Potential newbie

[selmerfan]

Ok, so I have a .357 Max that I want to load cast bullets for, and if I'm casting, I'd probably do it for my .30-06 for target shooting as well. I've asked around here a little bit and compared some prices. Lee is obviously the least expensive for a sizer, plus I can use my Rockchucker press to do it with. What are the pros/cons of such a set-up? Does the Lee put the lube on at the same time as well, or do I just tumble lube them after sizing with Alox? And how effective is Alox for preventing leading, although I intend to shoot GC bullets. I also need a means of melting the lead and dad has an old Lyman lead pot that holds about ten pounds that I'm sure I could have. Then I just need a dipper and molds w/handles, correct? Let me know your opinions on equipment, I know there are other options such as Lyman, RCBS, and Star sizers, plus better melting options that a pot on a camp stove. I have some linotype laying around that I could use to alloy with the lead, and access to WW. Let me know, I love reloading and would like to pour my own bullets. If you have any used equipment remaining after and upgrade, I might be interested in purchasing. I'd ask on the swappin' and sellin' page, but I need a few more posts before I'm allowed to participate there. Thanks for the opinions!
Selmerfan

[Marshal Kane]

Yes, Lee is the least expensive for a sizer and certainly workable. The drawback is the amount of work needed to produce each lubed bullet. If you use Lee tumble lube moulds, you will just need to coat the bullets with liquid alox, set them on their bases and allow them to dry overnight. No sizing necessary but kind of messy handling the wet alox coated bullets as they are quite slippery. If you use other types of moulds you will have to size first, then tumble lube the bullets with alox and set them on their bases to dry.

Many of us prefer using a lubrisizer which sizes and lubes the bullet simultaneously. Using a lubrisizer eliminates the need for overnight drying, is convenient, much faster and cleaner to work with.

You would be better served first melting your lead in a large steel or cast iron pot over a good heat source e.g. propane heated turkey fryer. The melted alloy is skimmed of all WW clips and unwanted oxides then fluxed thoroughly and skimmed again. The cleaned alloy is then ladled into ingot moulds to produce the ingots that go into your lead casting pot. Better to put clean ingots into the casting pot than crud contaminated WWs.

The most convenient casting pots are the electric ones with bottom spouts. They have thermostats with which to control the temperature of the alloy. They should have an open area at the top large enough to allow the use of a lead dipper. You can use a simple melting pot over a camp stove but you will have to work harder and have more things to watch over in order to turn out good bullets.

Best to learn how to cast using WWs first before attempting to making your own alloys. WWs make excellent bullets and are already alloyed with tin and antimoney. There is definitely a learning curve to this so at the beginning, keep it simple. You can always try alloying later.

Before purchasing any equipment, get a bullet casting guide e.g. The Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook and read it thoroughly so that you understand what you are going to do and what you need to do it with. Don't forget to have your safety equipment e.g. glasses, gloves, long sleeve shirt, heavy pants, closed shoes, etc. while casting. Best wishes and hope this helps.

[Scrounger]

We are dealing with opinions here. And having tried both methods, I think it's at least twice as much work to use the lubesizer, and changing dies and top punches is a royal pain in the butt. To me, it's only advantage is making nicer looking finished bullets. Lazy, cheap, SOB that I am, Lee wins hands down. You dump your cast bullets in a bag with a few drops of Alox. Shake them around for a few minutes to coat them. Dump them out to dry on a waxed paper or plastic. You are free to enjoy life for a few hours to maybe overnight. Then you run them through the Lee sizer. A hundred bullets might take 15 minutes. Repeat lube process. Done. Anyone who can't do all that in under 30 minutes actual labor probably isn't smart enough to reload anyway. A hundred bullets through the lubesizer, IF you already have the correct sizer die and top punch in it, will take at least an hour and cost you a lot more actual labor. I concede nicer looking bullets to the lubesizer, AND THAT IS ALL!!!!

[Marshal Kane]

. . . I concede nicer looking bullets to the lubesizer, AND THAT IS ALL!!!!
Thanks for offering another point of view and I like your choice in dogs.

[David2011]

Selmerfan,

My opinion is that if you shoot a lot a lubsizer is the way to fly.

The facts are: I have a Lyman for rifle calibers and a Star for pistol boolits. Yes, you have to put the right die in the sizer (less than 5 minutes) but I can size about 1000/hour in the Star as the boolit falls out the bottom after sizing and does not have to be manually removed from the sizer. One punch fits most boolits in the Star as they go through nose first. The Lyman (similar to the RCBS and uses the same dies and punches) requires different punches specific to each boolit style and lifts the boolit back up to be manually removed after it's sized. It's a much better sizer for gas checks, though. If you want to shoot higher velocity loads in either of your calibers, you may want to consider that gas checks might be needed. I would extimate the production of the Lyman sizer to be around 400/hour without gas checks and 300/hr with. I may be low by 100/hr but I don't use it for high volume boolits. I shoot several thousand plain boolits for every gas checked bullet I make. Last year I made and shot over 20,000 plain boolits, mostly .40S&W, and shot about a dozen gas checked .357 mag cast boolits.

David2011

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

"Ok, so I have a .357 Max that I want to load cast bullets for, and if I'm casting, I'd probably do it for my .30-06 for target shooting as well."

If I were you, I'd get myself some fishing sinkers (The egg shaped ones with the hole in the middle.) and go ahead and slug your bores. Get both the Land and groove dimensions, so you'll know exactly what your dealing with and make plans as far as mold dimensions and sizer sizes. You can google "slugging the bore" and get a good pictured "how to" from someplace like surplusrifle.com.

"I've asked around here a little bit and compared some prices. Lee is obviously the least expensive for a sizer, plus I can use my Rockchucker press to do it with. What are the pros/cons of such a set-up?"

Pros: Inexpensive, simple, quick and uses Lee Liquid Alox as a lube, so you don't need a lubrisizer, just a Lee sizer. So no lube heater needed.

Cons: You're somewhat locked into LLA as your lube. That said, I'm not sure that's a bad thing. For many of those who've worked with the LLA and gotten good results, I think it's a great option and inexpensive. So maybe no cons. I'm with Scrounger on this one.

"Does the Lee put the lube on at the same time as well, or do I just tumble lube them after sizing with Alox?"

The best method I've seen demonstrated for LLA is the posts by a fella with the nickname Ranchdog. IF I wanted to understand a top notch Lee lube and size methodology, I'd do a search for his posts. He recently did one with pictures and a top notch description.

"And how effective is Alox for preventing leading, although I intend to shoot GC bullets."

So far, it's done good for me and appears to do real well for folks who use a methodology similar to RanchDog's.

"I also need a means of melting the lead and dad has an old Lyman lead pot that holds about ten pounds that I'm sure I could have."

Be aware that you'll also want to smelt the lead into ingots to clean the lead before you use it for casting. So consider the cost of a smelting operation into your numbers. If you combine the two, you'll tend to keep your casting pot dirty and not do as well casting.

A friend of mine uses a medium sized cast iron pot and one of those single heating element burners from Walmart to do his smelting, works really well. I use a turkey cooker, but I tend to do larger batches.

"Then I just need a dipper and molds w/handles, correct?"

The answer to this question gets involved, but you're generally right. I suggest reading a while on the forum to get a better idea. Lotsa small things you'll need or want to make life easier, such as Bullshop sprue lube.

"Let me know your opinions on equipment, I know there are other options such as Lyman, RCBS, and Star sizers, plus better melting options that a pot on a camp stove."

So far, in my fairly young lead career, I've used a turkey cooker setup to smelt and strictly Lee equipment to cast with and I've been happy with the results. Costs are low, bullets I've made seem to be accurate.

"I have some linotype laying around that I could use to alloy with the lead, and access to WW. Let me know, I love reloading and would like to pour my own bullets."

You sound like me a couple years ago, except I didn't have any linotype.

"If you have any used equipment remaining after and upgrade, I might be interested in purchasing. I'd ask on the swappin' and sellin' page, but I need a few more posts before I'm allowed to participate there. Thanks for the opinions!"

Can't help you with equipment, but I think you're heading in the right direction for a new caster.

Regards,

Dave

[selmerfan]

Thanks for all of your help guys, the information for the newbie is greatly appreciated. It sounds like the Lee might be a good thing to start out with and see if I enjoy it or would rather purchase other casters finished products, although I'm sure it will be fun, I love fire and anything to do with reloading, so this has to be a great combination! :) Sounds like I should go back and re-read my Lyman cast bullet bible...
Selmerfan