New to casting.

[Coldfinger]

So I ordered all the stuff I need to cast my own boolits. Have watched countless videos and read many threads in various forums. (This is the only one I'm a member of. I like it here. ) I have read as many safety guides as I could find on the web. I am using WW due to their relatively low cost. Generally free. I have smelted them down ensuring I separated the zinc and steel out prior to, fluxed (saw dust) and cast ingots at about 2lb each. I ordered Lee molds, bottom pour pot, handles, and the Lee sizing/lubing system for the .452 230gn RN I will be casting. Is anyone willing to pass along some wisdom? Tips, hints, hard learnt lessons ect. I'm sure I could have searched the forum and read, but I have already read. Wanted to state what I have already done, where I'm at, where I'm going and get dime feedback. Will be shooting these at paper just for fun, nothing serious and not going to push them hard. Will they be hard enough to feed reliably in a 1911?
Thank you in advance for the advice. You guys rock

 

[vongh]

I don't use a 1911 but I use an M&P 45. With wheel weight ingots they should be plenty hard enough for a .45. I generally use a mixture of ww ingot and stuff that ive rendered for jacketed bullets about 50 percent each that ive collected from the berms. The most important things that ive learned be safe. Use safety glasses long sleeve shirts. Don't let any live ammo be in you casting area and make sure everything stays dry. One drop of water can cause your pot to empty violently and cause very bad burns and a huge mess at least. I don't size my bullets as I let my barrel do that. Happy casting

 

[Reefinmike]

wheel weights are plenty hard for 45 acp. Look into powder coating- it takes out 99% of the tinkering when shooting cast loads. Minimal smoke, reduced lead exposure at the range and much cleaner guns and barrels versus using standard cast and lubed bullets. Powder coated cast bullets are good up to ~2600 fps.

You can either tumble coat the bullets with red harbor freight powder paint in a plastic container with black airsoft bb's or use an electrostatic gun to coat the bullets. For many reasons, i prefer the cheap and simple tumble coat system. My electrostatic powder coat gun has seen only a few uses.

 

[243winxb]

Cast bullets

Hard enough. I start casting with Lee pot at maximum temperature, flux, cast to bring up Lyman mould to temperature. The first 4 good bullets are checked with a micrometer for correct diameter after they cool. I want them .452" as a minimum. When bullets get frosted i drop the pot down to 8.5 on the adjustment. I have no idea of alloy temperature, just the setting i find works. If bullets are undersize out of the mould, i add linotype to increase diameter. Antimony is what will increase diameter the fastest. Lee moulds are regulated using 10-1 lead/tin. If your bullets drop undersize, return mold to Lee. I size with a Lyman 450. For your Lee sizing, tumble lube before and after sizing. I like the idea of the Lee 6 cavity molds, but have not tried one. The video wants me to buy one, but the production rate seem unreal to me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Say51E66h8&feature=youtu.be&hd=1&t=5m18s So 2000 bullets cast in 2 or 2 1/4 hours. Thats 333 cycles of the mold in 135 minutes. In 1 minute, the mold in filled and opened 2 1/2 times , now thats FAST. If my math is correct?

 

[chris in va]

I started using welding gloves and switched to 'Ove Glove' copies made of Nomex and Kevlar. Very heat resistant.

Set the mold flat on a table when you close them after dropping the bullets. I've prematurely ruined more than one Lee mold before I discovered this. They also like to be lubed every couple hundred casts. Oh and check to be sure the alignment pins are properly staked. I've had a couple walk out on me because someone at the factory was in a hurry to get home or something.

I'm not a huge fan of the 452-228-1r mold. The ogive starts much too high toward the nose and can be problematic with chambering. I've since switched to the tumble lube version with better results as the bullet nose is considerably longer.

A mix of Johnsons Paste Wax and mineral spirits works very well if you just want to tumble lube and go.

 

[BigBore45]

wheel weights are plenty hard for 45 acp. Look into powder coating- it takes out 99% of the tinkering when shooting cast loads. Minimal smoke, reduced lead exposure at the range and much cleaner guns and barrels versus using standard cast and lubed bullets. Powder coated cast bullets are good up to ~2600 fps.

You can either tumble coat the bullets with red harbor freight powder paint in a plastic container with black airsoft bb's or use an electrostatic gun to coat the bullets. For many reasons, i prefer the cheap and simple tumble coat system. My electrostatic powder coat gun has seen only a few uses.

Are they really good to 2600fps? I would like to run some 165 gr. In my .308. Sorry not trying to hijack the thread, also what fps do the hitek coated bullets run too?
.

 

[243winxb]

Lube on bullet molds may find its way into the cavity. The results are wrinkled bullets. A tiny amount of lube goes a long way.

 

[Schwing]

45 is a great choice to learn casting. It is a lower pressure round so developing accurate loads for them is less of a challenge than with something like .40 or 9mm. As for powder coating. I do powder coat most of my bullets but I think you will find it is not necessary in .45 and that traditional alox or 45/45/10 works just fine.

I can't tell you for sure that those bullets will feed reliably but chances are you will be just fine. The only bullets I have ever had that did not feed reliably in ANY of my 45s were a Semi-Wad-cutter. Personally, I prefer round nose .45s because I have never had any firearm have issues with feeding them... I don't shoot competitively so those pretty round holes made by wad cutters and semi-wad-cutters don't matter to me

Clip on wheel weights are plenty hard for .45. If you mix a few stick on weights with it, the mix is just about perfect. Clip on wheel weights are a bit harder and the stick-on's tend to be very soft.

There are a few things I can't stress enough. First, prep your molds properly. That means cleaning them thoroughly before using them. I use acetone on mine. Then smoke them USING MATCHES and make sure the entire bullet cavity is covered in soot. Don't use a lighter or candles. Even though it is much more convenient, both leave an oily residue that causes improper fill out on your bullets. Then, warm the mold up slightly and lube all of the moving joints. I just use bee's wax on mine. You only want a tiny bit as it can leak down into the bullet cavities at which point you have to clean and smoke them all over again.

Heat the mold up before casting. I can't really verbalize how hot the mold needs to be while casting but a couple of sessions will teach you what you need to know. There is sort of a sweet spot where it is not too cool and not too hot. You can tell it is too hot when the sprue plate is leaving streaks of lead across the top of the mold and the bullets come out with a sort of crystallized sheen on them. If it is too cool, you will get really crappy looking bullets that are not filled out properly. Once you have that figured out, I would recommend buying several molds and rotating between them to allow the others to cool. 3-4 is about perfect for me but you will find your own groove.

Last, when you are loading bullets coated with alox or 45/45/10 be aware that some of it rubs off onto your seating die. Over time, it builds up so your OAL will get shorter and shorter. To fix this, just clean out the seating die periodically with a q tip or cleaning patch. I don't even take mine out, I just run the q tip with alcohol in there and swirl it around about every 50 rounds or so.


Happy casting! It is just as addicting as the rest of it.

 

[Coldfinger]

Thank you for the data and insight. I should have my pot, and mold today. I'm starting out with a Lee 2 cavity. I figure it's smaller size is more conducive to learning. If I take to it like I did reloading 10 plus years ago I will invest in high quality brass molds. I know Lee makes quality products at reasonable prices and stands behind their products. I have read a lot about the benefits of brass molds and believe them to be superior to aluminum. They are expensive and wouldn't make the switch until I'm a great caster.
Here is a question in that regard. Do you believe them to be superior and worth the 100+ dollars? Any tips on where to obtain lead at reasonable prices? Free is always best. Most tire shops in my area ship them off with their batteries for credit. Should I just by 50 or so pounds and be good for awhile?
What about casting rifle bullets? I fully understand the GC thing. I primarily shoot 25-06 to as long a range as my rifle, optics and self can be accurate. 550ish yards.... will cast work for long range (if you consider 550 yards long range) precision shooting at the top of the velocity, pressure curve and maintain any reasonable accuracy? How quickly will leading affect accuracy? Is casing rifle bullets worth the equipment and time?
When I learned to reload I had an old friend (67) at that time, (I was 32) teach me. He passed on a wealth of knowledge. I no longer have him to continue to do so. He also casted his own bullets and wanted to teach me, I declined because I was so overwhelmed with just reloading. So I apologize in advance for the run on sentences and multiple questions. I thank you for your sage advice and tips.

 

[Schwing]

As for whether brass molds are better or not is a loaded question and you are going to get many opinions on this. For me, I have never purchased anything but Lee molds but, then again, I only cast for hand gun calibers. With 30+ years in manufacturing I can tell you that shape of the bullet is 100% determined by the shape of the mold and the alloy and has nothing to do with the mold material. What is going to change is heat dissipation etc. and I am not qualified to speak to that. Personally, I would not bother with more expensive molds as the Lee molds have suited me fine for several years.

Lead is tough where I am at. Wheel weights are still your most likely option for free or really inexpensive lead but they have gotten hard to come by here. I have started buying lead from junk yards. They still have loads of wheel weights they are just more expensive. You can also get lead sheeting quite cheaply and alloy it with tin and antimony from places like rotometals.com. I would not tackle that right off though Get the hang of casting first and then give that a go. It is really easy to determine how much lead you need/want. There are 7000 grains in 1 pound so if you are casting say a 240 grain bullet you would get about 29 bullets per pound.

I don't do much long range shooting. Most of my cast stuff is for handgun calibers so I have never messed with gas checks. I can tell you that lead without gas checks usually looses accuracy and starts leading on the light to middle end of the load data so I would not expect good accuracy at the ranges you are talking about without gas checks. Leading will severely kill accuracy so you want to avoid it like the plague. Slugging your bores to verify their diameters and then sizing your bullets .001 to .002 larger will eliminate the majority of it and proper lube will help as well. There are youtube videos that will show you simple ways to do this. I powder coat my high velocity rounds but that is another topic. It doesn't give you greater accuracy at higher velocities but it does eliminate leading completely.

I am unqualified to speak on casing rifle bullets.

 

[243winxb]

Casting

I found the Lee 12 ga. key drive mold needed a lot of adjustment to work correctly, so i have not tried there other molds. Using 3 Saeco & 1 Lyman currently. Molds just need to drop a bullet at the correct diameter for the most part. Ask for lead to make sinkers, you will get more. Rifle GC bullets worked well for me in a 1903 Springfield (iron sights) with a new barrel out to 300 yards using range scrap and old NRA type 50/50. Note that the current Alox is not as good as the old. Condition of the barrel is most important with cast. My Rem 760 with its rough bore lost accurace after 10-15 shots. The M94 30-30 did ok. Use a Lyman M die to load rifles. Real leading will cause a loss of accuracy. No GC on pistol bullets including 44 mag, only rifle for me . GC can come of in flight sometimes, but the new GC have a crimping lip i think. Have not shot cast rifle in years.

 

[jmorris]

I have a few of the aluminum Lee molds and they work but I prefer my iron molds. Likely because they work in my casting machine and I never tried to convert a Lee to work in it.

I also coat my bullets these days, I started with PC and now use hi-tek.

 

[35 Whelen]

You're doing fine starting with the equipment you've stated. Just realize you get what you pay for with Lee moulds, just like anything else. But they're fine for learning or if you're not overly concerned about casting high quality bullets. Regarding brass vs iron vs aluminum for mould material, Tom at accuratemolds.Com does a very good job of explaining the pluses and minuses of each metal on his website. There are different grades of aluminum, and aluminum moulds made by Accurate or NOE are much harder and more durable than those made by Lee. My personal preference is iron, but most custom mould makers don't offer their moulds in iron. I have a half dozen brass moulds and they're fine too.


Casting bullets isn't the life threatening activity some would have you believe. Caution is far more important than wearing a heat resistant astronaut suit. I cast in short sleeves and wear a glove on my right hand because I use my hand to cut the sprue rather than whack it with a mallet which is hard on the mould. A drop of water in the molten lead will not empty the pot, but it will cause a little geyser that you won't forget.

For all things related to casting, the Cast Boolit site is by far your best resource. They address facets of casting that don't even occur to most casters.

Regarding your 25-06, I can't comment much because Ibe not cast for anything under 30 caliber. Reaching velocities that will work with long range shooting is going to be tough. The powder coating crowd certainly attain some high velocities with their projectiles but accuracy, or rather lack thereof, always seems to be an issue.
One last thing, if you do this for very long you're going to find sizing and lubing wit the Lee push-thru tedious and a little messy. You'll eventually probably want to look into a lubrisizer. RCBS and Lyman examples are easy to find and work great. If you can save enough pennies though, a Star lubrisizer is absolutely the way to go. You get the benefits of concentric bullets because of the push-thru design, the convenience of lubing offered by the RCBS and Lyman and speed offered by no other method. I have one and would love to have a second. You can see them in action on YouTube.

Good luck,
35W

 

[jmorris]

One last thing, if you do this for very long you're going to find sizing and lubing wit the Lee push-thru tedious and a little messy. You'll eventually probably want to look into a lubrisizer.

I actually went the opposite direction. I tried traditional wax lube/sizing first and wound up using coated pushed through a Lee sizer.

Don't even have to touch a bullet and no mess at all. Will size more than 2000/hr.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01zbImsdkbg

 

[cfullgraf]

Just to add a few nuggets of information.

The Lee 452-228-1r mold worked well for me. No chambering issues with any of my three 45 ACP M1911s. I could swap back and forth from commercial plated, jacketed or cast bullets to my cast bullets without adjusting the gun. You may need to find a sweet spot for the over all length of the cartridges. I load all 45 230 RN bullets to the same overall length.

Lubricated bullets can leave excess lubricant in the seating die, clean it out periodically. Check for lubricant build up every few hundred rounds until you find how frequent cleaning is necessary. Different lubricants act different.

I have only used Lee aluminum molds although I am getting geared up to cast 25 ACP and 32 ACP bullets with cast iron molds.

Carbon coating the mold aides release of the bullet and has to be re-done periodically.

Pre-heating the mold is important but it still may take a few bullets cast to get the mold to throw good bullets. I found the mold could get too hot after a while. Bullet quality would deteriorate. Reducing the lead temperature would help this some.

Once I got comfortable with casting, I would run two molds. I'd let one mold cure while dropping the bullets and refilling the other. Kept my hands busy and allowed the mold to cool sufficiently before dropping bullets.

 

[stubbicatt]

Try to cast at the lowest temperature that your alloy will hold and still fill the mould. Less shrinkage that way.

I do my 50/50 lead/lino mix at about 675 and my 20-1 at 725 - 750*. At anything over 750 the tin starts to separate from the mix and float on top, requiring a beeswax flux to get it to reduce back into the alloy.

I have had my Lee 20 pounder bottom pour for years, but recently purchased a RCBS Pro Melt. It has issues, but works pretty well. The bottom pour spigot at least will turn itself off reliably, something my Lee never really did all that well.

Had a 2 cavity Lee mould that I never did like all that much, and use Lyman, RCBS, and Saeco moulds now. Happy with them all.

Good luck, go slowly and enjoy.