.40 S&W - Bullet casting, Worth my time?

[William.c.leach]

I recently got into reloading about 6 or so months back, I know great time for it huh.... Right now I only reload my .40 S&W, but at some point I want to start reloading my 30-30. I have a very good supply of primers, cases, and powder, the only thing I dont have a great supply of is bullets. Its been hard for me to find many bullets at a reasonable price so I have been toying with the idea of casting my own lead bullets. My initial figures are that it will cost me around $300 to get into casting, initially. Then I will over time spend a couple hundred dollars each year to update and get new stuff or just add something cool. When I go shooting, I usually shoot between 150 and 300 rounds on average. It depends if anyone is with me, if I'm shooting a paper target or practical, which guns I brought, if I'm hungry, and so on.

What my question is, for those of you that cast your own, would it be worth my investment and time to cast my own bullets? I know it would be cool and very worth while to learn this as a new skill, but I am looking at it from a practicality stand point for right now.

[Corbin Dallas]

Casting is fun but cost effective only in bulk. Also consider your time and chemicals cleaning the barrel plus lead exposure.

I have run lead only bullets before but now use moly coated lead.

Cleaning the barrel is a snap. No lead fouling and no lead vapor or contact with my skin.

Ill pay for moly bullets and save my time and health for a little extra cash.

Just my .02

[gemoose23]

If you have a source for Lead, then you can calculate your costs.

1 Lb of Lead (7000 grains) would make est. 40-175gr bullets, about 2 cents per bullet if you buy wheel weight ignots for a buck a pound. Add some lube cost in there.. +/- 3 cents per.

There is a local guy next to me that sells his cast bullets for $40 bucks per 500, approx 7.5 cents per bullet. So only you can answer if casting is for you.

If you haven't checked it out, read up over at http://castboolits.gunloads.com/forum.php.

[Whiterabbit]

Casting is fun and ALWAYS cost effective financially, bulk or not bulk.

Period.

but you have to value your time. Casting is not cost effective for me in bulk because my time is too valuable these days with a baby. But 100-300 rounds here and there its a no brainer.

What really makes it valuable is being insulated from the market for rounds that will only get shot at 100 yards anyways.

I'm frequently in the shop casting 50-100 bullets. Trying a new technique I read about online, making fodder for a new lube or gas check, trying out a new sizer.

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I don't know about 40 S&W but I know that money can't buy the bullets I am using in my 460 S&W. Casting my own is almost the only way I can shoot the loads I want.

Not to mention that bullet selection sucks if you want to shoot cast from a rifle like 22, 7mm, 6.5mm, etc. But expand selection to include molds and you have a WIDE selection of projectiles.

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I shoot less than you do. But already due to casting I have stopped shooting jacketed projectiles entirely. For ALL of my guns. I only shoot cast lead and copper solids. That's it!

That insulation from the market is really nice!

[Lead Waster]

Wait, how do you get $300 for casting setup?

Lee 20 lb melting pot about $60
Lee 6 cavity mold in .40 S&W $40
Lee handle for mold $15

that's $115 to start casting lead .40 S&W.

if you want to get even cheaper, use the 2 cavity mold and that means $20 for the mold (with handles) which is $80 for melter and mold.

Lube? that's like $5 for some liquid alox.

Time and to some extent electricity is the intanglible. Lead, figure a bit more than $1/lb.

[Lead Waster]

OP, I see your topic question was "Worth my time?".

I guess that's up to you.

[William.c.leach]

Wait, how do you get $300 for casting setup?

Lee 20 lb melting pot about $60
Lee 6 cavity mold in .40 S&W $40
Lee handle for mold $15

that's $115 to start casting lead .40 S&W.

if you want to get even cheaper, use the 2 cavity mold and that means $20 for the mold (with handles) which is $80 for melter and mold.

Lube? that's like $5 for some liquid alox.

Time and to some extent electricity is the intanglible. Lead, figure a bit more than $1/lb.

And a book or two about casting, then the sizing die, then another ammo can to store the lead and jacketed apart, build a small bench for outside.

[Whiterabbit]

it all adds up. There are always incidentals. $300 is a good budget to work with, intending to spend $115 to start with.

[rsrocket1]

Sizing die is $20
No need for a book. This is free. The castboolits.com site is priceless. Lots of other resources for free (well, not free if your time is too valuable, but I consider this a hobby, so taking the time to learn things is valuable to me).

I use a folding card table with a plywood board for the top and on old computer sidewall to catch any lead splashes or if there is a major leak.

Set up time out in the backyard is about 20 minutes and the lead is heating up during most of that time. Casting sessions are typically 1-2 hours and clean up is another 10 minutes. In that time I easily cast 500-1000 bullets with my 6 cavity Lee mold. I do 9mm, 357, 40 and 45 usually just one caliber at a session. I cast about 5000 .401 bullets last year and shot 'em all through my M&P 40. That lead cost me about $100 so each round was about $0.05 each which is not a whole lot more than 22LR.

I would definitely say casting is worth it. But if you have no time for it, you can always shoot less, pay more and sometimes have to go without shooting because you ran out of ammo.

[gemoose23]

Lee handle for mold $15

I'd for some Lee Handles in Stock!

[Whiterabbit]

Cant find any?

[koehn,jim]

The biggest advantage to casting your own is supply. I have molds for most of my rifles and all my handguns. During the current shortage I have not had any problem getting bullets to shoot. Another advantage is you will often use rifle powders that most people dont use for jacketed loads so you can get powder. If you take simple precautions you will get no more lead exposure than you do at the range. Cost wise if you shoot handgun you may not need gas checks so casting is cheap. I load for my 44 mag and figure each bullet to shoot is 6 cents plus powder and primer. I cant really tell you if its worth it to you but it is too me. I get a lot of satisfaction out of shooting bullets that I have cast. You can also tailor the bullets to your weapon, hardness dia of finished round.

[nothing4u]

Sizing die is $20
No need for a book. This is free. The castboolits.com site is priceless. Lots of other resources for free (well, not free if your time is too valuable, but I consider this a hobby, so taking the time to learn things is valuable to me).

I use a folding card table with a plywood board for the top and on old computer sidewall to catch any lead splashes or if there is a major leak.

Set up time out in the backyard is about 20 minutes and the lead is heating up during most of that time. Casting sessions are typically 1-2 hours and clean up is another 10 minutes. In that time I easily cast 500-1000 bullets with my 6 cavity Lee mold. I do 9mm, 357, 40 and 45 usually just one caliber at a session. I cast about 5000 .401 bullets last year and shot 'em all through my M&P 40. That lead cost me about $100 so each round was about $0.05 each which is not a whole lot more than 22LR.

I would definitely say casting is worth it. But if you have no time for it, you can always shoot less, pay more and sometimes have to go without shooting because you ran out of ammo.

What alloy/hardness are using for the .40?

I'd for some Lee Handles in Stock!

Me too. I had them on back order since the beginning of Feb. I just had everything on the back order for lead casting released from back order and shipped monday. I had expected the handles to ship April which I got an email today saying it got pushed to June....... http://www.mp-molds.com does have the handles shipped for 32 bucks, but it's coming across the Atlantic.

[koehn,jim]

Rsrocket1 those are some pretty bullets what mold are you using.

[Solus]

Wheel weights will be fine for 40s&w