Gearing up to cast my own...

[Sun_and_Steel_77]

I am wanting to set-up for casting. I currently have about 400 pounds of wheel weights and some enthusiasm .
I am hoping someone could advise me as to what equipment to buy. I am currently on a budget as I work in the B.C. logging industry . I will be casting .357 bullets for my marlin 1894c and .45 caliber for my Guide Gun.
So what am I looking at for a base cost to start? Will a Lee furnace be okay? What are my basic necessities? Can you give any advice to a first timer or share your experiences?
You fellas got me off the ground in my reloading endeavours a while back with good advice and I thank you in advance for your feedback.

Mad Mikey

 

[blacksmithden]

First, go here and start reading. Some of us wrote some pretty good posts on smelting down wheel weights into usable lead bars.



http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=83230&highlight=smelting


For the melting pot, an old propane tank cut in half and a tiger torch for heat works well. Punch two holes in the top of the tank. Run compressed air in one hole and out the other for half an hour or so to clear out any residual propane before cutting the tank.

As for your actual lead melting/casting pot, some guys like Lee stuff. Personally, I bought a Lee bottom pour pot and used it 3 times before the element burnt out. I bought a small Lyman pot and haven't had any problems with it in a year and a half. Once this one burns out, I'm just going to pick up an old stove and melt on top of that.

 

[grouch]

You can successfully melt your lead in a conveniently sized stainless steel cooking pot on any decent heat source. I use the propane hotplate we keep for power outages, and have used an electric hotplate and an electric stove with good results. Lee's bullet sizer works very well, and you can do without a lubrisizer if you're willing to apply grease by hand - just seat your cast bullet to the first driving band, fill the grooves with grease(I use Can. Tire Moly), seat to full depth, and wipe clean with paper towel.
This will save you enough money to buy a couple of decent bullet molds. Good luck
Grouch