[Reefinmike]

Ive been buying cast bullets for reloading at about $60/1000. While theyre a great deal and i can load 38's and 380's for about $5 a box, however i know i can chop that price in more than half to about $2 a box. Id just like to be able to shoot anton more and add another hobby, yet i cant find a simple guide to all the steps needed. Searches on google, here, cast boolits site etc pull up nothing useful.

What do i need to get started? Im looking to spend upwards of 300, but Would like to keep it around $150. I know i need a smelting pot, thermometer(maybe), spoon for skimming, wax for fluxing, molds(with handles), plastic hammer, something to make ingots with, and means of sizing and lubing.

Sizing and lubing are where i have no idea. I know lee makes a sizing die, but after that i have no idea. I have a lee turret press. Im not familiar with bullet lubes, the cast bullets im used to buying have blue waxy lube in one of the groves on the bullets.

TL;DNR- no clue on how to size and lube bullets, looking for an economical yetnefficent way. I have plenty of spare time and would be looking at making ~5000 38's and 2500 380's per year

[Josh45]

To size and lube bullets, You would need to use a bullet resizing die that Lee and a few other MFGR make such as RCBS and Lyman.

You can make your own bullet lube or you can buy it already made.
The blue coloring is just that. Coloring. Means nothing.
What the lube was made with is what matters. I use Beeswax and Vaseline on my 9mm cast boolits with a 3.3 Gr of W-231, A OAL of 1.100 and I get no leading after 100 rounds with zero malfunctions.

* Work up loads in your firearm *

You also have YouTube that can teach you quite a bit and honestly, I am surprised you said you found nothing on CastBoolits.GunLoads.com as to what you are wanting to know. I would seriously suggest going back there and researching or asking questions.

[Reefinmike]

I was very surprised by the lack of a beginners/new here here section on the website. The best i found was http://www.zjstech.net/gunstuff/casting.html ... From what ive looked up, many websites say just tumblenthe bullets in lube for a bit and let dry on wax paper... This seems like the bullets would be very messy compared to the cast boolits i buy with nice neat wax in the groove and groove only

[35 Whelen]

Cast Boolit Website (http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/) If you can't find it there, it doesn't exist.

If you want something to read, almost any Lyman manual is loaded with all the info you need, but their Cast Bullet Manuals are best.

You can get good used equipment if you're patient. The only new equipment I've bought is an occassional custom mould. The old Lyman 45 lubrisizers for example sell for the money on eBay and they work every bit as good as a new lubrisizer.

Seriously ask these questions at the Cast Boolit site.

Good luck,
35W

[dcgilbert]

Glenn Fryxell's "From From Ingot to Target: A Cast Bullet Guide for Handgunners" has pretty good info.

http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_Contents.htm

[jcwit]

One thing you don't need is a plastic hammer, unless you saw the head off so as to use just the wood handle part.

[wr400]

Awesome I had the same questions!

[dragon813gt]

You couldn't find it on CastBoolits? Then you didn't look. There are a few beginner threads going on right now. It's actually annoying because they pop up every week. Every question you can ask is answered there. I know because I went through the same process. There is also no way that google didn't bring up results. Get the Lyman Cast Bullets handbook as it's a good overview of the process. And secure multiple sources of lead now. It's drying up for a lot of people across the US.


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[Cherokee]

http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/ is the place to go. There are stickies that have lots of beginner info. Also do a search for beginners information/questions

[JohnM]

There's also the Cast Bullet Association forum.
http://www.castbulletassoc.org/forum/index.php
Cast Boolits forum has a lot of info and a lot of knowledgeable people, but a few who have about as much finesse as a pickax handle when it comes to dealing with newcomers.

[daboone]

Download Glen's Fryxell PFD book: www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_textonly2.pdf. In fact the LASC web site is another excellent resource for new and experenced bullet casters.

[THe Dove]

Are you planning on ladleing or are you planning on buying a bottom pour?

The Dove

[James2]

What do i need to get started? Im looking to spend upwards of 300, but Would like to keep it around $150. I know i need a smelting pot, thermometer(maybe), spoon for skimming, wax for fluxing, molds(with handles), plastic hammer, something to make ingots with, and means of sizing and lubing.

The Lyman 49th Reloading Manual has casting info. It is pretty much the only written data I have on the process. I started years ago with a few words from a friend, no data.

Sub a piece of hardwood stick for the hammer. You need something to open the sprue cutter. A hardwood hammer handle is excellent or you can cut a piece from a tree.

I use the Lyman tool that sizes and lubricates in one operation. I am a beekeeper and give some wax to a friend who makes lube for us both.

I am using a cast iron kettle, from the second hand store, to melt lead in and use a gas camp stove for heat. I have all 4 cavity Lyman molds.

For ingot molds I bought some muffin tins at the second hand store. An old spoon to skim.

A Lyman dipper to pour the molten lead.

Pretty much a simple and inexpensive set up.

You can spend more money on a thermostatically controlled lead pot if you wish and pour right out of the spout on the pot.

If you hunt, deer tallow is a good flux. I use that or beeswax since I have lots.

Have fun!

[Certaindeaf]

Over on castboolits dot com, there are many threads about club vs hand..
I prefer to open the sprue plate with a gloved hand.

[dragon813gt]

Cast Boolits forum has a lot of info and a lot of knowledgeable people, but a few who have about as much finesse as a pickax handle when it comes to dealing with newcomers.

Sorry but I had to quote this. As a newcomer to that site it's frustrating. It's an OLD boys club to say the least. But there is a wealth of information there if you just look around. They have a lot of sub forums dedicated to certain tasks which makes it much easier to find what you're looking for quickly.




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[earplug]

Try and find a separate pot to melt and clean your scrap lead and mold ingots. I use a cast iron pot on a Coleman stove. Get a bottom pour pot to make bullets. Buy a digital caliper to measure your bullets. Often the published diameter of a mold is different then the bullet cast.
The six cavity Lee molds work great. They are fragile and you can't bang them around.
I like the Lee sizer die that mounts on your press. Tumble lubes work fine.
I bought the little bench press from lee to size with, mount it on a block of wood and it fits in a vice.
Wrap your spue knocker with duck tape and it will last forever.
The skimmer and such can be bought at a thrift shop.
Look for large metal baking pans to set your casting equipment on while your working. It will keep the mess contained.
A wire mesh basket or rack is useful to lay the lubed bullets on to dry.
Start collecting lead.
The Internet is your friend.

[mdi]

I started casting .44 cal bullets with a Lee mold, a stainless steel 2 qt. pot, on my Coleman single burner stove, pouring with a Lee ladle. I had a plastic hammer to open the mold and dropped them on a folded towel. I had access to used wheel weights (being a HD mechanic) and collected scrap lead wherever I found it. My "bible" was Lyman's Cast Bullet Handbook. I cast a lot of good, shootable bullets with this set-up although my "keepers" was only around 60-70%. I learned a lot with my casting tools and soon graduated to a Lee bottom pour pot and purchased more molds. I still use the SS pot sometimes for cleaning/smelting, but have a larger steel pot for that purpose.

My original cast bullets were shot as-is, not needing sizing, and lubed with liquid alox (which took some getting used to). When I got an old Ideal 429421 mold I also got a Lee push through sizing die @ .430". Pan lubing came next and making my own lube followed shortly.

To get shootable bullets for my Ruger Super Blackhawk, Dan Wesson 44H, S&W 629, T/C Contender, and Puma Mod. 92 ( at first it was problematic because of it's .432" groove dia.) I spent less than $75.00.

Hang out over at Castboolits.com, read the stickies, and you'll learn a whole lot about casting lead bullets...

Edit. I just read some posts about Castboolits.com not being new comer friendly. Not True!. I have been a member of Castboolits.com since '07 and the absolute basic questions are answered politely, and usually completely, just as the more "advanced" questions. I've never read anyone being chastized for a newby question.

[Certaindeaf]

I haven't seen how or where the peeps at castboolits dot com are mean and or whatall. On the contrary, just as with shooters in real life, they are in my experience, gracious and helpful.

[Reefinmike]

Thanks for the info everybody, now off searching for wheel weights... First three local chain tire stores i called supposedly have zero... Bs

[Certaindeaf]

^
Lead is down now.. about 80 cents a pound spot price. You might just go to a scrapyard and buy lead of different iterations for 40-50 cent a pound.

[zxcvbob]

Ask your beginner questions here or at the bullet casting subforum at thefiringline.com Then once you know enough to ask an intelligent question (no offense intended, really!) goto castboolits.gunloads.com

I'm melting some scrap lead right now in a stainless steel pot on an electric hotplate. It's slow, but it works and it's cheap to operate and it keeps the trash out of my good bottom-pour lead pot (Lee 20 pounder) that would clog up the pour spout.

The best fluxes I've found are sawdust, and Crisco (or lard.) Old motor oil or candle wax work too, but they are too flammable. Sawdust will reduce lead and tin oxide back to usable metal and allow it to melt back in, and it will remove some of the impurities like calcium, iron, and zinc. Crisco or wax or oil does an even better job of reducing lead and tin and mixing it back in, but it doesn't remove the metals you don't want.

Stainless steel condiment cups from Walmart or Sam's make great ingot molds, as long as you can keep from tipping them over. :rolleyes: You can get 4 of them at Walmart for 88¢ The ones at Sam's are more expensive but they are slightly bigger. If you can find a "cornbread sticks" or "cornpone" pan at a garage sale or flea market, buy it. They make good ingot molds too.

If you melt wheel weights to make ingots, pick out any that are stamped 'ZN' before you start. Then melt the good ones slowly so you don't accidentally melt a zinc weight that sneaked in and is trapped at the bottom of the pot. A little bit of zinc can ruin a whole lot of lead.

I have a Lyman lubrisizer but I haven't used it in years. I drizzle a little Lee Liquid Alox mixed with Minwax on the warm bullets, slosh them around in a little plastic bucket, and dump them out on a piece of wax paper to cool and dry. It doesn't work as well as the Lyman, but it works good enough (especially for .38 Specials) and is way faster. (if I would run the bullets thru a sizing die and then lube them again, it probably *would* be as good as using the Lyman)

[Hondo 60]

There are 2 definitive sources for casting questions.

Lyman's Cast Bullet Handbook
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/867465/lyman-cast-bullet-handbook-4th-edition-book

And castboolits website/forum
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/index.php

[Reefinmike]

Thanks for the info zxcvbob. I found a luttle under a half bucket of wheel weights for $15 after 15 calls. i started casting ingots using a simple coleman burner and 2qt pot. I fluxed with candle wax because it was around. I looked at wallyworld for condiment cups, they switched to plastic-boo. So i simply used a muffin pan and boy were they a bear to get out. Had to melt out two of 11. Yeah, i went through and sorted them all. At first i was just notching them all with lock cutter, then went on to just tapping them on the cutters, if they were soft sounding, good. If questionable, thrown on a magnet, if not magnetic, then i attempted cutting looking for zinc. I do have one question, on my first ten pound batch, i accidentally threw in stick on lead just befor reading they were pure lead and best for muzzle loaders. I say maybe fifteen percent. Should be fine? After sorting out all the zinc, iron, clips, snack bags and gloves, it looks like im only going to get about 25lbs out of the sixtyish poinds.

Also already learned a good lesson- plastic pot handles will break! On the second batch after ladeling out most i could, had about four pounds left. Pucked it up and started to pour and snap! Fortunately most of it went on the concrete away from me and was easy to peel up, but some did splash back at me and hit my legs. Thankful it was just a few drops and i smacked it off right away. Wearing pants next time!

[zxcvbob]

You should have got more than 25 pounds out of 60, I think, but I don't know. I haven't done wheel weights in a while -- I've given up looking for them. Are you sure you had that many zinc weights? For instance, the ones marked AL-MC are for aluminum wheels and they look funny, but they are lead cores with a tough plasticky coating.

I mostly use scrap lead from an indoor range bullet trap. Wheel weight lead used to be better, but I'm not so sure anymore.

A little pure lead (from stick-ons) won't hurt anything. It might even be a good addition for the .38 Specials.

I bought a muffin pan from the dollar store to use as an ingot mold, and boy was that a disaster. The lead soldered to the cups and I had to beat them and destroy the pan to get them out.

You can use empty beer and soda cans for single-use ingot molds until you find something better; full to the top is about 8.5 pounds. Make sure they are good and dry.

[Reefinmike]

Good idea on the beer cans, ill just cut em in half and fill them an inch or so. Yeah, excluding all the pure lead, the clips, iron and zinc. I only got a few zinc ones. The al mc ones threw me off at first, til i realized no way aluminum weighed that much.

Is there an easy way to determine approximate hardness? Other than shooting them(dont have molds yet. The pure clip ons seem harder than my commercial bought cast bullets, difficult to scratch very deep with a key. I do have anothe five pounds of stick ons that i set aside. As for now om just looking to load 380 and 38spl.

So would 25 pounds clip ons and 5 pounds stick on be an ok mix?

Yeah, i need to grab lead from a scrap yard, but being new, im afraid of the compisition.

[zxcvbob]

So would 25 pounds clip ons and 5 pounds stick on be an ok mix?

Yes. 25 and 25 would even be a good mix.

Yeah, i need to grab lead from a scrap yard, but being new, im afraid of the compisition.

Check with plumbers and roofing contractors and tell 'em you are wanting to buy scrap lead. I bought 300 pounds once by placing an ad on craigslist that I wanted to pay 35 cent a pound for lead. You can also get lead from your dentist if he still uses foil-backed x-ray film (but a big box of foil backers doesn't weigh very much -- it's good lead but it melts way down)

[Certaindeaf]

I love doing the beer/soda can thing too.
Mike, that ratio of "pure" to WW should be fine. Understand that you should be fine shooting straight PB out of a .38 etc.
Congrats on the start! And wear those darn pantaloons in the future.

[35 Whelen]

Do yourself a favor and buy two or three used ingot moulds. They can be had worth the money on eBay. The beer/soda can and muffin pan is fine, until you try to fit one of those oversize chunks of lead into a bottom-pour pot.

Also, don't obsess about zinc weights. Zinc doesn't melt until almost 790°, so melt your WW's at about 700-725° and the zinc, steel, trash, etc. will float to the top. For a thermometer, I have a temperature probe for my digital volt-ohm meter.

35W

[Reefinmike]

Thanks so much everyone, i have 13 ounces of pure clip ons that ill use for 380's, an additional 7.3 lbs clip on+15% pure lead stick ons that i will add the ~10lbs clipons i have left(prolly 7lbs pb) and 5'lbs pure pb stick on ww's for about 19.3lbs for 38's... I know its not the best deal at $15 for all this lead but im pretty sure i called every tire!shop in the area(15+), but i believe i made a good connection, the dude was thrilled to get a free lunch for his junk, and i left my number on the bucket i left(in like ten places lol) and told him id give $30 for every full bucket.every chain store(tire disxounters, national tire and battery, discount tires, etc etc) supposedlynhad zero scrap WW's in(bs) but one connected to the chain said they sent them back for recycling.

The connection i made was for a small chain store, the furthest one. The closest ones checked with their managers and surprisingly, there are bullet casters in my area that have "contracts in my area with grismer tire lol.

[marcclarke]

Post deleted by author, OP already using Coleman stove and pot to melt lead.

[popper]

Get bumpo's lead alloy calculator(google it). Probably need 96/2/2 or 96/3/1 Pb/Sb/Sn for a good alloy. Makes a starting point simple and then experiment from there.

[Swampman]

Keep your eyes open for unconventional/unexpected sources of lead. The best score I ever made was during the demolition of an old hospital. I got a little over 400 pounds of pure lead shielding for free, all I had to do was ask the foreman, he was glad to get rid of it. I went back the next day with a truck to get more, but someone else had beat me to it.

[Reefinmike]

Well, i think i have established two wheel weight connections. The first one i paid $15 for a half bucket or so and left a bucket with my number on it, the guy was very happy to get $ for them, and another national chain that i called yesterday and was deniednsaying they have zero, i remembered that i spent about $2k with them last year and my dad has spent 10k+ with them. I was in the area, stopped by and talked to the manager, just mentioned my last name and wheel weights and he said "yeah, well give you every one we have". Got a little over a half bucket, about 75 or 80 lbs

Now, i have scared myself with the fear of zinc contamination on my first half bucket of ww's. I cleaned it in two batches. I tapped them all on lock cutters, if they sounded soft and looked right, they were good, a bit off and i snipped them to see.

This most recent batch, i just looked for gouges and assumed they were good, and if the werent gouged or obviously steel or zinc, i clipped em to check. All was well until the end of the half bucket where i found a zinc one with a decieving gouge, so i went back through them all and somehow missed two very obvious steel ones and two half ounce zinc ones! Would an ounce of zinc in ~55lbs cleaned ww lead screwed the batch? When i melt on a coleman stove, i remove the clips as they show, stir constantly, and remove junk, clips and the odd iron weight as it melts. Of course once it stops smoking away. Possible for zinc to melt in this scenario?

So now im sitting on 20 pounds of cast ingots, about 70-75 pounds clip on wheel weights and about fifteen pounds of stick ons. Im stocked(so i think), and molds, sizers, lube calipers etc etc are on the way!

[Reefinmike]

Also, 400 lbs? Wow!

[hang fire]

Go on gun sites where you can post, and post question as to if there are any boolit casters that live not far away. If yes, find out if you can drop by to get a first hand and up close view of set up, procedure and talk to caster.

Go to this site http://castboolits.gunloads.com/index.php then post the above question there.

The guys there will also be more than willing to answer any and all of your questions. (no matter how dumb you may think they sound)

[Swampman]

Reefinmike, get a decent casting thermometer and keep your melt under 675 degrees, the melting point of zinc is almost 800 degrees, add your weights slowly and skim out any "floaters" immediately and you should be safe. I've deliberately added zinc to my melt before and as long as you keep the total percentage low, it really doesn't have any catastrophic effects. You have to cast considerably hotter and your bullets will be a little smaller in diameter, but the're harder'n an Aggies head and can be pushed to impressive velocities without leading as long as they're sized appropriately to your bore. If you put in to much however, it'll cast like oatmeal, your fillout won't be worth a darn and getting it cleaned out of your pot is a real headache.