Legionnaire
Contributing Member
I am NOT yet ready to start casting. However, I have some travel time coming up and would enjoy reading a good manual or book on casting and powder coating. Do y'all have any "go to" sources you would recommend?
Almost anything written or referenced by Glen Fryxell. Start here: http://www.lasc.us/articlesfryxell.htmI am NOT yet ready to start casting. However, I have some travel time coming up and would enjoy reading a good manual or book on casting and powder coating. Do y'all have any "go to" sources you would recommend?
That's why I recommend the videos. Loads of bacon is another coater. I keep hoping a manual will have new articles but not yet.For my money, the Lyman handbook is the closest thing to a "complete work" on the topic we have.
Fryxell is probably the best online resource.
Veral Smith of "Lead Bullet Technology" puts out a book called "Jacketed Performance with Cast Bullets" which is pretty rough but is otherwise a gold mine.
None of it has anything to do with powder coating, though, and I have no recommendations on that count.
Curious what your plan for casting is. There is a ton of value in casting. If your replacing 42 cent 6.5 bullets with 7 cent cast ones there's a lot of savings to stack up. A 2400 load and cast bullet shoots really nice in my 6.5x55.I am NOT yet ready to start casting. However, I have some travel time coming up and would enjoy reading a good manual or book on casting and powder coating. Do y'all have any "go to" sources you would recommend?
Look on the reloading components for sale page. I think his name is Highlofts. He’s mailed me 120 lbs in the last month.The Lyman cast Bullet Handbook is a good reference. I would pick one up. THEN, before spending any money on casting equipment I would look for a source of lead for casting. You'll be surprised how fast you'll use up lead. Example: 100 45cal 200 grain SWC bullets will use almost 3lbs of casting lead.
Having lead is the beginning and end of the game. Start collecting and making ingots. That's the dirty but nessary part of the job. They store much easier, and if you decide it's not your thing they are easily sold or traded.@AJC1 and @jmorris, playing mostly. I'm a couple years away from retirement and won't have the space or the time to start casting before then. I shoot a lot of cast bullets in my revolvers, but thus far I have purchased them. Looks like an interesting way to expand the hobby, and I'd like to read up on it in the interim. Might even start building a list of stuff I'll need and keep a wary eye open for opportunities to start acquiring. But at this point, I'm just doing my homework.
I hear you, but retiring will also entail an interstate move. I've begun the process of downsizing my modest collection. I just hate the idea of moving lead ingots in addition to my stockpile of factory bullets, of which I already have more than I'll shoot before then.Having lead is the beginning and end of the game. Start collecting and making ingots.
That is the huge downside. If your moving near family stash it in their place when you visit...I hear you, but retiring will also entail an interstate move. I've begun the process of downsizing my modest collection. I just hate the idea of moving lead ingots in addition to my stockpile of factory bullets, of which I already have more than I'll shoot before then.
It doesn’t take a lot of space I keep my casting machine and sizer and table top convection oven on a little roll around cart. Coating is a pretty new concept and current methods do simplify the process over early ones. Forums are a better place to get information on the subject than any books I know of. The old “abc’s book is still worth reading and I also read magma engineering’s book.
You will learn more in a couple hours casting than a couple days of reading. You will also have specific questions than can be directly answered. There are a number of us here that cast and as above castboolits is saturated with casters that can answer pretty much any question that comes up.
I haven’t really used many of my stockpiled lead ingots over the last decade or so and I don’t buy lead. If you shoot with a club, you know everyone picks up brass to reuse but few cast and at the berm, after a rain, free lead is right on top for the picking.
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If your shooting at your own range you can simply the recovery/recycle process with a bullet trap.
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