Basics on casting?

T

Theron

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I've been reloading my own for awhile now, using all sorts of different bullets. Lately though, money is getting tight and I'm looking into casting my own bullets.

Where do I begin? I saw an old old Lyman 450 bullet press that will be at an auction and probably go for real cheap. What else would I need? What dies are involved, and where would I find them?

Thank you in advance for the replies.

-Theron
 
Case mouth flaring tool. I use the Lee universal one and it works great.

I seriously recommend the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook. It has pretty much everything you need to know. Also checking the introductory threads on the Cast Boolits forums would also help a lot.
 
Basics would be molds, a pot, a good heat source, a thermometer, a ladle and of course a suitable alloy to cast with . I find that a thermometer is invaluable in bringing up the melt to the correct temperature and lessening the chance of zinc contamination if you melt wheel weights. The Lyman lubesizer is a great tool for sizing your cast bullets to the correct diameter and for applying gas checks. First and foremost as LUTNIT recommends is the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook, it is full of tips and safety advice and will start you on the road. If you enjoy this hobby then you are well on the way to save considerable money.
 
i started off with a cheap lee mold to make hot glue bullets for fun in the house, then bought a lee melting pot and actually started casting.

i would recommend a lee 20lb pot if you plan to cast for anything bigger then a 40cal, or another brand if you have alot of money. i only got the 10 lb pot and when casting 600gr bullets for my 500 mag it drains the pot real quick and it's only a 2 cavity!

if your going to be melting down wheel weights or other lead types i would recommend a fish/turkey fryer as they can be had for fairly cheap (got mine from bass pro for $50). i use an old pressure tank cut in half for my melting pot. appropriate safety gear and some muffin molds for 2-3 lb ingots.

cast boolits is a great site with alot of info as well as the lyman book. i don't have it yet, but maybe some day i will.
 
Theron said:
Where do I begin? I saw an old old Lyman 450 bullet press that will be at an auction and probably go for real cheap. What else would I need? What dies are involved, and where would I find them?
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For the 450, you will need H&I sizing dies as well as a top punch for the bullets you will be molding. The top punch is generally in the shape of the bullet tip. There can be a lot of force when pushing the bullet into the sizing die and the wrong top punch can deform the bullet. The sizing die you want should be .001 over bore diameter for the firearm you will be casting bullets for. The Lyman cast bullet handbook has cross reference information on the top punches to use for most bullet molds.

Most of my Lyman dies and molds I've ended up purchasing right through the Lyman website. It is usually a couple weeks to ship. Otherwise, most other casting gear I've gotten through Wholesale Sports.

As for general casting, I use a Lee pot with a bottom pour spout. I used it for melting wheel weights to create ingot as well as for bullet molding. I currently have only 2 molds I use, a 12 guage slug and a .501 SWC for loading 500 S&W.

One thing I would recommend is to avoid the Lyman Super Moly lube. At least for my uses I would avoid it. I've had that damn lubricant gum up so much of my revolver. I ended up tearing the cylinder out of the gun and finding lube gumming up the rod that the cylinder spins on. It was a bit of a b|tch to clean. I just switched to Red Dragon lube from Dragon Bullet Lube (site sponsor). I have yet to fire a bunch of it through the revolver, but at this point, I'm avoiding recommending Lyman Super Moly.
 
cheier said:
One thing I would recommend is to avoid the Lyman Super Moly lube. At least for my uses I would avoid it. I've had that damn lubricant gum up so much of my revolver. I ended up tearing the cylinder out of the gun and finding lube gumming up the rod that the cylinder spins on. It was a bit of a b|tch to clean. I just switched to Red Dragon lube from Dragon Bullet Lube (site sponsor). I have yet to fire a bunch of it through the revolver, but at this point, I'm avoiding recommending Lyman Super Moly.
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oh ya, bullet lube, i second the lyman super moly dislike. though i didn't fire enough to really see any issues with my guns, just the lyman 4500. it made it harder to change sizing dies and i've read it can be difficult to reseat the retaining nut for the sizing dies which for some stupid reason uses ridiculously small threads.

now i make my own lube using ben's red recipe but with a bit more beeswax to harden it up more as i don't like the softer lubes.

some pictures of a green version which i meant to be blue, but turned green due to the yellow beeswax.
image_zpsaa9a9b1a.jpeg


image1_zps4391a6ff.jpeg
 
Spawn-Inc said:
oh ya, bullet lube, i second the lyman super moly dislike.
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I guess aside from the lube getting all over my gun (I swear, there wasn't a nook or cranny that sh|t didn't get into), it smoked enough to make you think you were shooting black powder. Like I said though, not sure if the red stuff is any better in that regard, but I'll be giving it a try in the next week or two when I get out to the range.
 
Thanks for the info. I'll check out that forum, and maybe pick up that Lyman guide...

Do many people cast for hunting rounds like 30-06 or 375 H&H? I suppose that's what I would be more into. I'm guessing though that the fragmentation of cast bullets upon impact would be ridiculous... Except for something very soft like deer?

-Theron
 
Theron said:
Do many people cast for hunting rounds like 30-06 or 375 H&H? I suppose that's what I would be more into. I'm guessing though that the fragmentation of cast bullets upon impact would be ridiculous... Except for something very soft like deer?

-Theron
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I am NOT A BULLET CASTER (soon perhaps) nor do I play one on TV.
However, think heavy and slow. WW bullets do just fine. I have some 220 gn .303 cartridges loaded up for me by a friend in NS. They have always worked fine (chronied at 2210fps) on the deer I shot with them. Under 150yds. Through and through, nice wound track, dropping within 50yds.
 
Theron said:
Thanks for the info. I'll check out that forum, and maybe pick up that Lyman guide...

Do many people cast for hunting rounds like 30-06 or 375 H&H? I suppose that's what I would be more into. I'm guessing though that the fragmentation of cast bullets upon impact would be ridiculous... Except for something very soft like deer?

-Theron
Click to expand...

With the right alloy it would work, and that's really where cast boolits shines for info.
 
Theron said:
Thanks for the info. I'll check out that forum, and maybe pick up that Lyman guide...

Do many people cast for hunting rounds like 30-06 or 375 H&H? I suppose that's what I would be more into. I'm guessing though that the fragmentation of cast bullets upon impact would be ridiculous... Except for something very soft like deer?

-Theron
Click to expand...

Huh? Deer are not any softer (or easier to kill) than anything else on this continent. You will need to hit ANYTHING you shoot, in a reasonable manner, no matter the bullet used.

Yes, lots of folks still hunt with cast. Cast bullets have been the only ones available, for several hundred years.

You can also read about paper patching, yet another aspect of cast bullet making, which can allow you to reach jacked velocities, or very near, with a softer bullet (expands, rather than fails to expand, which is the more likely failure mode of a too hard cast bullet) than you could reasonably expect to shoot as a lubed and sized cast bullet.

Key the the whole game, is to understand that there is going to be a period of trial and error, during which a great many things you try may not work. Each rifle is an entity unto itself, and what worked for one, may not work in another similar rifle.
 
Theron said:
I'm guessing though that the fragmentation of cast bullets upon impact would be ridiculous
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This is purely an issue of your alloy. Something softer will not have fragmentation issues. I retrieved some W/W bullets from a berm at my range that were pretty much wholly intact. They were nearly flattened due to the impact, but they were intact. I'm not sure how many were like that as they were hard to find. .501 diameter bullets at 375 grains have a tendency to dig a small cavern in the berm when impacting at close to 1500 fps.

With harder alloys, there is less give to the bullet and they will have a tendency to fracture rather than deform.
 
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