Newbie: Casting my own

H4831, care to expand a bit on why you didn't like the Lee mold and tumble lubing? I haven't done any bullet casting so I really don't know other than what I read here and in books. (I have to Lyman Cast Bullet handbook). Tumbling SOUNDS so easy!


Fudd
 
Yup, as mentioned, for the calibers mentioned, sraight WW's should be a good alloy. I use them that way on all mine. 9mm could use a little more tin in the mix but is ok the way it is since the rest of the calibers I cast work out good.

Lee TL design molds are good starter molds. They give fairly good bullets with little trouble. Once you get into it more you'll probably move up to a RCBS or Lyman if you find a nice bullet design. I know people who still only use the Lee TL's.

As for sizing the cheap Lee kit works good for sizing TL bullets. If you want to use regular lube you'll have to get an RCBS or Lyman. I got both and they can be found used for good prices.

People I know swear by Lee's ALOX tumble lube goo but I hate the stuff. Never had any luck with it. I prefer using that hard red Carnuba lube found on eBay.
 
ElmerFudd said:
I see lots of RCBS and Lyman mentioned but what about the Lee aluminum molds? Wouldn't that save a step using the tumble lube molds?.....
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What is / are tumble lube moulds?

One thing I have not quite undesrstood in my limited reading to date is ... the lube process. Always required: but why so many different ways? I read some guys don't resize. They throw the bullets in a small container with liquid lube then remove them, put them on a cookie sheet and bake them at ~250 for a couple of hours. Others use the hard lube in a complete resizing operation. Is all of this necessary or is it a question of producing the best product? What lube is better? Liquid or solid? Why not resize them use the liquid lube and bucket /bake technique? It seems this would be less messy.....


Regards,
 
It would still be a really, really, really good idea to read the Lyman book from front to back as was suggested, and then come back with specific questions.
 
ElmerFudd said:
H4831, care to expand a bit on why you didn't like the Lee mold and tumble lubing? I haven't done any bullet casting so I really don't know other than what I read here and in books. (I have to Lyman Cast Bullet handbook). Tumbling SOUNDS so easy!


Lyman molds are precission cut from steel and come with seperate handles. A reasonable amount of care will keep them going for many years--I know. Some bullets are a bit hard to remove from the mold. The 30 calibre ones I have used, and the 357 bullets, just fall out of the mold. The standard bullets for the 44 magnum are hard to get out. Even with the molds in perfect condition, the heat at proper temperature and the alloy well fluxed, I still have to use either a wooden stick or a rubber hammer, to whack the mold handles to get the bullets to fall out. The Lyman has stood years of this with no sign of damage.
I got an aluminum Lee mold for the 45-70, because, for one thing, the advertising stated the bullets fell out of the mold! Well food luck, mine didn't! After about 100 bullets with TLC use of my rubber hammer, the mold and handles combination is in rough shape.
Since the Lee sizer and lubricater comination was considerable less than the cost of a Lyman die for my sizer/lubricator, I bought the Lee for the 45-70 bullet.
"Just dribble allox on the bullets in a tub," the instructions state, then after shaking them around, put them out on a wax paper to dry, overnight. Slow and messy operation.
Now size them through their awkward little sizer. Oh yes, that will remove the allox lubricant from the vital areas of the bullet, so go through the procedure to relubricate them. Messy and slow, as another night has elapsed.
My observation on seating the bullets were that the case neck had again removed the allox lube from the vital parts of the bullet! But the nose of the bullet and the base, where lube is not wanted, was sure lubed good. Oh, and did I mention how messy the seating dies get from the scraped off allox?

What more would you like to know?
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You need to lube the bullet first to size a bullet properly in the lee sizer, as h4831 mentions, messy! and time consuming.

Save yourself the trouble and bypass Lee stuff, other than the melting pots, they work pretty good.

Buy Lyman, RCBS, Saeco, NEI, H&G etc you'll be miles ahead of the game in the long run.

See if you can find someone who has the equipment and watch a casting session before you lay any money down, Casting is not for everyone.
 
Some things to consider is how much time you have to cast, how many rounds you put down range, the long term commitment to a certain caliber and the shooting discipline your talking about.

If your just going to try this stuff out to see if you like it start small and by all means go with the Lee gear. You will know soon enough if you think it is for you and then you can take it from their. If money is that tight that you have to count every penny even to try some inexpensive gear out you should seek out a caster before you buy anything.

The Lee bashing is comon in casting circles but IMO they make some great stuff, most particularly the tumble lube bullets. If your seeking to make large numbers of bullets for practice with limited time these are a great setup.

Making bullets is like making beer for quite a few guys. There is no question your going to like the cheap beer that does the job but after awhile you just get sick of all the work and go back to buying the expensive stuff. OTOH, if you enjoy the process of making it you have it made.
 
H4831 said:
ElmerFudd said:
H4831, care to expand a bit on why you didn't like the Lee mold and tumble lubing? I haven't done any bullet casting so I really don't know other than what I read here and in books. (I have to Lyman Cast Bullet handbook). Tumbling SOUNDS so easy!


Lyman molds are precission cut from steel and come with seperate handles. A reasonable amount of care will keep them going for many years--I know. Some bullets are a bit hard to remove from the mold. The 30 calibre ones I have used, and the 357 bullets, just fall out of the mold. The standard bullets for the 44 magnum are hard to get out. Even with the molds in perfect condition, the heat at proper temperature and the alloy well fluxed, I still have to use either a wooden stick or a rubber hammer, to whack the mold handles to get the bullets to fall out. The Lyman has stood years of this with no sign of damage.
I got an aluminum Lee mold for the 45-70, because, for one thing, the advertising stated the bullets fell out of the mold! Well food luck, mine didn't! After about 100 bullets with TLC use of my rubber hammer, the mold and handles combination is in rough shape.
Since the Lee sizer and lubricater comination was considerable less than the cost of a Lyman die for my sizer/lubricator, I bought the Lee for the 45-70 bullet.
"Just dribble allox on the bullets in a tub," the instructions state, then after shaking them around, put them out on a wax paper to dry, overnight. Slow and messy operation.
Now size them through their awkward little sizer. Oh yes, that will remove the allox lubricant from the vital areas of the bullet, so go through the procedure to relubricate them. Messy and slow, as another night has elapsed.
My observation on seating the bullets were that the case neck had again removed the allox lube from the vital parts of the bullet! But the nose of the bullet and the base, where lube is not wanted, was sure lubed good. Oh, and did I mention how messy the seating dies get from the scraped off allox?

What more would you like to know?
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I agree, but I'll add that Lee has a press mounted sizing die that works quite well.
Lee's tumble lube bullet design,the bullets designed specifically for tumble lube, just don't shoot well in the one rifle I have tried them in.
I have a number of Lee molds, some of them drop bullets quite well, some have to be beat on with a hardwood dowel fairly stoutly, even though they have been 'smoked' as directed. This is with a wide variety of melts I have used too.
They do make decent bullets in the end however, just not as easy as the Lyman molds, and in particular, my favorites, the Lyman gang molds.There are mold treatments available, and it may solve the stuck bullet issue, but I have never tried them.
The Lee molds can be spalled by hard lead or impurities, under the sprue plate too.
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joebanana said:
....Making bullets is like making beer for quite a few guys. There is no question your going to like the cheap beer that does the job but after awhile you just get sick of all the work and go back to buying the expensive stuff. OTOH, if you enjoy the process of making it you have it made.
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Wise words indeed! Unfortunately there is no one in my area that casts anymore so I do not have the option of trying it out first. I am very interested in doing it though and I have more patience than I care to explain.
The subject interests me greatly, the economics of it is appealing and it's a great past time in beteween shoots that will keep me at home which also keeps the wife happy :D

Regards,
 
What has not been mentioned is other methods of lubricating, to at least start with, to see if you like it.
I have found that 30 calibre bullets shot in a bolt action rifle fo not have to be sized. I had one mold that cast them at about .313, and they shot better without sizing than they did when sized with my sizer. (In the Model 94, 30-30, it raised the pressure too much, if they were not sized.)
My early lubricant was a mixture of beef tallow (rendered beef fat) and wax.
you can place the bullets upright on a pan and pour the hot mixture over them util it is higher than the grooves. When it hardens, cut the base off of an empty cartridge, enlarge the neck enough so it will slide over the bullets, and cut them from the hardened wax.
Or, just take a piece of the hardened lube and rub it over the grooves in the bullet util the grooves are full, and they are lubed!
 
Boomer686 said:
Sounds painstakingly creative!

Regards,
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You can do the same thing with commercial lube sticks. The older lee lube kits did just that. In those kits, you get a tiny little pan, a stick of lube, and a lube cutter.
I've made the cutters from all sorts of different things, as long as it's just slightly larger than the bullet diameter, and thin enough to push easily into the lube while it's still a bit soft, it works fine.
 
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