praetorian97
New member
Anyone list the cons of casting your own pistol bullets?
Lead Casting
- Thread starter praetorian97
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m&p45acp10+1
New member
Cons you will find yourself going from tire shop to tire shop. Going to the ghetto rims for rent places asking to buy buckets of scrap wheel weights.
You will spend time near a pot of 600 plus degree metal casting.
You will find yourself wondering if you should spend the money on a lubrisizer, or using a Lee push through sized with Liquid Allox, (AKA "mule snot")
You will wind up with piles of cast bullets seeking more cases, and primers, and powder so you can load them.
You will spend more on range fees, more on gas going to the range more often, and then buying more guns to cast for.
You will spend time near a pot of 600 plus degree metal casting.
You will find yourself wondering if you should spend the money on a lubrisizer, or using a Lee push through sized with Liquid Allox, (AKA "mule snot")
You will wind up with piles of cast bullets seeking more cases, and primers, and powder so you can load them.
You will spend more on range fees, more on gas going to the range more often, and then buying more guns to cast for.
David Bachelder
New member
+ on m&p45acp10+1's post.
chris in va
New member
Casting is a whole other hobby unto itself. If you don't shoot a lot, don't bother.
However if you don't want to be tied down to factory ammo availability or FMJ prices, by all means consider casting. Very little ammo was available back in '09 and I was happily making hundreds of my own projectiles. Wheelweights are getting harder to find though with the lead WW ban.
I cast for x39, 9mm and 45.
Please understand one more thing. Lead bullets (boolits) aren't the same as FMJ. They have to be sized properly, lubed/dried and loaded differently. If you don't want to fuss with all this, don't do it.
However if you don't want to be tied down to factory ammo availability or FMJ prices, by all means consider casting. Very little ammo was available back in '09 and I was happily making hundreds of my own projectiles. Wheelweights are getting harder to find though with the lead WW ban.
I cast for x39, 9mm and 45.
Please understand one more thing. Lead bullets (boolits) aren't the same as FMJ. They have to be sized properly, lubed/dried and loaded differently. If you don't want to fuss with all this, don't do it.
Fumes, what fumes??¿! Do you mean smoke? Or do you mean lead vapor? There's no lead vapor as long as the molten lead is not ABOVE 1200 degrees. Normal casting is done in the 7-800 degree ranges, well below the temp necessary to produce lead vapors.
Smoke can be produced while fluxing,(cleaning the molten alloy), but it's no more harmful than breathing smoke from a campfire.
praetorian97
New member
Are there huge weight (GR) consistency issues from bullet to bullet?
m&p45acp10+1
New member
If you cast right then the variance of weight from bullet to bullet is relatively small amount.
For example my 405 grain mold for 45-70 drops bullets at 394 to 397 grains. Most being in the middle at 395 and some change. With my shooting I would never be able to tell the difference anyway.
For example my 405 grain mold for 45-70 drops bullets at 394 to 397 grains. Most being in the middle at 395 and some change. With my shooting I would never be able to tell the difference anyway.
On the weight issue , the smaller the bullet the smaller the tolerance.
For 150gr.+ bullets I use the 3% rule ,I never see a difference.
If ya cast hot you`ll get a little frosting on the bullet this makes em more consistent , so consistent I don`t weigh very many any more .
For 150gr.+ bullets I use the 3% rule ,I never see a difference.
If ya cast hot you`ll get a little frosting on the bullet this makes em more consistent , so consistent I don`t weigh very many any more .
reloader28
New member
+1 Snuffy. No lead fumes, only fluxing smoke.
Once you get into a good smooth rythem, you'll be amazed how consistant you're bullets will weigh out. If not, throw them back in the pot and remelt, but I usually get as much consistancy as factory jacketed bullets. I know because I weigh both and on the average, my bullets are more consistant straight from the mold than a box from the store.
Once you get into a good smooth rythem, you'll be amazed how consistant you're bullets will weigh out. If not, throw them back in the pot and remelt, but I usually get as much consistancy as factory jacketed bullets. I know because I weigh both and on the average, my bullets are more consistant straight from the mold than a box from the store.
I just got finished casting some 1oz 12g slugs and without tooting my own horn these are the nicest I have done to date! All weights were 1.043-1.045oz and beautiful!
I have to order some more molds soon. I would like to load some for the 10mm but a new barrel will have to come first.
I have to order some more molds soon. I would like to load some for the 10mm but a new barrel will have to come first.
The biggest downside to pouring my own has been which mold to purchase next, some aren't so cheap, but they sure are great to work with.
Other than that finding a source of lead was my other downfall. In my area there are others who have been at it for quite some time and already have the sources all tied up. Meaning the newbie (me) don't stand a chance of weaseling in on their wheel weights. So I ended up purchasing most of the ally I have. It wasn't as bad as it sounds really as it for the most part cost around a buck a pound delivered to my front porch. With the price of gas being what it has been it is still cheaper than me driving around town to "possibly" get half a bucket of WW.
Other than that, I use the Lee push through sizers, and I use a mix of the LLA lube that comes with those sizing kits on all of my bullets. I have used it straight but found the blended version MUCH easier to deal with and quicker to boot.
Other than that finding a source of lead was my other downfall. In my area there are others who have been at it for quite some time and already have the sources all tied up. Meaning the newbie (me) don't stand a chance of weaseling in on their wheel weights. So I ended up purchasing most of the ally I have. It wasn't as bad as it sounds really as it for the most part cost around a buck a pound delivered to my front porch. With the price of gas being what it has been it is still cheaper than me driving around town to "possibly" get half a bucket of WW.
Other than that, I use the Lee push through sizers, and I use a mix of the LLA lube that comes with those sizing kits on all of my bullets. I have used it straight but found the blended version MUCH easier to deal with and quicker to boot.
Biggest con? Labor. Casting bullets is WORK, and a lot of it.
Now if it's a labor of love, thats one thing. But for me, I usually buy them already cast.
Greatest pro? The ability to get exactly the bullet you WANT. Most commercial casters only offer a very limited selection of bullet types and weights. They HAVE to, in order to make any money.
Now if it's a labor of love, thats one thing. But for me, I usually buy them already cast.
Greatest pro? The ability to get exactly the bullet you WANT. Most commercial casters only offer a very limited selection of bullet types and weights. They HAVE to, in order to make any money.
Well there is some truth to that for sure. I find it isn't anymore involved than the rest of what I do.
I mean in most cases when I set up to smelt down a large batch of alloy into ingots, the worst of it is dragging everything out and then putting it back up again. Even that isn't much real work as it is usually only a couple of pieces of plywood my burner and pot. Just about all of it never moves more than 10 feet from where I store it.
As for the bullet casting it's self, I plug in my main cord, stack 5-8 bars of alloy into the pot and come back in half an hour. Or in that half an hour I sit there cleaning up molds, lubing pins, and setting up pans to dump the bullets into. Once I am done casting I unplug the main cord and let the pot cool, I also will let the pans of bullets sit overnight, then I sit in front of the TV the next night and look for blems which go back into the pot. While I am sorting I box up what I have poured and label them accordingly. They usually have at least a two to three week wait before I size and load them anyway so there isn't much rush. With a 2 cavity mold I can easily dump out a couple of hundred bullets in sitting with out feeling the least bit fatigued, but with the 4 or 6 cavity mold, I can REALLY dump some bullets out in a VERY short time. The hardest part with them is keeping the pot filled with up to temp alloy.
Lubing and sizing is a breeze. I toss the amount I want to load into my lube bag, (simply a LG vacuum seal bag), toss in a chunk of the lube I use, warm it all up with a hair drier and roll the bullets around for a few minutes and pour out to cool. Once cool I run them through a Lee push through sizer and they are ready to go back through the lube bag once again before loading. This all take around 20 minutes from start to finish for a hundred or so bullets.
Compared to what I do on my brass this isn't work at all. Prepping 3-500 cases to load IS work. First the tumble and cleaning out all of the media, then sizing, then the trimming, then the champhering, then the primer pockets, then back through the tumbler to clean off the lube and a final polish before loading.
m&p45acp10+1
New member
The hardest part of my casting is unloading the bucket of wheel weights from the back of the truck. I transfer it to smaller 2 gal. wash pails to carry to the house. Much easier that way.
Now I will admit casting outside in the Texas summer is a hot chore. Only hope of doing that without melting like the lead is to do it in the early morning, or late evening.
Now I will admit casting outside in the Texas summer is a hot chore. Only hope of doing that without melting like the lead is to do it in the early morning, or late evening.
dagger dog
New member
Starting out trying to learn the casting process strictly from the written word can be done and a useable boolits can be made,but plan on returning the better part of your casting session to the pot.
Pictures are worth 1000 words but it's not like having someone standing with you showing you the pitfalls.
Dipper and bottom pour techniques are quite different.
Don't try starting with 4 or 6 cavity,or 22-25 caliber moulds, they are better left to when you have been at it a while.
Pictures are worth 1000 words but it's not like having someone standing with you showing you the pitfalls.
Dipper and bottom pour techniques are quite different.
Don't try starting with 4 or 6 cavity,or 22-25 caliber moulds, they are better left to when you have been at it a while.
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Xfire68, are those slugs made with the Lee? And did you use "pure" lead as per the directions? I've been looking to do something with my several hundred pounds of stick-on wheel weights I've been saving for the last few years. I was also considering trying that purer alloy for the Lee buckshot molds too.
reloader28
New member
HA, I was thinking of going the other way and using zinc for buckshot.