How many bullets make a good reserve

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AJC1

AJC1

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I havent been casting very long and I'm trying to figure out the right ballance of bullets to just bulk raw stock. I'm renting so having a million cast bullets and another million pounds in reserve sounds great but far from practical. Having 200 lbs of just bulk reserves seams doable and enough to support my needs over a year at my current rate. If supplies increase and components come down that may change. How many bullets should I keep stashed?
 
I of course own my home so my plan was to keep enough of everything in reserve to last for five years without needing to stop while keeping my shooting the same levels. My lead is mostly in ingots and everything is at component level with enough assembled ammo ahead for one range trip or hunting trip before I have to reload more. A years supply of processed brass ahead waiting to reload.

I cast more bullets twice a year on average and make several K of each when I do.
 
AJC1 said:
I havent been casting very long and I'm trying to figure out the right ballance of bullets to just bulk raw stock. I'm renting so having a million cast bullets and another million pounds in reserve sounds great but far from practical. Having 200 lbs of just bulk reserves seams doable and enough to support my needs over a year at my current rate. If supplies increase and components come down that may change. How many bullets should I keep stashed?
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All of 'em.

1 you quit counting "bullets" and count buckets of bullets.
2 you quit counting buckets of bullets.
3. You don't remember what is in most buckets and have to look.
4. You have to move a pile of lead out of the way for something and find a bigger pile already in the spot you wanted to move it to.

Now you've got enough but you may as well make bullets out of the rest. The bullets will sell a lot better in your estate sale than the raw lead. Your widow may not even know what the lead is and GIVE it away.
 
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For the stuff I use a lot of, a 30 cal ammo can of coated, sized, ready to load bullets is fine for me. Smaller volume stuff I may be happy with a few hundred on hand.
 
I cast 30 cal, 44 and 38 in multiple day sessions. I have not kept the best catalogue of my alloys so the process usually starts with a day or two of ingot making to get the enough alloy for such a long run. Look to make half of a 5 gallon bucket of each per caliber. Dry thoroughly and seal them in the buckets. I think I have 5-6 buckets of bullets currently.
 
Unfortunately, I don't get a lot of time for casting these days. So when I do, I basically cast as much as I can in one sitting. I powder coat simultaneously. When I put a couple of pounds of lead in the pot, I stop, shake a new batch and pop em in the oven. Next 2 pounds in the pot, one rack comes out and a new shake and bake batch goes in. Anyway, I keep about 1000 each of 9mm, 38/357 and 45. The rest of my lead in ingots. Thats the plan anyway. Right now about 20% of my lead is still unprocessed wheel weights. 50% is clean ingots, maybe 15% is cast, and 15% is coated and sized, ready to load. For me, that's a good ratio. I'd like to see none of the lead unprocessed and more ingots, just because once they're coated, my lead is no longer a fungible item. Raw cast bullets and ingots are easily sold or traded, and I shoot less than 2000 rounds per caliber per year on average these days.
 
Jack Ryan said:
All of 'em.

1 you quit counting "bullets" and count buckets of bullets.
2 you quit counting buckets of bullets.
3. You don't remember what is in most buckets and have to look.
4. You have to move a pile of lead out of the way for something and find a bigger pile already in the spot you wanted to move it to.

Now you've got enough but you may as well make bullets out of the rest. The bullets will sell a lot better in your estate sale than the raw lead. Your widow may not even know what the lead is and GIVE it away.
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When I get more stable that is the plan but more organized. I'm currently at bullets by the pound, as counting bullets is just silly
 
bersaguy said:
Unfortunately, I don't get a lot of time for casting these days. So when I do, I basically cast as much as I can in one sitting. I powder coat simultaneously. When I put a couple of pounds of lead in the pot, I stop, shake a new batch and pop em in the oven. Next 2 pounds in the pot, one rack comes out and a new shake and bake batch goes in. Anyway, I keep about 1000 each of 9mm, 38/357 and 45. The rest of my lead in ingots. Thats the plan anyway. Right now about 20% of my lead is still unprocessed wheel weights. 50% is clean ingots, maybe 15% is cast, and 15% is coated and sized, ready to load. For me, that's a good ratio. I'd like to see none of the lead unprocessed and more ingots, just because once they're coated, my lead is no longer a fungible item. Raw cast bullets and ingots are easily sold or traded, and I shoot less than 2000 rounds per caliber per year on average these days.
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I have zero raw unprocessed. I store everything as ingots, as I feel its safer and more sanitary with kids running around. I get all the nasty fumes and nasty stuff out while they are at school. Just about the only thing I do while there around is pc.
 
AJC1 said:
I have zero raw unprocessed. I store everything as ingots, as I feel its safer and more sanitary with kids running around. I get all the nasty fumes and nasty stuff out while they are at school. Just about the only thing I do while there around is pc.
Click to expand...
The final step of reloading cycle is learning how to cast! once I get more time, will cast too
 
Mark_Mark said:
The final step of reloading cycle is learning how to cast! once I get more time, will cast too
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After you cast then you can PC or traditional. If traditional then you can make gas checks. Beyond that then you can swage jacketed bullets. The adventure only stops if you want it to.
 
AJC1 said:
After you cast then you can PC or traditional. If traditional then you can make gas checks. Beyond that then you can swage jacketed bullets. The adventure only stops if you want it to.
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I love the idea of making swage bullets! and wild projectiles! It’s also the freedom of it to. One less thing you’re beholden on the manufacturer’s
 
I have lead in scrap, ingots, and bullet form.
I do not like casting in the summer. I'll pick a nice, cool day in the spring and fall to setup the casting pot. Then I'll make more than enough for the next year's shooting (usually 1000-2000). No sense making 10,000 bullets and later find your gun shoots a different mold style better.

All of my dirty scrap has been turned into ingots. My RMR 'scrap' lead I left as-is. I found that while casting with a friend, one works the mold while the other feeds the RMR scrap into the pot. I turn the pot on high and it can maintain a constant temperature while casting and feeding at a good rate. If I drop a 1# ingot into the pot, it drops the temp quickly. I then have to wait for it to melt and come back up to temperature before resuming casting.
 
AJC1 said:
How many bullets should I keep stashed?
Click to expand...

With my machines, it doesn’t take me very long to cast up thousands but I still don’t like casting except during the winter.

With that in mind, a years worth is a good plan, two would work too. My ingots are ~20 lbs each and stored in the garage on a roll around cart that’s about 1ft^2. If all cast into bullets, they probably wouldn’t be the ones I needed or I would get a new mold. They would also be more difficult to store and be much more surface area to oxidize (more dross if remelted).

Instead of casting up all my ingots, I recycle more bullets and just go to my ingots if I need another alloy to get my mix right.

95F33557-A16F-4374-AE9B-8CDFA9966C89.jpeg
 
Mark_Mark said:
I love the idea of making swage bullets! and wild projectiles! It’s also the freedom of it to. One less thing you’re beholden on the manufacturer’s
Click to expand...
When I get back home and I have access to a lathe, my projects will be endless. From learning how to make and modify seating stems to punches for gas checks. I believe all molds are made on a mill or I may consider that as well. Making 223 bullets from 22lr rounds has been done successfully many times. Getting an accurate bullet is a huge adventure all by itself. I get bored of hobbies fast and appreciate all the little side Avenues reloading offers. Things are easing up and grabbing a good mold and lee 420 is back in reach. I am getting alerts from lee that their molds are back in stock. Inflation says these things will never again be this cheap.
 
Perhaps this adds nothing to the conversation, but what happens to all this lead once it's fired? Do any of you have a way to recover and re-use it?

Any tricks ranges use to assist with this? Range I'm using just has big holes in the dirt behind the targets. Last time I was there, as he walked by, an elderly gent glanced at me and asked "how many tons of lead do you suppose is in that hillside"?
 
Howa 9700 said:
Perhaps this adds nothing to the conversation, but what happens to all this lead once it's fired? Do any of you have a way to recover and re-use it?

Any tricks ranges use to assist with this? Range I'm using just has big holes in the dirt behind the targets. Last time I was there, as he walked by, an elderly gent glanced at me and asked "how many tons of lead do you suppose is in that hillside"?
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My ranges dont allow recovery, but if they did I would have yet another hobby of mining. If I shot on my own property I would have traps to recover as much as possible.
 
I used to go to the outdoor range when I still lived in PA and dig the berms for lead. I used to get quite a bit of lead that way, but it was all soft lead.
To soft to make bullets out of without re-alloying, because it usually came from FMJs or JHPs.
I'm still using my original Lee 10lb lead pot I bought in the 1980s for casting muzzle loading balls.
It's really stood up well but it is too small for any serious casting.
If your going to powder coat them right away, then cast away. If your not, I would keep my inventory down so they don't have time to corrode before they are coated.
I keep no more than 500 of each mold around here, I keep my lead in ingot form until I have need to cast again.
 
Howa 9700 said:
Perhaps this adds nothing to the conversation, but what happens to all this lead once it's fired? Do any of you have a way to recover and re-use it?

Any tricks ranges use to assist with this? Range I'm using just has big holes in the dirt behind the targets. Last time I was there, as he walked by, an elderly gent glanced at me and asked "how many tons of lead do you suppose is in that hillside"?
Click to expand...
My outdoor range is a state managed DNR range. No mining allowed.

Thinking about this... For $100 I can purchase enough clean lead for over 3000 bullets. Saving my time and hassle is worth that.
 
WeekendReloader said:
My outdoor range is a state managed DNR range. No mining allowed.

Thinking about this... For $100 I can purchase enough clean lead for over 3000 bullets. Saving my time and hassle is worth that.
Click to expand...
If your shooting on a public range the expense is probably worth it to a lot of people. Shooting on your own property I would not want lead all over. In that case it's a two for one. I am curious how active you would have to be before you influenced ground water. I guess set your range up over the septic leach field. :)
 
AJC1 said:
If your shooting on a public range the expense is probably worth it to a lot of people. Shooting on your own property I would not want lead all over. In that case it's a two for one. I am curious how active you would have to be before you influenced ground water. I guess set your range up over the septic leach field. :)
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I talked to the RSO about this. He said that the state mandates testing every year. I suppose they bring in a back hoe every now and then and clean it out.
 
AJC1 said:
. . . I'm trying to figure out the right ballance of bullets to just bulk raw stock.
Click to expand...
Those bullets can turn back into raw stock easily, costing only your casting time. I don't like casting, so I tend to run a couple tons of lead muffins and a couple tens of pounds of cast bullets.

Howa 9700 said:
. . . what happens to all this lead once it's fired?
Click to expand...
It comes home with me! A garden trowel and a steel colander will fill a 5 gallon bucket in about 25 minutes. Then you have to hump it to the car. . .
 
Jack Ryan said:
All of 'em.

1 you quit counting "bullets" and count buckets of bullets.
2 you quit counting buckets of bullets.
3. You don't remember what is in most buckets and have to look.
4. You have to move a pile of lead out of the way for something and find a bigger pile already in the spot you wanted to move it to.

Now you've got enough but you may as well make bullets out of the rest. The bullets will sell a lot better in your estate sale than the raw lead. Your widow may not even know what the lead is and GIVE it away.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Best said like Ahnold; "All of Dem!"
 
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