Why do you cast, or why dont you cast?

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

^^^ +1 on that. Plus, what is "affordable" for one person may not be for another. We are all in different financial situations.

[TXGunNut]

I couldn't buy bullets for my BPCR that worked as well as I thought they should. Fascinating process, wish I'd been forced into it many years ago. Work in the automotive business so WW's no biggie.

[CrustyFN]

Hi my name is Rusty and I'm a castaholic.

I cast because of the fun factor. I enjoy it as much as shooting and reloading. One of the best parts is always having bullets around ready to load. The money I save isn't a bad thing either.

[Lavid2002]

I started casting, its awesome.


Thanks for all the input.


I wonder what the soccer-mom driver (The one this ww lead came from) would say if she knew that lead from her fine automobile was being chucked down range at about 900 fps

-Dave

[hoytinak]

I don't cast or even reload at all that matter. I tried reloading for a little while but just didn't get into it and gave my reloading stuff to my father. For me it just wasn't worth my time and the saving's wasn't enough to justify my time either. I know alot of people that don't care about the savings but do it just for the fun of it, as it's just another hobby for them.....I'm not one of those people. I'd rather just go to the store and buy my factory ammo.

[Lavid2002]

Thats the other thing, if I was only doing it for the savings...this would suck. But its fun too. If I outgrow it someday I will sell the equipment and move on. But its fun for now, and I get to save money, AND I get to shoot a lot. Whats not to like?



-Dave

[sc928porsche]

How much you save when reloading really depends on what cartridge you are loading. Factory ammo for something like a 300WM runs in the the 30+ dollar range. When you can load premium bullets with better balistics than factory for about 12 dollars, it dosnt take long to pay for your equipment.

Second point is that once you have the equipment, about all you have to do to change cartridges is to purchace a set of dies.

Third point is what would be refered to as obsolete cartridges. They cant be purchaced any longer, but some can be made from other exhisting ones.

[Lavid2002]

Yum yum yum....


My cast from 2 days ago

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

I see a wrinkle..... J/K...that is a pile of fun!

[Lavid2002]

I know there are a couple of boolits in there with some wrinkled lube grooves, these guys are getting the alox anyways though. I loaded up 140 of these bad boys in front of some wolf primers, and 6 grains of unique. Cant wait to shoot my first pistol reloads!

[budman46]

all the reasons stated, plus i like having control of a crucial component...now if i could only produce powder and primers!

budman

[Elkins45]

I started casting because I stumbled across about 400 pounds of free pure linotype 22 years ago. I continue to cast because I really enjoy it. If you like to tinker with stuff then casting is just the hobby for you.

[lawboy]

For the guys whose time is just to valuable to spend casting, I hear you and I understand.
Thankfully, I am not in your shoes! I enjoy casting.
For the guys who feel it is too costly to get started in casting. I hear you and I understand.
Thankfully, I am not in your shoes. I made money getting into casting!
For the guys who think home cast bullets do not have the accuracy or terminal performance of jacketed or commercial cast bullets, I hear you and I understand.
Thankfully, my home cast bullets are plenty accurate and kill just dandy.
For the guys who think learning to cast and mix alloys is too complex and time consuming, I hear you and I understand.
Thankfully, I enjoy learning new things and have been able to find good information on the Internet and in books I collect.

I think it comes down to how much you shoot. I shoot handguns five days a week. I shoot up to 20k rounds a year. I am not poor by any stretch of the imagination but I mean, come on, I am no fool either. I am not going to buy all those bullets when I can cast them for free! Yes, it takes time but for my high volume guns (read that 1911s in 45acp) I can cast 10k bullets by casting every night for 4-5 days. if I fill my pot to 16lbs of lead, I can get 544 205grain bullets out of it. I can cast two pot fulls in 3hr with a 4-cavity mould, no problem. so, 1,088 bullets a night, 10 nights gives me almost 11K bullets. So that is three prime time shows a night that I did not waste my brain on for 10 nights and I have enough 45 bullets for the year.
Now the lead, all reclaimed scrap from the local indoor range. I smelt at least 4,000lbs a year into clean ingots in my side year without any difficulty. I maintain about 1,000lbs in reserve and sell the rest four about .90 per lb. That pays for primers and powder.

Getting my casting equipment together was not difficult. Spent two years buying estate lots and other listed reloading/casting stuff on craigslist. Kept what I wanted and sold the rest on Ebay. Netted about $8,000 a year doing it in addition to keeping a good $9,000 worth of equipment for myself. Bought some nice guns with that money and a @##$%&*( load of powder! haha.

You can't be lazy but man, if you are willing to do the work and enjoy this stuff more than TV and other leisurely activities, you can have your cake and shoot it too.

[reloader28]

Lawboy
For those of you that smelt that much lead, I hear you and I understand.
Unfortunatly, I dont smelt enough to sell. Partially cause I'm greedy. I do however make alot of boolits for myself, friends and family.(mainly me )

We do alot of shooting, and go fishing when we can, but the only time I watch TV is when I'm laying in bed.

[lawboy]

reloader28, I hear you! I sometimes have seller's remorse after sending some sap down the road with 500lbs of my good, clean ingots! But then, I look at those five crisp 100s and smile.

[kadima]

I started casting the bulletts for my Remington 1858 .36 basically because at the gun's shop they didn't always had .375 balls available.
Then I discovered that the casting die was 30 euro and the Hornady balls were 10 euro for the box of 100....
Therefore in just 300 bulletts I've repaid the cost of the die.Then the RO at my range has given me permission to scavenge for bulletts in the sand dune that works as a bullett stopper. Then I discovered (there is a thread about this in the blackpowder subforum) that FMJ bulletts are a perfect source of soft lead for muzzleloading. Then I discovered that casting is another gun related thing to do (one cannot be at the range all the time) and it so much fun....

Enough reasons?

K.

BTW, a .375 round ball weighs 5 metric grams. I collect a couple of kilograms of lead each week from the firing range... an endless supply for my needs...

[Edward429451]

Lavid do you see that boolit lower right that appears to have a hole in the base? That is a reject. It comes from not pouring a generous enough sprue. As the boolit cools it draws more lead down into the boolit from the sprue and fills out the base to perfection. When the sprue is not enough the boolit will have voids maybe be unbalanced and the weight will differ.

[Lavid2002]

Got it, Ill junk it next time

I have shot about 1,000 boolits so far out of the 1911 : )


Very fun!

Thanks guys