Anybody Cast Their Own Bullets?

[Chills1994]

Howdie,

I've been kicking around the idea of casting my own bullets for a few years now.

It looks like if a person went with Lee or Lyman stuff, bullets could be cast on the cheap.

Would casting be worth while, or too much of a hassle?

Thanks,

Chills

[George]

When you can buy high quality pre-made at $30-40 a thousand, it just doesn't make sense unless it's the process that you want to enjoy ;-)

[AzShooter]

I cast for all my black powder rifles but wouldn't even think about it for my pistol shooting.

It's not bad to cast 100 - 200 at a time but beyond that it gets boring. Then, at least I don't have to size them for the BP rifles, I just put them in a container and pure melted lube in and pull them out when it's hard.

You have to size and lube your pistol bullets. That doubles the time it takes to make them just so they are ready for your gun.

If you don't shoot a lot it's not bad to do but if you shoot a few thousand rounds a month you are better off buying your cast bullets in my opinion.

[Kingman]

one word don't

You can't buy quality lead alloy for the price most ppl are selling for. As casters we would buy 20k lbs at a time to be able to sell them for the price we do.

[DMS42]

There are several ways to cast your own bullets. The cheap way is melting the lead in a pot on a stove (I would NOT use the kitchen stove) or heating plate. Then use a lead dipper to pour the molten lead into the mold. You can buy a lead casting furnace with a thermostat control and either pour from the bottom or use a lead dipper.

If you are planning on casting lots of bullets you could have several different molds to use at the same time. This way the molds have a less chance of getting to hot to cast good bullets.

After your casting is done, you need to size and lube the bullets. Again there are several methods--from simple pour the lube in a pan or spray lube or a sizer-luber. There are 2 types of sizer-lubers. One is the Lyman type that you size-lube on the downstroke then remove the bullet after completing the upstroke. The other is the Star type that sizes-lubes on the down stroke, but the bullet remains in the sizer-luber on the upstroke and is pushed out with the next bullet. You can also buy a heater that heats the lube. This allows you to use harder lube.

All said and done, it is a long process to cast, size/lube a couple thousand bullets. Then too, is the lead alloy. You can use straight wheel weights or some other sort of alloy or buy ready made alloy.

After you're all done you'll have spent many hours at the project. I have a lead furnace, use several molds and a Star sizer/luber and have cast many thousands. It takes me about two hours to cast 20 lbs. which gives me about 700 bullets that need to be inspected and sorted prior to running them through the luber. Some go back into the alloy, some are used for practice and the rest for matches.

I no longer cast for anything other than cowboy action. I only cast during nice weather when I can set up outside. If you cast indoors you MUST have good ventilation. You should also wear long sleeved shirts, long pants and gloves. And to really get away from the lead fumes you should wear a mask that will filter lead (very expensive). Once you are done casting, then you strip the outer clothing off and wash them right away.

Lead is not nice to your body or mind. If you have childern or want to have childern the futher away you keep the lead the better.

Usually there is someone close by that sells cast bullets that you can buy cheaper than the big outfits (Zero, Laser Cast, etc.). These usually are as good or almost as good.

Buy your cast bullets and use the time saved to go to the range for practice. Besides by the time you buy all the top of the line casting equipment you'll have spent $1,000.00 or more and that will buy a lot of bullets.

[dajarrel]

I agree with George. It's not something you would want to do unless you really enjoy it.

I take spells. Sometimes I'll just need to sit down and focus my mind on a singular idea and casting bullets gives me that focal point. Just forget everything else.

Plenty of ventilation, and less than a $100 investment and you can be casting bullets. Read up on it. There are several books on the market.

FWIW

dj

[Azone41]

I used to casy my 45 bullets, years ago when I was poor. But your time is worth something and its much easier to just buy them. If you want to buy some equip I have a 20lb furnace,Lube sizer and H&G 68 (200 grn SWC) mold w/handle I would sell pretty cheap

[Kingman]

I can turn out about 5,000 an hour with no problem but you know what. I still shoot jacketed, and am selling the business. That should tell you something.

[Chills1994]

Thanks for responding.

I saw a friend of mine at a gun show recently. He does a lot of Cowboy Action Shooting and casts his own bullets. I think he is just shooting .38's, not some rare cowboy caliber. But then again he is retired and probably has lots of time on his hands.

Maybe one day I'll scrounge around for the stuff I need.

Chills

[pdg45acp]

Thanks for responding.

I saw a friend of mine at a gun show recently. He does a lot of Cowboy Action Shooting and casts his own bullets. I think he is just shooting .38's, not some rare cowboy caliber. But then again he is retired and probably has lots of time on his hands.

Maybe one day I'll scrounge around for the stuff I need.

Chills

I'm burning 8,000+ rounds of 45acp in IPSC/USPSA, 3 gun and IDPA practice and matches a year.. Not a big deal until I retired on half my salary,,

So,, now I'm casting my own bullets..

It's just another hobby...

It's fun.. I can cast and lube 1000 rounds of 225 or 230 gr RN 45 acp for less than $15/1000.. and that includes equipment depreciation..

The secret is to get your lead as cheap as you can and only buy used equipment on EBAY..

But.. you have to be retired to do it... It's not a hobby for people who don't have the time to enjoy it.. Just like reloading..

[JFD]

As has already been said, casting and sizing/lubing is very time consuming.

I personally enjoy it, but I'm getting tired of scrounging lead.

I'm casting bullets for my .45s with a pair of 6 cavity moulds, so it doesn't take that long to cast a couple K. I've cast some for my .40, but won't use many of these due to the smoke.

Unless you blow the big bucks for a Lyman or RCBS bottom pour pot (the Lee is fine), you'll pay off your equipment very quickly.

I'm using some lube I got from e-bay now, and my cost for 1000 bullets is around $5 - $7. Shipping for store bought cast bullets is more than that...

The thing is that you have got to have the time available to cast/size/lube. I'm starting to run out of time these days, but will try and mine the berms at the club soon so I can cast a few thousand .45s for my wife.

[blackdragon]

The risk of lead poisoning makes it not worth it! My lead level stays at 12, I haven't cast bullets in 20+ years. Just from the handling and shooting.

Ivan

[Merlin Orr]

Heavy metal scares me... Bad stuff. (insert thumbs down icon)

[hipps]

Can someone suggest what alloy is best for casting 40 or 45 rounds moving at about 850 f/s? Is linotype the best?

KW

[Ray_Z]

I've been casting my own bullets for 30 years. I started out with a lead pot on the stove. Now I use a Lyman furnace, Lyman 4 cavity molds, (2 at a time) and a star luber sizer. I have a ventelation system that surrounds the pot on 3 sides. I do this for many reasons.

I have two sons that like to shoot. Before they go to the club, they stop at dad's house. When they leave they usually have 3-4 thousand rounds of ammo with them.

I shoot 10-15 thousand rounds of 40 a year. ( 38 super is too fast for cast bullets)

I can't buy bullets as hard as the ones I cast. The metal I use is just recycled wheel weights that come out of the mold and right into a bucket of water. This surface hardens them. Hard bullets + good bullet lube + no leading and good accuracy.

I'm a tight wad old German that likes to save money.

Casting is an extention of my shooting. Usually in the Winter I spend a lot of time casting.

Initial expense is high. But you recoop it fast.

[jmorris]

In my quest to make my shooting better/faster, without spending too much money, I decided to give bullet casting a try. I knew from watching a friend cast fishing weights, I needed a new angle. After little research I came across Magma Engineering. The company sells a very high volume casting machine (19,000hr) and a slower one called the Master Caster they said would do 500-800an hr. So I looked at the pictures they had and dusted off my drafting scale. The machine is based on a cast aluminum frame (which I couldn’t make) and was manually operated (which I didn’t want), but it didn’t seem overly complicated. So I ordered a set of molds from them for 230grn LRN .45. I made a melting pot from 7” round pipe with 3/8” wall, it’ll hold just under 60# of lead (1750 bullets worth). Wrapped it with a new (a used one doesn’t like to bend) 3500-watt oven element I got from the Sears repair center ($9.47). I had a few Yokogawa PID controllers, so I used one of them for my thermostat. I hooked the controller to a 12v dc actuated 230v ac solid state relay. I was then melting wheel weights. I soon covered the element with .045 stainless steel to keep the heat in and off my face. Once I got the bullet mold ($65 & almost three months later) I built a frame out of 1”X1” .095 mild steel. I used double split set collars (2.25 ea.) to hold the oil lite bearings (1.14 ea.), for the main shaft (3/4” OD); this will provide easy maintenance in the future. The mold carriers were machined from 1” solid stock. I rolled ½” solid rod for the guide rods to hold the mold shut. Sections of 5/16 24tpi all thread were used on the sides for adjustment. I decided that sitting around pushing a lever (to let the lead flow), and pulling a handle (to throw the bullets out of the mold) might get in the way of some “quality time”. So I went through my stuff and came up with a gear reduced motor that ran at 4rpm. With two bullets in the mold this came out to 480 bullets an hour, about right. Then I hooked a solenoid to an arm that pulled a ¼ stainless steel rod from the bottom of the pot; a ¼ 20 bolt can be adjusted for the amount of flow. Under the pot I milled a slot that diverted the molten lead to the stainless steel orifice plate that has two holes in it the correct distance to hit the center of the mold holes. The solenoid is controlled by a home made timer (duration of flow) using a 555 integrated circuit (from Radio Shack). I can adjust the pour time from 0 to 10 seconds with 10 turns from a 0-1meg ohm potentiometer (1 sec a turn). This fine adjustment is needed for the sprue (part above the actual bullet/s) to fill properly without spilling over. A double pole single throw switch controls the whole process. When the actuating arm hits the switch, the timer, with a double pole double throw relay, stops the motor while simultaneously pouring lead. As soon as the timer stops the flow of lead the motor begins to drive the mold down, cutting the sprue then hitting two pieces of angle iron that split the mold apart, dropping the sprue into one divider and the bullets into another. Then the process begins again. I found a fan is needed to keep the mold cool enough for the 480 rnd an hour pace, in summer heat. I also added an extra timer for a cool down pause (1-30secs), after the mold opens, to further cool if needed for 350 + grn bullets. The last addition (not in photos) were two 12vdc solenoids to tap the mold carriers, to knock a bullet out if it happens to get stuck. It’s still not finished out, but you can see how it works.

After a few hours of playing with my new toy, I had quite a pile of bullets. They were though, a few thousands over .452. I looked at the sizers available and again they were slow or expensive. A trip to CDC surplus got me a 3” pneumatic ram with integral limit switches for $25. I machined a sizing die from stainless steel. Mounted it all to a piece of 3/8” plate steel. I used a double split set collar to hold the sizing die in place, this will allow for different calibers. I machined a piece of brass that threaded into the ram to drive the bullet through the die. I made a bullet carrier from UHMW to carry the unsized bullets from a feed tube to the mouth of the die. The carrier rides in an aluminum housing that has a momentary switch on the end. When the carrier goes in, far enough for the bullet to drop in the die, it hits the switch that drives the ram down to it’s limit then back up. After this process the bullets are perfect .452. I am still experimenting with different bullet lubes; however, I have been using a water based dry lube for forming steel that seems to work well (just dip and let dry).

One interesting thing, I can, by changing the alloy of the bullets, make anywhere from 210grn to 240grn bullets from the same mold.

As for saving $, using range brass, Nobel Sport BA 10 and Win primers 1000 rounds sets me back $21.

Edited January 6, 2006 by jmorris

[Vlad]

Dude .... You rock.

[GENE S]

Keep a close watch on your lead levels in your blood. Between 25 and 30 is save, I stopped casting lead bullets when mine reached 85. Copper clad is the only way to go. You must wear a mask and gloves when handaling the material.

Gene

[Chills1994]

Yeah jmorris, you rock!

You should try getting a patent on that thing.

I likey!

Now let's see what you can do for automating the brass striping.

Here is the thread I started a while back.

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?...topic=25148&hl=

If that doesn't work for you, you can always try a search using the key words brass striper or my screen name.

Nice looking set up you got there.

Can all that stuff run automatically w/o being tended to the whole time?

Chills

[XRe]

jmorris is the next Mike Dillon

[sendf1]

In my quest to make my shooting better/faster, without spending too much money, I decided to give bullet casting a try. I knew from watching a friend cast fishing weights, I needed a new angle. After little research I came across Magma Engineering. The company sells a very high volume casting machine (19,000hr) and a slower one called the Master Caster they said would do 500-800an hr. So I looked at the pictures they had and dusted off my drafting scale. The machine is based on a cast aluminum frame (which I couldn’t make) and was manually operated (which I didn’t want), but it didn’t seem overly complicated. So I ordered a set of molds from them for 230grn LRN .45. I made a melting pot from 7” round pipe with 3/8” wall, it’ll hold just under 60# of lead (1750 bullets worth). Wrapped it with a new (a used one doesn’t like to bend) 3500-watt oven element I got from the Sears repair center ($9.47). I had a few Yokogawa PID controllers, so I used one of them for my thermostat. I hooked the controller to a 12v dc actuated 230v ac solid state relay. I was then melting wheel weights. I soon covered the element with .045 stainless steel to keep the heat in and off my face. Once I got the bullet mold ($65 & almost three months later) I built a frame out of 1”X1” .095 mild steel. I used double split set collars (2.25 ea.) to hold the oil lite bearings (1.14 ea.), for the main shaft (3/4” OD); this will provide easy maintenance in the future. The mold carriers were machined from 1” solid stock. I rolled ½” solid rod for the guide rods to hold the mold shut. Sections of 5/16 24tpi all thread were used on the sides for adjustment. I decided that sitting around pushing a lever (to let the lead flow), and pulling a handle (to throw the bullets out of the mold) might get in the way of some “quality time”. So I went through my stuff and came up with a gear reduced motor that ran at 4rpm. With two bullets in the mold this came out to 480 bullets an hour, about right. Then I hooked a solenoid to an arm that pulled a ¼ stainless steel rod from the bottom of the pot; a ¼ 20 bolt can be adjusted for the amount of flow. Under the pot I milled a slot that diverted the molten lead to the stainless steel orifice plate that has two holes in it the correct distance to hit the center of the mold holes. The solenoid is controlled by a home made timer (duration of flow) using a 555 integrated circuit (from Radio Shack). I can adjust the pour time from 0 to 10 seconds with 10 turns from a 0-1meg ohm potentiometer (1 sec a turn). This fine adjustment is needed for the sprue (part above the actual bullet/s) to fill properly without spilling over. A double pole single throw switch controls the whole process. When the actuating arm hits the switch, the timer, with a double pole double throw relay, stops the motor while simultaneously pouring lead. As soon as the timer stops the flow of lead the motor begins to drive the mold down, cutting the sprue then hitting two pieces of angle iron that split the mold apart, dropping the sprue into one divider and the bullets into another. Then the process begins again. I found a fan is needed to keep the mold cool enough for the 480 rnd an hour pace, in summer heat. I also added an extra timer for a cool down pause (1-30secs), after the mold opens, to further cool if needed for 350 + grn bullets. The last addition (not in photos) were two 12vdc solenoids to tap the mold carriers, to knock a bullet out if it happens to get stuck. It’s still not finished out, but you can see how it works.

After a few hours of playing with my new toy, I had quite a pile of bullets. They were though, a few thousands over .452. I looked at the sizers available and again they were slow or expensive. A trip to CDC surplus got me a 3” pneumatic ram with integral limit switches for $25. I machined a sizing die from stainless steel. Mounted it all to a piece of 3/8” plate steel. I used a double split set collar to hold the sizing die in place, this will allow for different calibers. I machined a piece of brass that threaded into the ram to drive the bullet through the die. I made a bullet carrier from UHMW to carry the unsized bullets from a feed tube to the mouth of the die. The carrier rides in an aluminum housing that has a momentary switch on the end. When the carrier goes in, far enough for the bullet to drop in the die, it hits the switch that drives the ram down to it’s limit then back up. After this process the bullets are perfect .452. I am still experimenting with different bullet lubes; however, I have been using a water based dry lube for forming steel that seems to work well (just dip and let dry).

One interesting thing, I can, by changing the alloy of the bullets, make anywhere from 210grn to 240grn bullets from the same mold.

As for saving $, using range brass, Nobel Sport BA 10 and Win primers 1000 rounds sets me back $21.

You have a little time on your hands don't you

[kruger]

Are there any experiences with the Lee "Micro Band Bullets" and tumble lubing?

I just tried 200 and they seem to work okay.

It seems like a much simpler process since there is no sizing involved and you lube a large number of bullets simultaneously.

Respectfully,

Mark Kruger

[jim thompson]

I find that there are a lot more places to buy cast bullets than there used to be when I first started loading. I've got about 800 pounds of lynotype to use up so I pour my own. One of the best loads I ever loaded was for the 629 in 44 Mag. There's a lot of personal satisfaction in making your own. WW metal is not enough. You'll need to harden it up a bit using lynotype or something else with anomony in it. I pour now for 9MM. TDhe Lee gang mould makes sense to me but I don't own one. I use an RCBS melt pot and RCBS sizer. I also use hot lube since it is a lot less messy. Flux with Marvelux from Brownells. Less stink and smoke. It's cheap and your wife will be a lot happier. Nevr use her kitchen if you know what's good for you.

[VeryBadshot]

Im impressed!

[Amy]

I started casting after I started handloading. I started handloading because I suddenly had a new situation in which I could shoot all I wanted, and didn't want to pay for commercial ammo. Then I started casting because I didn't want to pay for bullets. Then Huntington's in Oroville saw what I was doing, and they called me up and asked me if I could cast 3,000 of these for them, and I was suddenly in business. For the next three years I did all their bulk and special order casting, but certainly not with a lee 10 lb. pot and ladle.

I ended up with a Magma Bullet master MKV, and a lubemaster with MA systems bullet collator. I did do a lot of hand casting for Freddy Huntington, and they still have a lot of my work in stock there. Its the stuff they sell on their web site.

Now I've moved to Ranger Texas, and I'm having to start all over. Freddy doesn't want to pay shipping and word is he's trying to find someone to do it all on the cheap.

Amy Lewis

PGB Superior Cast Bullets

Ranger Texas