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Discussion starter · #22 ·
gas checks add (a very small amount) to the price per shot but they help keep the bore from leading up as fast. I generally don't use GC's on pistol though, I do for much of my rifle molds.

from my point of view, there are no cons, only pros for casting your own! I'm addicted... it's a handy skill to have for fishing or shooting and it's a hellufa lots of relaxing fun not to mention satisfaction. Just make sure you do it safely; eyepro, heavy apron or clothes and good ventilation.

you can handle lead all day and not get any in your system, the only ways to absorb lead is ingestion or inhalation of lead fumes. (don't lick your fingers!)

happy castin' to ya!
My father and I have always shook our heads at the ones that blame lead poisoning on reloading. Of all the lead we have handled we have never had lead poisoning. I agree on what you say about the handling of it.
 
Discussion starter · #23 ·
That's what I was thinking.

I have a few Lyman molds. The reason I have them is because Lee didn't make that bullet size.

I have not worn out or broken a Lee mold.

I started casting with a iron pot on a coleman stove, pan lubed and used a cake-cutter. Total investment was about 25 dollars, and ten of that was for the Lee mold. Last few times I've done any casting, I used a cast-iron sauce pan I bought at a yard sale, and did it on the kitchen stove (the joys of being divorced).
I've got an electric pot, but unless I'm planning on doing a few hundred to a few thousand bullets, I don't even get it out any more. A pot and a ladle just seems more - right.

I think, before I dumped a couple of hundred bucks in this hobby, I'd go cheap and see if I liked it.
Oh ya, I just asked my wife what she thought about me casting of the stove. I got the evil eye.:eek:
 
you should have seen my wife when she walked in and I was heating a cast iron crank pulley in the oven prior to pressing it on the crankshaft of my 40's farmall C tractor.. plus had the front grill in the dish washer... and a couple rubber grommets in a quart saucepan heating them in water prior to installing them ( soften up the leather and rubber ).

she about flipped!
 
It is an expence up front but after a few thousand it will pay for its self. I just got lucky to sell cast bullets to a few friends and that payed for it faster. I dont charge more than $75.00 per 1K. Thats still cheaper then some places but my friends dont pay for the shipping. so in the long run its cheaper for them. NO FFL needed to sell just the cast bullets.


It's fun! I love doing the casting! It is a little bit of work. It is a bit hot. But when you load them up and go shoot is a great feeling when you send that peace of lead that you cast, down range. Its fun to experiment with diffrent leads and mix the diffrent hardness just to see what you can come up with. I did with my 38 and I have my own lead mix. My lead mix for the 38 is just a bit softer then the WW's But i have no lead fowling.
 
Discussion starter · #26 ·
It is an expence up front but after a few thousand it will pay for its self. I just got lucky to sell cast bullets to a few friends and that payed for it faster. I dont charge more than $75.00 per 1K. Thats still cheaper then some places but my friends dont pay for the shipping. so in the long run its cheaper for them. NO FFL needed to sell just the cast bullets.
That is what I thought and that is just what I plan on doing. I just want to sell enough to initially pay for my E.Q. and then support the powder and primer cost.
 
A few years back, a couple of lads here in town, started up a bullet casting company. I think they make a great product, better than I can cast, and only about $55 per thousand for 45 ACP. 38/357 are a tad cheaper, and his 9mm stuff is even less expensive. I can't buy direct from them, but my pal at the local shooter's supply carries them, and will order for me whenever I get close to running out. I would think they use something a bit more automated than a 20# pot and a couple of Lee molds....
 
I just got done casting 50 lbs of 158 gr LSWC's in .358 This batch is dead soft lead, intended for .38 spl at about 780 fps. No leading.

Happiness is always having a couple thousand bullets on hand.

I use the Lee Tumble lube mold. Since I water drop, I have to wait for them to dry, then lube, size them, and re-lube.
 
Discussion starter · #29 · (Edited)
I just got done casting 50 lbs of 158 gr LSWC's in .358 This batch is dead soft lead, intended for .38 spl at about 780 fps. No leading.

Happiness is always having a couple thousand bullets on hand.

I use the Lee Tumble lube mold. Since I water drop, I have to wait for them to dry, then lube, size them, and re-lube.
50lbs? How many bullets is that? By my math, 7000 grains = 1 pound. 7000g/158g=44.3 bullets. 44.3 x 50 = 2215. That's a nice stash. How long did it take to cast them?
 
Discussion starter · #30 ·
Alpo, I put a gas check on every .44 mag and .357 bullet I cast.

Highboy, before you spend that $240 at midway, you might want to look at Graf & sons for the same items. I have found that Grafs may be a tiny bit more on some items, in the long run it ends up being cheaper because of the shipping charges. Midway is kind of high on ship and handle charges where Grafs only charges a handling charge.

I have a couple of Lee molds that I have been using for 30+ years and have not worn them out yet. If you decide to sell the lead, I would like to take some of it off your hands!
Moody, Graf & Son's is a great place for most shooting supplies. Thanks for the great info because it looks like I found my place to order my supplies.

From the looks of things, it looks like you were holding out on us.;)
 
what really sucks is a few years ago they stopped using lead for wheel weights. I found out when I went to a shop for an alignment a while back, asked the guy if they had any WW's he could sell.

"I can sell you WW's, but they're not lead..."

"huh?"

"it's an environmental hazard so they switched to zinc and something else"

or..... someone paid someone so that whoever is selling zinc can get rich. What a bunch of BS; what about the thousands of fishing weights in the river? but no, a random piece of lead here and there is just crushing our planet, freakin' idiot crunchies....

anyway, sweet talk a range that reclaims their stuff or shop around and find a place that does non-ferrous metals; place here in Tacoma area will sell you as much as you want for very cheap. that's pure lead though, need to buy your mixers to get linotype or whatever you desire. Looks like you won't need to buy lead for a few years though, 500# will last a good while.

if you do any muzzleloader, try to stick with pure lead though. everything else should be pretty hard. WW's are usually much softer than #2 FWIW also but harder than pure lead.
 
Discussion starter · #32 ·
what really sucks is a few years ago they stopped using lead for wheel weights. I found out when I went to a shop for an alignment a while back, asked the guy if they had any WW's he could sell.

"I can sell you WW's, but they're not lead..."

"huh?"

"it's an environmental hazard so they switched to zinc and something else"

or..... someone paid someone so that whoever is selling zinc can get rich. What a bunch of BS; what about the thousands of fishing weights in the river? but no, a random piece of lead here and there is just crushing our planet, freakin' idiot crunchies....

anyway, sweet talk a range that reclaims their stuff or shop around and find a place that does non-ferrous metals; place here in Tacoma area will sell you as much as you want for very cheap. that's pure lead though, need to buy your mixers to get linotype or whatever you desire. Looks like you won't need to buy lead for a few years though, 500# will last a good while.

if you do any muzzleloader, try to stick with pure lead though. everything else should be pretty hard. WW's are usually much softer than #2 FWIW also but harder than pure lead.
I have a friend that is very giftful with it. I should get about 100 pounds more next month. Another place that I get lead is in pawn shops. I look for tackle boxes. When I find a tackle box full of fishing weights I offer a way low price and most of the time I get it because the lead is not inventoried specifically. Usually the buy the lot and expect to make the money on the box and the tackle. If they are not into lead they won't catch on to what you are doing. I picked up 25 pounds for three dollars. I offered it to the guy and he said hell ya, you gather it up and it's yours. I went home and weighed it and it was right at 25 pounds. Some of the weights were huge and had never been used.
 
Moody, Graf & Son's is a great place for most shooting supplies. Thanks for the great info because it looks like I found my place to order my supplies.

From the looks of things, it looks like you were holding out on us.;)
I wasn't trying tohold out, I tell about Grafs every chance I get. You know, I can buy Berry's bullets cheaper at Grafs than I can get them from Berry's
 
Discussion starter · #34 ·
Also, if I drive by a garage sale and see fishing poles I stop and see if they have fishing tackle. If they do, I buy the tackle with the lead included for a low amount and bingo,,, lead score. It adds up quick. Also, flea markets. You can find lead there but sometimes they know what lead is worth.
 
ha! very nice.

I bought 500# of WW's about 6 years ago, got some left still. Will be doing some home-made alloy pretty soon though. Finishing up a chemistry class this week, should be able to figure out the mixtures accurately. My dad used to mix his own also but materials are a ton more expensive these days. Scrounge it wherever you can!

Since I bought a .458 and a bunch of slug/buckshot molds, I've been eating thru my lead very fast lately; I'll munch thru 15-20# easily in an hour or so doing shotgun stuff, ouch. Still tons cheaper than buying slugs; loading them for about 18 cents each vs. over $1/round although the reloads are just for practice.

another pro for casting your own stuff is that you get to size them to what you want in your lubricator/sizer press. (which is also very time consuming, especially with the GC bullets). I know lee has a bunch of the tumble lube stuff but I don't trust it especially using WW lead.
 
grafs is what everyone seems to be using lately, even with a hazmat fee for powder/primers, as long as you order a decent amount at a time, it is super cheap compared to local suppliers.

I've been starting to use them for my shotgun stuff and powder/primers.
 
Discussion starter · #39 ·
ha! very nice.

I bought 500# of WW's about 6 years ago, got some left still. Will be doing some home-made alloy pretty soon though. Finishing up a chemistry class this week, should be able to figure out the mixtures accurately. My dad used to mix his own also but materials are a ton more expensive these days. Scrounge it wherever you can!

Since I bought a .458 and a bunch of slug/buckshot molds, I've been eating thru my lead very fast lately; I'll munch thru 15-20# easily in an hour or so doing shotgun stuff, ouch. Still tons cheaper than buying slugs; loading them for about 18 cents each vs. over $1/round although the reloads are just for practice.

another pro for casting your own stuff is that you get to size them to what you want in your lubricator/sizer press. (which is also very time consuming, especially with the GC bullets). I know lee has a bunch of the tumble lube stuff but I don't trust it especially using WW lead.


Thyis is where my knowledge falls short. Why?
 
I'm sure it is fine but I've always trusted my sizer to get them perfectly uniform; different hardnesses of lead can actually shrink more or less as they cool in the mold before you drop them. It's not much difference but it's just a superstition of mine, nothing to worry about. It is enticing for pistol bullets though, doing a batch of 500 at a time gets old about halfway through. the tumble lube stuff saves a lot of time.
 
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