Questions before Get onto casting

[Canman]

I have a local commercial caster that I buy my boolits from around three cents a piece. That being said its going to be hard for me to make them cheaper than I can just buy them from him. BUT I have that urge to expand my reloading hobbie and I keep coming back to this site and looking around. I used to make my on fishing jig heads so I have some of the tools required. I was looking at the Roto metal site at the different casting lead One question I mostly shoot 45acp which lead ingots are the best to buy that all I have to do is start casting? Got plenty more questions but my three year old girl want to go outside and play. Be back soon and thanks in advance!

[Lizard333]

Why not see if you can get lead for free? Then the cost of your boolits runs you about, oh 0 cents if you get your lead for free. You also control hardness, sizing, and your choice of lube. Keep on eye on Craig's list. I get stuff on there sometimes in trade. WW's are getting harder to find, but are still available.

[felix]

Buying a quality 22LR round is about the same cost as making a CF round. That has been my gauge for years. ... felix

[Muddydogs]

Its getting harder to find lead but you may have a scrap yard locally where you can buy lead cheaper then the internet.

Its not a lot as I only need a couple sets of tire every 5 years or so but when I buy tires for one of my rigs after the price is discussed and the amount settled on I tell the guy he can have my business as long as there is a bucket of wheel weights included in the deal. Only once has a shop said no but changed there mind before I made it to my truck door.

There are a few tire shops that will still give you wheel weights or charge a small fee just check around.

Lets see Lyman #2 is $3.00 per pound which will make 30 230 grain .45 bullets or thats 33 pounds per thousand and basically $100 plus $23 for cheap shipping to my address. For $129.00 you can order 1000 230 grain plated bullets shipped from Rocky Mountain Reloading. I think when he has them in stock 230 grain FMJ's go for $150 ish a 1000. I would say if you have to order lead then purchase molds, pots, and burners you are way better off buying lead bullets at $.03 each / $30 a 1000 or ordering plated or pulled bullets from one of many vendors.

[williamwaco]

Over all, I have had very poor results with commercial cast bullets.

That would not apply, in your case because you know this guy and apparently like his bullets.

There is no way I would be casting bullets even with free lead if I could buy bullets known to be good for $3.00 per hundred.

I shoot mostly bullets of around 150 grains. The math says I should be getting 46 bullets per pound but in real life it is more like 42.

That would be 2.38 pounds per hundred or 1.26 per pound ( at 3.00 per hundred ) .

Including waste etc, not counting labor, I can't buy scrap lead for that.

If I knew this guy, I would probably buy the bullets he made. If I wanted something he didn't supply, I might buy his bullets to melt to cast my own.









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[1bluehorse]

If you like this guys bullets and have good performance with them I'd buy em'. A 230gr. bullet for .03c is 15 bucks for 500. Thats over 16lbs of lead. I can't buy lead for that price anywhere...best I can/have found is a buck a pound delivered, (recycled range lead) which is darn cheap anymore..good luck on finding any "free" lead around here..does he need any more customers????

[mdi]

Cost/money isn't everything! If I got my bullets free, I'd prolly still cast some. Difficult to put a price on a peaceful pastime that produces custom bullets tailored just for your specific gun. Plus you get to lube those bullets too, and you can choose/make a lube that suits the needs of your gun perfectly. I don't think there is a more satisfying aspect of home made ammo than casting/shooting your own cast lead bullets...

BTW if I were going to buy lead from Rotometals I'd go for some 40-1, or 30-1 for a 45 ACP.

[Bigslug]

You've got a source of cheap bullets that you know work. You don't have to invest anything in terms of time or equipment. If your primary purpose of handloading is simply to economically go out and bust rocks with your .45, it's probably not worth the investment in gear (which can be considerable) and time (which can also be considerable).

I always add my time into the "cost" of such projects. When dad and I got into Highpower Rifle matches in my early 20's, we went down the road of SERIOUS Benchrest shooter brass prep - sorting by weight, uniformed primer pockets, turned necks, etc... In short, seriously painstaking stuff. We ultimately concluded that (A.) Highpower doesn't need anything near that level of precision, and that (B.) spending a little extra on Lapua brass eliminated the need to do any of that stuff anyway. Sometimes the best solution is to simply throw money at the problem. For the more casual pistol shooter, that may mean finding cheap bullets of acceptable quality and buying a lot of them.

Seems you've already done that, so the question of "To cast or not to cast?" then becomes an issue of what you plan to get out of the hobby. Are you a competitive shooter with special accuracy requirements? Are you shooting weird old guns in weird old calibers? Do you have a "mad scientist" mentality that has you puzzling over alloy hardness, bullet shape, and lube type? Are you a Bob Villa type who gets all orgasmic with the thought of "I made it myself"?

You've also got a kid with a developing brain and body in the house. I'm about as far from a lead toxicity Nazi as you could ask for, but it IS something you'll want to read up on and understand before prepping your "laboratory".

[MT Gianni]

Your friend may not continue in this business forever,
His costs will go up and be passed on to consumers.
The costs of a mold and pot will go up.
Buying now locks you into a cheaper casting set up.

[white eagle]

first I would never look at handloading/casting as a way to save money
that like other things in life is a by product of something bigger
you need to look at it as making a better product and you the individual
are the only one who has control over the final product
I say jump in the water is fine

[C Broad Arrow]

I can't say I have ever saved money from reloading. I just ended up shooting more. I got into casting because I found the actual pouring or lead into a mold relaxing. Nothing else. If I have to facotr my time into searching for lead, smelting and and molding, it would not be worth it. In fact I am looking at buying lead for $1 lbs just so I can spend more time casting. If I get lead wheel weights thrown in my direction, I will take them, but nothing beats watching lead pour into a mold and see the result a second or two later.

[bullpen7979]

Another factor to consider would be what part you may play in developing skills that would bless/assist others.....

Sent from the EVO

[Canman]

Thanks for the replys. Yea we just like to go punch holes in paper or knock the paint off steel. Having fun with three generations at one time. We have so much fun reloading I was just trying to find a way to spend a little more time together in the reloading room. Like some have said its relaxing to kick back and just have fun doing what you want. To me that's priceless.
Again thanks for the replys.
Semper Fi

[Ickisrulz]

I must be doing something wrong. I have saved all kinds of money by reloading and casting. Maybe because I don't keep re-buying my required equipment.

I've actually taken a look at factory ammo vs. what I can load myself. For example: A box of 100 .45 ACP WWB is $36.00...I can load cast for $7.50/100. That's $28.50 in savings. I shoot about 100 rounds every other week. That's a savings of $700/year just for 45.

Then there's the other stuff I cast, load and shoot (20 rounds of .30-06 or .338 per week, 50 rounds of .44 magnum every other week, etc.). I don't cast for .223 or .22-250, but can reload for half price of factory ammo. I'm too lazy to add all this up, but it's some serious savings. My reloading/casting gear has paid for itself more than once.

[Casper29]

If you only want to cast and do not want to melt tire weights down into ingots, you can buy the ingots on e-bay for about $1.00 a pound or search the web for other lead sources.

[ku4hx]

I've had reasonably good performance with commercial cast pistol boolits, but there's more to casting than economy. A LOT more in my opinion and most of the reasons I do it can't be priced out.

I do it because i like it and I'm good at it. I do it to have greater independence. I do it because it's a link to our American past and I love that. I do it because I can make something that allows me to do a lot of what I want to do at a reasonable cost. Yeah, cost is definitely a factor.

Here's the thing. Passions just can't be justified purely on cost. Maybe not at all. Do you think bass fishermen price out the fish they catch based on their cost? I don't think so and I've never met a golfer who tried to justify his cost on some per shot calculation.

If you want to cast, then cast. But if you need to justify the passion by getting to a certain cost basis you may be disappointed.

[41 mag fan]

I would buy a lifetime supply at .03 apiece. Then set them back. Then if you decide to go into the hobby within a hobby, buy the lead and casting equip thats required, and start the casting hobby up.
At least you got a lifetime supply of casts you bought still at .03 each, if you decide casting is not your cup of tea down the road