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2011 Annual Cast Bullet Workshop - May 21st 2011 - Shirley Rod & Gun Club

Here is my .02 on Lee molds. I got into bullet casting initially because I shoot some of the more exotic BPCR rounds (50/90. 40/70, 45/120 etc) and casting (and reloading) is the only way to keep it affordable. Casting handgun bullets was an afterthought. I am meticulous about casting my rifle bullets. I have some custom molds and some Lyman, I weigh my bullets and segregate them, I size and lube them. Bottom line, I spend a lot of time and relatively speaking a fair amount of money.

Handgun bullets is another story. I bought Lee 2 cavity molds with the handles already attached. I cast a lot of .45 Colt, specifically the 200 gr. and 255 gr RNFP. I do not size them and I tumble lube them with the Lee product. I put a bunch of bullets in a container, shake them around with some lube and spread them out on wax paper for a day or two. Then back into the container with a little baby powder to off set the stickiness and that's it. I have cast several thousand so far. Just a few rejects getting the mold up to temperature and then good to go. I shoot a Ruger Vaquero, a Uberti 1858 Remington with an R&D cylinder and a Uberti Henry rifle. Accuracy is as good or better then with either factory ammo or purchased cast bullets. I have had zero problem with leading. The bullets look ugly because of the lube and baby powder, but they function perfectly. Now, I am just a plinker. I do not compete in any way, I just love to shoot. Maybe if I was more serious or shot more variety it would be different. I also use Lee molds to cast .38 and .44 and a 340 gr. .45 rifle bullet that I use in my Marlin 1895 lever gun. I only size the rifle bullet.

Most of the guys here are more knowledgeable then myself, but I thought I would share my experience as a fairly new bullet caster. The Lee molds are cheap and have worked for me so far, for handgun bullets mostly. Also knowing myself I will undoubtedly start upgrading soon. LOL!
 
DukeInMaine said:
You'll be thrilled to know that there is a custom mold group buy currently active at castboolits:
Click to expand...
I'm so glad I saw this Duke !! Looks like this group buy is going until September. I think I'll buy a couple 5 cavity ones. One in .54 and one in .69 round balls. I've wanted to get some good quality molds for a white. Thanks again !!![cheers]
 
September, must have missed that. I think I can get in on that by then. I just saw there is one started up on the Miha .45-270 SAA RCBS Clone also, thats tempting too. What to do....

BTW: I now own the Lee 452-255-RF mold, picked one up second hand for $13. At least if its terrible there won't be anything to cry about [crying] (much) [wink].
 
Bob J said:
For the other attendees that are looking to cast for a particular caliber, be sure to post what you need so we can see if we can round up a mold for you.....
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Bob, I'd love to cast some 500S&W bullets. The ones that Mark gave me are gone long time ago ;-)
I liked very much the hollow point 375?g, but would be happy with any mold you can bring.
 
Like Mark said no problem at all..... Will bring a number of our 500 molds for you to cast from..... The one you are thinking of is 350 grains with the really big hollow point.... We call it the flying ashtray.....[smile]
 
Bob,
Please PM me with your phone number and some time that I could call. Woul like to walk through a LOT of details to streamline the process of organizing.

Thanks.
 
DukeInMaine said:
Ok, got my second donation for the event:

Capt Walt will donate a $100 gift certificate, which will get raffled off.

http://WickedGoodOutdoors.com

We're looking for additional donations. Anyone with ideas, please PM me with them.

Thanks, Capt Walt.

(he's back!)
Click to expand...

Are you expecting people are going to buy raffle tickets for Cap'n Walt's Enterprises or are you going to pay us to take them?
 
He's donating the certificate. It's a free event. We don't want to or expect to make any profit.

Anyone who attends will get put into a hat, and someone's name will get selected.

Simple, easy...

I'm looking for as many donations as we can get, so that the drawing itself will be a BIG DRAW for the event.

As previously mentioned, I also have lube recipes and samples of lanolin, bees wax, carnauba wax, and zinc sterate to draw names for. That's from Randy Rat at Castboolits.

Patriot said:
Are you expecting people are going to buy raffle tickets for Cap'n Walt's Enterprises or are you going to pay us to take them?
Click to expand...
 
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More donations have rolled in for the cast bullet workshop:

Michael J Spangler has donated one of his custom knives, worth about $90:
f8513589.jpg


and,

Exousia will make one of the custom propane tank conversion smelting pots, and donate that.
07_12_2010003a.jpg


I'll be bringing some cleaned range brass, and will draw names for that. I'll also divvy out some of the range lead bullets and make some drawings for that.

I'm hoping that these donations will encourage additional attendance at our workshop. If anyone has anything, especially involving casting, to donate for a free raffle, please contact me.

I'd also like to invite anyone who has casting related or other items for "SALE" to bring them. We'll set up a casting "yard sale".

For example: Exousia, if you'd like to make up a few more of those propane tank smelting pots, and sell them, that would be fine with me. Ditto Michael J Spangler on your knives.
 
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i'm so damn excited about this.

i kind of backed off the casting info for a while because i knew this was coming up, and i would learn a ton at the event. now that its getting close i'm all giddy.

Duke you have the Mihec kramer .45 HP mold right? i swear the only reason i'm going to start casting is because of seeing the boolits from that mold. super sexy
 
Actually, no, I don't have that mold. BUT... he does have some extras available for sale.

I have other Mihec / Cramer style molds, though, and can bring one. The way he does the pins, they can rotate 180 degrees and make either a FN or a HP in the same mold. And, his penta-pins allow banana peel splitting of the HP's then they touch down.
 
its all good. i'm just looking forward to learning.

it might be a few months before i get the scratch together to get the tools and supplies needed. i think the mihec molds is going to be the first thing i buy.

though i saw mention of a NOE mold that throws a heavier RN hollow point, that might be nice too.
 
I've had a planning discussion with Bob J, and wanted to make one request, and make mention of the slight change of format for the event:

1) We need a portable generator and fuel or the day. Last year we overloaded the circuits for the club. The electric bullet pouring pots use a LOT of electricity, and running those off of one 15 amp circuit with splitters and extension cords didn't go well. If someone close to the club has a generator we can use for the day it would help immensely! Or, if some electrician among us can coordinate power for the pots ahead of time (we do not want to leave that to the last minute), we would appreciate the help with power.

2) The formatting of the workshop is changing to handle the crowds better. Last year, we did the workshop in a "serial" way. That is, we did one step and then the next, and so forth, for the whole group, all stretched out. It was OK, but we have come up with a way to handle the bottle neck better. We'll split up into smaller groups, and each group will have a turn at participating at each of three sessions, spread out during the day. See the opening post for the details.

3) The bringing of raw materials is needed to supply raw materials for the casting pots, etc. However, we won't be smelting ALL of the raw materials all together like we did last year, at the beginning of the workshop. Rather, we'll allow you to do small group smeltings as part of your mini groups, spread out through the day. That will help the day flow better. And, everyone will get a hand at doing it. So, bring your raw materials, either range lead or raw wheel weights. And stage your materials near the smelting pots (we'll have two running) for later smelting during your mini group.

4) Again, we need to know who's coming! The club needs to know how much food to get. And, we need to know how much equipment to bring to handle the size of each mini group. Please send PM or indicate in this thread if you plan on attending. And, start collecting your raw lead!

The date is May 21st, a Saturday. That's just a short time away. Shake off the Winter blues, and get ready for the event that has been in the planning since a year ago.
 
Just a quick reminder to those who are planning on attending the workshop. Please tell us if you are planning on casting a particular bullet so we can bring along a mold for it (if we have one). We will not be bringing ANY molds that are not specifically asked for, so please do so if you haven't already. Last year we brought way too many and most were not used so this year we are packing lean.

Secondly, this year is structured differently than last year as Duke has already mentioned. Lead will not be shared with the entire group. You bring lead, you will smelt YOUR lead, then cast with YOUR ingots. Please remember to bring along lead if you do not want to leave empty handed [wink]
 
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DukeInMaine said:
The sessions will be:

Session A: Raw Smelting - Converting raw materials into usable and clean lead alloys. This is when you will have the chance to convert your range lead or raw wheel weights into your ingots.
Session B: Mold Prep, slugging your barrel, gas checks, lube choices
Session C: Casting bullets in the molds and lubricizing

I will be getting the group leader assignments from Mark Johnson.
Click to expand...

If it works for you I can run Session C, my father can run session B, and you would be in charge of Session A. Also due to the timeliness of the casting process I think lubricizing should be covered in Session B instead.
 
Yeah, I have that mold also.

I really REALLY prefer gas checked bullets for 44 mag (and 500 S&W Mag), and that mold is my only plain base 44 mag mold.

I have run it, and shot those bullets, and they were fine. I just prefer the better performance (my opinion) of the gas checked bullets.
 

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