So, before i knew it, I had cast about 500 bullets. Now what?

[timcar86]

I thought I would dip my toe in the waters of casting and reloading one step at a time. I got some lead and casting equipment and began casting for my .308. I began one day and when I was done I had about 500 bullets. I don't have any reloading equipment and I'm a little confused on the sizing thing but here's the question; my budget is around 300$. What do I need to go from bullets and dirty casings to finished cartridges?

[roverboy]

Well I'm not a caster yet, but I can help you some on the handloading. You'll need a good press, scales, dies, shellholder, powder measure, loading manual, powder, bullets, primers. these are just basic items. If you have friends to help you get started that would really help.

[KaNuckles]

Here is a link to a good thread on here about the subject.

Here is a link to what I am thinking of getting for my first set up. Don't let the list price scare you. You can find that for less than $300 all day long.

http://www.hornady.com/store/Lock-N-Load-Classic-Kit/

[Dolomite_supafly]

From a previous post of mine:

These are all available at Midway Usa. They normally have coupons online so you can save money as well.

lee-perfect-powder-measure

lee-auto-prime-hand-priming-tool-shellholder-package-of-11

frankford-arsenal-micro-reloading-electronic-powder-scale-750-grain-capacity

lee-auto-prime-hand-priming-tool

lyman-electronic-scale-powder-funnel-pan

lee-classic-cast-breech-lock-single-stage-press

hornady-lock-n-load-press-and-die-conversion-bushing-kit

hornady-electronic-caliper-6-stainless-steel

This is what it would minimally take to load. You would still need to buy the particular dies you need as well as bullets, primers and powder. I suggest the primers and powder be purchased locally. I would also suggest buying jacketed bullets in the begining, they are easier to deal with than cast. Cast bullets add another facet to reloading.

People are going to say the Lee stuff is crap but I have used all these items for a few years now without a single issue. For the money the Perfect Powder Measure can't be beat.

I prefer a electronic over a balance beam. Balance beams take a lot longer to settle than an electronic.

No need to tumble your brass to clean them. Get some Lemishine at Walmart. Add a table spoon to some water and soak your brass for 24 hours. Every time you walk by give them a shake to aggitate them. Rinse them and let dry. Brass will be very clean and useable.

This setup may not be as fast as a progressive but it allows you to learn the machanics of it.

Or you could wait for the next show and get what you need from David, DLM37015 on here. He has everythig you could want or need to reload.

$177 as is on the list above

Dolomite

Here are a few things to do to save money at the cost of convienence

You could do away with the conversion bushings if you don't mind setting up your dies each time. I find it hard to make identical ammunition when I have to set the dies up each time.

You could also do away with the powder pan and just weigh the powder in the casing. You just need to make sure to zero out the scale for each casing because they all weigh differently.

You could also dip out the powder and not use the Perfect Powder Measure but that is a very slow going process.

The Press has a priming tool on it but that is also another slow going process. You are also ted to your press to prime cases. With the hand primers you can watch TV while priming cases.

[RED333]

Tim, what mold did ya use for your boolits.

I have a few diff ones, have yet to try to shot any yet, to busy with life.

I have a spare set of Lee .308 dies you can use if you like.

Send me a PM.

Edited October 7, 2012 by RED333

[timcar86]

Tim, what mold did ya use for your boolits.

I have a few diff ones, have yet to try to shot any yet, to busy with life.

I have a spare set of Lee .308 dies you can use if you like.

Send me a PM.

It's a Lee .309 170g mold.

[RED333]

What rifle do you have, do you know the true bore size?

Do you think you could drive a boolit into and out the bore to get the bore size.

.309 might be a bit small, if gas gets by it could lead foul the barrel, not to big a deal

[timcar86]

I ordered a caliper and once I get that I'll be able to get a more accurate measurement. I hope the size is good because I think that was the only one listed for a .308 from lee.

[RED333]

http://leeprecision.com/mold-dc-tl312-160-2r.html

This casts a nice boolit, Caster swears buy them.

[timcar86]

Ugh, I'm gonna throw up if I have to cast all of those again...

[timcar86]

When I put a bullet through the barrel, what am I checking for? Should there be resistance when it travels down the barrel? If so, how much? If there is none to little resistance, will the bullet be too small?

[RED333]

You will want the groves to fill with the boolit and the lands to cut into the boolit.

If the boolit goes through the barrel easy it wont spin right, and the gases will leak by.

[Caster]

http://www.tngunowners.com/forums/topic/48253-getting-started-casting/

Same basic principle applies.

Remember, it's pretty much IMPOSSIBLE to get a cast bullet too big. Not saying you can't, but it's darn difficult. If it will fit the throat, it will shoot.

Also, do NOT melt those bullets down. Isn't that a round nose flat point mold you are using? If you decide not to use it, let me know. I need another mold fr .30WCF. The mold Red mentioned works excellent in 308 provided the throat will accept it. I have found domestically made chambers are too tight for it though. Surplus guns generally have no issues at all. I don't have any surplus guns in that caliber anymore so i just gave that mold to Red this morning as a matter of fact.

I meant to write a better tutorial on rifle bullets. I need to do that. I may dig into that this week. It's a bit more tedious to get fit than pistol but I'm tellin ya, if I can do it, any genetically modified chimpanzee can do it.

Edited October 7, 2012 by Caster

[timcar86]

OK. I'll check it out when I get home. Just curious, why not melt the bullets down? Did you want them?

I guess I should mention that I plan on shooting these out of a Remington 700 SPS tactical in .308. Don't know if that matters.

Edited October 7, 2012 by timcar86

[Garufa]

I'm curious to know what all the fuss is about a .309 diameter lead pill out of a .308 rifle.

OP, load up a few rounds, shoot them and check the barrel for excessive lead fouling. It's real easy.

You'll need to lube those bullets before assembling the cartridges.

[Caster]

I say don't melt them back down because, IF you decide to use a different mold and IF you want to part with the mold, I will take it and send you a fair amount of WW lead for the ones' you've already cast IF they are big enough. Put a micrometer on the bullets and see what size they are. If they are too small, I'd still be interested in the mold as I can lap it open to a larger size.

This is all dependent on IF you even want to part with it. There's to many IF's here. You need to slug that bore or, if you REALLY wanna do it right, order some cerrosafe and take a chamber/throat casting. There's several variables here that need addressing. Throat diameter and length will dictate seating depth. If you don't have enough room you will have to seat the bullet too deep just to be able to chamber it. You DO NOT want to seat the base of a cast bullet below the neck. Bad things happen.

It's going to be a little work but I promise it'll be worth it.

[Caster]

I'm curious to know what all the fuss is about a .309 diameter lead pill out of a .308 rifle.

OP, load up a few rounds, shoot them and check the barrel for excessive lead fouling. It's real easy.

You'll need to lube those bullets before assembling the cartridges.

The first two rules of casting is:

1> You do not talk about fight club *Doh!*

Number 1 - Fit is king. Without a perfect seal, you WILL NOT keep leading out and accuracy will suck. Therefore, an oversize bullet is mandatory. If his bore turns out to be say .3085 A .309 bullet WILL NOT seal. It's a waste of time and materials not to mention the hassle of cleaning out lead. A properly fitted cast bullet load need never be cleaned [barrel] save a dry patch to remove a little soot. You don't have ot clean lead out of .22's right? That's because they fit.

Number 2 - Lube It's not what some might think either. Yes it has lubricant qualities but just as importantly, it acts like a wax ring on a toilet. It takes up any imperfections and acts as a fluid seal.

More on cleaning, first off, you need a seriously good copper solvent. Get all that mess out. I recommend MOntana Extreme .50BMG formula. It's POTENT. Getting that copper out will help you. Second, DO NOT clean a cast bullet barrel. THe lead will fill any microscopic imperfections and you will discover that your first dozen shots may not group very well. Keep going, provided you are not leading up the bore. THe bore will settle and groups will tighten. When this happens DO NOT put a brush or solvent down it again until accuracy starts suckin'. Some people have to find out the hard way, I did, so take my advice and just dry patch it a few times when you get home, clean the action as per normal and put it away.

Edited October 7, 2012 by Caster

[timcar86]

OMG! I'm effing effed! So I went to check the bullet to see how it fit in the barrel. I lubed it and started pushing through. I felt it go about a quarter inch and get tight, really tight. It didn't seem right so I tried pushing from the front of the barrel and that s**t ain't movin'. I can't get the thing to budge! Arrrg! Now what? Please tell me I can fix this without a gunsmith...

[RED333]

Slow down, did you read the thread that Caster linked to?

How are you "pushing" the boolit?

The first bit will be tight.

Get a brass rod that will fit in the barrell, I am guessing you went into the breach end,

if you can keep going, if not,

Put the rod in the muzzle end, give it good wack with a piece of wood and the boolit will come out.

[Caster]

Red's got it. Calm down. Getting PO'd will make things bad. I bought a length of 1/8 brass rod from Lowe's JUST for this. Take a little Remoil or even WD40 and giver her a shot, then be SURE the barss rod is in contact with the bullet so it don't go jumping around. Using a wooden mallet or even a regular hammer if you're easy. Peck the rod. The bullet should move about an 1/8-1/4 inch each peck. Few dozen and it'll come out.

Now, let me ask before you get started. Are you ABSOLUTELY certain of the alloy you cast with? Was there any chance it had zinc in it? Not that would be a catastrophe but zinc is harder and it will take more force to engrave the rifling upon the bullet and force it through. For now, focus on removing the bullet so you can start over. You're going to want to push the bullet the shortest distance so the rod is down the barrel furthest. This will help stabilize the rod and allow you to get the most efficient lick on it. WHATEVER you do, don't whoop the piss out of it, don't get angry or lose your patience. I once got a wad of patches stuck on an old Mosin bore. Took me all day to get them out. If I had started beating things, it could have been much worse.

[timcar86]

Well, I got the damned thing out. Had to buy a 30$ cleaning rod that resembles a thin cattle prod but it did the job. So, like an idiot, I tried again and the same thing happened. Casting bullets is cool and all but I don't know if I'll ever try that s**t again. The bullet definitely engaged the rifling and once my calipers come in I'll take a measurement. I brushed the barrel out well and it looks good so I'm not worried about any damage that I might have done.

Now, let me ask before you get started. Are you ABSOLUTELY certain of the alloy you cast with? Was there any chance it had zinc in it?

I'm 99.9% sure I got all of the zinc out. This was my first time casting so I was so paranoid about zinc that I used a pair of side cutters on every single weight.

So now the question is, can I still use those bullets? I can guarantee I'll never shove one down the barrel of my gun as is. Can I use the one I crammed in and pushed back out for my measurement? It has engraved marks down the entire length of the bullet. If I can't push them through are they safe to use even after they've been sized? On that note, how would I know what to size them to? Sorry for all the questions but I'm feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment. I didn't expect this whole process to be as complicated as I'm making it.

[RED333]

Post a pic of that boolit.

The process is not as bad as you see it. When I did my Glock(slug the barrel)

I made sure I used pure lead, very soft, air drop a few boolits, and used one

of those to drive into and out of my barrell. Then measure the boolit, the largest

dia. is what you are looking for, so measure it in a few diff places.

Caster swears you can fire a .311 boolit into a .308 barrel, and I do beleive Him.

The lead will deform to fit the barrel.

Edited October 9, 2012 by RED333

[timcar86]

So that's what I ended up with. The point was cupped after I drove it out from the muzzle end.

[dlm37015]

dont feel bad i did it the same way the first time

[Caster]

Wow, looks like you had to pound the doodoo out of it to get it out.

Another question, is this a gas check bullet?

Here's what I'd do because the rifling engraving looks pretty deep, SO. Make you up a dummy cartridge. DOn't get scared if the bullet gets hung in the throat the first time you shut the bolt. Happens all the time. Just use a cleaning rod to tap it out, Just don;t CRANK on the bolt handle. If it feels tight, STOP. Play with lengths until you find where it's touching the rifling and the bolt closes. You might kill 2 or three more bullets in the process. Remelt 'em later.

Next, once you have a bullet seated in an empty case that'll chamber, do a side by side comparison with another bullet to see how far the bullet extends into the case. If the base extends into the case that's bad. It NEEDS to stay in the neck. Two ways to fix it, throating reamer or try a different bullet.

SO, let's say everything is OK to this point. Let's get your feet wet. Here's the quick and easy. Tumble lube a dozen bullets, you don't HAVE to use a gas check though it certainly wouldn; hurt anything. Drop 10.0g of Unique in there and seat to the depth you've already established. THis is a SUPER safe load in just about ANY centerfire. It'll be a bunny fart so don't expect to take elk with it. Just go shoot. Be amazed at how silly the gun feels with such a low power load. BUT, you'll learn a lot. Get it home, DRY PATCH only. Unique will leave some perfectly harmless soot in the barrel. gently wipe it out and then look for leading.

Leading: THat silver wash you may or may not see IS NOT leading. Leading will bve readily apparent most of the time as it will be visible build up. The silver washed color that may be present is NOT [this bears repeating] leading and should not be scrubbed away unless you're switching back to jacketed loads. If you don't see any leading, it's time to work up a REAL powder charge and move forward.

Like I said, this is what I would do. YMMV, others may disagree. I have found that tinkering with Unique is fun, accurate and educational.