Give us an idea of what firearms, targets, and how serious
Handgun or rifle? Hunting, serious target shooting or just plinking? Do you want performance that rivals jacketed bullets, or can you accept a little less? Do you have a backyard you can set up a table and feed electricity to? What is your time worth?
If you are retired and short on money, but long on time, 1 or 2 cavity molds are ok. Otherwise, if you are going to shoot through pistols, you'll need large quantities of bullets, so 4 or 6 cavity molds would be nice.
If you are casting into a 4 or 6 cavity mold with bullets of significant weight, a 10 pound furnace is too small (you will suck it dry just after you finish getting the mold up to temperature). For big molds, 20 pound furnaces are the minimum.
I can cast 24 bullets per minute for long periods with a Lee 6-cavity fed by a 20 pound furnace, with another 10 pounder also melting Lead. I cast, then empty the mold into a 5 gallon bucket of water. The water quench causes a harder bullet, and reduces the number of dinged bullets.
For Rifle bullets, single cavity is fine. The demands are more exacting, and you will shoot less of them. I you are going to exceed 1400 fps, you usually need gas check molds, and gas checks will double or triple your costs.
I've mostly used NRA 50/50 formula, but I am starting to play with heated lubes. NRA formula is a little smokey with lower pressure handgun loads. I have used the Lyman lube machines with great satisfaction for many years, but they are very slow compared to a Star lube machine.
The Lee tumble lube system works ok for low performance, but lube on bullet noses will build up in seating dies, causing progressively deeper bullet seating, which will raise pressures very quickly in pistol bullets. To deal with this, I thin the Lee Liquid Alox with Mineral Spirits, and using big tweezers just dip the driving bands portion of the bullet. I also like Dillon seating dies, which allow one to disassemble and clean a seating die without losing adjustment.
If using aluminum molds, look into Bullplate lube available over on the Cast Boolits board. It prevents galling, an adhesive wear pattern that frequently occurs between the Sprue Plate and the top of the mold blocks.
CDD
