A Newbie Caster Dilemma

I'm a new, wanna-be boolit caster. I've been a lurking member for a while, and try to read all that I can before I get into something new. I'm not new to reloading, which I began in 1994.

I have accumulated a wide variety of metals to melt, smelt, blend and cast. I have a dedicated furnace/stove, a collection of nice pots and a place to do the work. But the main problem I have now is finding molds to use for casting! I inherited a new, never-used Lee 2 cavity mold for .357 hollow-base wadcutters, but that's not what I want to cast and shoot. What I want I can't find right now, and that's a mold in 6.5 mm 140 grain (preferably) non-gascheck that I can powder coat.

Do I practice technique by casting wadcutters that I'll probably never use? That would be good melt and cast practice, but wadcutter alloy behavior at velocity won't tell me much about how a 6.5 x 55 Swedish bullet will behave.

I've watched the for-sale forums at several forums, but if what I am looking for has showed up, I've missed it. So I'm looking for ideas. Many thanks.

Look at the NOE website and see if he has what you want in stock. If not....

Go through the Accurate Molds catalog and pick what you want. It will take a little while to get it but it will be worth it. I only have two of his molds but will get more in the future.

And the price is less than the ebay pirates are asking for Lee molds.

"Do I practice technique by casting wadcutters that I'll probably never use?"
If your bored with nothing else to do.....yes you can, after all you can pitch them back in the pot and make some lee 1oz slugs for your shotgun[smilie=s:

I'd get the mold you want, are going to shoot, and go from there.

Don't make extra work for yourself.
There's plenty of people who are more than glad to do that for you.

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Originally Posted by Winger Ed.

I'd get the mold you want, are going to shoot, and go from there.

Don't make extra work for yourself.
There's plenty of people who are more than glad to do that for you.

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For sure!

Welcome to the forum!
+1 on the advice Charley gave.
You are ready to go down the rabbit hole,
I wish you a lot of luck and welcome again.:cbpour:

Charlie gave you good advice....But starting with the bullet you want might be frustrating. Larger diameter and slower bullets are easier to get good results with.

Cast some with the Mold you have then go looking for someone who will trade your cast hollow base wadcutters for their 6.5mm boolits. If you get a variety of 6.5 boolits; then you can determine what mold to buy (or order one and wait till it becomes available in these times). In the mean time you can share your experiences (frustrations and successes) with your casting by starting a thread for others to advise/comment/suggest on. This will get your post count up so you can qualify for trading on the site = you may discover others who have things to trade or a mold to sell then.

PS Welcome to being a member.

Accurate molds, NOE molds and MP molds...

All of those molds are nice. Accurate will make small modifications if you want them and NOE / MP molds have some hollow point options.

Epidote, where you are now is pretty much where I was 6 months ago. Molds were no easier to find back then. But eventually they do come back into stock, so buy what you want and just be patient. I can guarantee one thing, if you don't indicate to the manufacturers of the mold that you want one you'll never receive one. Yes, it's the pits to pay upfront $ for something that isn't in stock, but payment up front means that when they make what you indicated that you want them to make they've got the buyer. (I know you didn't ask that)

If you're not going to use the .357 bullets you would cast, I wouldn't do it. I like casting but not so much I'd make some just to throw back into the pot. But, it would get you started.

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Originally Posted by 44Blam

Accurate molds, NOE molds and MP molds...

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This. Don't get fixated on the big players like Lee, RCBS and Lyman - you're far more likely to find what you need at the smaller guys (and for a decent price).

put a WTB (want to buy) add in the S&S section, someone may have a spare/unwanted mold they would sell you or trade for your hollow base mold.

Read the S&S rules first :)

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Originally Posted by MUSTANG

Cast some with the Mold you have then go looking for someone who will trade your cast hollow base wadcutters for their 6.5mm boolits. If you get a variety of 6.5 boolits; then you can determine what mold to buy (or order one and wait till it becomes available in these times). In the mean time you can share your experiences (frustrations and successes) with your casting by starting a thread for others to advise/comment/suggest on. This will get your post count up so you can qualify for trading on the site = you may discover others who have things to trade or a mold to sell then.

PS Welcome to being a member.

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This is some of the best advise you have received yet ....

There are some basics of casting you need to learn prior to tackling a long thin cast like the 6.5, you may find a rifle cast is frustrating at first. Get your basics of temperature control, casting cadence and cutting sprue down pat first, practice at this until you understand what temperature & time, even ambient conditions where you are casting have to do with actually casting a quality cast.
Weigh your first batch of WC's...discover the weight spread, ask why about anything and everything you don't understand.
You ain't wasting time...."your learning an archaic craft!"

For me, casting bullets that I may not use is definitely not a waste of time nor extra work. New to casting? Have you worked out all the complexity, methods that you may need to learn? Do you have a 38 Special or 357 Mag?

Since your aim is twofold; learning to cast and casting for a particular gun, my recommendation would be cast the wadcutters now and continue to hunt for the particular mold you want. You don't have to shoot nor keep every bullet you cast. Nobody says you cannot remelt your cast bullets. You can very easily cast your wadcutters with "rifle" alloy and you can even PC them too. You will be learning, refining your casting now and having fun while you shop for the specific mold you want.

Or you can sit around waiting, and defer your learning and problem solving until a specific mold show up...

K.I.S.S.

You might want to search this site for posts on casting for the 6.5x55 Swede. As I recall, there were some particular difficulties people were having several years ago. Do you have any other rifles you want to cast for? There may be some others that will be easier to learn on.

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6.5 x 55 Swedish

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Mil surp? or American made Rifle in that caliber?
American made barrels are a different size than what the Swedes used.
Also, if it's a Swede mil surp, and the throat is worn, a boolit with a FAT nose works best.