Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting New to bullet casting

I've been reloading for more than 30 years now but have never done bullet casting.
I just purchased a Lyman Mini Mag furnace (bought from a fellow reloader and at a price I couldn't refuse)
and just wondering what other equipment I might need to acquire.

Also, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I have been reading up on the subject.

I've been wanting to get into casting and now seems like as good as time as any.

Get the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook.

I don't want to start a flame war here, but my opinion is that I would stay away from Lee moulds if you anticipate casting say 500 bullets a year or more for several years. I have used Lee moulds and got along fine but I prefer the crisper shoulders and lube grooves of other manufacturers. Plus I like the fact that bronze and iron hold the heat better than aluminum Lee blocks. After I started casting more, and particularly for rifle calibers, I found myself using the iron or bronze blocks more than aluminum.

Agree on the LEE moulds comment, but prefer aluminum to mehanite. Only have one bronze mould; its okay.

LBT moulds are tops; all are aluminum and cast better than anything else.

I had some Lee moulds in my wish-list at Midway so, I definitely have to change them and add the Lyman casting book.

Thanks for the info guys. Keep it up!

you'll need a ladle and some heavy gloves.

Make sure the ladle is not an OPEN top ladle, it is closed and has a hole the lead pours out. Better for pressure pouring, helps in mould fill out.

Get a can of brake cleaner too.

Get a Lee Production Pot. For casual casting the Lee molds work fine. If you start casting fro several different calibers in several different bullet weights it's not going to be hard to get into several hundred $$$ worth of molds. for my pistol bullets that I shoot a lot, I have 4 cavity molds (1 saeco and 1 lyman). the rifle bullets are single cavity Lee molds. Get them hot and then cast slow at the lowest temp you can and let them cool off every now and then. I always figured that for me the idea was to keep it cheap.

Alan

I'll be the dissenting opinion here. I don't have many (four) but the Lee molds I have work just as well or better than the others I have (RCBS, NEI, Lyman, Saeco). Just keep them hot and the sprue plate lubed. The pin alignment system isn't as good as on the other molds, but seriously, $20 for a mold w/handles? Can't beat it! Most molds are running $50-100 for the inexpensive ones, plus you have to buy handles. That being said, I cut my teeth on Saeco and NEI molds before I started with Lee. I might have gotten frustrated with Lee if I had tried starting with them.

If you purchase 3 Lee molds in succession and send them all back over 3 times each you might have a different take. I've been casting since 1971 and will not put money out for any Lee mold that is to used for casting a large amount of bullets. If I wanted a muzzle loading ball mold and was not going to use it much then maybe.I 've had it with Lee, the money spent on more costly is well worth it.