Here is what I just finished casting.

NOE's 358 135gr 9mm

Dang that looks plum fine! Heck my last dial looked like a rabbid goat helped froth how my.

Looks good Blammer. I have been casting from my new ( well recently new) LBT 125gn 6.5 mould and have also put up some 450gn 458's for a friends 45/70.

I'm starting to see a pattern here...LOL

Today, these nice bases & meplats

Only a few days ago I cast 130# of bulky alloys into cute little one pound ingots. Today I cooked up 25# of #2 alloy ingots. Tomorrow I get to make 60# of wheel weights into ingots.

Finally fires up my new Mihec mold. Drops a 400 gr hollow point .476" for my 480 Ruger

Poured some LBT LFN 280 and 300 45's, some LBT LFN 230 375's and got a Lee buckshot mould (and heat treated them)grins.

Any suggestions on smoothing off the fins and seams? Tumble with what?

Fins and seams on the round balls? If so, roll them around between two pieces of flat smooth hard anything- steel, glass, brass, etc.- to iron out minor defects.

Yeah, the buckshot. Lee moulds have a tendency to be a bit "leaky", and don't vent real well. The buckshot mould especially.

Anyone use sand in their tumbler?

Perhaps ceramic pins?

I haven't cast anything in some time. I've been holding off because it's too cold to cast outside and I don't have a suitable ventilation set-up yet.

I'm planning to use the blower assembly from the top of a power-vented water heater for my exhaust hood. As soon as I get that sucker up and going I'll be able to get back to casting.

All the pictures of nice, shiny new bullets you guys are posting are turning me a bit green with envy.

Comparing the 400 gr .476" hp and 480 round to a 45 acp and 357 mag put things in perspective.

What he's not telling us is that it's 1/4" plywood they are setting on!

Seriously, those are pretty nice looking, and impressive to boot!

Just cast 125 500gr PP for my 45/110.

Nice!

I had the Magma Engineering Master Caster going this weekend. 40# of .45 Colt 255 grain bb, and 40# of .308 165 grain bb. Started sizing the .30's last night.

The more I look at those 9's Blammer the better I like 'em.

Just finished running these 500gr 45 Gov't bullets..

Woody,

Great looking bullets!

Are they from the Lyman 457125 mold?
Whatcha gonna lube 'em with?

Ed

Ed yes it's the L 457125 alloyed 30:1..have some SPG lube I wanta use up until I start making my own.Can't wait to get a decent weather window to darken the skies!

creeker, NOE has that mould for sale right now in inventory.

don't miss out!

Ed just a footnote started weighing these this morning and they average 525 grs. This oughta be a real hammer over 105 grs of KIK 2F outta the 110. Although don't foresee a standoff with a T Rex anytime soon so will probably settle in at around 95grs instead.

I believe every 45 cal. BPC rifle I have owned has liked the 457125. They look good Woody. They will be a thumper over 95 grs.!!

I don't have any pictures but I've been shelling out quite a few 10.5mm, 270 grain, 9.3mm 200 gr. and 8.15mm 180 gr. bullets.

The 10.5 and 9.3 are new Accurate Molds and the 8.15 is an ancient Ideal I've been carrying around for 30+ years waiting for an opportunity to justify having kept it so long...hehe.

'was casting a 10 weight Orvis, but dang is it cold outside

One of my greenhouses works super for casting since they're empty this time of year.Have big ventilation fans and I can cast in shirt sleeves when it's below freezing..works great!

"Daddy some guy is down there in the water waving a stick!

Woody,

I have one of those molds and have never cast the first bullet. Time to get started.

Ed

44's



[/img]

No pics (not really hard to imagine what they look like) but I finally got around to casting up some .575 RB in anticipation of, someday, finishing my .58 cal Leman fullstock . . . Only been working on it for 4+ years, so no real hurry .

Ed you gotta get one of these sulfur belching brick throwers they're almost as good as sex! Just plop down $250 with your order and ya got almost two years to pay it off.In the mean time you get to buy all the necessary toys to have a ball when the rifle shows up..

Otter told me many moons ago,
"All these years you've only been assembling ammo but now with a BPCR cartridge you will actually start reloading." What an accurate assessment!

.311" 165gr NOE FP's

single wrap in 3M Microderm

greased with bacon

SMELLS SWEET when they go off!

Thought I'd seen everything,they even have a piggy tail!

How do they shoot? What are you using them in? Loads?

Long live BACON!

Ed

It was a moment of weakness

Bacon grease is actually difficult to work with because the dang stuff turns liquid with body heat from my fingers. The 3M Micropore medical tape is sticky enough and convenient to wrap with and it is only about 0.001" thick. I seated them in .30-30 cases and then just stripped the excess exposed outside of the case mouth with my thumbnail so it seats easily in the Marlin. The case on the far right shows it before I clean up of the excess.



I ran it over 10.4 gr of Unique to drive it just about exactly 1500 fps and the load hit paper, doing maybe 2" off my knee for 3 rounds. Without the patch, no paper @30y. It still needs tweaking and I think LLA works better for me but the bacon grease will do in a pinch

"Long live bacon!" <----- ummm, yeah!

I'm actually alergic to the adhesive on that tape. Used after some surgery it took longer for the burns from the adhesive to heal than it did the incisions. No scar from the small incisions but scars from the tape after 3 years. Go figure. Hope it doesn't put scars in your bore (:).

No bacon fat for these but the three hunting bullets I've settled on for the 45/110. Fairly sure anyone of these three will take care of big critters.

525gr Gov't..480gr Parker Hale..500gr PP

You have NOT seen everything.......



I did not cast these bullets.

And GC to boot

Today's effort

Nice batch of bullets..

An idea has been running through my head for about a year and yesterday, Friday the 22nd, I decided to act on it. I had never found a good straight BP load for my Reilley double in 500 BPE. I couldn't figure out why as it is a 2 - 2 1/2 inch composite group rifle at 50 yards. I tried everything but the bullet alloy. I always use a 25-1 alloy for black powder soooooo...yesterday I cast up 10, 360 gr., .512 bullets from a 50/50, lead/lino alloy. I'm wondering if the Henry rifling doesn't like a soft alloy. I had a similar experience in a drilling once that had "henryesque" rifling. Gonna try them and see what happens.

Worth a try I've always been a fan of softer alloys and never liked hard cast at all out of anything.Been running all my 45 bullets at 30:1 and the greasers are showing no leading whatsoever which tells me the stars are lined up for velocity,lube and zero leading.

The furnace is heating up, the alloy laid out, and a half dozen .30 molds lined up. Spring time is around the corner and I aim to cast enough to get me through 'til summer. (Unless the GF calls and wants to go for lunch, drinks, and whoopee. You gotta have priorities! )

Like to keep this thread up to date and enjoy looking at what the rest of you are up to.Ran these two batches the last few days,the first a Lee six cavity C430-310-RF 310gr gas check which is a great hunting bullet for my 444 and 44 Mag.Takes a bit to get it up to temp even with a preheat but then it really kicks out nice bullets and lots of em.



This last batch is the Lyman #264121.457 475gr Parker Hale for my 45/110.Great bullet and carries a ton of lube one of Bill Bagwell's [Sharpsguy] favorite greasers as he's taken a fair amount of African critters with it quite successfully.Also the same bullet jorge shot his buffler with two years ago.It's nice being retired as I have more time to play!

I cast probably 3 days a week so I don't take time to post much but I did these the other day for the 41 mag.

Cast about 800 H&G 68 pattern boolits this evening from a Redding 68 mould.

I cast my first ever batch todsy. Brand new Lyman mold 452424, it arrived Monday. Ikept 51 of 60 that I cast, the others will go back into the pot next time. I have to say I'm somewhat pleased by the effort, though shooting will be the test. I have a lubrisizer, top punch, and sizing die on backorder that should arrive in May. Right now it's just learning techniques, but I think I'm going to enjoy it as a retirement pastime. Creeker; love your pics of bases, meplats as learning aids. The picture of your mold with the puddle on top was woth more than any of the pics I've seen in manuals. Many great looking bullets on this thread.

Couple of weeks back had to stay home so I set up the bench in the open garage incase it rained and smelted down two 5 cal buckets of WW. I then turned around and cast up 500+ 230 LBT FN for my 1911, 500+ 285 LBT WFN for my NMBH Bisley in 45 Colt and 1000+ 115 gr RN GC by NOE for my M1A1 Carbine. About 8 hrs each day.

Alan

Woody,

What are you (or ARE you) sizing those Parker Hale slugs to for your Sharps?

Ed

Sorry Ed haven't been on line much as the greenhouse and bedding plants are priority one lately..as to your question I'm running them through a .458 sizer which basically lubes em only.

Thank you, sir. That is currently the only diameter sizing die I have right now for my .45-70 & .458WM and was hoping it was actually useful.

Ed

Ed,
Do you have the PH mold? If not I can't think of a better greaser under 500 grs for your 45/70. I think Senor' Bagwell would agree! It shoots lights out in my 110..

W

I do not. I need to get over to Bill's place soon. It's not like it's on the far side of the moon from here.

Ed

Here is what I've been messing around with.

340 gr 45-70, 230 gr 45 ACP, and 158 gr .38/.357

[img:left]
IMAG0086 by claybirds, on Flickr[/img]

Alukban: Bacon fat contains quite a bit of salt which isnt very bore friendly if not cleaned out quickly after shooting. Rendered fat from uncured side meat would be a better choice.

What are you doing with that big ole 45 rifle bullet?

At this point just punching holes in paper targets, with my Marlin Guide Gun.

Which mould?

Poured more .452 300gr. LFN, .455 280 LFN's and .452 200 WFN's today.

Gettin ready to load up some handguns....LONG way to go!

Lee Double Cavity Bullet Mold 457-340-F

I thought that. I have this mould & it does a good job. Been a few years since I used it but maybe I'll get a chance before long.

6 bullets, 9 guns: .25, .284, .308, .357, .40, .44

NO pics but the RCBS 358 150 KT,Lyman 358156,Lyman 515141, KAL TGBS .392" adj ppb mold and my KAL TGBS .440 adj mold all been getting a work out lately. Magnum Man

Lee 1 Ounce slugs from roofing lead




and 40 cal 175 grn

I have just finished casting 40 pounds of lead for the 380acp and 120 for the 9mm.

The 380 is a 2 cavity and the 9 is 1.

I really need to get another mold for the 9 maybe a 4 or 6 hole.

It does tend to wear you out.

My latest offering.. 45 cal 500 gr PP hollow base flat nose for my 45/110,think it'll make a great hunting bullet for venisons..got enabled by Sharpsguy with this PP mould and thought I'd have one custom made but Bill already had it of course ..Thank you kind sir.

Nice Flyboy.

Just started casting a few weeks ago...the only mould I have so far is for a lyman 525 grain shotgun slug. They didn't turn out to bad, accuracy was around 2" at 25 yards.

Hope to get a luber/sizer press soon so I can cast for my s&w model 14.

Cast 'bout 35 pounds of 45's yesterday & another 35 pounds only finishing a few minutes ago.

Looking good what mould?

Ballisti-Cast #1101.

Well it's not bullets but I melted down 175 #s of lead to clean it and made small ingots to put into my bullet pot today.

I tried out for the first time. A propane tank bottom dump pot that I made and it worked beautifully.

I think it will hold about 300#s if I had enough to fill it up. Maybe next time.
I am weighting for a mold from Mihec for my 30 30 and 30 06 can't weight to get started casting.

You will love casting & shooting your own bullets.

Speaking of which, i am taking a break right now from loading those bullets you sent me. They will be all done by tonight.

Keep your eyes peeled for a review.

It is going to be a while before I get to shoot um.
I ordered a star luber and it will be after Thanksgiving before I get it.
I have cast about 1300 slugs for my S&W460 and 45 colt with a mold from Accurate thanks to McColeman's guidance. But I have a long way to go in learning. The learning curve sucks at times.

I was looking at that mould today.

And i was looking at the product of that mold for hours yesterday. Using the dummy round i made up, the initial impression looks good as far as feeding goes. I did not have one failure to feed, but after 6 or so tries, the bullet got shoved into the case too far to work with.

They look good though.

I received my 308 MiHec 4C mold yesterday so I cast about 640 of them and about 240 45 colt slugs today with my Accurate mold

I like the sprue plate on the Accurate mold better than the MiHec but the MiHec throws the bullets a lot better than the Accurate mold

I had a few hours to kill yesterday and could think of nothing better to do:



Filled my makeshift pot and warming the molds.



Everything is ready, melt is fluxed and skimmed.



The bullets are from a thirty year old Lyman # 429421 .44 caliber, 250 gr. Keith design and an even older Lyman # 358477 .357 caliber 150 gr. SWC design. They will let me shoot for a little while. Make some more later.





Using two molds at a time really helps keep from getting the molds too hot and making sure the sprue is hardened before cutting. I love this stuff!

Nice,I also have the Lyman 429421 and have killed several deer with it.. a good choice to this day as it continues to get the job done.

That is the only bullet I shoot in my .44s. I shot some 300 grainers several years ago but old wrists don't like the added recoil anymore. Now I don't even shoot full power stuff much anymore.

Hay it looks like you have leafs and a tree trunk in you pot whats up with that. They do not cast very well. At least I have never had any luck.



Looks like you had a good day.

It took me a few minutes to figure out what you meant by the "leaves and the tree trunk". That reflection, I guess, shows that I did a decent job of cleaning up the melt. Yeah man, it's a good day when you do something you enjoy.

I smelted down some wheel weights yesterday. That's something I've never done before and I was surprised at just how nasty smelling the process was with all the paint and grease and grime burning off. A big THANK YOU to who ever it was that suggested using side cutters to sort the lead from the zinc W-W's - that was a great tip. Fortunately, it looks like the W-W's I'm working with are about 95% lead with very few zinc or iron rejects.

I didn't have an ingot pan, so I went and used a cupcake tin as I've heard of other guys doing. I didn't think of smoking the muffin cavities and unfortunately the lead "muffins" stuck fast and I had to flip the pan over and heat the pan with a torch to get them to fall free. Live and learn, I guess. At least I'm making some progress.