Does anyone have a favorite online tutorials on casting?

[blasternank]

Does anyone have a favorite online tutorials on casting?

I've been looking around on youtube for people showing how to cast bullets and how to prep the lead, etc. Do you have a favorite video series? If so, can you leave links here so everyone can look at them and learn from them? Or critique them! It's nice to know that video's have been reviewed by people that can see if they are doing things correctly. I'd like to have access to good tutorials.

Thanks.

[MikeACP]

Tagged for later.

[nes4ever69]

you tube or this site. just do a you tube search for bullet casting or boolit casting. there are lots of video's.

browse around this site and you will find lots of information.

ill point you in a good direction

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lyor1EmgbHU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Lj6C...eature=related

just keep clicking on the suggested video's.

[MikeACP]

Thank you. There's a lot of good links from that.

[462]

I'd rather read the Lyman and RCBS casting handbooks and this forum's many posts by members with 50 or 60-years experience, than watch a video of someone with dubious experience. There is much more to casting than just pouring lead into a mould.

I did watch one video, though. Glad I didn't learn from that guy! He was casting with a Lee 6-cavity mould and dropping the sprue directly into the pot. Doing so will splatter lead onto the mould and sprue cutter, which leads to numerous problems. Much worse, however, it can/will splatter onto the caster. Lead burns go awfully deep...

[runfiverun]

the best tutorial i have ever seen was getting a pot and a mold and making boolits.
what could happen,bad boolits?
more practice, they re-melt just fine.

[geargnasher]

Blaster, I've been around YouTube enough to see that most of the guys casting boolits aren't doing it the way that works best for me. I agree with 462 for the most part, get yourself a couple of good, old fashioned boolit casting manuals and read them slowly and carefully, there is a lot of information there that gets missed the first few times you read. Then go cast some boolits, see how they turned out, and if you aren't happy with them go back (with your new-found experience) and re-read the books. It will take some time, but you won't ever forget what your pot and moulds teach you.

The best video series I've seen on beginner smelting, reloading, and casting so far is by CowboyT, a member here. Do a search for sanfransiscoliberalwithagun, you'll find him.

Gear

[onondaga]

The caster in the video( part 2-Iraqvet...) linked by nes4ever69 does some things I consider wrong.

The length of his metal stream while pouring is way too long and inconsistent. A mold guide like on a 4-20 Lee pot would help him a lot. Stream should be 1/4 to 1/2 inch long when bottom pouring. He is going 3 long inches at times . His metal is cooling before it gets to the mold and this is what is causing him to race his pace so fast to compensate for the cooled metal. The swirling of the mold he says he is doing to fill the mold does nothing at all; if the metal was hot enough to move around in the mold at that point it would shoot right out of the sprue hole with what he is doing.. That is not swirl casting. Swirl casting has the stream half the diameter off center into the sprue gate hole of a 5 degree tipped mold so air comes out when metal swirls in.

He does get decent bullets and this is an example of how you can get a balance of technique going that will produce good bullets, but he must get physically stressed doing all that useless swirling.

Gary

[Catshooter]

blaster,

Welcome to the site. If you put your location in so we can see it, someone may well volenteer to help you face to face.


Cat

[blasternank]

I just added it. Thanks. I am from just North of Fort Worth, TX.

Thanks for all the great responses.

[Von Gruff]

I was fortunate in that growing up my father often said that 'the ability to do comes with doing' so experiencing the task has always been my teacher.
I started casting with nothing other than a desire to do so, and gradually learned along the way. Would have welcomed some tips from the experienced but that didn't happen untill I found this site, and there isn't a better place to finesse your technique.

Von Gruff.

[Charlie Two Tracks]

Casting is easy and simple but very complicated. Yup. That makes no sense. It seems to work like that (for me) though. I can cast some great boolits and then have problems all over the place. I was casting a few days ago and the first ones came out great. I went and cast a Folgers can full and after I was done, went and measured them. They were WAY too big. At some point during the first part of the session, I got a small drop of lead on my 6 cavity mold and it increased the diameter of the boolit too much. Lesson learned. I will check the mold every once in awhile to make sure things are still ok. The fortunate things with casting is if you make a mistake......... you just melt them down and try again.

[Doby45]

Most all of the youtube video presentations are drivel. They drone on and on about something that mean absolutley nothing. Go on and on about safety and then excuse themselves from the safe practices they just droned on about because of their "experience". Youtube videos are meant for entertainment more than anything and most of the time self gratification. I do enjoy the ammosmith videos. He explains things well and keeps the content moving along.

[1Shirt]

To me the tutorial that works better than any video is to sit with an experianced caster who turns out a quality boolit. Look and listen, is the best on the job training I know of!

Think all molds, just like all rifles are female! They all have their own personality and temperment, and it takes time and patience to get the best out of them.

1Shirt!