Newbie - my 1st success casting

[reloaderdave]

Hi Everyone,

I am Reloader Dave...a newbie here on Cast Bootlits. I wanted to share with you all my 1st 45 ACP bullet casting. My friend John (johnfl) on here has helped me get started. He gave me a non functioning Lee Pot that needed some rebuilding, cleaning and some lapping on the rod to seat it so it does not leak lead. It turned out great when I got it done. John also gave me some lead to get started and lent me his 45 ACP mold for 200 gr HP bullets. The rest is history and I was was off to making bullets. Challenging at first to get things set up and learning to fill the mold properly but eventually I managed to make over 650 casted 45ACP in about 4 hours. Here are a few photos of my 1st adventure at casting and what fun I had. You can see after I Blue powder coated them and loaded them up after sizing them they shot really well. I am looking forward to casting many more soon.
Dave

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[Murphy]

Welcome aboard Dave!

You did very well. Looking forward to hearing more from you.


Murphy

[Dieselhorses]

Not bad!! 650? Did you weigh a few? Looks like a lot of tin in them bullets, nevertheless they look really nice! 45 ACP is one of my favorite to cast and load. Keep up the good work!

[slim1836]

Welcome, and good job.

Slim

[johnfl]

Glad you decided to post Dave. It has been fun seeing your level of enthusiasm. Thanks for getting that old Lee pot running again! It sure is nice being able to make bullets especially when there are none to be bought.

I've taught you what I know about reloading and casting bullets now you can return the favor by teaching me how to post pictures...

Style points for powder coating blue bullets to go with your brand new Dillion 550....

John

[OS OK]

You look like a natural at casting, those cast look fine. The more time you spend casting, the more you learn about it. Like riding a bicycle, you get better and better each time you ride & at some point your not even thinking about what your doing, you'll be humming a tune and before you know it that pot will be getting empty.

On a side note...the smoother you get the sprue cut, the closer/narrower your weight range of all the cast. That's not a big deal but it's one of the things you learn to do as you perfect your casting pace. If you add 2 or 3 seconds to the time you wait before cutting sprue those bases will quit tearing lead from the base of the cast.
Also inspect your sprue plate to see if the hole in the bottom of the sprue looks sharp-edged, if not you can sand that sprue plate on a flat surface and sharpen the hole too.

Nice going for your first batch, especially HP's at that...welcome aboard.

[reloaderdave]

Thank you OS OK! That is good advice and I see what you mean. I am sure I got in too much of a hurry. I also recall half way through the 1st batch the screw had loosened on the sprue plate! LOL, my bad and did not know it until I casted about 300! After tightening the screw the cut off was flat like it should be. I will watch for that going forward and also be more patient. The HP shoot very accurate and I have been having fun at the range shooting pretty tight groups. The mold produced 203 gr HP bullets consistently. That is counting the weight of the Blue powder coating finished.
Using a S&W Shield 2 45 ACP with a 2moa Red dot. Thanks for the warm welcome and you all will see me on here for sure as I try to get better at casting.....it sure is fun!!
Dave

[reloaderdave]

Thanks Dieselhorses! The weight of the HP's came out to 203 gr and that includes the Blue powder coating. I love my 45 ACP and it is such fun casting now. I will improve as time goes on especially getting great advice on this forum will surely help me a lot.
Dave

[Dieselhorses]

Thanks Dieselhorses! The weight of the HP's came out to 203 gr and that includes the Blue powder coating. I love my 45 ACP and it is such fun casting now. I will improve as time goes on especially getting great advice on this forum will surely help me a lot.
Dave

Always room for improvement but by the looks of your work, you're doing very well! This is a "close-knit" community with many knowledgeable reloader's/casters. They always willing to help and not quick to judge! Now you're part of it so again-welcome!

[lesterktm]

Great start!

[toallmy]

Always nice to hear members helping new casters get started , fantasy job from getting the pot working all the way to the target .