How did you get started in bullet casting?

[PS Paul]

When I was just 19 or 20 I had a few old Mausers. After shooting up a bunch of factory ammo, I had a bunch of 7x57 and 6.5x55 brass, so I bought a single stage Lee press and started reloading. Nobody to teach me and I shot alone, so I read voraciously on the subject......
soon enough I had a Model 70 in 458 win mag and a Blachawk in 45 Colt, but shooting jacketed was pricey and store-bought cast bullets in 45 and 458 were those awful hard-cast things with terrible crayon-lube. Then came the pot, molds and more guns!
I'm 48 now and have nearly 50 different molds and I still have those same old Mausers that started it all. Life is good!

[Kraschenbirn]

In the mid-70s, I was involved in Civil War re-enactments and, as I had a source of free lead back then, bought a couple of Lee moulds - a .58 Minie Ball and a .44 conical - and began casting to feed my 'issue weapons'. Wasn't long before it seemed like I was casting bullets and balls for our entire battery (Battery 'A', 1st Illinois Volunteer Light Artillery). By the time our crew went our separate ways, I'd acquired molds for .38/.357 (Lyman 358156) and .45 ACP (RCBS 45-200-SWC) and the rest, as they say, is history. (Btw...I still cast a couple thousand boolits a year from those same molds.)

Bill

[dikman]

I've only been shooting (seriously) for the last 3 -4 years. For a very long time before that I used to go fishing, so cast my own sinkers and lures. Pure lead was easy to get back then. Once I started shooting (muzzleloaders) it seemed natural to cast my own, which led to smelting to make ingots. Later, when I got into cartridge guns - Winchester levers and single action revolvers - it was inevitable that I would cast and reload my own ammo.

The thought of buying factory ammo never even occurred to me.

[VinceG]

I started casting at 16 for a CVA muzzle-loader. Later started casting pistol and rifle bullets for everything I shot as it was cheaper and I am lacking in money. I like to do everything I can for myself. It keeps the cost of shooting reasonable.

[45-70 Chevroner]

It is a very relaxing hobby, and after 40 + years it's starting to wind down. I still love reading about it on here and giving input. I have congestive heart failure and a-fib, (I'm not looking for sympathey ) as I have had lot of fun for a lot of years. The Dr's tell me if I take care of my self I can live 10 or more years. My dad died at 69 and my grand father died at 79 so I think I'm doing OK. The biggest problem I have is lack of energy. I haven't been out target shooting in couple of years. Hunting is out of the question. I still do some reloading for my son he doesn't have a lot of time for casting or reloading, he is changing jobs though and will have more time to get back into doing those things. I bought my first custom made TC barrel in 44 mag last year and I'm hoping to get out and see how it shoots. You guys just keep on casting and shooting and then write about it, I love reading stuff on this web site. I was a better than average caster before I found this web site while learning to use a computer. I have learned a wealth of info on here, although I am still computer challenged.

[Thin Man]

I got really tired of buying factory ammo. That got me into handloading in 1970. By 1973 I got tired of buying factory bullets and boolits. That got me into casting. Between handloading and casting, I wanted to save money, add versatility to what components were available to me, add the convenience of being able to load sooner rather than later, add the creativity to load ammo for firearms where factory ammo is scarce or discontinued, and the list goes on. I came out on all of these goals with the possible exception of being able to limit my addiction to adding more molds to the pile. Currently I have about 170 different molds, with plans to add others. Addiction??? What addiction?!?!?

Thin Man

[Hickok]

Back when old Noah and I just got off the ark, I was not yet 21 yrs old and could not buy a centerfire revolver. I bought the next best thing, a Colt .44 cap and ball revolvers, and a Lyman single cavity mold to make round balls. Soon after, got a .357 Mag Blackhawk and needed boolits for it.

[dudel]

I got into it sort of by accident. I had been shooting for a while. Store ammo was expensive so I started to reload. Always preferred/tended to be self sufficient. Casting came later. During the crunch when components were hard to come by, I had a supply of FMJ and plated. I could see them getting lower, and the prices going up. SWMBO got me a Lee 4-20 pot and some molds for my birthday. I just wanted an alternative to FMJ and plated if needed. I can cast for all my guns, and have worked up loads. I have a supply of lead and boolits put up.

I'll cast if I have to; but it's not my preferred projectile. I also have Lee whack-a-mole loaders for most of my calibers; but it's not my preferred way to reload either.

[therealhitman]

For casting, and my entire firearm addiction, I blame my Father (and reruns of Gunsmoke and The Rifleman). When I was a kid, in the summer, Dad would leave a list of chores to finish before heading out to cause trouble. Almost always included sorting or depriming brass.

[Outer Rondacker]

Years ago I headed to buy a progressive press. When I got to the guys house he would not let me in. Said I was to young and didnt care anything about how a bullet was made. His wife got him to settle down and he asked me son do you even care how a bullet is made. I said yes. Duaaaa I had been reloading for a while. He said how to make the projectile and so on. Well yes I do I replied. I was asked in and made it about two feet in the door when his wife now jumped on my back and said what do you think your doing. Once again I am dumb founded. You get out there and ask your wife to come inside and have coffee while you guys go down stairs. So I did and she did. Four hours later and $500 dollars less I left with 22 bullet molds. 800-1000 pounds of lead in both bullets and raw. Casting pot, progressive press, lyman 450 with loads of sizing dies, totes full of 357-44mag brass. A five gallon bucket of lyman lube, all sorts of dies, a thumbles thumber, lyman Mag pot. The list goes on and on. I got home and had no frigging clue what I had got into. At the time I had a short bed truck and my wife hand to hold the press since it would not fit in the back of the truck.

So I told my buddies what I got and fired up the pot. They all said my dad said lead will lead up the barrel. Told me it was no good and what not. Forced me to make it work. That is the short version of my story. By chance and an old man not wanting the ways things he did to be forgot. Many years later I can now not find lead and wish I had more money when I had met the old man. He had 1000x more stuff then I bought that day. He was a professional shooter.

Like a fool the day after I got home I sold seven of the molds to get back my 500 bucks.

[Poygan]

In 1964 I was new to the Air Force and the pay wasn't great in those days. I bought a Lyman Ammo Maker in .45acp which included a single cavity .452374 mold and the dies for the 310 tool. Bought a can of P5066 for I think a bit over $2. The kit came with a powder scoop for the 5066. Overall a slow process but I had more time than money!

[Lead Fred]

Been shooting muzzle loaders since the 70s. Store bought round ball was hard to find and costly.
Asked a bud what he did. Invited me to his house, and I cooked up a milk carton full of round ball in a few hours.
I was happy, then came the 45/70s. Then me finding this website. Then I got a 357 mag and learned about Elmer Keith.
Dont buy store boughts any more for these calibers and 30WCF.

[6622729]

The federal government and President Obama introduced me to guns, ammo and now casting. When they banned 7N6 surplus ammo, I got started with an AK74 and purchased a lifetime supply of canned 7N6 before it was gone. I was not a gun person at all before they did that.

When they banned M855 ammo temporarily, I loaded up for my son and this in turn led to buying plenty of SS109 projectiles in case the M855 ban comes back. This of course led me to learning to reload and that led me to building my first AR-15. Building that first AR led to another which led to another, etc. Now I'm into 5.56, .223 Wylde, 300AAC, .22LR and 9mm. I cast and reload for 300AAC and 9mm and reload for .223. Every time Obama opens his mouth about gun control, he leads me into guns/ammo and casting deeper and deeper. Now I have a lifetime supply of COWW and Foundry lead as well as primers, powders, brass and projectiles. They have a lot of banning and confiscating to do before I'll have nothing to shoot. I didn't need another hobby but I'm really enjoying the technical and black art aspects of working up loads for target shooting. For the record, I'm not a prepper or a hunter. I'm a paper target shooter enjoying the hobby before they take it all away.

[Malheur]

I learned from my father in about 1965 how to cast 38 bullets. Now all these years later I cast from 22 to 50 cal.

[L Erie Caster]

I learned on my own the hard way, through trial and error. At first I couldn’t make a good bullet or boolit to save my life. With no one to ask and no internet, I got frustrated and quit. Months later I decided to give it another try, boolits were better but still not worth loading so I got frustrated and quit. This went on for about two and a half years. Now many years later I can cast a decent looking boolit that shoots well, so I am happy. Still not as talented as some of you guys but good enough.

[rintinglen]

I was first introduced to casting when I was 13, back around 1966. My friend Jerry's father was casting one saturday afternoon, and after showing me how it was done, he let me cast up a few dozen boolits for his 30-30.j I believe they were 311-291's. That fall he also showed us how to reload those boolits into fired cases and took us out and let us shoot some up. That set me off. My friend Rick's dad had a MEC shotshell reloader, and he showed me how that worked. My Father disapproved, so my reloading came to a halt until 1970 when I bought a LEE Loader set for my own 30-30 and learned to load my own ammo, strictly by reading, trial and error. In my teen years, I did cast up a bunch of wheel weight sinkers for bottom fishing in the Lake where we had a cabin.
In 1974 I bought a old electric plumbers pot and a pair of molds at a yard sale in Vista California, and have been casting ever since. I have cast well over a ton of 148 grain wadcutters, and a fair few hundred pounds of various other calibers.

[Michael J. Spangler]

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away DukeInFlorida was known as DukeInMaine.
He was generous enough and passionate enough to put on a couple casting seminars for New England.
After than and a ton of reading in here I picked up a lee 4-20 and a MP 454-200HP
The rest is history. Going on 4 or 5 years this month.

[sigep1764]

Wanted to shoot more. Bought a Square Deal B as a first press. Learned quickly. Also learned in the craziness that happened from 2010 til recently projectiles were hard to come by. Stumbled across here and read. Then I read some more. Then I bought in and made 9mm work and now i am looking to make the rifles work. No regrets.

[TXGunNut]

I purchased a 45-70...

Same here! Spent over $100 on mail-order cast bullets that didn't work. Then I spent a few hundred more and got a furnace, a few moulds and just enough stuff to get started. I'd been reloading for about 25 yrs by then but soon found I still had a lot to learn.
Several years ( and thousands of $) later and I still can't get that rifle to shoot...but my first attempts worked better than those I bought. I've had tons (almost literally) of fun over the last several years.
Turns out that rifle was actually chambered for 45-90. Maybe some day I'll get it to shoot.

[reloader28]

Been shooting as far back as I can remember and have never really shot much store ammo. I had an uncle and a friend of Dads that reloaded for us.
Around 1999 or 2000 an old man I know that reloaded showed me how and gave me a 12 gauge MEC and it was all downhill. My brother started reloading rifles and pistols.
We were shooting more and he couldnt keep up with both of us so my wife got me a complete Rock chucker kit. The old man had a couple molds and a Lyman pot and I thought it was neat because we always like to make as much of our own stuff as we can.

He showed me how to cast bullets and before long I picked up a couple molds myself and barowed his pot and lube sizer. He said they were good for nothing but plinking and he made very ugly wrinkled boolits.
It wasnt long and I had my own pot and lube sizer and more molds. Then I found this site and really learned alot. I started playing with alloys and hollow points, gas checks, hardnesses, diameter sizes. I found out that a cast boolit will do everything an expensive name brand bullet will at a fraction of the cost. The old man started asking about it and I taught him way more about it than he did me. Now everyone all my friends and family get their boolits from me including the uncle that loaded for us when we were kids. Our pistols shoot nothing but cast boolits and I've shot cast boolits in most of my rifles. Several are cast only shooters. We've killed several deer and various other critters to.

About 3-4 weeks ago the old man that got me started, gave up and gave me all his guns and reloading/casting stuff. I am VERY grateful to say the least. It took 2 truck loads to get it here. Most of his equipment had gotten damp so I've very busy stripping it apart and cleaning everything. The ammo was very sketchy as hes old and had gotten sloppy so I've pulled apart about 1200 rifle loads with another 300 or so to go.
So, I aint got much casting done lately.