RCBS Lead Furnace

[August]

Howdy,

On a related topic, where do you all get your lead?  I'm too busy to be scrounging it.  Is it worth making your own boolits if you have to buy your lead?

-Willy

I would say if I only shot smokeless powder in .38 or .45 calibers, it would not be worth it as there are many production guys who can supply bullets for reasonable prices for those calibers and that purpose (smokeless powder).

However, if you shoot 38 W.C.F. or 44 W.C.F. with black powder, or if you shoot precision long range guns, then making your own bullets may be the only way to get a quality product at anywhere near a reasonable price.

I don't make bullets to save money.  I cast bullets to run the guns I want to shoot -- traditional calibers in traditional guns with traditional gun powder.  Making bullets for that purpose seems to be the best and least expensive approach.  However, even with that in mind, sometimes it is just more efficient to purchase bullets from a guy like Slim.  There are only so many hours in the day, and so many weeks before the next big match.

[Deadeye Dick]

Springfield Slim makes a quality product at a reasonable price. No reason to cast bullets for black powder if not so inclined.
Deadeye Dick

[Wagon Box Willy]

Springfield Slim makes a quality product at a reasonable price. No reason to cast bullets for black powder if not so inclined.
Deadeye Dick

Yes, I've bought from both Slim and Dash Caliber and the prices were fair and hence my question.  I've even met a local guy, Iron Pony, who sells Big Lube boolits.

While I do like to tinker it probably makes more sense for me right now to stick with buying boolits.

Willy

[Patrick Henry Brown]

I buy my lead off ebay in a pinch. The reason I cast is that I enjoy shooting Sharps percussion rifles, CW Muskets, CW carbines, and such. Quite frankly, the stuff I enjoy the most requires casting obsolete bullets. I also can have a custom mold made just for the bore and groove of my rifle. For normal CAS, that makes little difference at the ranges of most matches. But for long range shooting such as BPCR or BP Silhouettes, it is critical. In the long run, I will save money on my 44-40's using bullets I cast from Dick's Big Lube mold. That is, if I consider my time as free. Being a muzzleloader at heart, I guess I'll always be casting Minies, or such as long as I'm able. YMMV.

[Howdy Doody]

I am not one for being patient. On my RCBS I crank the dial to melt to start out. I'll chuck about 10-15 pounds of lead ingots in there and spend a bit of time on the mold I am going to cast with. I like to see how it opens and closes and dab a bit of neverseize on the pins. Making sure the sprue plate looks good and then wander back to the pot. If it has started to get a melt going I start to move the dial back towards where I like to cast at (around 700) and then a thing I do is get my propane torch, kitchen matches and after giving the pot a good stir or even some flux if needed, I smoke my mold, then I heat my mold and especially my sprue cutting plate and then I heat the nozzle on the pot. I don't know if they are all like that, but on my pot it takes too long to get lead to flow through the nozzle, no matter how high or low the needle valve is set. Preheating it with the torch speeds things up.
I don't remember reading anything about speeding it up by heating mold and nozzle like that, but that is what I myself do and even if it is wrong, I get great looking bullets going quickly and that suits me.

[38-72]

I put a ground fault receptacle in my shed when I built it, just for this reason.

[/quote]

Some GFI units will trip and some won't when the RCBS is plugged in.  Nothing wrong with furnance, it is usally the GFI that's over reactive.