Casting... Do or do not. There is no try.

[Ifishsum]

I am set up mostly for pistol bullets although I did buy a .30 cal GC rifle mold (which I do use occasionally) and one for .224, just to have an option during a shortage or other trying time. In fact if it weren't for casting my own my pistol shooting would have been severely curtailed for a year or two during the last ammo/component shortage. Also was able to help out several friends and family members with bullets then, even a few strangers. So I see having the equipment and a few hundred lbs of clean ingots as good insurance as well as a fun extension to the hobby. All of my molds are Lee and I will say that I have never sized any of the pistol bullets, all are lightly tumble lubed, loaded and fired as-cast. They all shoot better and lead much less than anything commercially cast I had tried to that point (note this was before powder coating became common). Rifle bullets are also tumble lubed and I do have inexpensive Lee push-through sizers for those. Never used mold release agent. Point is you might be able to get started with less $ than what you might think.

 

[1KPerDay]

Yup, sometimes to have to dig deep (no pun intended) and think outside the box. A long long long time ago they made these things called tools. More specifically hand tools, ya I know big shock, no batteries required!!!! Anyway there's a bunch of these things called hand tools from way back then that are still in use today. 1 of them is called a rake, another 1 of them is called a shovel & well you rake the bullets into a pile and then (wait for it)
You shovel said pile of lead/bullets into a bucket.

REVOLUTIONARY!!

 

[Elkins45]

I’m a pretty serious caster. I’ve probably spent close to 2K on molds and equipment, and another 2K stockpiling close to a ton of ingots. If I die before I use it up then somebody will be really happy at the estate auction!

It’s much harder to find a cheap supply of scrap lead than it was 30+ years ago, that’s for sure. Still, even if you have to buy commercial ingots you can still realize a significant savings over buying commercial bullets. But here’s the thing: I enjoy casting and would probably continue to do it even if it cost more.

You can find out if it works for you fairly cheaply. My first bullets were cast using an electric hot plate and cast iron pot that I already had. All I had to buy was a $20 Lee mold and a ladle. I splurged and bought the Lyman ladle for $12. Add $4 for a bottle of Lee tumble lube and a stick to whack the spruce cutter and that’s all you need to get started. Oh, and some lead. That’s probably going to be the hardest thing to find locally. You may need to buy some ingots from Rorometals or another supplier. I was very lucky and got my first lead stash from a printing shop that was clearing out their store room and gave me a couple hundred pounds of pure Linotype slugs for free! That’s something that will certainly never happen again.

 

[forrest r]

REVOLUTIONARY!!

WOW!!!! My great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great uncle said the same thing.

 

[jmorris]

I’m pretty sure I have answered my own question. For a cheap pot, three molds (not even what I wanted, just random stuff to estimate cost) and sizers, mold release agent, lube... $300 just in initial outlay not counting lead. I can buy a whole lot of bullets for $300.

I got started for a lot less than that but I enjoy building things.

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/magma-engineering-master-caster.158478/#post-1944416

You are right though, in any investment of time or money, one should account for what they can just go buy and the cost.

Are you already using cast .32, .45 and 16ga projectiles? If so, how many a month/year?

Shot is a completely different animal. Most shot drippers don’t have anything in common with casting except the lead has to be melted, in order for either to work.

 

[jmorris]

Free lead sounds good. Not sure bending over 5000 times to pick lead out of the dirt counts as free though.

I agree, the average gym membership is around $40/month, to do the same. So you can count that into your savings.

I have often thought about folks that will walk back and forth in an entire bay picking up brass, that they have to sort through to find what they want, but scoff at the notion of walking to the berm and getting the free lead.

 

[WestKentucky]

I got started for a lot less than that but I enjoy building things.

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/magma-engineering-master-caster.158478/#post-1944416

You are right though, in any investment of time or money, one should account for what they can just go buy and the cost.

Are you already using cast .32, .45 and 16ga projectiles? If so, how many a month/year?

Shot is a completely different animal. Most shot drippers don’t have anything in common with casting except the lead has to be melted, in order for either to work.

I am using cast 32s. I don’t have a bushmaster yet but I’m slowly acquiring parts for a bolt rifle build. 16ga is something I just started and I can’t find ANY slug projectiles that I’m willing to pay for (most are as expensive as cheap loaded slugs). I have been told that using a Lee 12ga slug without the sabot makes for a good 16ga slug. I have not found any to try since I heard that.

 

[jmorris]

I am using cast 32s. I don’t have a bushmaster yet but I’m slowly acquiring parts for a bolt rifle build. 16ga is something I just started and I can’t find ANY slug projectiles that I’m willing to pay for (most are as expensive as cheap loaded slugs). I have been told that using a Lee 12ga slug without the sabot makes for a good 16ga slug. I have not found any to try since I heard that.

I would make your decisions on the .32’s alone vs jumping in on the speculation of the other two. The Lee “key” slugs are not designed to be used with sabot, just a regular wad, I use WAA 12.

I would expect leading if you don’t use them as intended.

Looks like 16ga is .633 ID, I feel “thumbs down” about shoving a slug that is .051” larger in diameter down the tube.



Same for the 450 BM, not knowing what your intentions are you might find yourself wanting to use gas checked or coated bullets (to combat leading) and that will get you even further involved in the hobby.

 

[whughett]

My source of lead for years was my job. I spent 30 years splicing telephone cables for New England telephone which became in succession NYNEX, Bell Atlantic and Verizon. Stockpiled a bit before retirement, now 22 years down the road into retirement my source is my gun clubs back stop. There’s probably 100 pounds or more sitting in five gallon buckets on my garage floor awaiting processing.

Some won’t agree, but I don’t worry about alloys, I don’t have any means of testing it anyway, beyond the thumb nail test. Then again I don’t shoot anything but target velocity hand guns, or black powder. Bullets intended for mag loads get gas checked . Very little scrap lead is going to be pure lead.

 

[jmorris]

Some won’t agree, but I don’t worry about alloys, I don’t have any means of testing it anyway, beyond the thumb nail test.

I have one mold I use as a “standard”. The alloy is right when it drops 230 grain bullets. Pure lead will drop 240’s and alloys with less lead will be lighter, silver solder will drop 210 grain bullets, for example.

So if the batch is dropping 232’s, I just mix in a little Linotype until they drop 230’s.

 

[Old Stumpy]

Casting... Do or do not. There is no try.

May the Flux be with you.

 

[Jack Ryan]

For a "slug" reload and pouring my own projectiles for a 16 gauge, I'd look for a round ball sized to fit inside a standard trap or skeet wad.

If I remember correctly a round ball to fit a 54 caliber muzzle loader shoots pretty good from my 20 gauge. It just barely slides through the open choke when inside a plastic wad. I pushed a empty wad in the barrel even with the end and measured it with calipers to get a size to start looking for something that would work is how I "got there".

 

[forrest r]

Never did any casting for shotguns/slugs, only reloaded rounds for skeet, trap and hunting loads.

Casted 32cal wc's and hbwc's for a long time. Been thinning the herd (molds) slowly, sold the carmer mold earlier this year.


Actually I highly recommend that anyone getting into casting take a hard look at pc'ing their cast bullets compared to using the traditional luber/sizers. Huge difference in equipment cost along with pc'd bullets are a better product.

 

[whughett]

I have one mold I use as a “standard”. The alloy is right when it drops 230 grain bullets. Pure lead will drop 240’s and alloys with less lead will be lighter, silver solder will drop 210 grain bullets, for example.

So if the batch is dropping 232’s, I just mix in a little Linotype until they drop 230’s.

That’s a good idea if one has a supply of know alloy, such as Linotype or perhaps Lyman #2. Roto metals would be a source for that.

 

[jmorris]

That’s a good idea if one has a supply of know alloy, such as Linotype or perhaps Lyman #2. Roto metals would be a source for that.

If you have commercial cast bullets that you really like, they too would work to create your “standard”.

 

[RealGun]

I am equipped and supplied to cast but only if I can't buy bullets (I have to cast). Unfortunately that assumes I will have electricity.

 

[Jack Ryan]

As long as I have something that will burn and lead, I can cast bullets.

 

[buck460XVR]

I hafta agree with the title of this thread........that is why I haven't tried. I reload all of the calibers I shoot. I fletch my own arrows/bolts and make my own Turkey calls. Love doing those hings and will never give 'em up. As for casting my own bullets...... I have a Propane cooker and three five gallon pails full of plumbers lead. I just have no desire. Not at all. Kinda like Ice Fishing. I open water fish from spring thru fall. Big Muskies and Pike on Heavy 9' baitcasters down to flyrods and small creek Brookies. Panfish, bass, Walgilled Blueyes, you name it.. But, come to sittin' on the ice, lookin' down a hole at the same fish. Nope.....no desire.

 

[Old Stumpy]

I started bullet casting out of necessity in 1972 in order to feed a cap & ball revolver. You could not buy cast round balls anywhere that I knew of, any everyone cast black powder bullets then anyway.

There was no internet or PCs. For information there was only the public library and it's one small shelf of 10 year old gun books, and gun magazines at the local stores.
But, with a Coleman stove, cast iron pot, Lyman egg ladle, old spoon, and a hammer handle, it was easy. I bought a Lyman .451" single cavity round ball mold (which I still use) and lead was easy to scare up.

Range scrap from the indoor .22 range at my high school was free, and they were just happy that I cleaned it out for them. This supplied bullets for my Colt .45 ACP Series 70, Webley Mark IV .455, and Colt New Service .45 LC, all from a Lyman 452374 (which I still use). A bar of 50/50 solder from the hardware store hardened them up some (way too expensive now). Tin prices are nuts!

Since my scrap lead is running short, my plan is to use a source of Lyman #2 alloy and pure bar lead to make equivalent alloys like 1:16 tin/lead alloy at around BHN 10, and anything harder in between. While this is expensive at first glance, I can still crank out a box of twenty .45-70 405 grain cartridges for one-fifth of the cost of factory loads. And I still have 30 # of linotype to use up.

I enjoy bullet casting when I am in the mood for it. But, I only do it a few times a year.
It's not like you have to do it every week to maintain a supply of bullets, unless you are trying to supply a whole family of CAS or action shooters.

 

[Old Stumpy]

I cast for about 15 years, but sold all of my gear. I’m a shooter, not a reloader. I reload to facilitate shooting, and casting was/is simply a time wasting activity I don’t want or need in my life.

If I went to a garage sale and saw a retired set-up for cheap, I’d consider it much like looking at a tumor, having removed the first cancer I’ve occurred, and have the foresight to NOT invite it back into my life.

Curb your enthusiasm.

 

[clone]

I started casting about 7 months ago, and I've been handloading for 10 or so years. The main reason I decided to try my hand at casting is that I work at a tire shop, so lead is free and plentiful.
I've always had a desire to learn and develop self-reliant skills, but I'm not sure I would continue casting if I no longer had a source of free lead. Maybe.... Dunno.
I don't mind the labor requirements to cast, but my main motivations is low cost and pride of being self-reliant.

 

[lightman]

I started casting about 7 months ago, and I've been handloading for 10 or so years. The main reason I decided to try my hand at casting is that I work at a tire shop, so lead is free and plentiful.
I've always had a desire to learn and develop self-reliant skills, but I'm not sure I would continue casting if I no longer had a source of free lead. Maybe.... Dunno.
I don't mind the labor requirements to cast, but my main motivations is low cost and pride of being self-reliant.

I don't intend to tell you what to do, but I guess that I am. Get it while you can. Get all you can get or as much as you have the storage space for. It will not get cheaper or more plentiful.

Also curious. What % of lead weights are you seeing come through your shop? Around here, they are holding up pretty well. I'm guessing around 60-65% lead. I'm seeing more stick on weights vs clip on's.

 

[clone]

I'm in Tennessee btw.
I would say of the weights that I see come through is about 20% lead, 70% zinc, and the rest steel, and plastic.
The percentage is definitely going down though.
We don't put on lead weights at all anymore. All zinc. We may have a few boxes of lead in the back, as hold overs I'm guessing.

 

[PapaG]

Started in 1956 or 1957 with a propane camp stove, a cast iron pot and dipped and a Lyman 357446 mould. Still have it and eighty some odd others from .22 - 12 gauge. Three cast iron pots, two electrics, five lube-sizers and a bunch of push thorough dies.
Favorite molds, 357446, 358156, 45-255KT, 457124, 452374, 452460, and 429421 hp. I can load cast for every caliber but 10mm that I shoot.
Save money? Unlikely. Have fun and satisfaction? Definitely.

 

[brewer12345]

I know I derive great satisfaction from both deer I have taken have been with stuff I cast (a big 30 Cal bullet and a .530 round ball).