casting bullets

E

Ernest II

New member
What all is needed for casting my own lead bullets? DO I really need a sizer? I have only poured round balls for muzzel loading.Im looking at the Lyman kit with furnace,, two books,, ladle,,ingot mold and sizing lubes.Other than this and my moulds and mould handles what other equipment is needed? Would I be better off to just try and stock up on bullets or get into making my own.Gas checks are something elase I would I guess.
Daryl P.
 
You can start casting pretty easily. I got started with a Lyman 429421 mold and a Lee furnace and hand held bullet sizer. It was slow going but I loved making those shiny bullets out of (then) free wheel weights. Years later after becoming friends with a man that was a manager of a Goodyear store I got me a bottom pour Lee furnace, some more molds, and Lyman 450 sizer lubricator. I got 5 gallon buckets (heavy!) of wheel weights for free so I cast and shot a lot of bullets back then. Lots and lots. Shot every day on the 6 acres that I lived on. I got to be a decent shot I think.

If you want to use gas checks you will have to use a mold that makes bullets with a heel for them. I never saw the use for them that much as I kept my speeds to around 900 fps or so. Anything higher I would use jacketed bullets.

Other than a bit of smoke and smell casting is pretty fun. I got kind of tired of it after a few yearsand started using store bought cast bullets. I no longer have access to free lead anymore (who does?) but if I did I think I would enjoy casting again. I still got all the stuff so why not?
 
You should size them. They don't always come out of the mold perfectly round and the diameter varies depending on the alloy and casting temperature, and the sizer will true them all up.

Sounds like you've got everything else you need already.
 
Ernest,
One thing I wil say. When I was a younger man I used to compete in Police Combat PPC matches and used to cast thousands of 38 Special caliber bullets out of FREE wheel weights back in the 80's. They are good for paper but they are not good for hunting. Wheel weights are way to hard for animals. So if you're doing it for hunting, then you need to get pure lead. Don't get me wrong the wheel weight bullets will kill but they kinda work like full metal jackets, they don't mushroom much. Just wanted to tell you that.
 
you can run non-gascheck bullets alot faster than 900 fps. i have run some cast bullets at 2200 fps with no checks. the alloy has to be right, and the size has to be right. the biggest mistake is people size the bullets too small. second biggest mistake is lead that is too hard.
for my 44 revolvers, i like a bullet size .431.

my 357 rifle really likes as cast bullets about .359
 
Ernest .... Casting and shooting your own bullets is a very rewarding and enjoyable part of the shooting sports. Around 1969 I purchased my first handgun. It was a Colt Trooper MK III in 357 Mag. A few days later my father handed me a box that contained a Lyman 358156 mold and told me that if I was going to learn how to shoot that thing that I better learn how to use that bullet mold. I have been casting for many different firearms ever since and for most purposes I prefer my cast bullets over jacketed bullets. Here is a link to a site that has an immeasureable amount of information about boolit casting. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/forum.php.
 
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