General question about casting bullets

[catkiller45]

Do any of you guys or gals think it is cheaper to buy your cast bullets and be assured that they are supposedly the same alloy for accuracy or is it cheaper to make your own after getting the alloys sorted out to what you want....My reason for asking is I will be moving soon to a small apartment and have no place to cast and will probably be buying them already made up..90% of my bullets shot are in the black powder rifle....But I suppose I could go to my sons place and cast them.but his place is rather small,no garage ,etc..
Any advice will be greatly appreciated...John:coffeecom

[docone31]

With a muzzle loader, the commercial castings, with patch will probably be good enough. Even with a black powder cartridge rifle, you can down size it, and wrap with paper.
Look at it this way. Going to see the son is something I cannot do. If I had the chance, I would spend all day casting with him even if we only made a mess.
There is always sitting outside in the summer on a card table and casting at your place.
There will be a way.
A man who cannot be beat, will not be beat.
I would spend time with the son.
My son is a banker, who yesterday, emptied the ash out of his fireplace into a plastic bucket to let them cool down. He went shopping. When he returned, he had to redo his living room.
He was lucky.
If I could get my son to sit down with me to cast some, even if they ended up crap. Maybe he might not torch his house.
There is such a rift, and so little time.

[Gunslinger]

Not knowing anything about black powder bullets, AT ALL, I really could not imagine buying any kind of bullet cheaper than it would be casting it yourself. I don't know how many rounds you shoot each year, but as Docone suggested, visit your son more often and make a tradition out of casting boolits. Or maybe you can cast a truck load in the summer when the weather is on your side.

[jdgabbard]

Well, I will give my experience. Before I began casting (extremely recently. Try about a week ago.) I was purchasing commercial boolits from Meister. Price was about $45 for 500 boolits. That was about $0.09 for each piece of lead. Since casting I have began paying about $0.20 - $0.30 a lbs for lead. For what I cast I get about 44 boolits for each pound. That takes about 11.5 lbs for me to get 500 boolits in the 158g area. That is about $2.27 - $3.45 for those 500 boolits. That is a savings of about $40 once lube and everything else is considered.

When it comes to accuracy: I will say that I had "mediocre" accuracy with the Meister boolits. When I went out to the range yesterday with my straight WW alloy over 4.0gn of Unique I tightened my shot groups down to about half of what the meister boolits allowed me to do. This was my FIRST casting attempts on my own boolits. So for the accuracy part, It definitely goes to the self cast.

And as far as for your situation on being able to cast at your apartment. I have a two bedroom two bath apartment on the bottom floor of my apartment building with a patio. That is where I do ALL of my casting. I usually wait till later in the evening with a well lit patio to do it. As to not offend the neighbors with any foul smells they might get from the smelting of WWs.

In my opinion. You should go ahead and cast your own.

[Irascible]

I find that most commercial cast bullets are too hard for anything but full power loads. The only ones I've seen with the right hardness for low power and black powder loads are Desperado bullets www.cowboybullets.com. Bullets for BP cartridge can also be had from Buffalo Arms at www.buffaloarms.com

[Hardcast416taylor]

I have to side with Docone31 on goin to your sons place. All to often a simple trip like that makes it worth while for the chance to bond and learn from each other. My brother used to drive over 90 miles to my place from Detroit just to shoot, reload and generally just jaw. He had a sudden heart attack back in `03. With no boys of my own to learn from me and my brother gone I now am teaching neighbors and a church mens group about reloading. If you don`t shoot that much then boughten bullets is fine, but if you have the making virus like we do. You will find a way. Good luck in whatever way you decide. :grin:

[jhrosier]

catkiller,
Maybe you could make a plywood top for your kitchen stove to set the lead pot on and use the range hood to exhaust the fumes. I have been fluxing with a pine stick lately and it doesn't make much smoke and works well enough with clean metal.
If you post your location, you might find a fellow boolit caster in your area who would enjoy a team casting session from time to time.

good luck,
Jack

[Bret4207]

FWIW, what makes you think buying store bought will give you anything better than what you can make? You can surely make boolits just as, if not more, accurate than anything store bought wiff yet own 2 mitts and your sons help. Make a bunch and shoot to your hearts delight.

Take your son with you shooting too.

[Will]

I started casting in a small apartment many years ago with a hot plate a small iron skillet and a bent spoon for a ladle. You may just have to improvise.

[KYCaster]

WARNING....WARNING

SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION FOLLOWS


Catkiller, all these guys have given you some good advice if you choose to cast your own, but I gotta tell ya...there is no shame in buying your boolits!!!....There! I said it! And the world didn't end.

Your friends won't turn their backs on you. Your dog will still be happy to see you when you get home. Your guns won't hide from you. The guys at the range will still be impressed with the groups you shoot with [GASP] LEAD BULLETS??

I'll admit there's a lot of satisfaction in doing it yourself, but if that's not an option then you gotta deal with the alternative...and that's not necessarily bad.

It may take a while to find the commercial boolit that makes you happy, but some people take a long time to get good results with their own homecast. There are a few commercial casters who hang out here....first and foremost of course is me (Vulcan Bullets), Dan at the Bullshop, Deltaenterprises...I'm pretty sure there are others but these are the ones that come to mind.

I'd be willing to bet that one of us can give you what you want at a reasonable price.


OK, everybody...YOU CAN TURN YOUR HEARING AIDS UP AGAIN, I'M DONE. That didn't take too long, now, did it? ;-)

Jerry

[ddeaton]

Yea, what everybody else said. If you just want to shoot time is money. If you aint got the time, just buy the boolits. Its a disease, and you will catch it. You have already taken the first step. Like all above said, the experience with your son is worth its weight in gold. Wanting to cast your own boolits, tweak and experiment is what it is all about. What else can you do on a cold snowy day?

Sorry, I didnt read all the first post very close, was in a hurry. I didnt realize you were moving. Maybe find someone close to the area that casts and could share resources?

[Calamity Jake]

If you are going to buy your boolets get from the Bullshop, he'll make what you want!!

[catkiller45]

I appreciate all you comments-ideas and such....My son has a small place and I know he would let be cast there..I have been casting for several years,but my living situation is going to be a drastic change..Going from a farm in NY,to a small apartment in PA....For all I know I might not even be allowed to keep my reloading equipment in the high rise......Damn I hate living on disability....But I love my sharps rifles....I will find away.....Thanks again folks......Maybe I will become a full time fisherman,,,,John

THANKS KYCASTER FOR THE SUPPORT--------------------

[44man]

Alloy???? What is that all about? I make the same boolit with all kinds of mixes from 50-50 pure and WW to WW to adding tin and antimony to WW and I'll be darned if one is more accurate then another.
Boolit FIT and a match to the gun is what counts and some store bought stuff just doesn't fit.
Being too hard is not the problem if the boolit doesn't meet what is needed for your gun.
Some say the boolit needs to be soft to "Bump up." Crap, a sure way to ruin accuracy in my opinion.
If a store bought boolit fits the gun, it will shoot but if it doesn't there is nothing you can do.

[mooman76]

I cast on the kitchen stove for years. I just clear everything away from the stove before hand and do a good clean up afterward. I only do it when I'm home by myself. I have an electric pot in the garage now but the stove works fine.

[Muskrat Mike]

I appreciate all you comments-ideas and such....My son has a small place and I know he would let be cast there..I have been casting for several years,but my living situation is going to be a drastic change..Going from a farm in NY,to a small apartment in PA....For all I know I might not even be allowed to keep my reloading equipment in the high rise......Damn I hate living on disability....But I love my sharps rifles....I will find away.....Thanks again folks......Maybe I will become a full time fisherman,,,,John

THANKS KYCASTER FOR THE SUPPORT--------------------

If you're moving into South Central PA you need to get in touch when you want to cast.
Mike

[docone31]

If you are going to cast on the kitchen stove, which I do from time to time, get some framing lumber to rest your pot, and other sundries.
Casting seems to leave debris.
The pieces of wood also distribute the weight of the pot better.
Mostly, it helps me clean up when done.
When I had to give up my Sharps, I was never the same.
There has to be a way.

[birddog1520]

Catkiller I live in Northcentral Pa. If you are close enough to me I'd be more than happy to help you out. Just let me know.

Randy, The Birddog.

[2muchstuf]

Sounds like I'm right in between Muskrat and Birddog. I'm also willing to help.
Got ya covered in central Pa.
I know there are others here in the west.
2

[missionary5155]

Independence ! Custom fit ! Just plain Fun !!
I would find the way, the place, ... When we return to the Upper north next year.. I do not have a place on property to cast where we "Live" for 6-8 months. I carry my stuff to a neighbors garage several doors down the block and sit at an awkward bench and listen to the Cubs ... You have to decide how much you want to cast. Convience is NOT an excuse.

[compass will]

I lived in an apartment once, it had a small deck that would have worked great with the electric pot.

What town you moving to?

[Thumbcocker]

I cast a boat load of bolits in an apartment living room by putting down a half sheet of plywood to protect the carpeting. I had clean ingots so no smeliting just plug in the pot and cast. The plywood sheet was stored in the back of the closte and the pot took up little room in the corner of the closet. If you could smelt up a pile of clean ingots you could cast between smelting sessions.