-My my understanding is that I need a lead pot caster. They have those at my nearby Cabelas. Where do you get lead ingots? Specific website like midway USA? I understand I also need casting flux?
-What tools and bullet molds are need for .58 cal? What lube sizing tools and dies are needed?
Casting bullets is pretty easy.
You will need a lead pot. I use a Lee 4-20 bottom-pour pot:
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/645810/lee-pro-4-20-lb-furnace-110-volt
As was noted, bottom pour pots tend to drip. You'll want a little tray under the pot to catch the drips (it will slowly build a little lead stalagmite if you let it) and dump the sprues.
But I find bottom pour to be much faster to operate and less prone to drips and splashes than using a ladle, but I have not done much ladling. The problem with bottom pour pots and hollow-base-cavity bullets like Minie balls is that if you try to pour the lead directly down the sprue hole into the mold you are almost always guaranteed to get a void or pocket at the top of the hollow base cavity core pin. Sometimes you can alleviate this problem by cocking the mold sideways as you start the pour, or even letting the stream of molten lead impact first on the sprue plate and then let it "slosh" down the hole into the mold.
But for some molds, there is no way to avoid voids other than using a ladle. When ladle-pouring, you start the pour with the mold
sideways, and then you slowly tip the mold and ladle upright together as the lead flows into the mold. In this way a void is avoided (hah).
I don't find that flux does much of anything so I don't bother fluxing anymore. I melt down pure lead and then give the pot a stir, scraping the sides of the pot, and any junk in the melt floats to the top and I skim it off. There is no benefit in continually skimming the pot; a lead oxide layer will form on the top of the melt and if you skim it off you are merely exposing fresh lead to oxidize and be ruined.
There are a variety of bullet molds available for .58 caliber. Lee makes cheap molds that include handles for about $25:
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/46...l-bullet-mold-575-500m-575-diameter-500-grain
However, the Lee mold is entirely aluminum and the aluminum core pin tends to gall against the aluminum mold halves in fairly short order.
Higher quality iron molds, or aluminum molds with iron core pins will give you less hassle, but cost 3-4 times as much.
For target shooting with 1:72 or thereabouts muskets, many people like shooting the RCBS-Hodgdon bullet:
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/49...n-north-south-skirmish-578-diameter-414-grain
I have had great success with this bullet in my Richmond Carbine with Hoyt barrel and my P1853 with Whitacre barrel. I have won many medals with it and off a bench at 50 yards with 44-46 grains of 3F it will blow a ragged hole in the paper.
However I have recently begun experimenting with the Moose Wilkinson:
http://moosemoulds.wix.com/mm2013#!wilkinson/c1msz
And it will be my new competition round:
http://imgur.com/a/q5DyO
Most competitors size their bullets to about .001"-002" undersize of their bores. Bore sizes vary and you cannot count on what is stamped on the barrel. You either have to measure with plug gauges or size bullets until you find the size that just fits and the next size up does not. With luck, you can shoot "as cast", without having to size, but sizing guarantees uniform sizes without regard to lead/mold temperature (which can affect drop-size) and perfect roundness.
You can buy push-through sizers rather cheaply that work with existing reloading stands or you can fix it in a vice and push bullets through with a dowel.
Then you dip-lube the bullets in lube melted on a hot plate.
Or you can lube and size in one go using a Lyman Lubrisizer:
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/65...let-sizer-and-lubricator-with-heater-110-volt
With suitable sizing dies available from S&S Firearms:
http://www.ssfirearms.com/proddetail.asp?prod=SA450
I make my lube using 50/50 Crisco/Beeswax. Many people will extol the virtues of this lube or that lube. And while
any change in a shooting configuration will affect accuracy, I don't think lube matters as much as a quality gun barrel and the powder charge and bullet size and weight.
Steve