Casting bullets with purchased alloy?

[ScottRiqui]

Do you have to scrounge for free lead to make bullet casting worthwhile? Any weight/style I'd be interested in casting can be had from any number of sources, so it's not as if I need to cast some hard-to-find bullet.

Looking at the price for casting alloy on the Missouri Bullet site and their price for .357 148 gr DEWC, the savings from casting instead of buying the bullets outright is only about a penny and a half per bullet.

Looking at buying alloy from someplace like Midway is even worse - I'd end up losing money by casting my own.

[TXGunNut]

Buy the cast bullets. If they work, great. If they don't, buy commercial or smelt your own until you learn to make an alloy that works for you. For me, store bought/mail order bullets didn't cut it for my BPCR. Pistol bullets are less demanding, Delta Precision (generally swaged) were very good last I checked, dozens of others are probably excellent as well. Midway's alloy was exactly as advertised and cast some excellent bullets for this casting newbie. Hardness was exactly what I'd hoped for and the alloy was almost trash-free.

[Doby45]

Here is the kicker... Let’s says you actually have to buy lead in "bullet" alloy or WW lead.

You can get 50lbs shipped for $52 from cast boolits forum sponsors.

50 X 7000 = 350,000gr

Now let’s say you’re casting 200gr SWC for a 45ACP, with the 50lbs you can cast 1,750 bullets.. Now of course you will have to lube them and POSSIBLY" size them. Each of these steps can be done quickly and cheaply.

Approx $125 for 1,750 Dardas Hardcast Lubed

Approx $120 for 1,750 Missouri Hardcast Lubed

$100 for 1,000 Precision "Black" bullets

And the list goes on and on. It is DEFINENTLY cheaper to cast your own IF you enjoy the process and have the time and desire to do it yourself.

The startup cost to cast can be either super cheap to very nice and expensive, much like reloading. Also, just like reloading, this is only a viable option if you shoot a lot. If you don't you are spending more money for less shooting.

EDIT: 50lbs of WW alloy will net you 2,364 148 bullets. And that alloy is available for approx $52.

[ScottRiqui]

Got it - I guess it's a matter of where I buy the alloy/lead. $1/pound is significantly cheaper than anything I had found so far, so that threw off all of my calculations.

Thanks!

[Doby45]

And the even better part is FREE alloy nets you WAY many more bullets. I am going to a friends car dealership this coming up weekend and picking up about 400lb for FREE.

That will make about 14,000 200gr SWC for 45ACP or almost 19,000 of your 148gr bullets. FREE...

[ScottRiqui]

Yeah - I know "free" is the way to go with lead/alloy, but all of the places I've called locally already have a recycling program in place. Maybe I just need to show up with an empty bucket and a $20 bill one day.

[Doby45]

You can also call your local scrap yards. It may not be "great" but depending on the mood of the people you can buy the scrap lead for .40-.70 a pound

[Sport45]

If you're thinking about casting to save money don't forget to include the energy costs to melt the lead. You have to melt it twice if you are scrounging rather than buying clean alloy.

If you are casting simply because you enjoy it or feel you're making a better bullet then ignore the energy cost the same as we freely ignore the other associated costs of reloading.