who taught you to cast boolits?

[NyFirefighter357]

You guys did.

Exactly

[Texas by God]

My youngest older brother and Lyman books.
Still learning here, too.

Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk

[DDriller]

My dad taught my brothers and me to cast fishing weights first and the .38 wadcutters.

[rbuck351]

I taught myself to reload and to cast boolits as I didn't know anyone that loaded or cast. Years later I found this site and learned how to do it right.

[William Yanda]

What I didn't learn on my own, I learned from reading here. Since I started reading before I started casting, mostly from here.

[Soundguy]

I learned to hand load from reading mostly. I did talk to a few people, especially a buddy that lives out of state.. but no one near me hand loaded when I learned. Same with casting. just had to get the tools.. **** and start ...

[Soundguy]

is the acronym "r t * m" not allowed?

[Garyshome]

Me, myself and you all!

[oldhenry]

In 1960 Mr. Davis @ Davis Gun Shop (aka Phoenix City Pawn Shop) took the bold move of stocking reloading equipment & components. Hard to believe that the P.C./Columbus/FT. Benning area didn't have this before Mr. Davis took the plunge. He had Lyman equipment, CCI primers & Speer bullets. I started loading J-word bullets until later that year I came into a 1873 in .38-40 (bullets expensive & difficult to get). Mr. Davis fixed me up with 2 Ideal 1 cav. molds, cast iron Lyman pot, Lyman heat reflecting ring & a Lyman dipper (I still have them).

With that Lyman book & trials & errors I learned a little bit at the time. 5 yrs later a friend donated a Lyman bottom pour that needed a heating element + a 358466 2 cav. mold for a newly acquired S&W #15.

I have learned many finer points from this forum & am learning a little each day.

Thankfully I have an understanding wife that puts up (a southern expression) with the clutter that accompanies the habit.

I don't play golf or watch professional ball type sports, but do plead guilty to recently acquiring a 9mm pistol (it is a 1911 which should lessen my sentence).
__________________________________________________ _____________________________________________
A real sport involves either gasoline or gun powder: all others are merely games

[dverna]

Like many "old timers", I started almost 50 years ago. No internet and no one in the family reloaded, cast or even shot much. Books and magazines formed my education.

At times I get frustrated with the newer generation of casters and reloaders who expect instant gratification and do very little work or research. I have stopped reading the monthly new threads on "Help me with my cast 9mm bullets", or "Need a cast bullet and load for my 5.56 AR15".

[Old Caster]

When in the Army in 1965 while on the Army Bullseye team. Me and the rest of the team cast a lot of bullets and what I learned is that every mold is an entity to itself. What a person needs to learn is what is causing problems so they can be corrected and while some molds clearly make the best bullets by pressure casting, other molds can't even come close to working by that method. Timing, how deep the pot is full and how open the flow adjustment is plus temperature compared to alloy and speed.

[slohunter]

Elmer Keith, Lyman and me back in the 70's.

[Three44s]

Me and reading, later here!

Three44s

[Sig556r]

youtube!

[oley55]

I guess the honest answer is, I dunno cause I'm still trying finger it all out, and I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to say "I'm a boolit caster" with confidence.

[Char-Gar]

Self taught in 1959 with the Lyman 1st. Edition Cast bullet Handbook and a gas fired plumbers furnace.

[abunaitoo]

This old guy, who was kind of a living legend here, and was a good friend, showed me how the first time.
Jimmy Kikuchi.
He was the first game warden here way back when.
He has since passed away.
Cast some Lee muzzle loader sluggs with a Lyman 20 bottom pour.
Opened a whole new world for me.

[robg]

my wife bought me a mold and handles .then one of the guys let me use a casting pot in the club .that was 20 years ago .since then ive hardly shot anything but cast boolits .saved a fortune .

[trapper9260]

For me it started with casting fishing sinkers from my dad before I was a teen , way before the internet . By use of sand and newspaper . Then he show how to use molds when he got them, then after I got out of the navy, I got into casting bullets with the use of Lyman cast bullet manual 3 rd ed . then pick up more later and on here and other sites and manuals . It was easy for me to do cast bullets for the basics, because of casting from casting sinkers. To get the mix of alloy is what I learn more after.

[Phlier]

My (now 91 year old) Father.

It was summer of 1977, and I was ten years old. Dad started me casting Keith SWC's in both .44 mag and .357. He'd started me reloading the previous winter. For my 9th birthday the previous February, he got me a Ponsness-Warren single stage shotshell reloader. Of course, I wasn't allowed to touch it without him being there to supervise everything.

About ten years ago, Dad gave me his coveted SAECO melting pot, circa late 1950's. Still runs great, but I hate to use it for fear of it dying on me and not being able to get replacement parts. He also gave me the rest of his casting equipment, including those original Keith molds. I don't use them... they stay safely wrapped up (and well oiled) in storage. Don't use the lubra-sizer he gave me, either, now that I've converted to powder coating everything I shoot.

Everything I know about reloading, shooting, casting boolits I learned from that great man. Can't keep him out of my head every time I sit down to reload or cast boolits... I can hear him saying, "take your time and do it right, son. Never a reason to be in a rush. Take your time and enjoy it."

Thanks, Dad.