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[treehuggermugger]

Ok, I've been reloading for a while. The current political climate has peaked my interest in casting. Originally I pictured just melting down my dead son's tin soldiers into a mold, but apparently there's more to it than that.

Where do I start? What books/threads do I first read before I decide what to buy, or even if I should start.

I plan on casting for .30-30 and .357/.38 Sp. (for now).

Also, anyone that has a homemade recipe for primers let me know ;-)

[Catshooter]

Welcome to the forum.

The best advice I can give you is read this site. All of it, if you can. Answers to questions you don't even know to ask yet.

Homemade primers, yea, they are hard to find just now, ain't they?

Good luck, and good reading.


Cat

[Slow Elk 45/70]

Hullo, tree/hugger/mugger and welcome, like the Cat says the info you want is in the Threads under the different headings on this site, I read up on home made primers last evening, the Lyman Cast bollit handbook is a good reference for what you need to start with..
Good luck, S.L.

[Tom Herman]

Yep, the current political climate is a GOOD reason to get into casting!
You'll find that beyond becoming more self sufficient, it's a lot of fun, and you get a great sense of accomplishment.
Plus, what you make will be MUCH cheaper than what's in the stores!
I don't cast for rifle sized calibers yet, but my handgun rounds don't cost me more than 8.6 cents each to load. And that's for big, .45 cal stuff in the 250-270 grain range!
Have you done any reloading?
Personally, I would start with straight wall revolver/pistol rounds. I've had good luck with 40+ caliber casting. Currently, I'm waiting for a hopefully better mold to arrive for my .38/.357 operations.
Perfect the handgun stuff, then work your way into rifle reloading.
Handgun stuff can be cast from 50/50 wheel weights to scrap lead for a great all purpose alloy.
Higher speed rifle can get more complicated.
Read the Forum here for great tips on casting, ask questions, and pick up a copy of the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook. It's a great reference. I have the 48th Edition, I don't know if the 49th is out yet or not. Even if you can find one a bit older, they are a great source for information.
I've cast well over 6,000 bullets in the last year. My casting setup has long since paid for itself.

Happy Shootin'! -Tom

[Shiloh]

Priming compounds will be dangerous to make. Explosive compounds that by the very nature of what they will be used for, and must be sensitive to percussion and impact, are finicky.

Corrosive chlorate based primers will probably lead the pack of home brew primers do to the availability (for now) of the necessary chemicals. Stability of these compounds, both for shelflife and sensitivity, may be suspect. Lead styphnate or other non corrosive priming materials will probably be more difficult to make due to the sophistication of the necessary equipment.

This is an area that would behoove one to proceed in with caution.

Shiloh

[Bert2368]

Corrosive priming is very simple. Plains Indians could do it with nothing but a stick, water and a supply of strike anywhere matches. Manufacturing non corrosive, non mercuric priming compounds actually doesn't require any more equipment than you probably already have in your kitchen, but it DOES require knowledge of chemistry and the ability to source the needed materials. As noted above, it is also intrinsically DANGEROUS. Primers are certainly going to be the limiting factor.

If you want to teach yourself the chemistry needed, here are a couple of places to start-

Science Madness Energetic Materials Forum:
http://sciencemadness.org/talk/forumdisplay.php?fid=3

The explosives and Weapons Forum:
http://www.roguesci.org/theforum/

Be aware, it will take you considerably more time to properly learn how to do this than it will to learn bullet casting and reloading. Learning it improperly and incompletely may result in your untimely departure.

[1Shirt]

Mugger, Read this site for sure, but even more important, buy and read the latest Lyman Reloading Manual. May be one of the best investments you have ever made. Don't even think about making stuff that will go boom on your own which includes primers and powder. Leave it to the commercial professionals.
1Shirt!:coffee:

[missionary5155]

Greetings and WELCOME Treehuggermegger !
That´s one LOOOOOONNNNGGGG handle!
I woould start with Any of the Lyman cast reloading books... you can get a used one for 1/3 price and they all have the same basics. Check your library.. Danville. Illinois library has all sorts of books that were donated BEFORE the librarians thought a chunk od steel+ wood was EVIL. But read... Here you can erad the "Rest of the Story". But jump in and read.
Primers... unless you are a REAL chemist I would stay away from making Primimg Mixes. I have a 500 page book Called "Ammunition Manufacturing".. American Rifleman sold it some yeras ago. One whole chapter is dedicated to primers. IT IS DANGEROUSE ! Many explosions documented... bodies dismembered.. I had the same idea... save old fired primers and re-charge them.. I STILL BUY MINE !
Read--- Read--- Read and you will become as Independent a ammo reloader as you can be.
But if you really want to get INDEPENDENT get a Flintlock ! I have mine battery and am always looking for another.
God Bless you.

[WHITETAIL]

Welcome to the forum!:drinks:

[treehuggermugger]

Thanks all! The primer thing was more of a joke but that's some great info!

I do reload and have got some pretty sweet .308 and .223 loads that I use. For handgun, I pretty much just load .357/.38, 9mm, .45 for volume.

Looks like I need to get me that Lyman manual and get to reading....Thanks again!

-THM

[Slow Elk 45/70]

Yes the primers that most of us could produce would just be for an emergency situation, like not having any, then the ability to make a few with something you might have on hand is good to know, use your knowledge and stay safe.

[Cherokee]

Welcome t/h/m....

[Dean D.]

Welcome T/H/M, you've found a great place to learn casting.

[runfiverun]

i feel bad for the guy's just starting out now days.
with lead ww's going to be banned,nobody has any primers, powder is hard to find.
tin is getting harder to find.
commercial amoo costs so much you can't afford to sight in a rifle,before the hunt.
and they wanna start when the price of all loading equipment is going through the roof and the quality is dropping.
lee can't keep up lyman's qualitty is slipping.
throats on guns are all over the map.
and prices keep on climbing faster then the layoffs.
on top of all that they are gonna try and scrounge ww's from all the places all the old guy's have been getting them for years,driving the prices up and availability down.

[454PB]

Thanks for cheering me up, runfiverun.

[runfiverun]

i have heard that i am a master of pointing out the obvious.

[Slow Elk 45/70]

Yea, I think I heard that from my wife once.....keep on scrounin an castin

[par0thead151]

what year did the EPA mandate that lead be phased out of WW's?

[treehuggermugger]

Wow R5R, pretty discouraged now. Especially since I don't even know what a "WW" is, nor can figure it out from the context....

[arcticbreeze]

WW= Wheel Weights

[OLPDon]

Tree Hugger and Leftist have always been after our shooting sport in anyway they can. My believe is that they going to be less inclined to go after the 2nd Amendment. But go by way of insurance. They will demand and require us the shooter to be insured by X amount of $$$$, making it almost impossible for the average Joe to afford. There by negating our stand of the 2nd Amendment. And with the current Admin. and both House's going by way of Socialism standards you bet they will try to get there way. Now I for one don't think the GOP has there foundation as did Our Founder Fathers did. they (GOP) only realy worry about: Election & ReElection That being said there has been a Run on Anything to do with Shooting. Demand and limited supplies of items no matter what that might be will raise prices. So yes indeed it is harder to start off Casting or for that matter start in the Shooting Sport.
So if you are new to this go in for as much as you can afford. The value of it will remain strong.

Runfiverun nailed it!
Don