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Thinking about casting my own...

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BE Wild Willy

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Jun 17, 2010
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Just North of Reno
I've considered doing this for a long time now, even for smokeless, maybe I'll finally bite the bullet. Are there any good links for the step by step process? Lead and molds will come first, can I get away with a propane stove, pot, & laddle to start? What's the bare minimum that I'd need to cast some decent projectiles?

I'd appreciate any and all input, Danke schoen...BEWW
 
i can give you a bit of instruction on how to cast your own. what calibers are you looking at? i found that Lee makes some very good, very cheap, very easy to use molds. i have four Lee molds so far, they are great. you will need to wear jeans that go over some good leather boots, safety glasses, ventilation, your mold(s), lead, something to ladle it into the mold with, lead, some cotton rags to dump your freshly cast bullets onto, and a way to melt the lead. here's a link to some bullet molds, Dixie Gun works has tons of them
http://www.dixiegunworks.com/default.php?cPath=22_101_283

here's what i melt my lead with. http://www.opticsplanet.net/lyman-big-dipper-bullet-casting-furnace-115v.html
it's a pretty easy way to go because you don't have to deal with propane, scrounging a match so you can light the burner, the lead doesn't get overheated, you don't have to keep buying gas. you just plug it into an outlet, put your lead ingots into the crucible, turn the thing on, and go do something else for a while. the lead seems to stay a pretty consistent temperature as far as i can tell.

also, make sure you use soft lead for muzzleloader bullets. don't use wheel weights, make sure it's pure lead. if you use hard lead for muzzleloader bullets then you will have problems. balls and bullets will be hard to seat in a cap and ball, skirts won't flair in a Minnie ball to engage the rifling so they will hit sideways, stuff like that. but for smokeless you can use hard lead. you can also use it in saboted bullets, and anything used with a patch. it's really easy once you get started! good luck!

~Levi
 
The best place that I have found for good casting info is here:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/


The trick is to thoroughly clean and degrease your mold and get it good and hot. Control your mold temperature by casting faster or slower.

Electric pots maintain a more even temp. but any heat source hot enough to melt the lead will work.
 
I cast range scrap for my revolvers, free lead. But, minie balls must be of pure lead and range scrap alloy is unknown. I have to buy lead, usually, for this. I should bet a hardness tester, I guess.

Anyway, I cast Lee conicals ffor my ROA and .44 caliber replicas. The ROA needs a .457 mold, the replicas I use a .454 mold. I even have one of the old hollowpoint molds for the ROA, not that it'll open up on anything, but it does keep me from getting my ROA bullets mixed up with my replica stuff.
 
remember, you can tell if it's soft enough if you can easily scratch it with your thumbnail. you can get pure lead from old lead pipes, lead sheeting used in roofing, lead babbit if you are pals with a plumber, your used muzzleloader lead in fact is still pure lead, it's just deformed. you can keep re-using that lead as long as you recover it from your backstop.
 
forgot to mention, if you cast your own you get another cool benefit. if you have a "wrist rocket" type slingshot with the tubular bands, you can get free ammo for it. .36 or .44 caliber will do fine. obviously the slingshot won't care if it's hard or soft lead. the .44 balls really pack a punch! i haven't tried .36 but i imagine they would do well, i have only tried .44s in my wrist rocket. they really are good for when you want to smash something!
 
Member of Castboolits myself. I have been casting for years. i wrote a few articles on it. One thing i can tell you is Dont make it complicated. You have to remember 2-300 years ago. Men were casting on the fly. Cast a few projectiles to use for battle or to get food. Everyone that owned a gun would cast.

The basics are easy.

Get a mold
Get some lead
Get a heat source
Get a laddle

heat the lead. then flux it. What is fluxing. Fluxing is the process of cleaning the lead. a small pea sized amount of wax stirred into the lead will cause the impurities of the lead to rise to the top along with any dirt in the lead. Take your laddle. let it heat up first by putting it in the lead for a good 30 seconds. Then skim off the dirt. I dump in in an old soda can with the lid cut off. Now heat up your mold. If you dont when you pour the lead it will cool too quick and the projectiles wont come out right.

Heat it up for a good 45 straight seconds with the corner sitting in the lead. NOW pour the lead in the mold until it comes out the top. Wait about 5-7 seconds then use a piece of wood to strike open the sprue. IF the mold is too cold it will be very hard to smack open the sprue. If its too hot it will still appear to be wet. You need it in between. after that open the mold let the projectiles fall out on a damp cloth. Your done.

For the basics thats it. you will learn as you go. Ask questions no biggy. i started out with an old camp stove and a $5.00 cast iron pot. Cast that way for years then i bought a lee production 4 pot. either way i can tell you i have probably cast about 10-30 THOUSAND different projectiles.
 
i can agree with Scrat on it being easy, men indeed cast their own bullets on the fly. they had molds that were pocket sized, and they had ladles that you could attach to a stick. the molds were primitive, but work.

on the subject of casting bullets. i had a bit of luck today. a few days ago i ordered a bag mold for my rifle, it's the kind that are kinda like scissors. so i was going to garage sales with my mum, and came across a Remington style bullet mold in .44 caliber. the lady wanted $5 for it and i just had to have it. the funny thing is that i was trying to decide between a primitive mold for my revolver, or one for my rifle. now i will have both! haha! as soon as i got home i tested it out. the balls were really lopsided, and the conicals were kinda weird. i could see the blocks were out of alignment. i worked on it a little and fixed the problems i was having. now it casts just fine. i mean the bullets aren't perfect, but they will work for plinking. and that mold does look pretty with the shiny brass!
 
Ventilation. Ventilation. Ventilation. Oh, and ventilation. Not long ago, I lost a good friend who did his bullet casting in a closed basement. He was only 58, but died of lead poisoning.

Get that? I'll say it again. Ventilation. And even a filter mask would not be a bad idea.

Jim
 
Ya i do mine outside. same time i only cast twice a year. i will shoot as much as i can then somewhere around january i will buy the lead or get it somehow. then cast everything on one weekend spend a good 10 hours a day for 2 days straight. then do it again in June.
 
I cast in the garage with the door open and a box fan blowing past me out the door. Been doing it for a couple of years now, just cast 260+ bullets today, relaxing on doctors orders. :)
Castboolits.gunloads.com, nothing about casting you can't find out about there.
 
Once you get a rhythm going its great fun! Only crappy bit is when you are starting off and are trying to get the lead and molds at the right temps to get nice looking projectiles. It crap casting about 20 and having to put 15 back into the pot because the mold wasnt the right temp.

I got a 6 cavity mold and after doing a relaxed session i had 600 new projectiles ready for lube and loading.
 
I use an electric Lee furnace I bought 30 years ago. One set, I never touched the rheostat on the thing. I just plug it in with a mold on it to heat up the blocks, walk away for about 30 minutes, start casting perfect bullets from the first one. I can cast from a pot with a ladle if I just HAD to, but the Lee furnace is so easy.

Get a mold
Get some lead
Get a heat source
Get a laddle
Click to expand...

Yeah, well, I don't need no stinkin' ladle. My furnace is a bottom pour, which I recommend. Oh, I'd BUY a ladle with a small pot for when you're casting around the camp fire...yeah, like I ever did that. ROFL!
 
I use an electric Lee furnace
Click to expand...

me too. It sure seems like the way to go. No regrets on the $$ spent to get set up. I bought the bigger Lee Production Pot. I can cast a bunch of bullets or balls at once. It is both economical and enjoyable to cast your own ammo.
 
I wish I had taken my cousin's suggestion more seriously. He suggested getting a deep fryer propane burner to use instead of my Coleman stove. I was stubborn and wasted a lot of time and propane using that stove, even when I was using a bulk tank adapter. I got interested in frying turkeys last year and picked a kit up that was on sale. Lo and behold, the burner had a cavity the perfect size to hold my Lyman melting pot. It can melt lead in half the time.
 
Started the process

Molds are on the way (startin' with 36cal), looking into acquiring an electric furnace (if the funds hold up), needing some lead. I'll update as I start to "cast me own". If things go well I foresee many molds in my future, not just BP.
 
You'll buy molds that ain't worth a toot and you get some that shoot fantastic. I have my favorites. Most of mine are Lee just because they work and they're affordable. I need some 6 cavity gang molds for a few of my bullets that I cast a LOT. My BP stuff, I just use single cavity, don't really shoot that many. I shoot a LOT of .38 and 9x19, other calibers as well, but those two get the most use. My .38 wadcutter mold is one I want a 6 cavity for, shoot a lot of those over 2.7 grains Bullseye.
 
Yeah, well, I don't need no stinkin' ladle. My furnace is a bottom pour, which I recommend. Oh, I'd BUY a ladle with a small pot for when you're casting around the camp fire...yeah, like I ever did that. ROFL!
Click to expand...

Bad advice. If your going to cast you are going to need a ladle. I too have a bottom pour. However bottom pour or not you will still need a ladle.

1. to flux the lead.
2. sometimes to stir the lead
3. for the UH Oh
4. to place top sprue cuts back in the pot.

Without a ladle my guess is you dont flux your lead and what ever happens happens. Not too smart
 
Good morning
May be listed above but I highly recommend Castboolits/Handloads.
My dad was a caster with his Navy buddy and I naturally drifted into pouring my own. Castboolits has been a big help to me understanding real workings techniques and avoiding pitfalls.
Mike in Peru
 
Good advice.
I started casting with an old cast iron soup pot and a Coleman stove.
I have a number of Lee electric melters now but still go back to the "pot on the fire" for pure lead.
Lee molds are affordable, easy to use and care for, and drop good bullets.
I have molds by Lee, Lyman, RCBS, CBE...maybe 20 of them. The Lees work as well as any.
Ladles - buy yourself a Rowell bottom pour ladle. You won't be sorry.
 
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