a backup pot to fill from.

i say buy the 6 cavity and don't look back

[puddledog]

You have to figger out if you have more money than time or more time than money? I'm almost always in the latter end of the "figger'n .

[felix]

Just what is the hurry? Is this a hobby, or is it a business? If the latter, you should have high schoolers needing girly money. ... felix

[Hamish]

You have to cast them all at once? You have to make *work* out of it? Jeepers man, don't ruin a perfectly good addiction!

Walk away from it till you get the urge to *want* to cast.

[mpmarty]

For the cost of a thousand boolits you can/should buy a LEE six cavity mold and go to town and enjoy yourself.

[GRUMPA]

I just think Frank has one of those love hate things going on. We all know casting is an addiction, and so is shooting for that matter. I wonder when he finally gets 1k of those things and loads them up, if in the back of his mind he's thinking, uumm...it took me X amount of hours to cast these things and X amount of hours to load these, It's going to take me X amount of hours plinking with these things. Then it's I think I need a bigger mould.

[C.F.Plinker]

You didn't say what you are using for a pot. I have the RCBS 20 pound pot. It takes about a half hour to get it full and fluxed starting out with a cold pot half full of sprues. Using either a Saeco 3 cavity mold or a Lachmiller 2 cavity mold I can empty the pot in about 45 minutes to an hour. I don't put the sprues back in the pot so I get 10-11 pounds of boolits. This amounts to about 425 if they are 185 grain 45ACP, or 500 if they are 158 grain 38 specials. Since you are casting 230 grain boolits, I would expect 325-350 per batch if you cast the same way I do. That means 3 pots full and you have your 1000 with a total of, for me anyway, 5 maybe 6 hours spent including the time to warm the pot up. Break it up into one pot sessions and you will be done before you know it.

[fcvan]

1000 boolits, .45 at that. Sounds like a great afternoon if you ask me! Baseball season is around the corner. Radio on, Iced tea at the ready, yup, good times. Frank

[skeet1]

TNFrank
You could replace your two cavity with a six cavity Lee mould for around $37.00. If the speed of casting was important to me, that is what I would do.

Ken

[runfiverun]

1k is a busy staurday,a bit long if you want to load them too.
if you wanna buy some and load them gohead.
if you shoot them all in one place you might could fetch the lead back.

[Dale53]

Using a Lee six cvity mould (for the 230 gr TC normal lube groove) I can cast 20+ lb. of match quality bullets in an hour to an hour and a half after the bullet metal is melted, ready to cast. That will produce a bit more than 600 bullets.

I typically cast one pot at a time and do another pot the next day.

The O.P. is best directed to simply buy a Lee Six Cavity mould (as others have suggested) and free himself from "Tyranny"... the tyranny of slow casting.

FWIW
Dale53

[TCLouis]

Lee Six Banger . . . I usually run about 20 pounds of lead per setting with it.

2 cavity mold will be a long time in the making.

[canyon-ghost]

Nah, it's 3 casting sessions. I can do it in a week's time just off and on. You haven't sat down and just poured for 3-4 pots of lead yet. One afternoon will get you at least 300 good bullets.

It's not as hard as you think, you just have to do it!

[Hamish]

Hmmm,,,,

I think Frank just wanted to start a conversation by :kidding:

(It worked)

@(:^]#>:::

[TNFrank]

I've got a Lee Production Pot, bottom pour, 10# capacity. Most of my wheel weights are the little 1" long ones now, which I could smelt them down to ingots but never got the stuff to do that so I just feed em' into the pot until it's full and flux and cast.
The mold seems to take a bit to heat up so it'll make good boolits then I can get about 40 or so before they start getting pretty frosted. Guess if I had two of em' I could swap off or a 6 cavity but I'd have to do the screw mod to stop the spur cutter from messing up against the aluminum mold.
I'll just take it one batch at a time, cast 100-150 then take a break and work on getting those 1K of boolits done.
I hope that pound of Unique gets in by the time I'm done castings, I'd like to get this ammo loaded up and stored. Then I can kick back and take it easy for a while. Just cast what I shoot, when I get to shoot which is not much lately.
Funny thing is looking at it as 1000 boolits makes it look like a pretty big chore but cutting it down to 150 or so at a sit down makes it seem more doable. :mrgreen:

[MBTcustom]

Yeah I know what you mean, 1000 cases is a real chore.
Cry me a river there pardner! Here's a quick picture of some of my .45 brass I have on hand. I've got about this many again in storage.
http://i1120.photobucket.com/albums/l481/goodsteel/IMG_2384.jpg

[44man]

Mount a brass pole to the bench and have the wife pole dance while you cast----unless she is like my wife of course.
I told her it was dangerous to let shampoo run over her body in the shower. When she asked why, I said "it says on the bottle, FULLER, MORE BODY." :drinks:

[Calamity Jake]

There's only one way to eat an elephant; one bite at a time. :razz:And nobody says you have to cast 1,000 bullets at one setting. So, do 200-300 a setting, three or four times (much easier to handle thinking about 200 rather than 1,000! :shock:)...

I like casting and 1,000 bullets sounds like fun streached over a couple days).

Yap that's the way to do it, I just finish casting a 1000 Saeco 307's a 190gr 30 cal. with 2 two cav molds and 4 casting sessions of about 1.5 hours each.

[milprileb]

Well, looking at my 55 gallon drum half full of tumbled 45acp brass, I would say you don't have a problem.

If your life is always empty cases begging bullets and reloading, your life is good to go.

I would suggest for your sanity, get the 6 cavity Lee mold as it will cut your time down by 2/3.

Its a labor of love: repeat that often and obligate 6 hours to the mission, accumulate a good larder of bullets on hand ... once you get ahead of the curve and have boxes of ready lubed bullets about, you will have achieved harmony and Karma.

[ku4hx]

Zen and the art of boolit casting. If my back wouldn't give out I'd do it all day long. Almost as good as cleaning guns and drinking beer.

[JohnFM]

I finally found most of my gear from back in the days when I was casting a lot of fishing stuff and also making special lead counterweights.
I was about to order a 2 cavity mold to get a start casting some bullets to see how that stage was going to turn out.
After reading this, I think I'll just get a 6 cavity.

[Certaindeaf]

I got a single cavity LEE 102gr .356 RN many years ago. I hadn't used it for a very long time and was kind of disappointed to see that it was a single because I "remembered" (ha)! it being a double..
Anyway, that thing is so light/small and heat resistant, I truly put out an admirable pile, given given times, with little effort using the gloved hand method. I won't be throwing it away.

[Sasquatch-1]

Hey, isn't that what rainy and windy days are for?[smilie=1:

Now if you want a time consuming job try cutting down case for bullet jackets, trimming them even and then having to anneal them. That can get boring

[wallenba]

I don't set goals regarding counts when casting. First, I will just lose count. Second, I feel pressured with the 'git er done' syndrome, and quality suffers.
What I do is cast a hundred, weigh them and set them aside. Then I just eyeball the pile as they build up, listen to the radio, get my rythmn, and work til I feel like quitting. Knowing what 100 will weigh tells me roughly how many more sessions to cast, then cast an hour more for spares to cover the eventual rejects I always find later.
I've never been able to cast more than about 400 in one session (with a 2 cav.) before my joints get achy. Arthritis!

[JohnFM]

Hmm, here I am about ready to order a mold, plus a bottom pour pot since my old dipper would be a pain with anything over a couple cavities and every place I've been checking is showing most Lee equip as out of stock.
Dang!

[Michael J. Spangler]

Try Natchez

[JohnFM]

Try Natchez

Checked there too, availability seems pretty limited.
I'm going to wait till later in the week and go to town, need to pick up 200 #s of already smelted high tin ingots.
I'll go a little out of the way to the 2 best gunshops that carry a lot of Lee stuff, I might luck out and find what I want locally, local for us is at least a 150 mile round trip.
If not I'll just get a double cavity and cast with my old dipper till other online venders get their stocks back up. Probably a good plan anyway. I may find out I don't care for the Lee sizing system and tumble lube and decide I want to spring for a lubrisizer and go whole hog.

[Dale53]

Not only is the Lee Six Cavity faster than the two cavity moulds, but the six is made of better materials and is a better design.

I will NEVER willlingly buy a two cavity when I can get a six cavity (aluminum) or four cavity (iron or brass) for just a few dollars more. They will pay for themselves in the first time or two that they are used.

FWIW
Dale53

[TNFrank]

IIRC by the time I figured in a set of handles for the Lee 6 it was going to cost around $65 bucks and I'd still have to do the screw mod so the spur plate wouldn't bugger up the mold block.
Lee 2 cavity is only $20 bucks and while it takes longer my wife is happier with me for not spending so much.LOL.

[Sasquatch-1]

Hmm, here I am about ready to order a mold, plus a bottom pour pot since my old dipper would be a pain with anything over a couple cavities and every place I've been checking is showing most Lee equip as out of stock.
Dang!

Did you check craigslist for your area?

[carbine]

By the end of April I will have casted 1,200, 500 Grain .575 Minie's and 1,200, 395 gr .50 Smith Carbine boolits. Same thing every year, since 1982. Gotta love it.

[bobthenailer]

I guess im addicted i cast / lubed & sized 20,276 this past febuary to add to my stock pile.
I actually look forward to casting when i do it as i only cast in Febuary unless i would get a new mould
My goal for every febuary is about 10,000 bullets ! well i was having so much fun i made a few extra .
Better equipment ,have your lead in ingots, preheat mould & dont worry about frosting, or possibley get moulds with more cavaties or refine your casting procedure you shoul be able to make 3 to 4 hundred bullets a hour with a 2 cavity mould . if you can speed up production it wont seem like so much work

[JohnFM]

Did you check craigslist for your area?

Don't believe there's such a thing around here.

[clintsfolly]

12,000 here started the first of the year 5,000 to go + what I cast form the new 9.3mold on order Clint

[Sasquatch-1]

Don't believe there's such a thing around here.

I checked for craigslist and they Wyoming as a state with no breakdown by cities. If you want to se what they have here is the link:

http://wyoming.craigslist.org/sss/

[JohnFM]

:mrgreen:
Wyoming's a big state with few highways. Most of that craigslist stuff is back in the eastern part, not surprising, that's where most of the people are.:-)
That sort of thing is fine probably if you live where there are a lot of people and towns.
I'll stay out here where the only paved road is a bone jarring trip down a dirt road.
Biggest problem for us now is that damn cost of fuel.

[Sasquatch-1]

:mrgreen:
Wyoming's a big state with few highways. Most of that craigslist stuff is back in the eastern part, not surprising, that's where most of the people are.:-)
That sort of thing is fine probably if you live where there are a lot of people and towns.
I'll stay out here where the only paved road is a bone jarring trip down a dirt road.
Biggest problem for us now is that damn cost of fuel.

Sorry I couldn't help.:cry:

[JohnFM]

No prob, when you choose to live your life away from everything you learn to make do or do without.
We do have internet and you'd be surprised how many order a lot of stuff online anymore.
A lot of good stores in town have folded up and those that remain just can't afford to keep a lot of inventory.
We're looking at losing our Post Office that's been in the General Store for about a hundred years. Governments gotta save money you know.

[Certaindeaf]

^
CL has a fair search engine.. maybe type in your town or closest town along with your wanted good. The thing about being out in the sticks is that many people may well have the same things/wants. Never know.

[mpbarry1]

The casting is the fun/easy part. Running them through a lyman 450 gets a little tedious however.

[Sonnypie]

Rome wasn't built in a Day. [smilie=1:
I like to just cast when I feel like it, and have some ready to load in coffee containers.

I guess my "fetish" is to fill all my brass as soon as possible. I start processing my empty brass before I clean my guns. Once a load is tumbling I have plenty of time to clean guns.

A friend in Alaska sent me a box of empty 45 ACP brass. (200+) I polished it right up and loaded it out of bullets I'd cast a while back. No chore, just fun.
Increased my ammo stash. :bigsmyl2:

[casterofboolits]

For minimum investment, you could get another two cavity mould of the same boolit. I fed my IPSC habit for three years with two, two cavity Lee 452-228-1R moulds. I cast 980 boolits in about 4 hours. That included cycling my Lyman 20 pound pot three times. My shooting buddy loaned me his Star to size and lube them.

I used a propane torch to preheat the moulds.

[dbarnhart]

Last weekend I cast 565 bullets (.45acp 230gr) from a 2-cav mold in an hour and 45 minutes. I'm thinking of gettinga 4-cav or 6-cav mold because it sure would be nice to cast 1K boolits in that same about of time.

[jonk]

Some time ago I sold off a Lyman 160 gr .266" mold. 2 cavity. While I never had much luck with it, 'just in case' I cast up 3000 bullets to set aside. In one day. for most of the day.

I didn't cast anything else for weeks.

[MikeS]

Frank: If the mod you're talking about is to keep the sprue plate cam lever from digging into the side of the mould blocks, there's an easy way to avoid it without doing any mods. When you open the mould, don't jerk on the handle, but rather apply firm steady pressure to it. Also, don't wait for the lead to fully harden before opening the sprue plate, by using a mould lube (BullPlate or similar) you can open the sprue plate while the lead is still soft enough that it takes no effort to open it.

Also, the mod can be done at any time, so if after casting your 1000 boolits you find that the mould block is getting dented in a bit you can always do the mod then. I only have one mould that has that mod, and it was one I bought used, and it wasn't treated too gently by the PO, so I needed to add the screw. On moulds that I bought new I've never had to add the screw. Like any other tool, how you treat it directly impacts how it treats you!

[TNFrank]

Thanks for the info MikeS. When funds allow I just might have to look into a couple of the Lee 6 cavities, one for the 357" I'm casting for my 38spl and a .452" for the 45acp. I always like to start out with the 2 cavity Lee molds just to see what the boolit will look like and if the gun will like them, that way I've only got $20 bucks invested into it if it's a no go but since the boolits look decent a good 6 cavity would make life easier when it comes to casting up a lot of boolits in just a little time. ;-)

[Dave C.]

I'm spoiled. I fill a coffee can in a little less than 60 minutes. (425 slugs)
I bought one of the last H&G 8 cavity # 68 moulds.
Yes it weighs a lot but it drops 8 good bullits every time.
NO it is NOT for sale!

Dave C.

[CGT80]

I had an RCBS 2 cavity mold for 45 acp. I wanted some bullets for my 460, so I fired up the lee 10 pound pot on a rainy day. In one afternoon I ended up with about 4-500 bullets cast and about 200 sized/lubed. I spent some time adjusting my equipment and smelting in some range scrap that I had. I also had to change over the sizer (RCBS LAMI) from 44 to 45. This was only my second time casting since I was a teenager, probably 15 years ago. I had some ingots of wheel weights that my dad and grandfather had smelted with that little 10 pound pot. The bullets came out very nice once I got the melt temp and mold temp set.

Then...........I ordered an MP mold. Now I will have to melt down most of those boolits I made and turn them in to some works of art with the MP 270 SAA. At least this mold drops a bullet with a crimp groove and it is a 4 cavity for twice the speed. I also shouldn't have to beat the **** out of the mold with a wood dowel like I did the RCBS mold. I can't wait.

Just run bullets for a few hours and then continue later. I reload ammo the same way. I have a dillon 550 and a 1050 with a bullet feeder. I work on it until I get tired or bored and then come back to it. There is no use in burning yourself out.

Here are some of my soldiers ready to go:
http://i1112.photobucket.com/albums/k484/CGT80/228RN.jpg

[lead chucker]

If I try to cast that many at a time my wife thinks I'm ignoring her. So I leave it to about 200-250 at a time.

[TNFrank]

Still not started casting yet. It'll be next week sometime before I get things together to make ingots so I just figure I'd get all my brass in shape to load. Been tumbling it then resizing and de-priming it. Next I'll expand the necks and prime it and it'll be ready to load up once I start casting.