Need help choosing my first mold

Sizers totally depend on your guns barrel. Rule of thumb is for lead bullets you want to be about two thou larger than your barrel measurement.

Usually .356 or .357 will do. Your gun will tell you what it likes. Cast , measure, try, size, try.
 
yomomma said:
Sizers totally depend on your guns barrel. Rule of thumb is for lead bullets you want to be about two thou larger than your barrel measurement.

Usually .356 or .357 will do. Your gun will tell you what it likes. Cast , measure, try, size, try.
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Thanks for the help man!

I have a shadow and an STI... Hmmmm... Maybe I'll start small at .356
 
I've never used a 0.356 sizing die (Lee push through or Lyman h&i style) for any of my 9mm guns. I typically use 0.357 or 0.358.

That being said if you bought a 0.356 sizing die (Lee only) you could always open it up larger.
 
And as far as the bullet is concerned you can use the tumble lube design molds but you can also tumble lube normal lube groove bullets. I did for a bit but switched to the Lyman lubesizer setup. Since then I've gone to powder coating for bulk plunking bullets and use the lubesizer for some rifle and for my 500mag.

ChromeArty said:
And what the hell! The Lee sizing die is $130 on Amazonian and I've heard they are between $30-$40!
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Wow, how much on eBay? Titan reloading will have everything you need but with the ####ty dollar it will cost a bit more. Another place I like (local to me, toronto) is rough River arms. There is also ell wood epps and hummasons(spelling could be wrong)
 
If they were around I would try theirs but I normally get mine from powder 365. They also go by emerald coatings. 2 colours that cover great when tumble coating is tool blue and Kawasaki green.

both colours are below,
2014-12-08192531_zps56567929.jpg
 
I've been casting for almost 40 years but never used POWDER COATS. Do the different colours have different thickness? How easy is it to coat, how long does it take? Thanks for all the info, looks nice.
 
big boar said:
I've been casting for almost 40 years but never used POWDER COATS. Do the different colours have different thickness? How easy is it to coat, how long does it take? Thanks for all the info, looks nice.
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The different colours are for ascetics only, I've yet to see a difference in thickness based on colour. I just put a tablespoon of powder in a number 5 recyclable container with about 100 or so bullets, pending size. Put them on a pan and bake them according to the powder instructions which is usually 400f for 15-20 minutes.

There is much more info in the sticky in the bullet making forum.
 
There is very minor differences in the thickness with different colours . The temperatures and bake times will vary with the different colours and applications . A second coat can be applies to increase the overall thickness . Applying the powder, and bake time will add about another 25 minutes to finish a batch of bullets . I currently use the powders from Emerald Coatings and they are working fantastic . Jacketed bullets may soon be a thing of the past .
 
ChromeArty said:
Is this a good style to start with?

I think it is a tumble lube style... But can I step up my lubing practices in the future with this style bullet?



Itching to start casting :D
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A lot of people report tumbling and terrible accuracy using that mold. I would strongly recommend the regular lube groove version. It can be tumble lubed just as well and is a much safer bet.
 
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yomomma said:
First mold? Buy a Lee, at least if you screw it up learning it is not expensive to replace
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This^


ChromeArty said:
Is this a good style to start with?

I think it is a tumble lube style... But can I step up my lubing practices in the future with this style bullet?
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Yes that is a tumble lube mold which is the easiest style to use when you're starting.
 
sawzall said:
A lot of people report tumbling and terrible accuracy using that mold. I would strongly recommend the regular lube groove version. It can be tumble lubed just as well and is a much safer bet.
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Thank you so much! I managed to ask Henry at Budget Shooter Supply just in time to change it over to the lube groove style mould!

He even gave it to me for the same price! (The other one was a few bucks more)

I may get into powder coating soon... but having a projectile that doesn't do back flips on its ways to the paper is rather important!!!

Thanks again!
 
ChromeArty said:
Thank you so much! I managed to ask Henry at Budget Shooter Supply just in time to change it over to the lube groove style mould!

He even gave it to me for the same price! (The other one was a few bucks more)

I may get into powder coating soon... but having a projectile that doesn't do back flips on its ways to the paper is rather important!!!

Thanks again!
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The tumble lube mold bullets work fine, IF you watch what you're doing. The trouble with the TL bullets is that you can't see if the bullets are not filling out as easily as you can on a regular cast bullet with nice square lube grooves. It's quite easy to be making bullets that are several thoundths smaller than you think they are because those wavy TL grooves don't look much different with good fill out or bad fill out. And that's why they tumble.
 
jethunter said:
The tumble lube mold bullets work fine, IF you watch what you're doing. The trouble with the TL bullets is that you can't see if the bullets are not filling out as easily as you can on a regular cast bullet with nice square lube grooves. It's quite easy to be making bullets that are several thoundths smaller than you think they are because those wavy TL grooves don't look much different with good fill out or bad fill out. And that's why they tumble.
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Ah! Well, it's all done now... but with me being a complete neophyte to casting, a somewhat idiot proof design will be better :)

Making my first ingots as we speak!
 
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