So, as the title says I am looking at casting my own projectiles. I won't have any issues with sourcing lead as I have a friend who is a roofer willing to give me all the boots he pulls off. (Any word on the quality of this source of lead for reloading?)
I was hoping to get some direction as far as where to start with equipment.
I looked at casting equipment, but there is a LOT of stuff to choose from there and I'm not sure what to start out with.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
As others have stated, roofing lead is high quality stuff.
And another recommendation for the castboolits forum. There is so much information to be had there, it can be a bit overwhelming to get through it all. But if you can think of a question to ask, you'll find that it has already been asked/answered there many times already. I lurked there for quite awhile before posting. Great guys on that forum.
I have yet to cast my first bullet (should cast my first today, actually). I like to study up and educate myself first... much to my wife's amusement; "Honey, I'm going to buy you a new toothbrush next month. Will you start your research now, please?" So I have learned about a few good resources to start with.
The Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook is decent. Many consider it The Bible for the hobby, but IMO, it is not even close to being as good as the FREE online book (in .pdf format):
From Ingot to Target: A Cast Bullet Guide for Handgunners by Glen E. Fryxell and Robert L. Applegate. Check it out at:
http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_textonly2.pdf. The Lyman book does have a lot of load information for various molds, though.
The Lyman book, and From Ingot to Target are great consolidated resources; open them up, and read away. Then if you think of a question not answered in either book, I'm willing to bet you'll find it on castboolits.
There are a great number of sticky threads at castboolits. Overwhelmingly so. But if you take the time to read the titles of them, you'll find that the stickies are an amazing library of casting information. From what pot to buy, where to get alloys, how to measure hardness, how to change hardness, flux information, powder coating, hi-tek coating, tumble lubing (including home made recipes that, according to the members, are better than commercial), to mold information.... the entire hobby is thoroughly covered in the stickies.
So there you have it.. a newb's guide to casting by a fellow newb.
So if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go cast my first boolit! Now if I just had a toothbrush...
Edit: Just realized I kinda danced around your question without really giving any direct answers. Now remember, I have yet to cast my first bullet. So take what I say with a grain of flux.
What is your budget? Are you going to be casting en masse, or are you going to be casting for bench rest? Handguns? Rifles? Both? Quite a few questions need to be answered before you can really get specific on what stuff you need to buy. So some generic suggestions...
Since you're going to be starting out with roofing lead, you're going to need to melt it and add tin/antimony to the alloy. Most guys recommend that you don't do this in your casting pot. So you'll want to start off by visiting your local thrift store and buying a stainless steel pot. doesn't have to be big or fancy, just something that will hold a decent quantity of lead. You'll also want to pick up a large metal spoon, a metal ladle and a hot plate while you're there. You could also use a camp stove, or other heat source, but electric hot plates work well, and they're cheap (like me).
As for your casting furnace, again, this is greatly dependent on your budget. I was lucky in that my Dad gave me an ancient bottom pour furnace that he's had since the early '60's.
You're going to want a "bottom pour" furnace. Lee makes one that notoriously drips a lot, but holds 20 pounds of molten alloy, and does so for only 70 bucks. This is one of those pieces of equipment that some guys swear by, others at.
On the other end of the spectrum are the Lyman Mag 25 and the RCBS Pro Melt. The Lyman is around 265 bucks, and the RCBS around 350 or so. I've read a lot about these two furnaces, and the consensus I get is that the RCBS is a better product. Especially if you plan on using Lyman six cavity molds at some point (are you casting en masse?)
Molds: Before you start looking at molds, you need to ask yourself what you want to do with each caliber you cast for. Massive amounts of Blammo? Bench resting out to 1,000 yards? Each question will result in a different product suiting it's need. For high precision loading, you'll want to research custom mold makers. For mass quantities of, say, 9mm blasting ammo, you'll most likely want a six cavity Lee mold in a Tumble Lube (vs lube groove) design. Whatever you do, RESEARCH first, before you buy a mold. Are you going to use a lubrasizer? Tumble lube (including its variants of powder coating, hi-tek coating, and the like)? Answer those questions, then read up on the various choices.
Since you'll be needing to harden up your roofing lead (and might I just add that I'm insanely jealous of your free lead source) by adding tin/antimony, a good place to buy Linotype, Monotype, Hardball, and Super Hard alloys is RotoMetals. They have a section of their web site that is devoted to bullet casting. Good stuff, but their prices are steep. As to how much you'll need to add to get the correct hardness, that's just something you'll have to read up on and learn by trial and error. I just melted my first batch of used wheel weights yesterday. Today I'm going to check the hardness of them, then most likely re-melt them and add some RotoMetals Super Hard if necessary. I also cheated and bought Lyman #2 Alloy from them so I could start off with some known-good alloy for my first bullets cast.
Have fun, and be careful.
