Materials and tools

[JLF]

Apart from the melting pot, molds, lubricants, trafil, gas check, what other tool do you need?

[Winger Ed.]

A sizer & dies, good lighting & ventilation, comfortable safety glasses, along with long pants, heavy gloves, and a long sleeve shirt.

[MOA]

Get a good thermometer too. One that goes to 1000 F.

[gwpercle]

You don't really need a lot of equiptment . A cast iron pot with a heat source or electric melting pot , lead dipper , flux (wood shavings - wax ) , boolit moulds ... This has been my basic set up for 50+ years . I don't even have a thermometer or hot plate or PID thing .

The biggest help to me has been a Lyman 450 Lubricator / Sizer . After the boolits are cast , I sit down and install the sizer die , seat a gas check in the die , boolit on top , pull the handle down , tweak the lube supply handle and pull the handle up ... out pops a finished boolit , sized lubed and gas checked seated (if required) ready to load .
I use a soft lube (Lithium - Beeswax) so I don't need a heater .
I looked into powder coating ...but the boolits still have to be sized and sometimes sized twice ...no savings in time or labor there ... and gas checks still had to be seated either before or after powder coating .
The lube - sizer is the best piece of equipment I ever spent money on...cast boolit wise .
Second is the big Lee Magnum Melter , 20 lb. capacity melting pot . This is not a bottom pour ... I cast best with a Lyman dipper and 2 or 4 cavity mould .
Gary

[paul edward]

Apart from the melting pot, molds, lubricants, trafil, gas check, what other tool do you need?

You will need:

1. Ladle to pour melted lead into the mold.
2. Mallet (piece of wood, 1-1.5 inches diameter and 15-18 inches long) to strike the sprue plate and open the mold. I use a piece of broom handle.
3. Pliers, or channel lock pliers to move hot things.

What is trafil?

[JLF]

You will need:

1. Ladle to pour melted lead into the mold.
2. Mallet (piece of wood, 1-1.5 inches diameter and 15-18 inches long) to strike the sprue plate and open the mold. I use a piece of broom handle.
3. Pliers, or channel lock pliers to move hot things.

What is trafil?

Calibrator, is the die to measure the lead tip

[JLF]

You don't really need a lot of equiptment . A cast iron pot with a heat source or electric melting pot , lead dipper , flux (wood shavings - wax ) , boolit moulds ... This has been my basic set up for 50+ years . I don't even have a thermometer or hot plate or PID thing .

The biggest help to me has been a Lyman 450 Lubricator / Sizer . After the boolits are cast , I sit down and install the sizer die , seat a gas check in the die , boolit on top , pull the handle down , tweak the lube supply handle and pull the handle up ... out pops a finished boolit , sized lubed and gas checked seated (if required) ready to load .
I use a soft lube (Lithium - Beeswax) so I don't need a heater .
I looked into powder coating ...but the boolits still have to be sized and sometimes sized twice ...no savings in time or labor there ... and gas checks still had to be seated either before or after powder coating .
The lube - sizer is the best piece of equipment I ever spent money on...cast boolit wise .
Second is the big Lee Magnum Melter , 20 lb. capacity melting pot . This is not a bottom pour ... I cast best with a Lyman dipper and 2 or 4 cavity mould .
Gary

Lubricator / Sizer is what I'm trying to make, because I don't know if it can be found in my country ... I was born in the wrong country

[mdi]

You can very well start out bare bones basic or drop $1,000.00 on a start up. I began with a Coleman stove, a stainless steel pot, a Lee ladle, a slotted spoon from Ma's kitchen, candle wax to flux and a Lee 2 cavity 44 cal. mold. I used my Lee Loader mallet to open the sprue, and sized with a vintage Lee pan lube/sizing kit (long discontinued). I used this set up for several months, shooting a lot of 44 Magnum cast bullet loads in my 629. Later I added a bottom pour electric pot, thermometer, a home made heat sink to set my hot molds on and a hot plate for pre warming my molds and ingots. I still use Lee push through sizing and I own maybe 12 with several "custom" diameters. I never got a lubersizer because when I started one was beyond my budget, needing a die and nose punch for every bullet I cast. I pan lube and dip lube most of my cast bullets and have been known to stuff Chapstick in the grooves with my fingers, and am never in a hurry and don't mind only lubing 100-150 bullets at a time.

Some folks will recommend an electric pot and lubersizer and safety equipment from eye protection, shoes and long sleeves to high capacity Biohazard type ventilation system, leather welder's garb and perhaps a full hazmat suit (there are more old wive's tales and plain old ignorance about casting lead than any other part of out shooting hobbies). The most important safety item is common sense. Use yer brain!

[jim147]

Lubricator / Sizer is what I'm trying to make, because I don't know if it can be found in my country ... I was born in the wrong country

Do you have any access to tools to make sizing dies? Then you could tumble lube or pan lube. It slower but works.

[paul edward]

Lubricator / Sizer is what I'm trying to make, because I don't know if it can be found in my country ... I was born in the wrong country
For many years, I did my lubrication in a shallow pan using a "cookie cutter" made from a cartridge case drilled through with a bullet diameter hole.

Method:
Stand the bullets in a shallow pan (cake pan). Melt the lube and pour it into the pan. When the lube has solidified, cut out the bullets with your cookie cutter. Sizing is not as critical with cast bullets. You can use bullets .002 to .003" larger than barrel groove diameter. Crimping of gas checks will require some kind of sizer.

Can you order products from the US for delivery by mail? A simple sizer to start with is the Lee push-through tool.

Yes, you will need a calibrator, like calipers or, better, a micrometer. You can probably buy that kind of tool in Roasrio.

If questions, I will respond to Private Messages.

Recuerdos.

[high standard 40]

A sizer & dies, good lighting & ventilation, comfortable safety glasses, along with long pants, heavy gloves, and a long sleeve shirt.

I might add, make sure your clothing is cotton.

[Targa]

Just to add, when you get your molds, as much as I like Lee they are a non player in my book at the current prices they are going for. You will be much better off buying from MP, Arsenal, NOE they are higher quality than Lee’s for around the same price and if you want to spend more look at Accurate.
Now if you find Lee molds for the prices before this insanity which are around $25 for a 2 cavity and $45 for a six cavity then you will not find better bang for the buck.