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

[frankmako]

casting is not hard. i started casting in 85. back in that time wheel weights were free, you could have as much as you could carry home. i could also get all the free linotype from the local newspaper. so back in the 80's casting was cheap. i still cast some today, but store bullets are cheap. but if you have the time and the money to buy casting equipment i say go for it. you can still get wheel weights if you look around. but now you have to remove the zink and steel wheel weights from the lead ones.

 

[brewer12345]

casting is not hard. i started casting in 85. back in that time wheel weights were free, you could have as much as you could carry home. i could also get all the free linotype from the local newspaper. so back in the 80's casting was cheap. i still cast some today, but store bullets are cheap. but if you have the time and the money to buy casting equipment i say go for it. you can still get wheel weights if you look around. but now you have to remove the zink and steel wheel weights from the lead ones.

You know, I am interested in casting, not smelting. So I never bothered with scrounging raw lead and instead buy ingots. I generally can buy range lead, COWW, SOWW or sheet lead ingots for $1.25 a pound or less. With my average bullet size, I figure bullets cost me about 3 cents each in materials. Do I save money over store bought? Maybe a nickel on 38s. Closer to a dime on bigger bullets, like 45 or 44. About a dime on muzzleloader round balls. Considerably more on rifle bullets. Some stuff I save a lot on, like a dollar a shot on muzzleloader conicals. Best of all, I can cast stuff I can't readily buy. TC discontinued maxi balls in 54 caliber, so they are unobtanium and conicals of any kind in 54 are tough to even find. I was able to buy a mold on Ebay still in the original packaging. Lifetime supply to be had for a little lead and time.

When I am casting I am doing something I enjoy. Do I save some money? Sure. But unless I was exclusively focused on the most expensive or hardest to find stuff, it would not be worth it just for what I save.

 

[brewer12345]

casting is not hard. i started casting in 85. back in that time wheel weights were free, you could have as much as you could carry home. i could also get all the free linotype from the local newspaper. so back in the 80's casting was cheap. i still cast some today, but store bullets are cheap. but if you have the time and the money to buy casting equipment i say go for it. you can still get wheel weights if you look around. but now you have to remove the zink and steel wheel weights from the lead ones.

You know, I am interested in casting, not smelting. So I never bothered with scrounging raw lead and instead buy ingots. I generally can buy range lead, COWW, SOWW or sheet lead ingots for $1.25 a pound or less. With my average bullet size, I figure bullets cost me about 3 cents each in materials. Do I save money over store bought? Maybe a nickel on 38s. Closer to a dime on bigger bullets, like 45 or 44. About a dime on muzzleloader round balls. Considerably more on rifle bullets. Some stuff I save a lot on, like a dollar a shot on muzzleloader conicals. Best of all, I can cast stuff I can't readily buy. TC discontinued maxi balls in 54 caliber, so they are unobtanium and conicals of any kind in 54 are tough to even find. I was able to buy a mold on Ebay still in the original packaging. Lifetime supply to be had for a little lead and time.

When I am casting I am doing something I enjoy. Do I save some money? Sure. But unless I was exclusively focused on the most expensive or hardest to find stuff, it would not be worth it just for what I save.

 

[lightman]

Casting and smelting? I started smelting out of necessity. I didn't wan't to put dirty scrap in my casting pot. And I wanted the consistency of having a large batch of the same alloy. At $1.25 a pound you are probably ahead if you had to buy the scrap and buy a smelting set up. But most of my lead was free and I built my smelting set up from stuff that I already had, or that I got for free. Except for the new ladle and new skimmer that I recently bought, and a few ingot molds, I have very little cash invested in my set up. I bought the ladle and skimmer after I happened onto a 5600# score of wheel weights.

I actually enjoy the smelting part of the hobby. I have a user friendly set up and a comfortable place to work. I usually have a buddy or 2 to help and said buddy usually brings some of his scrap lead to melt. We'll even have a beer while we are waiting on the next pot full to melt!

And yes, I realize that "Smelt" is not technically the correct word for melting and blending scrap into useable alloy.

 

[CraigC]

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.

That's where I'm at with it. I really think casting has to be something you enjoy, not something you do to save money, which seems to be where a lot of the rhetoric from casters stems from. Forget all the talk about what is and isn't "free". Time is money and neither is free. Some have more time than money, others more money than time. I shoot thousands and thousands of cast bullets every year but I buy them. I'd rather tote an ass whoppin' than cast my own. My time is limited and therefore extremely valuable, so there are things I'd much rather spend my free time doing than scrounging for lead, processing scrap and casting bullets.

 

[horsemen61]

Casting is about the only thing shooting related I haven’t done at this point. I have been reloading for 2/3 of my life and I’m only in my mid 30s. I have considered and backed off several times but now I am facing a few interesting possibilities in loading and I would need to start from scratch.

The things I’m looking at are:
.32 caliber DEWC or HBWC (same mood but with/without pin)
.45 caliber heavy lead for the bushmaster I’m planning to build.
16ga minnieball type slugs. (Possibly shot as well)

With lead prices jumping, moulds being scarce around here, and things changing quickly to be lead-free I just don’t know which direction to run. Should I look for a used Lee bottom pour, scour the internet for deals on new “kits”? Are there other things to cast with? Should I do it?

I think you should for sure! I started by casting 148 grain dewc for my 357 moved on to my 44 mag and 9MM during the big 22 shortage I was shooting 38’s for cheaper than you could get .22 I still cast some and wouldn’t hesitate to break it out any time