Who's casting lead bullets tonight?

[gun-nut]

We have a thread for reloading. I thought i would start this one. Did up 40 S&W/10mm 175gr TC. I don't have a clue how many i made but i do know that this can weighs about 100 lbs! This was done with the Lee 6 cavity mold.

[RustyFN]

Damn that's a lot of boolits. Did you cast them all in one sitting? Looks good. I usually cast 1,000 at a time. I'm casting with a 4 cavity Lyman mould.

[gun-nut]

Originally Posted by RustyFN

Damn that's a lot of boolits. Did you cast them all in one sitting? Looks good. I usually cast 1,000 at a time. I'm casting with a 4 cavity Lyman mould.

Yes i did them in about 4 hours. I will sort the bad ones from the good ones when i go to size and lube. I have a few friends that reload and buy the bullets from me. So i stock up very well. When i do this big of a lot i have 2 pots going at the same time. The Lee 4-20 on high to melt the lead at a fast rate, the other smaller Lee pot set at the temp i need to pour. When the little pot gets low i pour from the bigger pot to the little pot useing a ladle then fill the big pot with more lead. This time filling the pot alows the molds to cool just right with out having the wet cloth to cool the molds. Here is a pick of the lead room.

[DixieLandMan]

I am going to begin to cast my own bullets and I wanted to know if any of yall had any tips? I've never casted my own bullets before and I'd like to start. Thank you!

[gun-nut]

The bigest trick is to keep the molds and lead at a good temp. the temp. will varry with the size of bullet. 9MM work good at about 625-630 degrees. the 45 needs to be a bit hotter. Get the laymans book on casting that will be a big help to you. Let me try to find the link to a web cite this weekend and i will send that to ya. It takes a bit of time and practice so dont get fustrated. If they come out a bit frosty ii dont wory to much. but if you get the wrincles then re melt them.

[myfriendis410]

I have been bullet casting for close to 30 years. It's my primary load in the 1911, and I cast for my Sharps 1874 using a 518 gr. round nose. Here are a couple of things I've learned. That doesn't mean what I do is THE way, but it's what works for me.

First; I use cast iron molds from Lyman, RCBS etc. I find them to last longer and don't overheat as quickly. I use a temperature controlled, bottom pour pot that holds 20 lbs or so (Lee Production Pot). My alloy for handgun is range lead with a small amount of tin, about 2%. The tin allows the alloy to "wet" to the mold and make a crisp edge for the grease grooves. In pistol I usually only visually sort for obvious defects. In the rifle I weigh and sort/discard on a bell curve.

I prefer to run my bullets through a luber/sizer. I chose a Star because it's so much faster than anything else out there. For convenience I use one of the higher temperature lubes and have a lube heater on the sizer. The finished bullets don't stick together because the lube is fairly stiff at room temperature and the finished bullets store well. In the rifle I use my own recipe along with either wheel weights and tin or 50/50 wheel weights and range lead with a little tin. These bullets are heat treated and aged prior to lubing/sizing.

I don't own a thermometer. Trial and error has allowed me to find the sweet spot in the casting furnace. I flux with sawdust as it's the best material for maintaining a clean alloy. The sawdust reverts to charcoal and scavenges residual aluminum, copper, and zinc from the melt and provides an air barrier to the outside world to prevent the tin from oxidizing off the top of the melt. I usually cast a bunch in one session and use them over time. I try to do a couple of thousand .45 bullets for the pistol and run them through in one session. With a four or six gang mold it doesn't take very long.

My standards for pistol are for reasonable functional accuracy in the 1911 but I shoot for group in the rifle. One of my loads gives me one hole accuracy at 100 yards out of that rifle.

Hope this helps.

[velocity101]

Do you have your bullets jacketed? or are they just pure lead? I want to cast my own bullets but so far all my research has shown that casting copper jacketed bullets is difficult/expensive for a regular joe like me to do.

[DixieLandMan]

These will be pure lead for my muzzleloader and then WW and range lead for my other calibers. I am using Lee 10lb pot bottom pour and Lee molds. they are all the tumble lube kind.

[gun-nut]

Originally Posted by DixieLandMan

These will be pure lead for my muzzleloader and then WW and range lead for my other calibers. I am using Lee 10lb pot bottom pour and Lee molds. they are all the tumble lube kind.

Thats how i started out! I bought the Lee alox and the micro lube molds. Then it went to finding molds at the gun shows and they were not the micro lube rings. So i got on youtube and learned how to pan lube. That works but i had to change thier recipies to fit my liking. Now i have the RCBS Lub a matic. The Lee micro lube rings will work in the Lube a Matic. but dont size them smaller then they come out of the mold. It will not fill the lube rings.

[jack404]

not casting but digging out casting gear

and realised i'm out of .22 for my NAA BP

so figuring out what i need to cast .22

next few weeks i'll do some as the weather chills

[gun-nut]

Just got done casting and sizing somewhere about 5,000-6,000 9mm/380.

[gun-nut]

Originally Posted by velocity101

Do you have your bullets jacketed? or are they just pure lead? I want to cast my own bullets but so far all my research has shown that casting copper jacketed bullets is difficult/expensive for a regular joe like me to do.

I dont do any Jacketing but have did a little bit with plating them. Still doing a bit of R&D so that i can do them faster and a larger amounts.