Just a show of hands, how many make their own ammution?

[CaptainKirk]

Yo.

 

[FishDFly]

I weighed them, not sure I will continue. But, when I am doing the weighing my wife does not bother me, thus some quiet time.

Lesson learned from weighing:

Lyman molds have a very small deviation in weight.

Lee molds have a greater deviation in weight than Lyman.

Store bought swaged have more deviation than home cast.

Not sure shooting at 25 and 50 yards any deviation in weight is going to be a factor. It might be at 100 and 200, cannot prove one way or the other. Think time in flight might be a factor at longer ranges. Believe wind is more of a factor than weight.

Weighing does not hurt, it's a personal choice.

 

[Robby]

I weigh mine at the muzzle with my calibrated fingers, sometimes I have to aim a touch low. I also have some vacant land for sale in NYC, and a bridge near SF, made of gold.
Robby

 

[FishDFly]

I weigh mine at the muzzle with my calibrated fingers, sometimes I have to aim a touch low. I also have some vacant land for sale in NYC, and a bridge near SF, made of gold.
Robby

Seems fair, do give cash back on VISA or Discover ?

 

[Whitworth]

Been casting since the early 80's to feed assorted hungry weapons. Back then lead bullets by Hornady didn't make me happy so I bought a Lee electric bottom pour pot, a 240 grain dual cavity .44 wadcutter mold and with scrounged lead wheel weights never looked back for my handgun needs. I'm still using that same Lee lead pot after at least 36 years. I laid in a half ton of Linotype along with other supplies during the years of the Clinton Gun Follies. Since then I have cast and shot thousands of pure linotype bullets. I never bothered to cut it with scrap lead since it casts so beautifully and the hard bullets don't lead the bore at velocities up to 2,000 FPS with no gas check using paraffin for lube. For muzzle loading I cast pure lead .36, .44, 50 RB and .58 Minies. When casting .451 hex bullets for my Whitworth I go back to the Linotype.

 

[toot]

65 yrs, for me. still pouring lead. & sending it down range!

 

[Carbon 6]

When I started shooting there was one place within 100 miles that sold round balls, and you were lucky if they had your size. No internet back then and phones had dials, mail order was a pain in the butt, no credit cards, you had to wait 2 weeks while your check cleared, slow delivery etc. Today, there is nothing within 100 miles.
If I want to shoot I have to cast.
Over the years, casting has saved me thousands of dollars.

 

[oldwood]

Robby , I might be interested in the SF bridge if you can supply a fairly accurate map of where the most human fecal material located in SF like the mayor was supplying to tourists last summer.

 

[Rudyard]

I have used old pincer moulds ,the various Lee & Lyman ,Mc Quire & Tanner,And made a lot of my own .Never bought any balls but happy to win them at R vous. I think it best to weigh & set aside wrinkled & nose voids seems it should be better & no worse, at least one less variable. Plaster of Paris, soapstone . And I found if some irregular old pincer mould the ball put back in side ways and sqeezed gently in a vice will give you a better spherical ball .And if your wanting to make hollow nose or any uncommon sort you have to make your own cutter Thusly I have accumalated more moulds than you can poke a stick at but they don't eat much grass .And I am quite unrepentant.
Rudyard

 

[Robby]

Dang Oldie, I wouldn't touch that with a there thousand mile long selfie stick!
Robby

 

[Tannehill]

I cast .440, .490 and .690 ( for smooth bore). Use my Coleman camp stove small pot I bout at a ml randevous. All my lead was free some from a roofer neighbor , some from a nephew and the last from my brother in law who is a retired plumber. Probably have 50 pound of unmelted lead. Always cast outdoors. With all the lead, asbestos and radiation I dealt with for 8 years in the Navy I ain’t worried about a little lead fumes .

Sometimes I even cast at my campfire. Enjoy it and will keep on. Wife hates that I do it.

I use scavenged pillow ticking also. Only thing I buy are BP, caps, ballistol and dawn.

 

[VADSLRAM]

I've been casting my own bullets since day one. I'm making a pistol from a walnut tree that was in the back yard , I knap my own flints and I even tried my hand at making my own powder... it worked but store brought is still better. I watched a barrel maker at the PA show a while back but I think that's still out of my comfort zone.
It's a hobby so why not go all the way. Production bullets etc. might be better for a competition but I enjoy the ch-whoomp so much more knowing I did it.

 

[nkbj]

Bullets for custom bores, you cobble together what works.

 

[Macon Due]

NOW THAT IS A NICE BRACE OF MOLDS!!

I thought a "brace" was two?
Macon

 

[Musketeer]

I just joined the Casting Club about 2 years ago. I picked up a Lee 10 lb pot, some various spoons and ladles, and several molds by Lyman and Lee. Living in the AZ desert where rain is uncommon I can cast out in the backyard nearly year round, so I don't worry too much about fumes. I also bought a small cast iron pot with a steel wire handle that I'd like to use while out camping to try casting over a campfire, but I haven't done so yet. After some initial frustration at figuring out the proper temp setting on the pot, learning how to properly flux, and trying to get the molds up to proper temperature (my early balls looked like little silver Shar Peis ), I now thoroughly enjoy casting and actually look forward to doing so and find it quite relaxing and almost therapeutic in a way. I use a combo of found lead that friends/family bring to me and lead purchased from ebay. I'm not even sure how much (if any) I'm saving by casting myself, but I care not. As I said, I enjoy it quite a bit and I also think it's a good skill to have.

 

[Crow-Feather]

I cast. If I need bullets, I don't want to wait several days or drive 100 miles.

 

[toot]

I thought a "brace" was two?
Macon

I guess you didn't get it? also a brace is called suspenders! they hold up your pants up in case you didn't know? BRACE, it was a figure of speech.

 

[toot]

well at least two of them were a brace.

 

[Flyingw56]

I cast for all of my Rifles and Revolvers, have not bought round balls or minnie's in years.

 

[TomV]

Casting your own you can control the quality and weight consistency. Store bought weights are all over the road. Within 1 gn is ideal, but store bought we found varied 2 and 3 gr. Making grouping difficult.