Bullet Casting for Dummies

[Jack]

Lyman's book on bullet casting is a wise investment.
You can probably find an iron pot of some kind at a garage sale, really cheap.
The Lee moulds are aluminum, and cheaper than cast iron ones and they work. I use a Lee single cavity for my .50 ML- the 360 grain Minie ball type, works fine.

[PJgunner]

MtnMike asked, "Also, what are the advantages besides satisfaction?"

Independence for one thing. It might sound crazy and even paranoid, but history does repeat itself. To make my point, I'll tell you about an old Dutchman named Louie.

He claimed to be Dutch but at the time, admitting you might be German could have been a problem. Time was during WW2. I'm thinking late 1943 or possiblity ito 1944. hell, I was a kid back then then. Loiue was, to me anyway older than dirt, smoked a raunchy smelling old pipe and was a bullet caster and reloader from the word go, especially the bullet caster part. During WW2, buying any ammuition wass everely restricted and gun shop had either damned little or more likely none at all. One can holler bloody murder about the shortages we have these days but back then there was nothing at all to be had unless one was very lucky. Bullet casters made out OK though as they could make up loads to shoot something. Louie was retired so he cast bullets for some of the more popular cartridges and loaded up the ammo. IIRC, you paid $5.00 per cartridge and when you brought back the empties, you got $4.50 or maybe it was $4.00 back. Sorry I can't be more precise but it was 67 years ago and I was only 5 or 6 years old at best. I used to spend hours with that old gentleman watching him melt the lead alloy and fluxing and carefully casting each bullet using a ladle. Then there were the time when he was lubing and sizing those bullets or carefully measuring out the powder in the handloads. The old boy was very precise in how he did them.
The one thing he impressed on my young mind was this. Someday there might be another world war and once more everything will hve to go to the war effort. you won't be able to buy any ammunition for whatever guns you might own. With him, it was a foregone conclusion I would have guns, Probably one of the very few times I listened to my elders.
FWIW, regarding the ammo situation back then; only two cartridges were commonly available. The .22 LR and the 30-30 Win. The .22s went to farmers and were for protecting the crops from little varmints like gophers and rabbits and such little critters. The 30-30 ammo went to ranchers who raised sheep or cattle to protect them from predators. Anything else as almost impossible to find. All other production was geared to the war effort. I learned a lot about casting bullet from that old gentleman. He passed away sometime in the early 1950's.
To this day, I still shoot more cast bullets than jacketed. You'd be surprised just how well they will shoot, even way out yonder. One of my .308s will do 1.5 MOA at 200 yards and 2.5 MOA at 300 yards from the bench which ain't bad coming from a rather lightweight sporter. A good powder for cast bulets is either one of the 4895's. For the .308 and 30-06, I usually use 25.0 gr. with a one rain tuft of dacron and one of several bullet designs ranging from 175 gr. to 195 gr. Don't ask the velocity as I never bothered to find out. maybe 1500 to 1600 FPS as a guess.
One of the important things to remember is the bullet must have the proper sizing. For 30 caliber .310" is a good place to start. For the 45-70, .459" to maybe .460". For the Colt round, I've always used .454" regardless if I'm shooting a Colt single action or the more modern Rugers. Sizing bullets for handguns (revolvers) get a bit more tricky and we can cover that at a later date. Once you've developed good loads for your various firearms, shooting cast bullets become two things. A lot of fun and the challege for greater accuracy. Oh yeah, you can hunt deer with cast in a 30-30.
Paul B.