Thinking about getting into casting bullets

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giggitygiggity

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Hi, I'm thinking about getting into casting bullets. How is this process accomplished and how easy is it? I was briefly looking at some things on my own and I saw that there are lead blocks with different amounts of other metals in them. What are the advantages/disadvantages of having lead of a certain purness over another piece of lead with a different pureness level?

I would be making reloads for practice. Calibers I am interested in include .45 Colt (to be shot from a Taurus Judge), .45ACP (to be shot from a Glock 30SF), .380ACP (to be shot from a Ruger LCP or Bersa .380), 9mm (to be shot from a S&W Sigma), and .40SW (to be shot from a Beretta 96). Can these guns shoot lead reloads?

I apologize, but I usually load FMJ or plated bullets so this is a new arena for me. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
My first, second and third recommendations are to go to castboolits.gunloads.com. They got me started the right way.
Differing alloys are for differing hardness of the cast bullets on the Brinell scale. I do not test hardness, as I cast from "garbage" lead, aka wheel weights. The garbage comment is from Seafab Metals in Casa Grande - they make very nice bullet alloy specifically for casters. But my wheelweight bullets work just fine in 38 Special and 9mm. I would recommend the Lee 125 grain single lube groove bullet mold, or the 124 grain Tumble Lube bullet mold if you want to go cheap and use the Lee Liquid Alox bullet lube. Very cheap and easy to use, use it on several bullets myself.
You can find molds for all the calibers you list at MidwayUSA.
 
casting bullets can be fun,,,,,but now it is hard to get wheel weights to make bullets. i started casting in 1980 and have make some good ones. back in them days you could get linotype from the newspaper for free. it make some hard bullets. then it was wheel weights. not as hard, but still good. just keep the fps down or use gas checks. i still cast some but not as much as i did. been buying good cast bullets over the net. any gun can shoot cast lead, some better than others. i don't have a gun that does not. even my glock do, with a after market barrel. it you start casting, you will need a good bottom pour lead pot, bullet molds, mold handle, gloves, lubersizer, sizing die/top punch, lub, gas checks if you cast that type of bullet,,and many other things. casting bullets is somewhat like reloading, you need several things to do it. don't go cheap with casting equipment, buy the best.
 
+1 on castboolits.gunloads.com Everything I know about casting I learned there.

While wheel weights are getting harder and harder to find, sources of lead are very plentiful. Many casters are selling their excess lead. Reclaimed wheel weights or range lead, melted down into ingots, can be easily found for about $1/pound including shipping to your door. I recently bought 30 pounds of commercial cast bullets from a guy. They didn't fit any gun he or I owned but I got them cheap and melted them down into bullets that I could use.

And like al other aspects of reloading, your equipment costs can range from dirt cheap to very expensive. A fellow caster sold me a used Lee bottom-pour pot for $5. I think by the time I poured that first bullet I had all of about $100 invested in equipment.

A lot of the complexity will also depend upon the type of shooting you do. Mine is .45acp at a pretty low velocity and so almost any alloy and lube performs nicely.
 
I have only been casting for a couple months now and have found it to be very addictive. I have a basic Lyman casting kit and cheap Lee aluminum molds and have already made some very good bullets. I'm casting for .45 Colt and just got the stuff for .40.

I picked up two buckets of wheel weights for $40 each at a local tire store. Each bucket yielded about 115 pounds of ingots. That's pretty cheap. Just be prepared to spend a lot of time with it. I find it relaxing though.

The castboolits site is great.
 
Once you do get some lead, you can easily build a bullet trap out of a plastic tote, a couple of rubber pavers, and some rubber mulch. I have one and it stops everything all the way p to a 45/70 or 30/06 @ 2250 FPS. Nice to reclaim your lead. The bullets are not all fragmented, but come out whole. Think of the cost of lead this way... 1 pound = 7000 grains, so divide the weight of your bullet into the 7000 and it will give you a cost per hundred. I have accumulated about a ton of lead, but I do still buy some if the price is right. You can get it on evil bay for a little over a buck a pound shipped, so it could be worse. Let someone else breathe on all the crap while cleaning them up!
 
I recently got into casting myself. I have casted bullets for .41, .357, and .45 so far. Here are a few observations I have made so far.

I did not want to invest in a lubricator/sizer, so I went with the Lee tuble lube designs and they work very well.

I have a Glock 21 (.45ACP) and it is true that Glock barrels lead like crazy. I am planning to get an aftermarket barrel that has traditional rifling so I can shoot lead.

The 9MM is notoriously hard to make work with lead. I have heard that the .40 S&W is closer to a .45 than a 9MM, but I have no direct experience with casting for the .40.

I buy lead at a metals dealer but have to give .75/lb. which is not that great a deal but still cheaper than buying jacketed.
 
www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_Contents.htm

Read that book as it will answer a lot of questions. Castboolits is where you go to have any questions answered after you read it.
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One of the top suggestions noted here so far. Read the top link, print it out and study it. You will refer to it more as you go along.

I started actually casting my own about this time last year. This was after close to four months of reading up on it, asking a few questions here and there, and gathering up what tools I needed to get the job I needed done, done.

I began simply to feed the appetite of my 454. This simply led to my 41, then on to my 44 and 45 Colt. To be honest I wished I had began this years ago, but didn't and now I purchase my lead as mentioned through various means, when and where I find it. Don't get me wrong, I would love to find a steady supply of wheel weights, but the reality is, it ain't gonna happen around where I live.

As for the calibers you mentioned, The Lee TL 230gr RN shoots wonderfully in my 1911, and probably would do as good or better from my Colt if I tried them in it. I however use the 255gr RF for it as well as a couple of others.

With the tumble lube you can shoot any type of lead bullet, it doesn't specifically HAVE to be of a tumble lube design. If you go this route look under the lube section over on CB's, and you will see a sticky called tumble lube made easy or something similar. It makes the Alox so much more user friendly.

Also like mentioned you can get lead in most cases for around a dollar a pound. Figure if shipped via medium flat rate you can get about 65-70 pounds depending on how well it is packaged. use the formula of 65 x 7000 / say 230grs, and you'll get roughly 1975 bullets that you cast yourself.

Good luck and hope this helps out.
 
dragon813gt said:
www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_Contents.htm

Read that book as it will answer a lot of questions. Castboolits is where you go to have any questions answered after you read it.


Brought to you by TapaTalk.
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Started reading this thread because I am thinking about getting back into casting my own bullets after several years away from shooting. Got all the gear...memory is just fuzzy:)

Thanks a ton for the link on the Fryxell book "From Ingot to Target"...what a resource THAT is..wow!

Lots of good advice on this forum also.
 
well, at today's prices....... the very first thing you need to do is find a good, CHEAP, reliable, source for lead. because if that dries up, and you have to buy lead at retail prices, your not going to save much if any money doing this yourself. i thought i was all set. and then the tire store signed a contact selling all of his lead to a battery supplier. now i am looking for a new source. i am just glad i still have a stash to keep me going in the mean time. secondly, if you can, buy used equipment. it is much less expensive, and most of it works fine. just look for obvious defects, or "modifications". they should send up a big red flag.
 
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=645810 $64.99

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=789762 $19.49

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=776747 $19.49

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/default.aspx?productNumber=116429 $17.29

121.26
This is the basic cost for a set-up that would get you ready to cast for a 45 auto. melt the lead, pour the bullet, lube it by tumbling, then run it through the sizer. Ready to load. And YES you can use the tumble lube for conventional lube groove bullets!

The Lee Pro 4 20 Lb Furnace is the best one they make, it has the ability to function as a bottom pour, and enough room to allow you to use a ladle if you want to try that method.

You didn't say which caliber, BUT the above prices would be the same no matter which handgun caliber(S) you may have. The same would go for rifle, the 2 cav lee molds all cost about the same money. Occasionally midway has a sale that will save a couple bucks off a mold, or other stuff.

I would certainly suggest you start with a simple handgun bullet without a gas check. Rifle bullets are a step up in skill level requirements, and paper patching is another higher skill level.

I wrote this up about a year ago, not sure if the links still work, and the prices have probably gone up a bit. BUT the idea is still the same, you can get started with good new equipment for around 130 bucks.
 
Lee Pro 4 20, Lee alum mould for the cal you shoot the most. Once you get it figured out, you choose better/more $ moulds and equipment. My J are on the shelf after I started shooting cast. My bought cast are on the shelf after I started casting. At 7000 gr/# and ~$1/# Pb, you can figure the diff in cost.
 
I got into casting a few years ago. Its just as, or more addictive than reloading.

Here is another vote for the Lee Pro 4 20lb furnace, Lee molds, and Lee Alox lube.

I just cast 45-70 and 45 acp right now but I plan to eventually get into 30 caliber rifle casting.

I cranked out around 300 45 acp bullets in a little over an hour a few days ago with the Lee 6 cavity mold.

Lyman's 49 edition Handbook of Reloading has a lot of good info on casting, as well as cast bullet load data.
 
At present I am casting using a cast iron kettle I got at the second hand store, Lyman 4 cavity molds, a Lyman pouring ladle, and my heat source is a propane camp stove.

I am casting wheel weight metal. Years back I could get printer's metal, but no more. I size and lubricate in a Lyman lubrisizer.

The lube is homemade using beeswax and alox. Since I keep bees, there is plenty of beeswax. My friend makes the lube, I supply the wax.

This amount of equipment doesn't cost much, and since I get the wheel weights free, the cost of the equipment is recovered pretty fast. I have been casting long enough the cost of the tools has long since been realized in savings.

I figure 45 bullets are costing less than 2 cents and that just for lube and heat to melt the lead.

It is another fine hobby to support your shooting.
 
Yep, it is a fun undertaking.I'm having more fun casting now than with the reloading part.Plus people look at you dumfounded when you say you make your own bullets on top of loading your own rounds.
The moulds are the most costly,if you want something other than what Lee offers,most in the $65 to $80 price range. To get really good moulds, sized to what your guns need, custom mfg are the best but at $120+ for them,they get pricey,but you do get really,really nice bullets from them.Plus resale stays up there so money spent can be recouped.
I can get indoor range scrap for $30/5gal bucket=150#,or WW sorted without zince or scrap for $.40/lb so for $50+/-, I get 120# of good lead.I'm buying all I can,while I can.
 
Here's a custom mold that was obtained through a group buy on castboolits.com. It's a Cramer type automatic hollow point mold that has two types of HP's traditional round and penta point. The pins can be reversed to make a solid R-F configuration. The man that makes them is Miha Prevec @ MP molds ;http://www.mp-molds.com/index.php?pr=Molds This one cost me $150.00.

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Here's a few bullets;

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The moulds are the most costly,if you want something other than what Lee offers,most in the $65 to $80 price range. To get really good moulds, sized to what your guns need, custom mfg are the best but at $120+ for them,they get pricey,but you do get really,really nice bullets from them.Plus resale stays up there so money spent can be recouped.
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I also have about 30 different lee molds 1, 2, and 6 cavity. They work well MOST OF THE TIME. I've had to send a couple back, because they were out of specs, way undersized, and one that wasn't lined up. They were all replaced with good molds. The soft alum. molds will NOT stand up to rough treatment. If you're careful, they'll last a long time.
 
Casting bullets is super fun, I got into it a bit last fall. I've had to take a break from it because I need a better casting area, but once I work out a few things I plan to get back into it whole hog. My advice is to start out with a lee bottom pour pot and lee moulds. Both are very inexpensive and very forgiving.
 
I've got the exact same mould as snuffy, along with 2 other of Miha's masterpieces. Top quality all the way.

Don
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Me too;

IMG_0299.jpg

IMG_0300.jpg

IMG_0307.jpg

Those were the 700 grain "grand canyon" .501 for the 500 S&W.

8-25-11%20004.jpg

8-25-11%20010.jpg

The .454 H&G 68 200 grain SWC copy by MP molds. Take a look at his website, some of those group buys have over runs that he makes available on his website.

I'm in a group buy for a cramer HP for a 250 in a rnfpHP configuration. It's in the machining phase, so it should be coming around June! Can't wait.

http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=123375
 
I have two of Miha's HP moulds coming in group buys,plus a Balista-cast.I do have two NOE non-hp(that came from gp overuns) and a Miha non-hp,they make awsome bullets.Can't wait to play with HP's.
 
I have two of Miha's HP moulds coming in group buys,plus a Balista-cast.I do have two NOE non-hp(that came from gp overuns) and a Miha non-hp,they make awsome bullets.Can't wait to play with HP's.
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Striker Fired,

One thing that you have to contend with in regards to cast HP's is, if you want to get those classic mushrooms, you've got to play around a bit with your alloy. Those WW alloys which are just fine with non-HP's, will not cut it. Start looking for tin.;)

Don
 
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