Looking to start casting, need guidance from the experts!

[Elbie]

Came across this forum while doing research to look into start casting my own bullets.

A friend and I are both retired, and avid shooters (3-4 times per week). We both are experienced reloaders, and reload many different calibers. We both nave an interest in getting into casting, but admit our ignorance. Primarily we would look at casting for Handgun. (44, 45, 40, 9mm) We are also both benchrest rifle shooters, but would not cast those.

We have a source for Wheel weights, but that is the end of our knowledge. Here are some of the question I have: (sorry if they are confusing but I dont know enough of what to ask......)

1. Exactly what do we need to get started? and I really want to know the unknowns here. I know furnace, etc, but what are the hidden costs?

2. Recommended brands to buy or stay away from?

3. Cost of initial investment not counting lead?

4. Whats the payback? I love reloading, and I see it as a hobby in itself. I would look on this the same way, but want to know a cost justification for getting into it. Buying bullets in bulk costs me "X". Ignoring the cost of equipment, do you see savings this way? approximate savings??

I am sure there are many other questions, but these will start me down the road toward my decision. Throw in anything else I haven't asked but need to know.

Thanks so much in advance for your guidance.

[Beerd]

Welcome Elbie!

As MtGun44 once said "The Stickies are your friends".
..

[Sgtonory]

What you need is a melting pot i recommend a Lee pro 4-20 cost around $70. Also need a mold can go as cheap as $20 for a 2 cavity Lee mold and up from there. Also need a way to size and lube your boolits. Cost for a lube sizer is around $150 or can tumble lube and use a push thru sizer and that would be more around $20. Also need a way to melt your Wheel weight't into ingots a coleman type stove works great with a cast iron skillit. Im sure there is something i am missing and others will chime in.

[Echo]

Welcome, Elbie, to the greatest forum on the web... Plus One for "The Stickies are your friends". Read them all, and do it again, then read the complete forum contents. You will have to make up your own mind re what to buy - too many variables that include How Much To Spend.

[Sgtonory]

4. Whats the payback? For me its fun and i save a lot of money when it cost me almost nothing to make boolits after initial investment. But that payed for its self after the first few thousand boolits.

[NHPaul]

Payback is satisfaction of having control over the whole process start to finish aand an unlimited supply of bullets that shoot better than anything I can buy. It is a hobby , which means you can spend as much or as little as you wish to on it. The lee 4-20 is a great pot for the money but there are better. Handgun bullets are the easiest to cast well and you can make them from straight wheelweight with no trouble at all. I powder coat mine easy and cheap and shove them through a push through sizer. lee bullet molds are very easy to cast with and worth every penny you pay for them, and they will last a long time if you are careful with them, they will not take any abuse though.Jump on the chat room and ask some questions as you go when things don't look quite right.

['74 sharps]

Can tumble lube and shoot as cast as well.

[jmort]

I spent many many hours/days reading everything I could including the stickies and Modern Reloading by Richard Lee which has some information. Get Lyman's casting manual 4th edition. No single thread or post will get you close to all the info you need. You can save a bundle on ammunition if you desire. If you do your homework, you can load handgun ammunition for less than $.10 that is less than 10 cents a round. How's that for incentive? I would not spend a dime until you put in some time. Do your due diligence, and you will save $$$ by getting what you want/need the first time.

[dbosman]

Welcome.
Read a lot of the stickies. Skim the title list of the rest. You'll be back there later and more will make sense.
The single reference you really want is the Lyman Cast Bullet handbook.

You can start with little expense. The sky is the limit after that.
I smelt using a surplus stainless steel condiment tray on a Coleman gas stove. I use a $2. soup ladle for stirring, skimming, and making ingots. It's my ingot mold too.
You can cast with the same pieces, but I prefer an electric pot with a down spout.
One piece of financial advice. - don't purchase too many molds too fast. Get one for the most common caliber you two shoot, and work out the bugs and techniques. It is very tempting to buy every mold that comes up since some are in short supply. Try not to.

[ButterNutZ]

I started on the cheap with Coleman gas stove and rcbs dipper. After some time upgraded to lee 20 pound pot and never looked back.
You need, Lee pot, mold, and some alox. Never did get sizing dies until I started to cast for a 35 remington. Thats how I got going and shoot quite a bit of 357 and 9mm.
Hope this helps.

[Buck-N-Rut]

YouTube videos of casting. It helps to watch people in my opinion. I would recommend casting without a doubt. I load a box of 38's for less than 10 dollars. Prob closer to five actually. If you look hard enough you can find everything pretty cheap. Just have to look.

[gussiegoins2]

I would go slow and cheap to start with to find out if you are going like casting once you start doing it. I love it, my buddy hates it. For him it's tedious and he just doesn't feel safe. It is molten lead afterall. Find out which of the steps in producing cast boolits you like and which you kinda find as a pain. If you are going to upgrade, upgrade those first. Say you start out and love dropping boolits but hate pan lubing, then upgrade to a good luber/sizer etc. I got started with a lyman Little Dipper $40, lyman ladle $20(get a good ladle lyman or rcbs), a Couple of Lee two bangers ($20 apiece) for say 44 and 357, a couple of Lee sizing kits ($10 a piece), and get started for $100 -$120. All of those items will be useful to have even if you do upgrade. You can make your own lube for pan lubing or use the Lee Alox for tumble lubing. If you like casting, it won't take you long to find out what steps in the process you want to upgrade. Even if you don't continue to ladle cast and you decide to get a bottom pouring furnance, ladle casting will teach you a lot and there will be times and applications when you will want to fire up that pot for ladling. My advice is if you want to get better equipment dont go on the intermediate stuff. As an example, if you want to upgrade your lubing/sizing and you probably know you won't be happy until you get a Magma Star, then just go ahead and buy a Star, don't buy a lyman and all those dies and top punches (easily $250 for a couple of calibers). That is just an example. Don't drop too much money to start with. It won't be long before you will want better molds etc. But by then you will have a better idea of what you want. Use all your early-on excess money on buying all the wheel weights and other lead you can find. Even if you don't end up liking to cast that stuff is easy to resell.

[462]

I recommend avoiding You Tube. There are too many casting videos that were made by dangerous fools, using improper and unsafe techniques and abusing their equipment. Until you are more informed and educated you won't be able to discern the safe from the unsafe and the proper from the improper.

Instead, buy a copy of Lyman's Cast Bullet Handbook, 3rd edition and read it a couple times, read the site's stickies and peruse the archive.

[wv109323]

Elbie, Sent me a PM with your E-mail address and I will send you a write-up I did about a year ago. It may be helpful.

[mac266]

Howdy friend. I have a confession to make: I'm a self-taught caster. Like you, I had been reloading for years and multiple calibers and wanted to cast. I hung out on a few internet forums (but unfortunately didn't find this one), and read the RCBS bullet casting manual. You can read that book in an hour and know everything you need to know to get started. Some expertise develops from there.

[cbrick]

Welcome to CastBoolits Elbie, you have found the single best place on the web to learn the hobby. Collectively there are thousans of years of experience here and most are willing to help out a new guy. Remember, the only dumb question is the one you don't ask.

I also highly recommend avoiding U tube, every casting video I've seen there made me cringe.

Here's some great reading and it's free, I recommend downloading and printing it out.

From Ingot To Target by Glen E. Fryxell (http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_textonly2.pdf)

This book is a valuable resource.

With the calibers you listed for handgun I would save the 9mm for last, the others you listed are pretty straight forward & will be fairly easy for a new guy to get started. While cast works well in the 9 it can present it's own problems that need sorting out.

Rick

[Bigslug]

You're a benchrest shooter, so you probably already understand the process of getting GOOD equipment - match barrel blanks, high-end stocks, repeatable scopes, a good gunsmith to true and bed actions, Redding match dies, digital powder measures, etc...

Much the same with casting. There are some legitimately good cheap options for some of this stuff, but there are definite areas where you want the good stuff.

Good measuring equipment is a must - micrometers in place of calipers for getting good diameter reads, a 5-flute V-anvil micrometer if you have bores with an odd number of grooves. Pin gauges for measuring revolver cylinder throats.

You need a pot. I would recommend bottom pour over ladling for your needs. You want 20# capacity at a minimum.

You need molds. Good ones are a pleasure, and not horrendously more expensive than merely OK or mediocre. Tell us what you want to do, and we can advise. Lyman tends to be the whipping boy for this category, as they have a history of radically changing specs without changing part numbers.

Since you're already loading for accuracy, sizing bullets to proper diameter for your gun will not seem alien to you. You'll need a lube-sizer, dies for desired diameter, a top-punch appropriate to each bullet design for driving the bullet into those dies without deforming their noses, and round-appropriate lube (which can be store bought or home made).

Personally, I would not be without a hardness tester (Cabine Tree, in my case), as it allows you to rapidly determine what your alloy's properties are - extremely useful when either cataloging your miscellaneous ingots, or mixing up something for a specific task.

You'll want at least a couple of ingot molds to drain out your pot into at the end of the session. Some guys don't drain, but I think in terms of "maybe I'll need a different alloy for the next project".

The "payback" can be in the form of scrounged lead and brass. When all you're paying for is primer, powder, lube, time, and electricity to run the pot the monetary savings can be significant. As a benchrest shooter, you'll also understand the benefits inherent in being able to craft more aspects of the ammo around your specific gun and needs.

If you get REALLY into this, you'll need a stable-based propane burner and an iron pot to melt down scrounged lead in. . .but baby steps, Grasshopper.

[captaint]

Welcome Elbie. This IS the place to learn casting from the beginning. You have already gotten some very good advice. Follow that. Since you and your friend already shoot BR, you have all the tools needed (the good ones) for measuring chores. I would start with the .45ACP for casting. It's very forgiving and rewarding to cast for. And so the journey begins. You won't save actual money from casting your own, but you will shoot a lot more - basically for the cost of primers and powder if you get your lead for free. Mike

[dromia]

The how to articles in the Cast Pics library, our sister site, is also a good place to go.

See link below or the Cast Pics link at the bottom of the page.

http://www.castpics.net/subsite2/HowTo/default.html

[WILCO]

I recommend avoiding You Tube. There are too many casting videos that were made by dangerous fools, using improper and unsafe techniques and abusing their equipment. Until you are more informed and educated you won't be able to discern the safe from the unsafe and the proper from the improper.

Instead, buy a copy of Lyman's Cast Bullet Handbook, 3rd edition and read it a couple times, read the site's stickies and peruse the archive.

Best answer!

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

All your questions have multiple 'right' answers
I'd start by reading the front half of Lyman castbullet handbook #4
that and reading this website a couple hours a day for a few months,
will answer your questions to your perspective.

I will comment on one item. Saving money:

You can save money, but you'll be doing that with 'short-cuts'. Most here will say you won''t save money, but I think you can, but you trade your time for the savings.
What tends to happen is you find out that your world of reloading/shooting have been turned upsidedown, everything that works for Jacketed bullets and commercial Hardcast bullets doesn't necessarily work for your home cast COWW alloy boolits. You will begin a 'years' long persuit for perfecting every little thing. We can help you, but if you are inclined, the general warning is...you will be spending lots more money and time on everything else but shooting. Yes it is a hobby onto itself, and a worthwhile endeaver, but if you are doing this to save money, plan on shortcuts and disappointments at the target.
ggod Luck,
Jon

PS, I started casting 6 months after I joined this sight. I've spend thousands of dollars(probably over 10K), where initially I looked to this as a way to save money from buying commercial cast bullets..before 2010, I probably spent $500 dollars a year on cast and jacketed projectiles. And I probably shoot more then, because I had more time.

[Cherokee]

You have received lots of good advice so I'll talk about savings. I acquired my lead supply at an average cost of ~$.80 # and managed to get a good supply of tin in that average. Curent cost of primers and powder have increased my cost of loads. But, considering I shoot 200-600 rounds a week (I am retired), I spend much less than for factory or even commercial reloads. Over the 50+ years of reloading I have invested thousands of dollars in reloading and casting equipment, but I still save lots of money and I can shoot a lot. Actual savings will depend on what you buy and load for but you will save (excluding initial equip cost).

[slim1836]

+1 on all of the above. Do not forget the "tinsel fairy" is always hiding out there. Do a simple search on this forum for info. That alone can spoil a newcomer to this endeavor and can cause permanent damage to life and limb.

Have fun, enjoy, but please do it safely.

Slim

[tengaugetx]

I am far from an expert but I was in your position a little less than a year ago.
The panic induced shortage made me realize I needed to have a way of making my own projectiles.
After alot of reading manuals and on this site I bought a Lee bottom pour 4-20. I also have a 6 cavity Lee mold and handles for 9mm, 38's and 45's. I use a Lee push through sizers and tumble lube in 45/45/10 I made myself. I have gotten most of my 500lb or so stash of lead for free. I figure I can load a box for around $3 or so. I already had a fish cooker I use to smelt with. I bought an 8" cast iron skillet at a flee market for a couple bucks and a stick cornbread pan for making ingots. I also use a cast iron ladle I had for casting ingots, it holds about 2 lbs. I bought a fryer scoop to remove wheel weight clips and bullet jackets from the melt. I figure I am in for about $250 but I already had the fish cooker. I was buying cast bullets for $35/500. I have already cast and shot enough bullets to be past the point of the equipment being worth the initial investment.
Alot of folks don't like the Lee equipment but it has all worked well for me. I've probably shot about 5,000 of my own now and have another 8 to 10,000 poured up and stored away.
I purposely tried to keep my initial investment down without sacrificing too much.

[MtGun44]

Welcome, good info all around. I, too recommend that you start with Glen Fryxell's superb
FREE online book and then come here with more detailed and knowledgeable questions.

Avoid You-Tube since there is lots of foolish stuff there and you initially may get started off
on the wrong foot. Another vote for dipping the wallet lightly into the equipment pool
initially until the bug bites or you decide this is not for you. Start with .45 ACP or .38 Spl
and buy one Lee double cav mold (ask for recommendations) and then focus on that one
caliber (those two are particularly forgiving for beginners, avoid 9mm and 40 S&W at
first) until you have it going well. At that point you can start getting out the pile of
$20 bills if you really like it and want better and more equipment.

Bill