opinions on casting costs?

[thxmrgarand]

The technical people using this forum frequently give very impressive analysis, so with that in mind I wondered about casting costs as electricity costs for me just took a large jump. Last week an avalanche wiped out the hyro power for my town and so the town has gone to diesel generation. Cost has gone from eleven cents per KWH to over 50 cents and my next monthly bill will quintuple. The line is supposed to be rebuilt by the end of summer but costs may have to stay up for some time to pay for the needed new 1 and 1/2 miles of line. I usually use propane to make ingots from almost-free (so far) lead, and then from time to time I use 110 volt Lyman and Lee 20 and 10 pound (respectively) pots to cast mostly .44 and .45 pistol bullets (sometimes .45 rifle, .32 and .38 pistol) in large batches. Even at 11 cents, my casting sessions show a noticeable jump in the monthly electrical bill (according to she who writes the checks). So my questions are how much would the power costs have to rise to make purchasing bullets more cost-effective (local gun store has 240 grn .44 nonjacketed Speer bullets for $43 per 500), and are there any ideas to mitigate the cost-of-casting problems caused by this avalanche? Thanks for your time and for any answers. I enjoy this website very much.

[45nut]

So, you must be in Juneau? Welcome to the forum from a former SE Alaskan, born n raised for a few years in Ketchikan. We have members in Craig, and many other Alaskans here btw.
I just heard about that avalanche taking out the power lines, I would not want to be receiving your electricity bills here.
Unfortunately I don't see an easy answer to your dilemma, but cast are more that just a means of making noise and flash, the swaged speers are convenient but IMO they are no way an equal to a proper cast boolit fit to your guns. I would say make every minute count when casting if at all possible, no coffee breaks,etc. Your just going to have to accept the cost increase due to the hydro power loss.

[fishhawk]

well guess you could always get a 4 KW gen set for your casting and emergency power for the house.

[Ed K]

You mentioned your lead is virtually free. I assume your casting equipment is bought and paid for. Therefore with the only cost being electricity and even assuming your Lee 20lb electric pot maxes out a std 15A circuit (which it doesn't), you could run your pot approx 50 hours. So I guess the bottom line is if you can't cast at a rate of better than 10 boolits/hour you'd better quit.

[dnepr]

Ok I am going to take a crack at this . Anyone reading this please feel free to correct me. If I remember right my 10# lee is rated at 750 watts or .75 kilowatts. I have no clue what the lyman would be rated for. so If I am doing the math right at 50 cents per kilowatt that is 38 cents per hour. now that is the pot running full out. if you are casting with pure lead this might be close but if you are casting from wheel weights then your pot is probpably cycling on and off so it would be less than that. If the lyman is double at 1500 watts and you run both at the same time you may break the $1 an hour mark but you would be making a whole lot o bullets with 2 pots running.
when you consider that a coffee maker is usually rated at 1100 watts . I would bet that most people burn more kilowatts making coffee than casting bullets. and if you don't either you don't drink much coffee or you cast a lot of bullets.
My personal opinion is $1 an hour in electricity would be a small price to pay for the enjoyment that I get from bullet casting.

[carpetman]

My coffee maker is a Bunn. No other brand will hold up in this cruddy San Angelo water but that is another post. When fresh water is added to the Bunn,it heats it real quickly using 1500 watts. Once heated the water is kept hot with 35 watts. The Bunn has two tanks,so when you add water the heated water is displaced. It does have a warmer that the pot sets on and I don't have a clue what the wattage is. You can hear my Lee pot cycling and it is not on nearly full time. I decided a long time ago it was cheaper than using my Coleman stove.

[mooman76]

You said you use propane to smelt ingots. Use propane to mould bullets.

[nvbirdman]

Remember, it takes more electricity to melt the lead than it does to maintain the temperature, so if you can cast for a day at a time instead of an hour or so at a time it will keep your costs down.

[thxmrgarand]

Thanks for the fun and interesting responses. In truth, I will always cast bullets no matter the cost, and in any event it's a low-cost and worthwhile pastime. Compared with avgas, skiff gas or even tickets to a movie theater and dinner, casting and shooting gives a great return for my dollars. And despite this natural disaster and the resultant costs, the privately-owned light company here does a good job; I know a lot of those fellows and maybe I will load up some ammo for them as they are likely to be too busy to load any of their own for several months. While Alaska remains a little isolated and can sometimes be at the mercy of nature, I recommend Alaska to shooters and hunters. Thanks again.

[RANGER RICK]

"""""""""While Alaska remains a little isolated and can sometimes be at the mercy of nature, I recommend Alaska to shooters and hunters. Thanks again.[/QUOTE]""""""""""""""


AMEN

RR

[DLCTEX]

I'm sure the major difference is terrain, but our lines were rebuilt in days after a F5 tornado took out several miles of lines once. Electric rates stayed the same. Dale

[Wayne Smith]

Go find an old Coleman Delux two burner propane or gas stove, get a cast iron pot and a dipper. Cast all you want and no electricity involved unless you do it at nite. Alaska, I guess you do do it at nite half the year, no?

[AZ-Stew]

I believe my new RCB$ Pro Melt has a 750W element. This seems to be common among the electric melters.

It will run at full power for the 20 minutes or so it takes to melt a pot full of alloy, assuming you left the pot full at the end of your last casting session. Afterward, it will run at about 50 percent duty cycle (half the time on, half the time off) to maintain temperature. The power draw does not vary, ie. 100W, 250W, 400W. It's either on or off. 750W draw, or zeroW draw. This makes it pretty easy to figure cost.

The first hour of use you're drawing 750W for 20 minutes, and 750W for half of the remaining 40 minutes. That's 40 minutes on, 20 minutes off during that first hour, so the power draw for the first hour is 750W x .6666 (2/3 hour) = 499.95W (500W, for all intents and purposes). That's 1/2 KW hour. Each additional hour of uninterrupted use at a 50 percent duty cycle will be 375W (750W x 1/2 hour), or 3/8 KW hour.

At $0.50/KW hour, that's $0.25 for the first hour, and $0.1875 for each additional hour of uninterrupted use. You can use a 750W lead melting pot for 3 hours and 40 minutes for $1.00, assuming you start with a cold pot. If you continue to cast without letting the pot get cold, you can go another 5 hours and 20 minutes for your next $1.00.

9 hours for $2.00.

I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Regards,

Stew

[thxmrgarand]

Thanks. This is very great assurance.