Getting into casting

[someoneeasy]

I'll take you up on that offer man, Garden Grove isn't that far for me for this type of experience.

Sounds good, whats your schedule look like?

[sghart]

It's too bad that you are in So Cal. If you are ever in the Sacramento area I would be happy to have you over for a casting session or two.

I cast for 45-70 as well as several other calibers. 45-70 is one of my favorites.


Steve in N CA

P.S. Stilly is perma-banned? I guess I can take another citizen off of my ignore list.

[RiskyBusiness]

It's too bad that you are in So Cal. If you are ever in the Sacramento area I would be happy to have you over for a casting session or two.

I cast for 45-70 as well as several other calibers. 45-70 is one of my favorites.


Steve in N CA

P.S. Stilly is perma-banned? I guess I can take another citizen off of my ignore list.

It's quickly become my favorite round and i haven't even shot at pumpkins or watermelons yet!

Yeah its a perma this time and sure the guy was rude here n there, he also was one of the first to give good reloading advice as long as you showed real interest in learning. oh well he'll probably get smuggled back in here with a VPN

[Whiterabbit]

Jesus Wabbit I'm going to need a few days to digest all that and give you a solid reply back if I have questions lol which I will

separated by post for ease of quoting and responding to.



I'm all about going in feet first and wading in the pool before going in deep.

[koehn,jim]

I am by no means an expert, but I will answer questions that I can. Castboolits has a lot of very good info. They are also a bunch of very nice people. If you want to pay the postage I can send you some 405 grain to try. They seem to shoot better for me than the 340 grain. I also shoot a lot of collar button loads. That is a light weight 45-70 load that is very easy on the shoulder. Before you buy any molds, you need to slug the barrel to see what diameter mold you need. There are several very good mold companies that make molds. I try to get all 4 and 6 cavity for ease of loading.

[Psychbiker]

cast iron pots and dutch ovens will last you a lifetime. you can use any metal pot, but the thinner ones will buckle and fail... Last thing you want is a pot failure...

For smelting, I cut a propane tank in half and use the bottom as my smelting pot. You DO NOT want to melt dirt lead in your casting pot. If you come across wheels weights or bulk lead and need to turn it into ingots, a dedicated smelting pot is needed.

A PID and a hot plate really help. Also, a toaster over so you can hitek coat power coat, either require baking. Don't forget sizing dies as the bullets that drop from the mold will likely be too big.

It's a process.

[RiskyBusiness]

I am by no means an expert, but I will answer questions that I can. Castboolits has a lot of very good info. They are also a bunch of very nice people. If you want to pay the postage I can send you some 405 grain to try. They seem to shoot better for me than the 340 grain. I also shoot a lot of collar button loads. That is a light weight 45-70 load that is very easy on the shoulder. Before you buy any molds, you need to slug the barrel to see what diameter mold you need. There are several very good mold companies that make molds. I try to get all 4 and 6 cavity for ease of loading.

Oops i already ordered the Lee 457-F-405 mold with the 457 sizer. I read its best to go with a size 1-2 thousandths above your bore size. Well it was from Amazon so i can easily return them at no cost if this doesnt work out. About slugging, i'll check out some vids tonight. Ill pm you about the 405's

[TexasJackKin]

Yup, I'm giving serious consideration to getting back into casting, spending more and more time over at cast boolits, where by the way, you can still read some of Stilly's wisdom...

[Whiterabbit]

Oops i already ordered the Lee 457-F-405 mold with the 457 sizer. I read its best to go with a size 1-2 thousandths above your bore size. Well it was from Amazon so i can easily return them at no cost if this doesnt work out. About slugging, i'll check out some vids tonight. Ill pm you about the 405's

the mold will be great. Forget about returns.

Use the 2-cavs to screen what you want. Also, get on cast boolits and buy single cavity steel molds. $35-45 a pop, and let you screen bullet designs without investing in multi-cav molds.

Find what you like, then buy the same bullet in a 4-6 cavity mold. Keep the 2-cav, you never know.

I size to what chambers. In your case, I'd buy another 457 (or a 458 if available) and hone it open so bullets sized are bigger. Goal is to get them to fit the throats so hey engrave straight.

But really, just shoot a couple hundred in load-dev sized to 457 with the lube you chose and see how you do. No need to get complicated if you're shooting bug holes at 50 and hammering the steels at 100. Only if you have issues start messing with the sizing, lube, mold design, etc.

[bruce381]

whiterabbit is correct and when you get my age then you be casting in flip flops with no shirt oh yeah I'm and idiot, I even run with scissors LOL