Buckets of Boolits

[Vyrone]

I've been reading tons of posts on this forum the last week or so and I keep noticing piles of freshly made boolits that everyone is making. My question,
does everyone have time to shoot all of them. It looks like a full time fun job if you are.

[Maineboy]

It is a fun job. I think most of us cast way more than we shoot! I've got thousands of boolits packed away that will probably never got loaded, let alone shot.

[theperfessor]

Welcome Vyrone

Casting bullets is a lot of fun. Like maineboy a lot of us stock up for the "future", we even make bullets in calibers we don't even have guns for! Which gives us a reason to buy new guns, molds, etc. It's an addiction.

[Gelandangan]

Too right!! it is an addiction..

Cant think of any individual that may used up 100# of beeswax/lanolin/castor/etc lube concoction in their lifetime, :holysheep
or the 50 tons of lead/antimony/tin ingots stored under the house.. [smilie=w:

But it is the aspiration of most of us to own, cast and stock them up.... the more the merrier.

:lovebooli:cbpour::castmine:

[Blacksmith]

Suo Gan
I didn't need that visual image.
Blacksmith

[NSP64]

I cast up a bunch, shoot a few, throw them back in the pot and cast up a bunch of a different caliber. The only ones I keep a lot of is my Lee .430 310gr flying barrel.:bigsmyl2:

[Jack Stanley]

So far I've had the time to get to loading all of them I've cast , there have at times been several years between casting and shooting some though . I do hope to correct that when retirement rolls around provided I'm not to busy with something else . Casting in the dead of winter seems to work better for me as well since the snow tends to slow up outdoor activities .

Jack

[chris in va]

I've got a few coffee tins full of boolits that I now know don't shoot well in my guns. Pretty much like the saying 'eyes are bigger than your stomach'. Once I get the proper mold, I'll be throwing those into the pot.

[jhalcott]

The greatest thing about casting bullets is they CAN be remelted and used in a different mold. I have some that I cast JUST to see what they actually looked like. One pointy .30 caliber mold has never been shot, but I have a small can of them! I cast on my back porch where it gets real hot in summer, so I cast in the cooler (NOT colder) months

[Gar]

My question,
does everyone have time to shoot all of them. It looks like a full time fun job if you are.

It helps if you have a few NFA guns on hand, my 9mm SMG will eat a couple of thousand rounds at each range session. Bring a couple of friends along and the expended rounds count for the day can keep the lead pot running for the rest of the week. :-P

[dnepr]

Ahh it is good to laugh at yourself every once in a while , ya I will probably never burn through the couple hundred .54 minnie balls I have or the 3000 ish .430 310 gr lee " flying barrels" as Nsp 64 so aptly named them but I will need to cast some more .358 160gr semiwadcutters sometime in the next decade and some .250 105 gr smoothside for paper patching probqably in the next year or 2 . Here's to hoping to live long enough to burn up all my boolits :smile::lovebooli

[DLCTEX]

While casting and the mould is running good I'll cast up a pile. They may last a year, or if my guys and gals get to shooting I may have to go at it again. I have lots of help shooting up boolits.

[qajaq59]

You'd be surprised how fast you can go thru a bunch of bullets, especially if they're for plinking in the rifles. Last year I was casting like crazy and I figured I wouldn't need any more for a real long time. Nope, I had to cast some more.

[XWrench3]

You have to have a certain stockpile of boolits waiting to be sized, lubed, and loaded. I have containers of them in different stages. I want to always have at least 200-500 boolits in any caliber that are ready to be loaded. There is nothing worse than wanting to load up a batch, and find that you have to go out and cast up a batch. Or worse yet, smelt a batch to be able to cast. It just get so ugly at that point, that you might even get desprate enough to go buy "j" bullets!

[prs]

I got to shoot about 300 rounds today and hope to do it again tomorrow. 45 Colt with real black powder and my own boolit design, Life is good! And I head a rumor that the state is building a new shooting range within a 10 minute drive of me.

prs

[Blammer]

My problem is, I have a bunch already cast, but it never seems to be the one I want to load and shoot. :)

[geargnasher]

My problem is, I have a bunch already cast, but it never seems to be the one I want to load and shoot. :)

I have the same problem. I keep buying .45 caliber moulds, casting 500 or more in the first session, find out they aren't exactly what I was looking for, buy another mould, repeat. I have over 100 lbs of .45 boolits that I'll probably never shoot.

Gear

[stubshaft]

It's part addiction. Once I get the moulds hot and start to get into the rhythm I don't want to stop.

And I can empty ALOT of cases in one day.

[pstew]

It has come to my attention that there are boolits in this world who are being detained and imprisoned in peoples garages and basements with out due legal process. It is my aim to free these boolits from their captors, and allow them to exist peacefully in the berm of my local range. I'm forming a new organization "Free the Boolits" to help these poor boolits who are being cast, but then stored away for the future.

"Prisoners of caliber" are boolits, brass or primers imprisoned solely for their peaceful existance or because of their caliber, gas checkedness or other personal characteristics. Many have never been charged with a crime. Free the Boolits seeks the immediate release of all prisoners of caliber.

You can help by sending me your imprisoned boolits and allowing them freedom to go where they will after leaving the barrel of my gun.:lovebooli

[qajaq59]

Pstew, you are such a selfless, kind hearted guy that we are humbled in your presence! :violin:

[atr]

I cast, then shoot,,,,then cast and shoot
I cast because it allows me to shoot more,
For me casting is a means to an end, not an end in itself.
I probably never have more than 3 or 4 hundred cast boolits "hanging" around in various calibers.

[RP]

Pstew thats a good ideal but I dont think anyone is going to take you up on freeing the trapped boolits.

[Down South]

I have a lot of boolits that I'll never or maybe never shoot. Some have been recasted while others are stored just in case. Once I settle on just the right mould, I'll sometimes cast thousands and store them.
Like Blammer, sometimes I'll realize that I don't a certain boolit cast that I want to load.

[AKROADKILL]

I go through about 100 lbs of lead into bullets a year and i shoot all of mine. This year i casted up a five gallon bucket full of wheel weights. Plan on some more shooting this summer. Last year got my wife into shooting she liked it. She loves shooting my 1911. I have plenty of hollow points and fmj but lead is cheaper and more avliable so i cast.

[rwt101]

Since I started casting I shoot a lot more than when I was buying ammo. My biggest problem is, I can't find any wheel weights around here. So I have to buy lead on-line.

Bob T

[qajaq59]

Bob, don't give up on the looking. Check out the recycle places and ask the fishing shops if they know any locals that might have some. It took 3 months after moving to this town to find some locally. But I just kept asking around and in the end I found 3 sources.

[44fanatic]

Since I started casting I shoot a lot more than when I was buying ammo. My biggest problem is, I can't find any wheel weights around here. So I have to buy lead on-line.

Bob T

If you are ever out towards Clarksville, might be able to square you away. Ive got a couple of places out here that told me to drop by every couple of weeks. I see myself getting more WW than I will ever need.

[rwt101]

If you are ever out towards Clarksville, might be able to square you away. Ive got a couple of places out here that told me to drop by every couple of weeks. I see myself getting more WW than I will ever need.

Well that is very kind of you. I will keep you in mind.

Thanks

Bob T

[44fanatic]

RWT...sent you a PM. Dont know if you got it, cant find any messages in my "sent" folder.

[LAH]

I've been reading tons of posts on this forum the last week or so and I keep noticing piles of freshly made boolits that everyone is making. My question,
does everyone have time to shoot all of them. It looks like a full time fun job if you are.

Shooting has begun in earnest so the moulds won't keep up. Probably have to buy some bullets..............Creeker

[mroliver77]

Funny, the topic you posted. Some years ago I read an article by the same name. It was about becomming a good shot. The advice given was to shoot buckets of boolits(practice). Having never become proficient with a handgun I was searching for information to help cure my disgrace. An NRA pamphlet told the then accepted stance and gun holding technique and trigger squeeze. I took some time off from shooting and dry fired my old S&W 1937 Brazilian contract .45 acp for hoers each day and cast then loaded ammo for it. I set up a short range in the barn and told myself I would shoot X number of boolits each day.It was winter and I was not working so I spent hours in the barn casting, loading and shooting. I picked up a 38special and a 4cav Lyman WC mould. I started shooting 200 rounds a day. Some evenings after supper I would stay out till 3AM or later. I shot "Buckets of boolits" that winter and improved my handgun abilities a lot. That spring on a walk about the place a woodchuck poked his head out at me. I drilled him in the forehead with a cast 38 spcl woodcutter killing him right there. My first handgun kill!!! The skill atrophies without constant work on it so I cast and shoot buckets of boolits as much as possible. I am lucky to be able to do my loading in the barn and shoot out of the door if I like. .shooting one cylinder full of six rounds per day every day takes approx 180 boolits per month and 2190 per year. I dont shoot every day but then I burn up quite a few rounds on others. I bought 10,000 primers a couple years back and thought I was set. I was amazed at how fast they went! Grab a 1911 and its hard not to burn up 100 or so rounds. It is funny when getting together with others. I will open a 2 galon coffee can of rounds and have at it. It is fun to tell them "Go ahead and shoot it up." I still am not to good of a handgun shot but I sure do have fun casting, loading and shooting them buckets of boolits.
Jay

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
Oh they aal get shot. If I make them.
But if you have any laying around ,LOST,LONELY, & NEGLECTED, just send them too me . They will have found a usefull productive pourpose.

[AKsoldier]

So far I've cast about a thousand boolits and haven't shot a single one. I'm still waiting on my sizing dies, but I'm sure having a blast casting! I'm only using two Lee two-chamber dies. One 228 gr. .452 RN for my .45 ACP, and a 300 gr. .452 FNGC for my 460 S&W. I already bought a bucket of wheel weights, and have been smelting them and casting away. I can't wait till my sizing dies get here so I can start loading and shooting them. I'm already thinking about getting a few more "cast boolit-friendly guns" to buy too, just to have another excuse to cast. I'm thinking I caught the same bug ya'll got. :redneck:

[Greenhorn44]

I dont think the goverment knows about this!!! You can tax our bullets, but you cant tax our Boolits