Bullet Moulds- The Good and the Bad...

[Adam Helmer]

I collect and use many bullet moulds. At last count, I have about a dozen single cavity moulds, about 40 double cavity moulds and four, 4-cavity moulds. Like guns, moulds have only two enemies: politicians and rust.
I have about a dozen newer aluminum moulds that are immune to rust, so they are not in the mix with iron moulds in this thread.

I remove the handles and store all my iron mould blocks in a 50-caliber ammo can. I spray a whiff or two of Rust Prevent now and then into the ammo can to keep rust at bay. I cast on a Coleman stove in the tracor shed on an old haywagon. I use Coleman Fuel as my degreaser of moulds and it does a fine job.

The Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook does a fine job of discussing moulds and how to keep them in top condition. Some of my older moulds have some rust that I polished out with steel wool and a cleaning brush chucked up in a drill.

I like casting bullets and do it several times a week to keep ahead of my handgun classes. As for the "Politician" reference, I recall in the 1970s on a nice Sunday afternoon, I was casting bullets in my front yard in Salem, NH when a Carter campaign fellow walked up to me. He asked what I was doing and I told him, "Casting bullets." He looked at the pile of cast bullets and remarked, "That could represent a lot of dead people." I said, "It could also represent a lot of holes in my targets." The fellow then asked, "I assume you have the necessary licenses to make bullets?" I asked what license he had in mind and he said, "Well, how would the government know who is making bullets?" I told him, "The government has no need to know who is making bullets!" He shrugged his shoulders and walked out of my life.

Adam