new guy ready to start casting

[twally]

I have made several pounds of ww ingots and am now ready to think about casting.

First, can I cast with straight ww lead?

2nd. I don't have any molds, I know there are several to choose from but I don't know one from the other and would like to keep it as inexpensive as possible to start with. I want to cast .357 and .40 any suggestions?

3rd. Do I need to size the bullits? The lee mould book says you don't need to size some of their bullits?

Thank's for any help.

[carpetman]

twally---You have ww's and no mold, can you cast? No you need a mold to cast. If you dont have a mold you will have to model them by hand--like clay lol. WW's make fine bullet material as is. Molds--you want cheap--Lee is cheap. Costs more but I prefer the RCBS myself. Yes you can use liquid lube and not size--again I prefer running em through a lube/sizer but again that is extra expense.

[putteral]

Well, from my limited experience. You can certainly cast with straight wheel weights. Lee double cavity molds are about the least exspensive you can buy. Thirdly depending on what size your boolits drop from the mold and the size of your bore will determine whether you need to size them or not.
I hope this helps and welcome to the forum. You will find out just about everything you need to know about casting here. A great bunch of guys.
:drinks:

[dromia]

Yes you can cast with straight WWs, its good for most applications except high velocity.

For ecomomical starters and good boolits, if you get a decent mould, I'd suggest a Lee 2 cavity.

You'll only know if you need to size your boolits if you know your chamber/throat/groove dimensions of the gun you'll be shooting your boolits in, along with the size of your dropped boolits.

In many situations you can get away without sizing but ideally you need to know the dimensions of your gun.

Get a mould cast some up and try it.

Good luck, doing is the best way to learn.

Come back with your results, any problems and you'll get more help here.

[Cadillo]

What gun(s) do you intend to shoot the .40 out of ? I have a Saeco 170 grain swc mould that yields beautiful bullets that will not feed in any of my P-226's, regardless of OAL etc. The bullet works great in my 1911, but is pure poison in a Sig. I have a Lyman 175 Grain TC mould, whose bullets work great in all my .40's.

Too bad for me! That Saeco mould casts easier than the Lyman and makes for perfect looking bullets that I have to shoot in the 1911.

It's good that you are asking here as there are a lot of folks about, who are good for a wealth of info. When asking questions, give as much information as possible, and someone will step up and help you out. I just recently started, and this forum is a tremendous knowledge and information source. I learn something here every day. :D

[gon2shoot]

Learning and developing loads is one of the fun (aggrevating) parts of this hobby.

You might watch the swappin and sellin section for molds you want, or buy a set of Lee's and dive in.

The good thing is you can always remelt your rejects. Welcome to the madness.

[AJ Peacock]

I recently went through the exact decisions you are making. In fact, I cast my first boolits less than 1 week ago. I've shot 10's of thousands of cast boolits (that I've purchased), so I wasn't completely at a loss to what molds I wanted. Fortunately, I found some used molds that included my favorite 357 boolit of all time (120gr truncated cone boolit). It is a 2 cavity steel mold and using WW's with a touch of tin (less than 1%), the boolits come out perfect.

I'm using a Lee 4-20 bottom pour. The only thing I'm fluxing with is some very dry and fine sawdust. I put 2 tablespoons of sawdust on top of the melt and cast until the pot is 1/2 empty or so. then I add lead/tin and once it comes up to temp, I stir it with a thin piece of cedar slat, take off the small amount of dross and add 2 more tablespoons of sawdust. I then cast another 1/2 pot of boolits! Everytime I stir the lead, I rub the sides of the pot, the pour mechanism and the thermometer. Everything is looking like new and I've cast 30-40lbs of boolits over the last week!

Before finding the used molds, I ordered an aluminum Lee mold. Although it is OK, comparing it to the older steel 2 cavity mold is like comparing a rusted out Chevy Nova and a brand new convertible Mustang GT ! The Nova will get you to work and back, but you won't enjoy it like you would the Mustang.

If I was starting from scratch, I'd get a quality 2 cavity mold for your .357. There are so many .357 molds out there, that you should be able to find one used if you ask around. What you want to use your .357 for, and what you've been shooting in it will determine what bullet to start with. A great all around boolit would be a 150gr Semi Wad cutter.

As far as sizing, a used Lyman or RCBS sizer will be very useful over time and are not very expensive. I was lucky and found a used Star that needed some TLC, but a Lyman or RCBS would work just as well if you aren't planning on doing huge volumes of boolits. Again, this decision will depend upon how much you shoot. I would lean toward sizing the boolits and would stay away from the TL (tumble lube) molds, but that's just me.

Hope this helps, use this site. I read on this site for a couple months before diving in and am glad I did.

AJ

[462]

twally,

In addition to all the equipment, you should get Lyman's "Cast Bullet Handbook" and read it at least twice. Read the Cast Boolits archives and stickies, too.

Don't forget safety gear: Heavy-duty gloves, a long shop apron, and safety glasses.

[twally]

What gun(s) do you intend to shoot the .40 out of ? I have a Saeco 170 grain swc mould that yields beautiful bullets that will not feed in any of my P-226's, regardless of OAL etc. The bullet works great in my 1911, but is pure poison in a Sig. I have a Lyman 175 Grain TC mould, whose bullets work great in all my .40's.

Too bad for me! That Saeco mould casts easier than the Lyman and makes for perfect looking bullets that I have to shoot in the 1911.

It's good that you are asking here as there are a lot of folks about, who are good for a wealth of info. When asking questions, give as much information as possible, and someone will step up and help you out. I just recently started, and this forum is a tremendous knowledge and information source. I learn something here every day. :D

Cadillo, I will be using a Springfield Xdm .40 and a Ruger Red Hawk 7 1/2in. for the .38/.357 .

I currently load a 140gr. and 180gr tc cast store bought boolit.

Wally

[jdgabbard]

For the 38/357 if you're wanting to keep it cheap let me suggest the Lee 158 RFP cowboy action boolit. The mold will cost you around $20. As for .40, I don't shoot it. Can't help you there.