Ready to start

[Mr_Flintstone]

The lack of available commercial bullets that actually fit 6.5 Carcano has necessitated my decision to start casting. Right now I’m in the planning phase, and I need advice on the following.

1. A good resource that explains in depth the casting process. Can be bound book or online. Free resource or for purchase.
2. A recommended mold for a 150ish grain 6.5 that drops at about .270” with a round or blunt nose.
3. Recommended starting equipment that won’t break the bank. Money is tight right now, and everything costs three times too much.
4. Advice on any pitfalls to avoid, or things I should watch out for.

Advice on any or all of these are appreciated.

[JSnover]

I'd start with the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook. It has casting instructions and load data.
Lee probably has the cheapest equipment. Click the banner at the top of the page to browse their site.
You want to make clean ingots in a separate pot - not in your bullet casting pot - so you'll need a small burner of some sort or one of the other electric melting pots.

[michael.birdsley]

The newest 4th edition Lyman cast bullet book is a must. It has a lot of good info in the front part of the book about how to do it. I should have read that first before going down the rabbit hole in my first go mud on reloading. Instead I took a 5 year hiatus on reloading and casting and finally read it when I got back into 3 months ago.

I will say this though I feel like you need the the 3rd and 4th editions for complete load data. The 4th edition has been updated with more modern powders. I was looking for a load for my 30-30 325c using red dot. 4th edition has almost nothing for red dot and dime of the older powders. The 3rd edition they sprinkled red dot on their pancakes for breakfast. that’s how common red dot and other powders are in the load data.

I would buy Lee equipment. 95% of my stuff is Lee. I’ve made a lot of good bullets with Lee. If I could do it over again I would have bought one of the Lee starter kits. Rather than piece it all together. Also, don’t be afraid to look on eBay you can find good deals on the older higher end dies and other equipment,


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[Misery-Whip]

Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook, volume 2 is my favorite because it has data for cast bullets that didnt come from lymans molds.

As far as equipment goes watch the swappin and selling section here. Or post in there what your lookin for. Once you have a mold, and a lead ladle, a electric hotplate with an old skillet (cast or stainless) will get you started. But the hotplates cant hold that temp for long, duty cycle. So the lead will get too hot, and then cool off to a solid, and before long will get too hot again. I made a lot of 45cal bullets on a hot plate till I decided to pony up for a bottom pour pot. I got 100s more bullets in an hour. From a 2 cavity mold.

Lee alox is the cheapest lube, powdercoating isnt far behind and superior to me. And a lee sizer and a lyman M die and your in buisness.

I dont load 6.5 so I wont reccomend a mold. Lees are the most affordable, but require the most tapping to get the bullets to drop.

Lead is a liquid at over 700* so remember leather gloves, eye pro, and maybe a leather welders apron. And setup outside on a nice day( no rain).

Have fun, good luck, safety, safety, safety.

[Mr_Flintstone]

Thanks guys. I actually have the Lyman’s 4th edition Cast Bullet Handbook, but I guess I never read the part about casting. I’ve only used it for load data. I’ll give it a read.

Since I don’t have any stock of lead or other casting materials, so I was planning to buy commercial ingots with an appropriate hardness.

I plan to cast outside in my barn breezeway so electricity and ventilation shouldn’t be a problem. I slugged my barrel at .268”, so will I need sizing dies to go down to .269? I’ll also probably need to use gas checks. What’ll I need there?

[7br]

You also might check this out: http://www.lasc.us/fryxell_book_contents.htm

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[Mr_Flintstone]

Thanks.

[popper]

You can buy pure lead and super hard nuggets from Rotometals. Add nuggets to get harness where you want. Add tin only if you really need it.
Lee stuff is low cost and works. Their molds have improved but I don't use them anymore. Better molds produce better bullets. I only use 2 cavity molds for rifle.
Casting isn't hard, just takes some practice. Culling bad ones is the important part, they get re-melted.

[Bazoo]

As far as casting technique, part of it will just be a learning curve.

For me, some tips and some of the things that made the most difference are,

Using graphite for mould lube.

Leaving a big sprue puddle on the sprue plate that doesn’t overflow the sides or into the other cavities. When the sprue puddle spills over the edge or into the adjacent cavity, it pulls from the bullet that’s solidifying and you get rounded bands and bases.

Cast faster than you think you need to in order to keep the mould at the right temperature.

If you experience frosting just on the corners of the driving bands you’re mould temp is a touch too high. You’re at the transition between frosted and not frosted. Sometimes I’ve experienced frosted edges just on the side of the bullet that is towards the other cavity. Often this happens to me when the mould is to temp but the handles aren’t. The handles suck heat until they are to temp.

When not using a hot plate, I preheat the handles before putting them on the mould. I dip my handles in the melt for a few minutes, then carefully attach them to the could blocks. Then I beat the whole thing again. That helps a lot for getting to temp.

Some moulds prefer a different technique. Some like pressure casting, some like ladle, some like more free fall. I get the best results with about an inch of free fall between ladle and mould.

Ladle casting is more fun to me than bottom drip.

If I’m having issues, I flux again, add some tin, and reheat my mould.


Fluxing with beeswax works better than candle wax or sawdust.

[Mr_Flintstone]

Thanks guys. I’m going to read through the Lyman manual, and then I may be back with a few more questions.

[dondiego]

You will find the answers here.

[charlie b]

I buy all my alloy from Rotometals. I go with Lyman#2 simply because it works so well in my rifles. I use Hornady gas checks because I like the crimp they use to stay on the bullet.

How much and which equipment you buy depends on how many bullets you intend to make. If not very many then pan lube is a cheap way to get going and it works very well. Seating and sizing dies will get a bit messy, but, it is cheap :)

Tumble lube is a decent alternative if you keep the speed down. I have had bad luck with it when the velocity goes up over 1500fps.

If you are going to make a lot of bullets for higher velocity (1800-2000fps), then you need to decide on powder coat or conventional lube with a lubesizer. Both will work. Powder coat is cheaper to start with but takes more time than a lubesizer.

[justindad]

Get a 20lb temperature regulated pot and an iron mold. Those are two things I regret skimping out on until I learned the hard way.
*
Two years into this, and I still pan lube with Felix lube.

[Bazoo]

I rarely pan lube but I have done a lot of it. I use a lubesizer and I also tumble lube. Just depends on my notions and bullets. I pretty much will try anything. Going to try PC next.

[405grain]

Some 6.5mm molds will drop the as cast bullet at .266" diameter. That's at least .002" to .003" too small for your .268" bore. If you need to fatten up your bullets to match your bore you might try powder coating them. NOE has molds in .268, .269 & .270 diameter. For rifle cartridges you will want to use gas checks to prevent bore leading. You can either buy Hornady checks from various reloading supplies online, or buy gas checks from Sages Outdoors. You'll need a way to seat the checks (a push through sizer is about the easiest way). For rifle cartridges at 1500 to 1800 fps I'd recommend an alloy of at least 12 to 13 BHN minimum. Read that first section in the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook - you'll learn a lot.

[JSnover]

Unfortunately it looks like the 4th edition of Lyman CBH doesn't include 6.5 Carcano.
Maybe somebody can copy it from an earlier edition, I'm almost certain it was in the 3rd.

[ukrifleman]

307594

After much experimenting with different cast bullets, I found the one that worked best in my M91 Carcano, was
a LEE Cruise missile purchased from Midsouth shooters supply and cut down from 170gn to 150gn.
These moulds cast at .2695.

I had 0.190 machined off the mould to remove the lower driving band and bring the weight down to 150gn.

I load as cast, fix the gas check with LokTite and lube with Lee liquid Alox.
ukrifleman

[Bazoo]

307594

After much experimenting with different cast bullets, I found the one that worked best in my M91 Carcano, was
a LEE Cruise missile purchased from Midsouth shooters supply and cut down from 170gn to 150gn.
These moulds cast at .2695.

I had 0.190 machined off the mould to remove the lower driving band and bring the weight down to 150gn.

I load as cast, fix the gas check with LokTite and lube with Lee liquid Alox.
ukrifleman

That’s a different process. Do you affix the gas check to lube groove as if it were a GC shank? It won’t stay without loctite?

[ukrifleman]

The lube groove is 0.010 smaller in diameter and shorter than the gas check shank and won't fix a gas check when put through my LEE push through sizer.
I found the solution was to fix the GC with Loctite.
ukrifleman

[gwpercle]

Thanks guys. I’m going to read through the Lyman manual, and then I may be back with a few more questions.

The best way to learn how to kiss a girl ... is to Kiss a girl .

The best way to learn how to cast boolits ... is to cast boolits .

Unlike kissing ... if you screw up casting boolits you can re-melt them and do it again .

Stop talking and just Do It ! You will be fine ... it's not near as hard as kissing a girl .
Gary

[dverna]

If I were starting, a 6.5 caliber would not be where I would start.

If you will be happy staying in the 1200-1500 fps range to start it will be easier. But small rifle bullets are tougher, and the faster you go, the tougher it gets.

My suggestion is to start casting for a .38 or larger cal pistol. That will help you get your process and technique honed while making serviceable bullets. It will be frustrating to cast bullets that shoot patterns. If you cannot cast decent pistol bullets, it will be unlikely you will be successful with rifle bullets.

Lee molds are cheap but if you get poor results will you blame the mold or you? Buying a "good" mold takes a bit of the doubt out.

[Dahak]

I'm not qualified to talk about teaching others major points in the process, but I will say this as a novice speaking to an absolute beginner. Your mold is not hot enough yet. It is not hot enough until you are making essentially prefect casts - warm the mold, then finish heating it with lead from the pot - sacrifice the first 5 or so pours (cut the sprue when you think you should but be really slow about dumping the bullets for the heat transfer from lead to mold).

[Bazoo]

The lube groove is 0.010 smaller in diameter and shorter than the gas check shank and won't fix a gas check when put through my LEE push through sizer.
I found the solution was to fix the GC with Loctite.
ukrifleman

Thanks for the reply. That’s interesting.

[Bazoo]

I'm not qualified to talk about teaching others major points in the process, but I will say this as a novice speaking to an absolute beginner. Your mold is not hot enough yet. It is not hot enough until you are making essentially prefect casts - warm the mold, then finish heating it with lead from the pot - sacrifice the first 5 or so pours (cut the sprue when you think you should but be really slow about dumping the bullets for the heat transfer from lead to mold).
Can’t argue with that. Biggest thing for me was learning that. I often let my mould rest touching the alloy 5 minutes or more (I keep a book and read a few minutes and sometimes go a bit long). Then when I cast the first few are frosty. It doesn’t take very long for the mould to cool off.

[WRideout]

I have an old Hornady reloading manual from the sixties or earlier (I can't find the copyright date any more.) It has several pages of jacketed bullet data for the 6.5 Carcano. If you like, I could scan them and send by email.

BTW: I borrowed a Carcano sporter from a friend for my very first deer season, many years ago. I found it to be superbly accurate, in spite of all the criticisms given Carcanos over the years.

Wayne

[JoeJames]

You also might check this out: http://www.lasc.us/fryxell_book_contents.htm

Sent from my SM-G781V using TapatalkI second that . it helped me more than anything else; well, other than the members on here who helped me most of all with all my questions.