Something I haven’t seen mentioned but is definitely a time consumer for me is set up and clean up. I don’t have a dedicated melting/casting space. I set up under the overhang behind my garage. By the time I drag everything out and get to melting I’ve burned a good chunk of my limited free time. Then when I’m finished I have to wait for everything to cool before I lug it back into the garage.
I have a pretty slow but steady supply of free lead scrap but if I was buying it I would consider buying clean ingots of known alloy to save time and headache. By the time you buy the scrap and take the time to melt, flux, and pour it into clean ingots you may find it’s not that much cheaper than simply buying clean lead to start with. Don’t get me wrong, I get great satisfaction from turning trash into shiny silver bars and then into my boolits but again, my alloy only costs me time.
This hobby can also become very expensive if you allow yourself get drawn into the vortex. I don’t think I have saved any money by casting and handloading but I shoot a lot more than I would have and I don’t cringe at the thought of blowing through a few hundred rounds like many of my friends do now. I guess what I’m saying is welcome to the madhouse!