New to casting and needs advice

[NavyRedneck]

Ok, I've only reloaded once and most of that was with borrowed equipment. That said, I've already shot up most of what I reloaded and now I need bullets and the shipping and handling cost me as much as the bullets last time. So, I found a Lyman mould 429244 for .44 magnum today at a flea market and would like to start casting. The mold is for SWCGC which works for me since most of my rounds are shot at hogs and targets.

Looks like I need:
casting furnace
dipper
sizer and lubricator (.429 since my mold is .429 I think)
top punch and sizing die
gas checks (group buy on this forum)
lube

I have a local autoshop that will sell me WW's and I plan on using muffin pans for the ingots.

Am I missing anything?
Anyone have the above at beginner quality and price?
Any recommendations on acquiring this stuff? I'm not trying to get top-notch accuracy. I want to cast a few bullets, reload them, and enjoy doing it. What's your opinion of this set?

http://www.natchezss.com/product.cfm?contentID=productDetail&prodID=LY2712000

or:
20 lb Lee magnum melter ($60)
Lee lube and sizing kit which would include the dies and lube ($15) (this set looked really nice since it says it lubes, sizes, and gas checks it in one step)

Currently leaning towards Lee since all the reloading equipment I've used so far has been Lee and I've had no issues. Thanks for the help.

[Whaump 'em]

The sizer will be bigger than .429, what are you shooting S&W, Ruger, ????

[NavyRedneck]

I'm shooting a Ruger Super Redhawk so I ordered .430 bullets the last time. The mold I bought was .429 and I figured I could sell the mold at a later date, keep the handles, and maybe go with a LBT mold. Until then I was gonna use the .429 mold and see if accuracy degraded (doubtful since my shooting is not all that great; I'm nearly always self-limited vice gun-limited).

And, yes, I know I need to size my barrel and cylinder, and probably fire-lap the barrel as well but I haven't figured out how to do all that yet. I even tried to jam a fishing weight down the barrel but gave up after I started deforming the brass case I was using. Probably got the wrong size weight off of beartooth bullets FAQ.

Do I have to use the same size bullet sizer as the mold? Or are you saying that I need to get a different mold? I'm really trying to get this going on a shoestring budget.

[Whaump 'em]

The mold will drop bigger than .429, unless using pure lead. You need to cast some and measure what you get.
You do not need to use the same size sizing die as is listed on the mold.
I have a SRH also, and used the Lee sizing die to find the cylinder throat diameter, by enlarging it and sizing a boolit, over and over, until it would no longer drop through the cylinder.
Start with the Lee equipment, when you decide to upgrade you'll need to start with a lubri-sizer, before the LBT mold.

[IcerUSA]

That mould may just cast a little bigger than the 429XXX on the mould as the number relates to the caliber of weapon it is used in .

If you go with the Lee sizer get the .430 to start with I would think . Also the part about the Lee sizer lubing is not so, it means to tumble lube let dry, size , then tumble lube again , just a little misleading .

What do you have available for smelting your raw material ? You really don't want to use your casting pot for smelting . When your at the flea market keep an eye out for a cast iron pot and a burner of some sort , turkey fryer or similar high out put burner .

Did the mould come with handles ? If not I would suggest getting a set of Lee 6 banger handles and fit them to the mould . :)

And I like that last part about a budget , I did that too but in the mean time it cost me 5 rifles that I cast for, 3 semi auto's and a revolver , BUDGET-WHAT-THE-HELL-IS-A-BUDGET ? heheh

Hope the info helps a little and one thing I didn't see mentioned is getting the Lyman Cast Bullet Manual as there is a ton of info in it and then you will have even more specific questions to ask . :)

Keith

[454PB]

Welcome to the forum!

The way it is normally done is to slug the barrel and chamber throats before buying the proper sizing die. However, if you go with a .430 sizer and latter find it's too small, you can enlarge it with some emory cloth. Most of us size .001" larger than the bore, and sometimes even more if the throats are much larger than the bore. My Lyman 429244 casts a .432" boolit from WW alloy.

Slugging the bore is best done with a stout rod (I use a piece of 1/4" brazing rod) that won't mar the barrel. Either cast a pure lead slug, or use the fish sinker previously mentioned. The slug needs to be larger than the barrel, so pre-measure it and if it's too small, stand it up on a hard surface and smack it with a hammer to enlarge it. Clean the barrel, oil it and the slug, drop it in the muzzle, and then tap it through with the rod. The same procedure works for the chamber throats, only the slug is started from the rear of the cylinder and pushed out the front. Measure the slug with a micrometer. Ideally for your .44, both the throats and barrel will measure .430". Realistically, you'll find the bore is .430" and the throats are .431" to .432".

I fired thousands of 429244 sized .430" through my Ruger RH with good results even though the throats are .432". The secret was the gas check. To shoot plain base boolits with no leading and good accuracy, I have to size them .432".

[Three44s]

I would buy a book that Beartooth Bullets sells on the subject of fitting up guns for lead .... it's a real bargain for the info learned.

Three 44s

[NavyRedneck]

Okay, here's where I'm at:

I picked up two cast iron pots from the flea-market. One is little and might hold 10 pounds of lead. The other is huge and would probably hold 50.

Today I bought 200 # of lead. 80 of it was in a brick and is soft lead. For the brick stuff I will try to chisel chunks off of it. The rest was in wheel weight form. The guy threw in a ladle which is pretty rusted but will work I think. I paid him $75 which might be a little high but it gives me a starting point. The place I was hoping to buy from has been closed for a while and I'm not sure when it's going to reopen. Hopefully they still have the bucket of wheel weights that they offered to sell me a few months ago (before I started thinking of doing my own casting).

I just put a wanted ad in the local craigslist looking for a turkey deep fat fryer. To cast my ingots I'm also gonna need flux, right? Any recommended brands?

I'm hoping to cast all of it into ingot form using a steel muffin pan (or the small cast iron pot if the pan doesn't work well). Then I'll worry about the actual bullet casting stuff.

[waksupi]

Just get a dry stick, to stir the lead when it is melted. It will flux it just fine, and tends to be really cheap. There has been a current discussion underway about this. Anything carbon based will flux. Save your money for primers!

[ktw]

To cast my ingots I'm also gonna need flux, right? Any recommended brands?

I have a jug of used motor oil out in the garage that I use for flux when smelting. I use sawdust and a wooden stirring stick for fluxing in the casting pot.

Buy yourself a pair of welding gloves. Rarely gets mentioned but it's one of those things that's hard to live without when casting.

-ktw

[freedom475]

You have a good start. Welcome to the site.:drinks:

Smelting pot=you have $0
Mould=you have $0
Lyman cast book= there is a lot of good info right here if on a budget. $0

Flux=sawdust,candle wax, oil. I STRONGY suggest you give Pat marlin a PM and get some of his flux. It works better and you don't have the huge fire/burns/smell that wax and oil can cause. $0-$20 delivered

Lead= you have. May I suggest using the straight WW to begin with and saving the pure lead for Soft points and muzzle loaders. Read Bruce B's threads on SP's , they are awsome. Look under hunting with cb's forum. Some pics of there great preformance are shown under Freedom475's Buck and Boolit.

Melting pot= may I suggest LEE bottom pore 10 or 20lb. cheap and mine has worked for years. $40-$50

Dipper= you have? but not needed with lee bottom pore.

Sizer/luber after using am old RCBS lub-a-matic and reading the negative reviews on the NEW Lyman 4500 . I would go with a RCBS-Lube-A-Matic II. Not nesassary, but very nice for lubing.almost "A Must have". $200 with press, sizer,lube, top punch and die.

Lube heater= not nessassry with soft lube, or look around the site, I saw one made from an old Iron the other day(very smart). $0

Turkey fryer for smelting=I've read that people are having trouble with them in cold weather? I use a propane "weed burner"/huge torch, with a few cynder-blocks and a dutch oven. This thing will smelt steel.!! so be careful. But a nice fire with a good bed of coals will work great at $0.

[Wayne Smith]

I'm still using a 2 burner Coleman stove, 20lb Lyman pot and one quart SS kitchen pot and a Lyman dipper. I've added 2 lubesizers from e-Bay, one Lyman and one RCBS. Using a dipper and pot on the stove is more than adequate for the amount I'm casting. I use one and two and four and six cavity molds without problem. I cast from a 100 gr 9mmMakarov to the Lyman 457125 500+gr mold.

You don't have to go fancy.

[Stevejet]

Cutting of lead to get it to fit in your pot or furnace melter can be done with a very coarse saw blade, manually, or even better with a reciprocating electric hand saw. I cut many aircraft flight test ballast "pigs" which were 40 lb. square "rings" with a B&D electric saw for fitting the lead into my Lee 10 lb. melter.