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Posted: 5/16/2009 3:11:14 AM EDT
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I haven't cast in over 10 years. just wasn't worth it with the cost of heads being fairly cheap and available. But now.......things are different. I broke out the gear, selling some stuff i don't need and ordering new stuff. plus i figure i better start stocking up on lead because i can see that being phased out by the epa. wheel weights are going from lead to steel.
I figure that with just the lead i have on hand i could cast 84k now and going to start doing just that. anyone else breaking out the gear? |
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I started up again about 4-5 years ago but in a sense I was actually starting from scratch because all I cast for before, 10-20 years ago, was black powder.
If a guy is going to shoot 45acp in the volume necessary to compete in USPSA and IDPA casting is the only option. |
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I have thought about that also. I have had the stuff from almost the time I started reloading but have not cast in 25 years.
I am not buying heads but useing down some of my stockpiles. I hope before I run out the cost of heads will drop. Prices for scrap and virgin lead has dropped quite a bit from the crazy higs of a year or so back. I liked the cheepness of casting but I hardly have the time to reload and casting just seems to cut into that |
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I started up again about 4-5 years ago but in a sense I was actually starting from scratch because all I cast for before, 10-20 years ago, was black powder. If a guy is going to shoot 45acp in the volume necessary to compete in USPSA and IDPA casting is the only option. or a sponser. |
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I've been casting about 2 years now. Some friends gave me their pots, sizers and molds to use since they have been out of the casting biz for some time. I've purchased a few molds and a couple of other supplies but have very little invested thus far.
I have a friend down the street that fishes offshore and casts sinkers and down rigger weights. He uses a section of 6" pipe welded to a steel plate with a bronze valve spigot at the side near the bottom of the pipe as a smelting / casting set up. He asked me to help him smelt a few buckets of WW's one evening so I brought over my thermo, flux and dross skimmer. He had never used a thermometer, skimmer spoon or flux before, needless to say he was impressed. He had welded up four ingot molds from steel channel 3"x10" long with angle iron end caps and gave two of them to me! After smelting a couple hundred pounds of WW's in that little pipe pot of his I was in love but told him he needed to fab up something bigger. Two weeks later he stops by the house and drops off the new and improved version made from 10" pipe - hot damn the dutch oven has been replaced! My total cost was $8 for the bronze valve, I gave him $10 cuz I'm so generous. Hey he shoots my MG's with my ammo so I take care of him. I used the pipe pot for the first time 3 days ago and it works very well. The giant ingot molds will drop a 15 lb. bar of lead if filled to the top. I've got another 200 lbs of indoor range scrap lead to smelt and 300 lbs of wheel weights after that. If the rain stops I'd like to get it done before the 95° summer temps arrive. |
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that's a greta start. If you can hit up some tire shops for wheel weights and mix it in with the range lead. RL is linda soft unless there s a whole lot os hard cast shooteers there. jacket ammo is soft as well 22lr.
I had all my lead stolen from the side of my shop so I'm starting over in that respect as well. i just paid $20 a 5 gal pail and trying to "break in" 3 or 4 shops what will save it for me. They're used to getting $10 from the local scrap guy and I want to cut him out of these shops. Until get 3 or 4 thousand pounds anyway. REMEMBER, wheel weights are starting to be made from steel instead of lead so now is the time to get the lead! |
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man i would like to get a pic of that set-up. I use a propane burner with a harbor freight cast iron pot which works but is slow.
Quoted:
I've been casting about 2 years now. Some friends gave me their pots, sizers and molds to use since they have been out of the casting biz for some time. I've purchased a few molds and a couple of other supplies but have very little invested thus far. I have a friend down the street that fishes offshore and casts sinkers and down rigger weights. He uses a section of 6" pipe welded to a steel plate with a bronze valve spigot at the side near the bottom of the pipe as a smelting / casting set up. He asked me to help him smelt a few buckets of WW's one evening so I brought over my thermo, flux and dross skimmer. He had never used a thermometer, skimmer spoon or flux before, needless to say he was impressed. He had welded up four ingot molds from steel channel 3"x10" long with angle iron end caps and gave two of them to me! After smelting a couple hundred pounds of WW's in that little pipe pot of his I was in love but told him he needed to fab up something bigger. Two weeks later he stops by the house and drops off the new and improved version made from 10" pipe - hot damn the dutch oven has been replaced! My total cost was $8 for the bronze valve, I gave him $10 cuz I'm so generous. Hey he shoots my MG's with my ammo so I take care of him. I used the pipe pot for the first time 3 days ago and it works very well. The giant ingot molds will drop a 15 lb. bar of lead if filled to the top. I've got another 200 lbs of indoor range scrap lead to smelt and 300 lbs of wheel weights after that. If the rain stops I'd like to get it done before the 95° summer temps arrive. |
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REMEMBER, wheel weights are starting to be made from steel instead of lead so now is the time to get the lead! I believe zinc, not steel, is replacing lead as the material of choice for wheel weights. Depending on the state you live in zinc may or may not become the predominate player. Lead will continue to be used due to the lower cost of lead vs zinc. Lead use in wheel weights has not been outlawed it's replacement is being "encouraged" by the feds in order to reduce lead waste runoff into ground & surface water. |
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Yeah.
I started casting in Feb of this year. The lead scare put me in full bore hoarding mode, so i've got about 800lbs of WW ingots. I even sold 3000 7.62x39 Wolf rounds so I could buy more lead. 
One thing that is really nice is a local buddy has about 2 tons of reclaimed hard lead shot that he'll sell me for a good price. I bought 600lbs of that. That stuff casts up some really nice bullets if you add 1-2% tin. I also have about 500lbs of soft lead. I like cutting almost everything I cast for 2/1 or even 1/1 with soft, then water drop or heat treat it. In my limited experience, you don't really need anything harder than 16-18 BHN, and pure WW alloy water drops at around 24, so you can cut it with some soft and still get a bullet that is plenty hard. Right now, I only cast for my .44 Mag, .450 Marlin, and my SKS, but i'll be getting a mold for my 9mm pretty soon. I just have to find one that my gun likes. I'm working some trade deals on the castboolits website for folks to send me some samples. 
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Right now, I only cast for my .44 Mag, .450 Marlin, and my SKS, but i'll be getting a mold for my 9mm pretty soon. I just have to find one that my gun likes. I'm working some trade deals on the castboolits website for folks to send me some samples. I use a Lee 6 cavity #356-125-2R for my 9mm projectiles. Lubed with Jakes purple. They feed and shoot fine but I'm just blasting them thru various subguns for the most part or a Glock with a LWD barrel. The only issue I've had is with my HK SP89, the chamber seems short & tight and I've had the bullet engage the rifling which prevents the bolt from going into battery. This has been less than 1% of the ammo however so sure I can sort it out. I'm considering going with a Saeco 4 cavity if I can't get the alignment pins to stay put in the Lee mold. The pins backed out which led to some "fat" bullets being dropped. I do the same sort of mix BTW using soft lead and wheel weights and they shoot great. |
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I started up again about 4-5 years ago but in a sense I was actually starting from scratch because all I cast for before, 10-20 years ago, was black powder. If a guy is going to shoot 45acp in the volume necessary to compete in USPSA and IDPA casting is the only option. or a sponser. Ok- I have not ordered yet from this outfit but my buddy (cowboy shooter) told me lots of his shooters are useing this outfit. Midstate-Cast-Bullets An example of their prices are most of the 45acp in common weights are $54 per thousand shipped. If I were still shooting USPSA I would go this route for bullets less than $0.06 . My time is better spent reloading and practise shooting. Yes I know many folks still will put their time in and get "free" bullets But I will Buy at this price |
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Last April, I started casting again after about 15 years of buying cast bullets.
Here is the Link Got some good info in that thread, with a few pics thrown in. |
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thanks for the link. really coverwed the zink WW's. I had a bunch of steel ones that you can tell because they are spot welded to the clip and are lighter per size than lead. The quickest way to tell (besides overall appearance) is drop them on a concrete floor. A lead WW will just thud and not bounce much at all. A zinc/steel WW will "ting" when it hits the floor and bounce a good bit further. |
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there's a private club indoor rang that is about to empty the pits out. the loval pd does and all money goes to them. it is mixed in with a lot of paper and cardboard from the targets and holders.
What would you guys pay per pound for it? it will be in 5 gal cans and i'm sure they will want to get as much as they can for it but it is a lot of work to burn the paper off. |
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there's a private club indoor rang that is about to empty the pits out. the loval pd does and all money goes to them. it is mixed in with a lot of paper and cardboard from the targets and holders. What would you guys pay per pound for it? it will be in 5 gal cans and i'm sure they will want to get as much as they can for it but it is a lot of work to burn the paper off. It totally depends on how badly you need it. I wouldn't pay more than .10/lb for range scrap, but i'm well stocked. If you were short on lead, you might go as high as .25-.30/lb. Feel the guy out and see how much you think you can get it for. |
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