Educate me on casting bullets

[Josh89]

I've been reading a little on the subject,but not enough to feel confident enough to start making purchases.input on melting pots,molds and equipment I'll need would be great.i was leaning more towards a electric pot. Also would like to make it a fast process so I was thinking going to with the multi cavity molds and powder coating instead of lube. Thanks for the info guys. Always seem to get the best here.

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[ageingstudent]

Where to start? Lol. Did you get a cast bullet handbook? The lee 2nd edition also has a good chapter on casting I think.

I have a propane burner I use for making ingots but do my casting with a lee 4/20 pot and some 2 cav lee molds. You don't spend a fortune for a starter set of tools that way. I've been pleasantly surprised that they work so well, but I'm looking at some nicer molds when I get the dough. I really enjoy it.

 

[FA9]

YOUTUBE

 

[Josh89]

I didn't even think about looking in my Lee book.ill give it scan tonight and see what it says.

 

[Josh89]

YOUTUBE

My internet is pretty limited and YouTube rarely works and most of the time I do have good enough service i really can't sit and watch videos.

 

[ageingstudent]

YOUTUBE

+1 Actually youtube was very helpful. Fortunecookie45lc has some very good videos. Most aren't terribly long.

 

[Josh89]

Also

Where to start? Lol. Did you get a cast bullet handbook? The lee 2nd edition also has a good chapter on casting I think.

I have a propane burner I use for making ingots but do my castimg with a lee 4/20 pot and some 2 cav lee molds. You don't spend a fortune for a starter set of tools that way. I've been pleasantly surprised that they work so well, but I'm looking at some nicer molds when I get the dough. I really enjoy it.

How many can you get done with the 2 cavity molds.in a afternoon.ive read people have better results casting 2 at a time then 6 with the bigger mold.quality wise.but I'm looking for more quanity more then best quality.i just want to reload plinking loads and such for now.

 

[Squidly]

+1 Actually youtube was very helpful. Fortunecookie45lc has some very good videos. Most aren't terribly long.

Also Elvis Ammo. He can be a little long winded.

 

[ageingstudent]

Also


How many can you get done with the 2 cavity molds.in a afternoon.ive read people have better results casting 2 at a time then 6 with the bigger mold.quality wise.but I'm looking for more quanity more then best quality.i just want to reload plinking loads and such for now.

Well the quality is good with the 2 cav less differences between cavities. The first couple times I casted over 300 good ones in just a couple hours once I got rolling. I can keep ahead of my demands like that but I will probably get a couple of high quality 4 cav molds now that I know I like it enough to keep at it.

 

[ageingstudent]

Also Elvis Ammo. He can be a little long winded.

Yes I like Elvis also but he doesn't comprehend brevity lol. Good info though.

 

[ageingstudent]

What caliber are you thinking about first Josh? Got a .357 or .38? Super easy to start on that lots of data and probably more bullet choices.

 

[Josh89]

What caliber are you thinking about first Josh? Got a .357 or .38? Super easy to start on that lots of data and probably more bullet choices.

Yes.I was thinking for my 357/38 or .45acp first. From what I read it seemed like if used those ones and kept low velocitys I wouldn't get as much leading with softer projectiles. I've found a few good deals on pure lead but not quite sure about the tin or antimony(not sure if I spelled that right).any tips or locations to find those for a good price would be great to.

 

[ageingstudent]

Yes.I was thinking for my 357/38 or .45acp first. From what I read it seemed like if used those ones and kept low velocitys I wouldn't get as much leading with softer projectiles. I've found a few good deals on pure lead but not quite sure about the tin or antimony(not sure if I spelled that right).any tips or locations to find those for a good price would be great to.

I first want to say that fit is more important than hardness. Everything worth reading on the subject points to bullet fit being most important and my experience has been similar. There are several options for alloy depending on how hard a bullet you want. Magnum shot from the sporting goods store is an easy way to up the antimony a bit. Also rotometals online is a good place to get Linotype or Tin. They often have decent sales and free shipping If you purchase 100 bucks of merchandise.

 

[ageingstudent]

Very good resource here:

Glen E. Fryxell, Cast bullets and firearm information and history

And here...

Cast bullet reference on lead alloy's, min / max pressure, lube, shrinkage,

 

[Josh89]

Very good resource here:

Glen E. Fryxell, Cast bullets and firearm information and history

And here...

Cast bullet reference on lead alloy's, min / max pressure, lube, shrinkage,

Great info there.going to take a bit to read that over.

What type do you mix do you prefer,the Linotype seems like a decent choice.
I noticed it said that antimony melted at near 1200 degrees.can most melting pots avicve that?

 

[ageingstudent]

Great info there.going to take a bit to read that over.

What type do you mix do you prefer,the Linotype seems like a decent choice.
I noticed it said that antimony melted at near 1200 degrees.can most melting pots avicve that?

Straight Linotype is pretty hard and somewhat brittle. For .38 I have been using range scrap with a couple pounds of magnum 8 shot. The bhn is ~10-12 and works just fine. Interestingly that alloy also works awesome in my .351 which operates at .357mag pressures. But the bullet fit is excelent so it makes sense. A bullet can be too hard.

 

[ageingstudent]

Oh and when alloyed with lead antimony melts a lot lower. Not a problem unless you are trying to alloy pure antimony with lead.

 

[Josh89]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000...=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=lee+melting+pot

Was thinking about ordering this one. Is the pour from the bottom one any better than using a dipper?

 

[ageingstudent]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000...=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=lee+melting+pot

Was thinking about ordering this one. Is the pour from the bottom one any better than using a dipper?

Some folks really like to dip and ladle pour, I prefer the bottom pour pot. That pot you are looking at is smaller than a 420 pot. Did you look at titan reloading? They might have a sale.

 

[ageingstudent]

Bigger pot only 5 bucks more

LEE PRO 4, 20 LB MELTER 110 Volt