Noob starting to cast.

[Nevada Jack]

I'm new to Cast Boolits. I just registered today. I am getting into casting. I need advice on what brand of bullet molds to purchase. Any thoughts? Also is it hard to get old wheel weights. Do shops give them away or do they sell them? If they sell them what is a fair price?

[foxtrotter]

Where in Nevada? I am in the Reno area. About getting old WWs- talk to your favorite tire store or service station. Getting molds is a fun job. You can buy them at the name stores, from commercial vendors on this site, on line, etc. All other casting equipment is available the same way. Don't overlook estate and yard sales. As others have noted, this is a hobby :):grin::

[kweidner]

Most of us have all types of moulds. Fair price depends on WW. You could buy it from vendors here already in ingots for $1.00 a pound. Weigh the bucket and make an educated guess. Keep in mind that you are weighing all the trash in the bucket and clips too.

[drklynoon]

Depending on your contacts WW's can be hard to acquire or you could be covered up in them. As for the mold. I would go to the local outdoor store and get some lead sinkers that are slightly too big to fit in the barrel of the gun you are buying a mold for. Then you slug the throats and barrel. This procedure is layed out in other threads but I'm bringing it up here because Lyman makes good molds but they are often a little under sized. Usually about a thousandth from advertised. If this will work in your gun then I'd go that route. If it won't NOE is a good choice, they are a vendor here, or Lee works as well and is cheap. Do a lot of homework to figure out what design you want. There are lots of things to consider and asking questions is always promoted here.
Cheers,

[wv109323]

My take on molds is as follows:
Lee-least expensive, Can make excellent bullets, Available in tumble lube, may not "last a lifetime"
Ideal/Lyman-Ideal molds are excellent, Recent Lyman molds have some quality control issues that may have been worked through, Last comments said they were back to good quality.
RCBS- Excellent molds, only available in one and two cavity
Saeco- Excellent molds, The price puts them in a category that you can buy a custom mold from a custom manufacturer.
NOE,Accurate Molds. Mihec- I "lumped" all these together. These plus others are custom mold manufacturers. They are separate companies that but all offer the highest quality molds available. Many make one of a kind molds.
I will mention Hensley and Gibbs- This manufacturer is now out of business but the legend of his molds lives on. Occasionally his molds are sold but recent prices are well above what you can buy others new.
The members of this board will get together and offer a "group buy" where the members of this board will contact the custom manufacturers (listed above) to build a specific mold. The manufacturer will generally require an order of 15 molds but will offer a special price to make them.
I have listed the molds in approximate order of their cost. You choose what you and your pocket book can stand.

[kweidner]

I have NOE and accurate. Just fantastic molds. Well worth the money. Throw weights and diameters they say. Have quite a few Lyman. Usually have to tweak them a bit for right diameter. Lee are cheap but sufficient for low volume casting IMHO.

[Nevada Jack]

Wow! Thanks for all of the great information. I think I will be able to make better decisions now. BTW foxtrotter I live in Carson City.

[gunoil]

ebay for alot of stuff.

I have great use with lee bullet molds.

also titanreloading.com Cheap with service and talk to dennis on phone. His store is down the street from lee where he use work.

I learned from youtube when i started, watched vids for months, still doo!

Also , shop midwayusa.com and put their app on your phone so you can look up any part at any time and scroll down to read all reviews, a wealth of knowledge and tricks.

ebay; like he said for WW's to start with! dollar a pound plus shippin, You can make ingots later.

I just bought this lee 45acp, love it! #90352
http://i1113.photobucket.com/albums/k511/putt2012/0616D9EE-1501-40F2-8FE3-60DB05F662F7-239-000000368D701E06.jpg

[Jamezius Maximus]

Lee molds are good when they get heated up and broke in you can really spit alot of boolits out, try and get the ones with more than 2 cavities, like 4 or 6. I am a noob to, been casting for a few weeks now.

They say to used matches and let hold them to the molds(open) and let the carbon build of on the boolit mold, about 5 or 10 matches. This will help break in your mold and after it gets heated up, the boolits will come out perfect.

[Nevada Jack]

I went into Walmart and asked one of the auto guys (I thought he was the manager) if I could purchase the old wheel weights. He acted like I had just insulted him. He responded shortly "Used wheel wheights are the property of the Walmart corporation. We recycle them. Used wheel weights are not for sale.". He then turned away and acted like I wasn't standing there. I have a hard time taking no for an answer:mrgreen:. I then asked if there was any way I could purchase just a small amount. He responded with the same line and then turned away and acted like I wasn't there. I guess discussing wheel weights can be controversial. LOL. I guess I'll try small shops.

But really thanks to all of you for the help. I can't wait to get into this.

[Love Life]

Nice to have you on board Nevada Jack. I don't have anything to add that the others have not.

I live in Wellington, but get to Carson City quite a bit. If you need some tutoring or any help give me a holler. As for alloy you can usually get it in the S&S section for about $1.00 a pound ready to go in the pot.

[GP100man]

First WELCOME to :cbpour:

My exp is 50% ingots from WW of late ,I buy or trade for em.
Pizza or a sixer goes a long ways !!!

Bad to say but some have to come "out the back door". & even then alot of em are zinc (not good) but I have 1 that`ll trade me lead 1s for the zinc 1s #for# so it goes - - madness on & on !!!

Oh yeah , don`t go to wally world & start pullin WW from cars/trucks , people don`t understand the addiction we have !!

[Gliden07]

Lee molds are GREAT for the money! If your on a budget they work good with the proper prep work as someone mentioned above. I plan on casting 9MM in the near future and depending on what the barrel slugs out at will help dictate what mold I get. But if it comes out to what Lee has I would buy it with no reservations.

[shadygrady]

send that zinc to me for lead

[keyhole]

Lee tumble lube style mold plus Lee size die will get you going for not a lot of money. The Lee size die will include liquid Alox bullet lube. Depending on what you are loading for, they work OK in my experience. If you get other brands of molds, which have lube grooves, realistically you will need a lubrisizer, which is $150+ new plus about $20 for the sizing die. Lee is definitely much less costly. Many people do not like Lee but I have no complaints about the 10 or so Lee molds I have. I also have Ideal, Lyman, and Saeco. These molds are higher quality and more durable, but the Lee still makes a very good bullet. Just my opinion after 40 years of casting. Welcome to the hobby!