Bullet Casting Questions

[Coal Creek Griff]

There isn't really a specific reloading section, but I bet my friends here can answer me.

I'm thinking of giving bullet casting a try, but I don't want to sink all kinds of money into the project at the beginning because I'm not sure I'll keep at it.  I'm willing to spend some, of course, but I'd like to try a "minimalist" approach at first.  If I find it very rewarding, I'll lay down more cash later, even if it means replacing some things I've bought.

Here are my questions:

What do I need to get started?

What can I buy down at the hardware store and use in my trial run--e.g. will a cast iron pot on my camp stove work as a lead pot for now?

Does Lee Liquid Alox lube work well enough to get me going, or should I pan lube or use another method?  (I'll probably load both black powder and the other kind [sorry to you purists]).

If I use Alox, do I have to use Lee's special tumble lube bullet molds?

I have a couple of cans full of fired bullets.  Can I use those at first for my lead?

What is a good source of casting alloy (it must cost a fortune to ship)?  Where I live may not be the middle of nowhere, but maybe it is on the edge of nowhere, so I do most of my shopping by mail.

What is a good manual to get me started?

My challenge is to try out bullet casting with the lowest startup cost.  I look at it as a kind of game to see how much I can keep the cost down.  Any suggestions would be a great help!

CC Griff

[panhead pete]

Howdy Pard,

Goatlips has a great site on casting and pan-lubing.  If you Google "Goatlips" you will find him. 

I started out with a used Lee bottom drop pot I paid $20.00 for.  If you buy lead ingots for casting (Midway USA sells them, perhaps they will ship USPS bulk flat rate) you can forego the whole smelting process which gets the dirt and impurities out of the bulk/scrap lead. 

The fired bullets can be melted and reused but you may want to use another pot so the casting pot does not get fouled.  If you are using a pot on your stove keep some wax handy and drop it in to flux out the dirt.  If you flux the pot you can probably use the ladle and pot method for sure.
 I chose to smelt used lead to try to keep the costs down.  It likely cost another $60.00 but with Spencer bullets costing 36 cents each, (two years ago), I figure it will pay for itself.  I have also found trying to find bullets very frustrating.  I waited 3-4 months for some 45 LC bullets.  I now have a mold for those as well.
For smelting I bought a cast iron pot at an antique store, I think I paid $16.00 dollars for.  I was given some wheel weight lead and bullet trap lead from friends.  I tried the side burner on my gas grill, but it did not get hot enough.  I found a turkey frying outfit never used at a yard sale for $40.00.  The turkey pot burner really gets good and hot.   So far I have only cast bullets for my 56-50 Armi-Sport Spencer. 

You will also need a steel or cast iron ladle for pouring.  I have never tried using a ladle to pour into the mold, but that would be cheaper than buying a pot. (In my case, I bought the pot first since it was a fair deal).  The key is to have the lead hot enough to completely fill the mold. 

If you  use over powder cards, (with a dollop of BP lube under the bullet for BP), you can use the bullets for either Smokeless or BP.  DIck Dastadly makes some real good molds for BP that will work just as well with smokeless.  I am sure you will hear some good info here.

Good luck, Amigo,

Panhead Pete

[Angel_Eyes]

Hi CCG, a camping stove and cast iron pot are exactly the way I started 25+ years ago!
I graduated to a bottom pour furnace when I started getting more moulds and more calibres to feed but have gone back to the original method since us Brits lost our cartridge pistols.
Used bullets are easily the best way because they normally retain a certain amount of lube and are self-fluxing to remove dirt etc to the surface of the molten lead.
One last tip; find someone who already casts to give you some pointers about temperature of lead and moulds.

Any questions, please ask, UKshooter.

[Fairshake]

I've been casting since around 1972 and you can invest thousands or a few dollars. My first suggestion would be to buy or borrow the Lyman bullet casting book. It will answer alot of questions and will be a valuable guide later on. Alox is a no-no for bp but works great in the other stuff, I forgot what its called. Lee molds are sometimes tricky for new casters but can be mastered. They don't offer a BP mold however you can buy those from DD. For the simple way of lubing you can also use Lee $13 kits or wrap up over $300 in a star. This site is filled wiyh people who are willing to steer you in the right direction. I'm an old time caster and reloader as I said but new to the Frontier Cartridge in SASS and myself have received valuable info from it. See Ya Down the Trail Fairshake

[Goatlips]

Thanks to Pete for the kind words, but the definitive site for neophytes AND hoary old moss covered casters is right here:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/forumdisplay.php?f=8

The cast boolit folks are the Mensa-grade overseers of casting and without doubt the friendliest. Lotsa Cowboys there too. 

Goatlips

[Springfield Slim]

I have tried most all ways to cast, so here is my take on it. Buy a new or used LEE 10 lb pot and a 2 cavity mould and some LEE Alox. This will be only slightly more expensive then buying the cast iron pot, camp stove and ladle, but will be easier to sell if you don't like casting. And you won't have to upgrade so soon if you do like it. As long as there isn't lots of dirt on them the used bullets shold do fine in the pot as long as you flux well. This way you don't have the pot and stove and ladle laying around your garage for years after you upgrade to the better and bigger pots and moulds. And go to www.castboolits.gunloads.com, they know everything.

[Noz]

Make friends with telephone repairmen plumbers, roofers and tire shops. Repairmen for the lead sheathing around telephone cables, plumbers and roofers for discarded lead pipe and roofing and tire shops for wheel weights. Watch for hospital remodeling, old x-ray rooms are a wonderful source.
I started with an iron pot and a propane campstove. Still is an effective way to pour bullets.

No one has mentioned that this initial melting of the base metal is very smoky and stinky. For the initial melt, I put about a half an inch of clay based kitty litter on top of the metal. This will absorb a lot of the smoke and stink. You will need a ingot mold of some sort. Teflon coated muffin tins work well.

[john boy]

http://www.expertvillage.com/video-series/500_bullet-casting.htm
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BQY/is_4_49/ai_98124194/pg_1?tag=artBody;col1

[bear tooth billy]

for lead you can use old wheel weights from your local tire shop, I melt them in a big pot over a
turkey fryer, all the steel clips come to the top and are dipped off. then use a bit of parafin for flux
and stir it in good the junk will float to the top, keep doing this until you have good clean lead. I dip it into
1lb bars This works fine for cowboy shooting distances and if you get the right connections will be
cheap or free.


                         BTB

[Coal Creek Griff]

Well, I plunged in.  I bought the very basic equipment (mostly Lee due to my efforts to keep the cost down).  I acquired some alloy (from eBay and other sources) and tried casting over the weekend.  I was surprized at how well things went; Almost all of the bullets look good.  Of course, the proof is in the shooting, but I think I'm hooked now.

Thanks again for the pointers--more questions are sure to follow.

CC Griff