3 Important points for >>> New Casters <<<

[OS OK]

If you had to condense your best advice for new casters...about the workspace or moulds or the lead pot or maybe about smelting...
What would your 3 most important points be?

NO. 1

NO. 2

NO. 3

[Smoke4320]

#1 Read this forum as much as possible .. MUCH MUCH good Info here
#2 Save a lot and buy a good RCBS Bottom Pour Pot and PID .. will eliminate many headaches
#3 see #1, and 2 again

[Victor N TN]

#1 Read this forum as much as possible .. MUCH MUCH good Info here
#2 Save a lot and buy a good RCBS Bottom Pour Pot and PID .. will eliminate many headaches
#3 see #1, and 2 again

I can't imagine how much money I spent before I bought a good pot. The PID is still out there somewhere.

[Tom W.]

1... keep moisture away from the pot.
2... Wear a face shield, cotton clothing and heavy gloves when casting.
3....pay attention to what you're doing.

[sawinredneck]

1) Forget all about saving money unless you are shooting an all but obsolete cartridge. By the time you buy all the gear, you could buy a lot of factory ammo!
2) ***** your needs, current and future, when buying equipment. If you are or are thinking of being a competive shooter, get a progressive press and six cavity molds to start with. Put a lot of thought into what you think you may do in the future, and try to accomidate those needs with your purchases.
3) Sometimes it's worth buying boolits! I know this will be heresy on this forum, but if you work full time and shoot competitively, when are you really going to have time to cast that many rounds? I've got nothing but time and a good amount of the membership is retired so it's a hobby for us, but even I get burnt out dropping 200rds with a two cavity mold, a six would be faster, but how much?

Just some things from another perspective.

[Beagle333]

1. Read a LOT before you start.
2. Get some sort of PID controlled pot and a hot plate.
3. Cast fast, until you learn how slow you can go. Don't stop and sort/look/cull while casting. Just cast!

[Echo]

1. READ - this forum, casting manuals, wherever. You will find some opposite suggestions, so go with the majority, or what your own mind tells you.
2. I always suggest starting with Lee equipment, 20-pounder and 2/6 cavity molds. If you find you like it, you can sell and buy a better (?) pot and more expensive molds &cetera.
3. I don't us a face shield or welders gloves. My glasses will protect the eyes, and leather gloves from Costco (3 pair for $20) are just fine. Always socks, no matter if you are wearing sandals! And cotton clothes - long sleeves NOT mandatory! So you get a speck of melted lead on your arm - BFD - small speck of a burn, man UP!

[Landy88]

From a new caster's perspective:

1) Read all that you can here and bug'em with any questions to which you don't already find answers posted.
2) Don't neglect old references -- castpics.net has some archived until you luck on to hardcopies.
3) Start casting. Today when so much of our work is almost only between our ears; casting is a great way to fulfill a need to actually create something interesting, valuable, and tangible. I love and value the rest of loading, but it is still but assembly. Casting is creation.

[gwpercle]

1.) Get a large capacity melting pot. The 4 lb. Lee precision melter is a handicap . I tried the 10 lb. Production pot IV....better but the 15 lb. Magnum Melter is even better.

2.) You can cast good bullets with a dipper ladle , like the Lyman dipper with a side spout and an open top pot. You do not Have to buy an expensive bottom pour to get going.

3.) Become friends with people in the tire/wheel weight business. My school buddies daddy was in the tire business, my buddy and his daddy had 4 tire shops , I always bought my tires from them and had an unlimited free supply of wheel weights .

4.) Get the Lyman Cast Bullet Manuals #3 and #4 . Study them carefully...the older ones are helpful .

Gary

[Hick]

1) Get a big enough pot-- The man who introduced me to casting said get a 20 pound pot and I did-- still seems small.
2) pay attention to all the safety rules (including good ventilation)
3) Start with alloy you know is good (from someone who casts, a good wheel weight or linotype source, or buy from a good source-- like rotometals).

[mdi]

#1 Think. Everything about casting is logical.
#2 Read. Get as much info as you can from different sources.
#3 Practice, practice, practice. One old feller once said "The only way to learn to cast bullets is to cast bullets".

Alslo be aware that there are more old wives tales about cast bullets and casting than anything else about shooting/reloading. You don't need to get the most sophisticated/expensive equipment to make good boolits...

[OS OK]

Alright...some good information here already...thanks for kicking in fellas.

NO. 1 I found a terriffic knowledge base in the first reading suggested to me, still use it to refresh my old tired memory...
http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_Contents.htm ... 'From Ingot to Target' an outstanding read and reference. I can't say enough good about this reference.

NO. 2 http://www.lasc.us/LASC_Article_Index.pdf ... from the The Los Angeles Silhouette Club this is an index page with links to all their articles and references, invaluable information here.

NO. 3 Temperature, Temperature, Temperature....always measure it with a verified thermometer, not only the melt but moulds also. Believe it or not but, when you get a little time under your belt and a few burns to remind you of safety...well, minding your temperature will enable you to cast keepers from the 2'nd mould full...sometimes from the first, no kidding.

[imashooter2]

1) Casting is as much art as science.

2) You don't need a $300 pot and a PID.

3) Cast. Learn the art.

[alg3205]

1. Casting is fun.
2. You can remake your mistakes
3. Use common sense and have fun, remember your really bad mistakes can be recast.

Boolit casting is fun, so have some fun, use what you got, you don't need the newest or greatest.

[Mk42gunner]

1. Read enough to get a good idea of what you should be doing; then start casting, it isn't all that big a mystery.

2. Bite the bullet and buy a lubrisizer; Pain lubing gets old in a hurry.

3. Set yourself up for success-- start with a cast-friendly caliber like .45 ACP or one of the lower velocity rifle cartridges first, then branch out.

Robert

[leebuilder]

1 read, learn and ask. It aint rocket surgery
2 safety first, if you wouldnt want your mom to see what you have done, dont do it!
3 be patient, it is a long slippery learning curve, expect failures and learn from them.
Be safe

[MT Gianni]

Read and if two sources vary find out why. Some folks are OK with just making something go bang, others are dissatisfied with less than moa. Make your set up suit you and your budget.
Get a 1 lb ladle and learn how to pour with it.
Buy quality measuring equipment and remelt what isn't square, poorly filled out and out of round.

[country gent]

1) Use safety equipment Safety glasses, heavy pants, leather shoes, gloves, Apron if available and billed hat. 2) have you workspace open with a good avenue of escape if something happens or goes wrong so you can get away from it. 3) Work at a comfortable height and position ( sitting or standing) with everything laid out in a comfortable easy to reach spot. This saves fatigue and looking for things when your up and running good. Also remember when casting cast when sorting sort don't do both together. And the last one, No matter how pretty that new bullet is its still hot don't touch it.

[Bzcraig]

Before you load your first round:

1. READ
2. READ
3. READ

[psweigle]

1. Read everything you can find on casting.
2. Follow what you read
3. Don't overthink it, but be safe about it, and use common sense.

[OS OK]

If you use a bottom pour pot and multiple cavity moulds...set up the pot so that you can see the melt coming out of the spigot and into the sprue plate...hit the hole centered, don't ricochet off the sprue plate.

If you fill the farthest cavity first then raise the back of the mould so that the excess overflow flows away from the next empty cavity to be filled.

If you start with the cavity nearest you reverse the procedure...lower the back end of the mould so that the overflow flows towards the rear and away from the next empty cavity towards the front.

Be generous with your puddles, as you get your timing right you can leave less sprue so that it doesn't overflow the plate sideways...it just takes time doing it many many times and it will all gel.

198418

As your pot empties you may need to adjust your spigot more open as the pot pressure is dropping as it empties.

[Grmps]

#1) MOLTEN LEAD CAN BLIND YOU! ALWAYS wear eye protection when smelting or casting. Protective clothing is highly recommended unless you enjoy possible searing pain and scaring.

#2) NEVER put any ingot you didn’t smelt and know its life history in a pot of molten lead. Better safe than sorry.

#3) Confirm/double/triple check EVERYTHING you read on this forum. Post count and start date does not mean experience in every topic! It means they have been on the forum a long time and/or like to post. Some of us on this forum are getting older and our memory isn’t what it used to be. Because you see something is in writing does not mean it’s true.

[williamwaco]

1) Casting is as much art as science.

2) You don't need a $300 pot and a PID.

3) Cast. Learn the art.


1) Read all the above replys twice. They are all very good advice.

2) Then reread the post I quoted above.
This guy really knows what he is talking about.

3) Stay away from YouTube until you have absorbed all you can here. There are some very good videos there. There are some that are very bad and potentially disastrous. Until you have a good idea of what you are doing and how to do it safely. Don't go there.

4) (can't do it in 3) lasc.us go there immediately and read every word of it.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I'll go at this, at a bit of a different angle.

After the beginner has read a good manual, like the Lyman cast bullet handbook #4
Here are 3 things I consider important for a beginner, that I learned from others and my own experience.

1. Preheating a mold, with preferably a hotplate, made casting much more of a Joy and less of a challenge.

2. Using alloy in the bottom pour furnace, that was previously fluxed and cleaned by some other means, will prevent most of the problems of clogged or partially clogged pour spout.

3. Develop a casting technique where you can maintain a precisely timed cadence. As you can't get uniform boolits with varied cadence timing.

[William Yanda]

Just one. Read! A wise man learns from the experience of others.