My first cast bullets!

[45pro]

I cast my first bullets today. Everything went really well. Only had to cast about 10 bullets to get the mold up to temp and get rid of the wrinkles. I ended up casting about 150 bullets and only discarded about 10 of them due to me getting used to timing when to shut the valve off. I think i'm already HOOKED. About 50 percent were shiny and the other half is slightly frosty, but smooth. I used candle wax to flux in my Lee pot which seemed a lot easier than the sawdust i tried when i smelted. Anyways heres a pic...

230g .45acp

 

[indygunguy]

I'm thinking I may need to get into this myself. A couple questions...

What mould did you use?
What lurbisizer are you going to use?

 

[kyotekilr]

how consistent are their weights?

 

[Skip]

Well, you are hooked for sure! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

And I am happy for you!

They look great and frosty is okay.

Wrinkles and voids are bad.

If you want to get a REAL lesson on bullet weight, try weighing some of your purchased cast bullets. Or, better yet, some plated ones OR, IF YOU ARE REALLY BRAVE, JACKETED ONES! HAHAHAHAHAHA

Seriously, now, you never HAVE to be out of bullets, never. How does that feel?


WAY TOO COOL!

 

[45-70]

Nice lookin' boolits you got there! What mould is that you are using? There is nothing like making your own is there? Take it from one who knows, casting is an obsession, get out while you still can.

 

[45pro]

I'm thinking I may need to get into this myself. A couple questions...

What mould did you use?
What lurbisizer are you going to use?

Link for mold-http://www.midwayusa.com/product/782554/lee-2-cavity-bullet-mold-452-228-1r-45-acp-45-auto-rim-45-colt-long-colt-452-diameter-228-grain-1-ogive-radius

I'm going to use the Lee lubrisizer

how consistent are their weights?

I'm not sure yet as i have not weighed them, my reloading scale does not go up that high.

Well, you are hooked for sure! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

And I am happy for you!

They look great and frosty is okay.

Wrinkles and voids are bad.

If you want to get a REAL lesson on bullet weight, try weighing some of your purchased cast bullets. Or, better yet, some plated ones OR, IF YOU ARE REALLY BRAVE, JACKETED ONES! HAHAHAHAHAHA

Seriously, now, you never HAVE to be out of bullets, never. How does that feel?


WAY TOO COOL!

Thanks skip, Is it really nessesary to weigh them? I"m assuming they all have to be close, but maybe not??

 

[Skip]

No, you don't need to weigh them, you need to load them and shoot them!

That thought was for the benefit for the poster that brought up the question, not you.

It will be eye opening if you do weigh bullets. You will see that those expensive ones vary more than you ever thought and why your groups are not always the same!

From a handgun, you will NEVER notice the difference in weight, honestly.

 

[45-70]

I don't know what you are going to be shooting these in but I had that same mould, the Lee 452-228-1r and could not get the boolits to feed in any of my 1911's no matter where I seated the boolit depth or what magazine I used. You may want to make up a few dummy rounds and try them out.

 

[CindyE]

Too cool! I got to see some being cast a few weeks ago, in a friend's garage. I had no idea how it was done before that. I found it pretty interesting.

 

[Skip]

Cindy, what would be TOO COOL would be for you to start casting!

I too had some problems with that bullet. It all depends on what you size it too. Because of the huge ogive, 1R, the bullet is bore size really fast. That means it CAN bump into the lands of not careful on OAL. If you size to .451", you may be okay. As cast will not work, I can almost guarantee that.

As a suggestion, maybe the truncated cone profile would be better, never cast one of them though. My round nose are a "2R" for lack of a better term. They have a reduced diameter, so to speak.

Like this:

Saeco mould. Lee makes one too, it is only available in a tumble lube fashion though. I will have to look around. I used to have one of them too! Don't use that one anymore.

 

[smith52]

Those boolits look great, welcome to the club! I use the Lee 452-228-1R mold myself, have a few thousand cast now that I'm in process of lubesizing. I have found with all of my Lee molds, my boolits drop with a slight fost they are just about perfect. Have fun casting, have even more shooting your boolits and be safe.

 

[45pro]

I don't know what you are going to be shooting these in but I had that same mould, the Lee 452-228-1r and could not get the boolits to feed in any of my 1911's no matter where I seated the boolit depth or what magazine I used. You may want to make up a few dummy rounds and try them out.

I got this mold because its the exact(or seems to be) size and profile as the MBC 230g i buy and shoot. My gun shoots them like a dream. I seat to 1.256. When i get time i'll take a pic of them side by side, the profile is identical with the MBC bullet just a tad longer(not profile wise, but on the bottom end).

It will be sized to .452, same as the MBC i USED to order

I did not slug my barrel as i have never got any leading with the MBC bullets and im planning on picking up more .45's in the near future and wanted these bullets to be sized "normally" so i could shoot them in anything.


EDIT: Missouri Bullet Company on Left. Mine on Right.

 

[straight-shooter]

Looks like some nice hole punchers for sure! Great job and enjoy. Something nice about reloading your own ammo but when you cast your own bullets, it even better!

A tip i learned is when you shoot them, if the forcing cone is leading than it's loaded to slow and if the muzzle end is leading then it's too fast. Find that happy medium and your golden.