Casting Season Is Officially Here

[Down South]

What a day to cast, the outside temp is 70 degrees, a gentle breeze to my back, the sun is shinning and the Superbowl kickoff will happen while I type this.

I ran out of 45 acp Boolits Friday when I loaded up about 450 rds. I sent most of those flying at the plate racks at the range yesterday shooting three different 45's.

I just finished one pot of alloy so time for a break to replenish the pot and watch the kickoff.

Below is my little setup at my home away from home.

Forgot to add, the mould is a MiHec 452-200, what a work of art. It's a pain with a 2-banger. I think we had a GB on a 4- banger and I should have got one.

I've got 8-10 MiHec moulds now and I'm on a couple other GB's now. It sure is expensive to have this forum for a home.

[Beau Cassidy]

That is a pretty good way to spend the afternoon. I would have to stop so I could watch the commercials.

When doing large runs of bullets I put ingots on the top edge of the pot to preheat and add them as needed to keep the pot about 3/4 full.

[Wayne Smith]

Didn't even get to 50 here today. Too cold to work in the garage. I have some brass to cut and drill for my powder measure and also need to cast some .45's. Instead I took pics of my new rifle and posted them, started a fire in the fireplace, and am typing this while watching the superbowl.

[Jailer]

Nice setup, makes me wish for spring.

Wayne it didn't get over 18 here today. I've been wanting to get to the range but when it's so cold you lose all feeling in your trigger finger it kinda ruins your range trip.

[runfiverun]

it's not even 70 in my house.

[casterofboolits]

In the teens here and even with two kerosene heaters it was too cold to do any thing in the workshop. Won't be any c asting until the temp gets above freezing.:(

[HATCH]

I personally can't wait for mihec's new molds for the master caster!!!
He is suppose to be working on some designs soon.

I have learned that if I am buying a hand cast mold its going to be a 4c from now on.
Great looking boolits.

[xs11jack]

That is a mean sadistic thing to post. I got 4 1/2 inches of snow last night and am working on getting my snowblower working! And it is 25 degrees here. Blazzzzzzzzz. Take that you big meany
Jack

[Wells]

17 and partly sunny 700 lbs smelted good day,there a game today o well !
Wells

[Shiloh]

Pretty soon. Still a bit on the cold side. I went through my stash and culled the imperfect ones. those will be the first in the pot with some gifted boolits to remelt.

Shiloh

[Idaho Mule]

Ha!! I had about 42degrees here about noon and did some casting. Am now trying to recover from food coma, wings, chips, dips. Oh and I am watching the commercials. Where's the Clydesdales?? JW

[blueeyephil]

Just saw the Clydesdale. Anin't it good to be able to pour you own. I've got a couple of new molds I need to try soon!

[btroj]

I cast year round. I have cast when it was 95, cast when it was 20. Since I cast in an attached garage it really doesn't matter.

[dragon813gt]

I had trouble getting my garage to a bearable temp yesterday so I could load some rounds. It wasn't even that cold at thirty degrees. And it's been snowing on and off all weekend.

[Down South]

Well, I wrapped up a while ago. Talk about a good SB game going. Who a thunk it?
I just finished putting all the gear up and came inside to finish watching the game.

This is where I quit at. I calculate about 1300-1400 Boolits.
Tomorrow is size and lube for these.

[runfiverun]

lookin good sam.
nice work.

[geargnasher]

Those really look good, all evenly finished and filled. I use a Lyman Devastator with the single spud, it casts pretty fast with a bottom pour, about six pours a minute, but it does take a while to make a thousand.

It was 76 here this afternoon, pleasant day. I cast indoors unless using the big pot and ladle, so no it's always casting season at my place! Of course, if I'm anywhere else like you moving around between three place, I'm screwed.

Gear

[Jal5]

Those look great!
too cold in the garage to do any casting this weekend but in my basement I did manage to load up some test loads.
Now to get a decent day to shoot them, not windy and snowing. Joe

[captaint]

Man, I wish I had temps like 70 to get outside. I do all my smelting (obviously)
and casting outside - so - I was out a couple of weeks ago when the temp got up
to 50 a couple. I got about 850 done, so I was happy. I do envy you guys living
in Texas, where people are people - except for Austin anyway. Being in fairly close
proximity to NJ, I just get sick when I watch the news. I should quit doing that.
So - I'm just waitin for a nicer day when I can get out again. Until then, I'll just
have to shovel snow. I do like Pa, though. Mike

[jlchucker]

Lucky you, Down South. It was 7 below zero this morning when I got up. Then the sun got higher in the sky, and the temp inched its way up to 10 above. Now they are saying blizzard coming over this weekend. I need to explore moving down south. That's going to be a logistical problem the way I see it though. There's lots of States with wierd gun regulations between here and wherever down south I'd be ending up. Moving my stuff would be a pain. I'll be outside casting for the year though, come late May when it warms up.

[Down South]

Talking about still cold. We have a project on the North Slope in Alaska. I looked at the morning report yesterday and they were reporting -32 deg.

[1Shirt]

Casting season for me is 365 days a year! Time however is the issue, or rather lack of it!
1Shirt!

[bobthenailer]

My annual Febuary month long casting season started this Thursday ! a little later than normal , I should be casting now instead of writing about it !

[kir_kenix]

Tomorrow my casting season will officially start. Wife and I decided that we both were going to try our hand at serious IDPA this season. Going to need alot of boolits if we both shoot 2-3 times a month! Between the 2 of us we are going to attempt to cast somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000 9mm, 1500 .38/.357 projectiles, and maybe 1000 .45 boolits tomorrow. I have plenty of rifle boolits for this summer already cast and dressed up. Casting is the fun part, lubing all of those boolits is going to be a chore though!

Jealous of you guys in the south and all the nice weather you have been having! It's been either very chilly, or very windy here. Today for instance its 50* out, but the wind is blowing 30mph+ outside. Guess thats what we get for living in Nebraska.

[bobthenailer]

WOW ! you and your wife are going to cast between 4,500 and 5,500 bullets tomorrow ! thats alot of bullets for only one days production ? what type of casting equipment are you using ? i usually make between 1000 and 1500 per casting session and L/S shortly after as i WD from the mould and im usually done for the day! but sometimes i have 2 casting/L/S sessions a day after several hours brake between them.

[kir_kenix]

WOW ! you and your wife are going to cast between 4,500 and 5,500 bullets tomorrow ! thats alot of bullets for only one days production ? what type of casting equipment are you using ? i usually make between 1000 and 1500 per casting session and L/S shortly after as i WD from the mould and im usually done for the day! but sometimes i have 2 casting/L/S sessions a day after several hours brake between them.

Yeah, when I look at the numbers now it sounds pretty tough. Didn't seem so bad typing it though! We both have the weekend and Monday off, so it may be a couple days worth of production. Idk though, 2 20 lb bottom pourers, 1.5 tons of ingots and 6 cavity molds go pretty quick.

Considering about 2 pours a minute each (24 boolits per minute), thats about 1440 boolits per hour. In reality we can probably manage about half that when you consider keeping the pots full, potty breaks, etc. Its amazing how many boolits you can make with 2 casters.

A couple of years ago we all got together at my old mans house for a serious casting session. 3 People pouring boolits, 1 person keeping the pots full. We went at it for several hours, washed up and ate, and then returned to casting for several more. I have no idea how many boolits we casted that day, but it was enough that my truck seriously squatted when I went home.

[JeffinNZ]

Season!? Next there'll be a bag limit!