Hey JNestle,
Getting into casting bullets will cost some money. It can be very expensive if you start out with all the bells and whistles, but it can also be a lot more reasonable if you start out on a shoestring. I have a Lyman Mag 20 with a bottom pour, a whole bunch of Lyman and RCBS steel moulds including four cavity moulds, a Lyman Lubrisizer with dies & punches for all my calibers, tool sets to make my own gas checks, and probably some other things I can't think of right now. Believe me, I have a lot of money tied up in bullet casting.
However, I didn't start with all those things. I started with a Lyman two-cavity mould, a Lyman 8 pound flat bottom pot, a Lyman mould pouring handle, a Coleman gas fired camp stove to melt the lead alloy, a wood hand axe handle to open the bullet moulds, and the most expensive item - a Lyman Lubrisizer to size and lube bullets. I spent more than 20 years casting with the old pot on the Coleman stove, but I finally spent the money for the bottom pour Lyman Mag 20 electric furnace. Which do I prefer? The bottom pour furnace, of course. However, I can still go back to the old pot and make good cast bullets if I have to. One thing to consider - do not use an axe handle to open moulds any more. Buy one of those cheap nylon or plastic headed hammers at Harbor freight. They do a good job, do not hurt the moulds, and seem to last forever.
As far as your "how to" book for casting bullets goes, it is the Lyman Cast Bullet manual. It isn't cheap, but no loading manuals are cheap. It is, however, a wealth of knowledge about casting bullets over the past 200 years, and it also includes a ton of reloading data for cast bullets.
As I stated earlier, I use Lyman and RCBS steel moulds. You can buy aluminum moulds from Lee for peanuts compared to steel moulds. Back in 2001 I bought a Lee mould for my new Marlin 1895 Cowboy 45-70. I tried for several weeks to use the Lee mould and never did like the bullets they made. Besides, I prefer gas checks for rifle bullets, and the Lee mould did not allow for a gas check. I sold the cheap Lee mould and spent a lot of money to buy two RCBS moulds that both cast bullets designed to use gas checks. I know lots of folks swear by Lee moulds, but they are not for me. While they are a cheaper way to get started, I would still recommend sizing and lubing bullets with a Lubrisizer machine like Lyman and RCBS make. The Lyman and RCBS dies and punches for the Lubrisizer are interchangeable.
Best wishes,
Dave Wile
