started casting!

i casted my first bullets the other day i did 7 casts to make 14 bullets they looked really good i did about 50 more today im just practicing for now im not loading any of the ones i casted but i had 50 cast bullets that daywalker give me i loaded them today i loaded them at 4.5 grains of universal which was bottom end im having a little bit of trouble geting them to chamber they didnt want to seat so i had to go back and redo the first 5 i reset up my taper crimp die and they seemed to do a little better but there still tight in the camber is that normal for cast bullets?? and a special thanks to daywalker for letting me barrow his casting equipment thanks alot bro i really apprecated it !

Hey man not a problem. I always enjoy helping anyone get started into casting. If it can save some one money, I am all about helping.

As far as chambering. Take your barrel out of the 1911. Seat all your bullets in one step. Then go back and raise the seating stem so that you can lower the die to start the crimp. Crimp one round a little at a time. Each time you adjust the die down to crimp, drop the round into the chamber. If it is tight, add a little more crimp. Do this until the round chambers with out difficulty. Sometimes they may be a bit tight but they all should chamber with no problems.

Oh yea, by the way Dart, post is worthless without pics!!!!

Way to go Dart!

It's not always a crimping problem....Depending on the shape of the bullet, sometimes they have to be seated a little deeper to chamber correctly.

its always best to refer to your reloading manual, use calipers to measure the dia. at the case mouth after taper crimp..try to get 1 or 2 thousands less than what is in the manual (whats listed in maunal is max dia)....if it is a .45 i think its .473 max dia after taper crimp..hope this helps....bill

If you are using Federal cases and the cast bullets are .452 you need to set the die a little different than other brands of cases. I have found that the Federal cases are slightly thicker than say R&P, or Winchester cases. They can still be loaded with cast bullets but you may need to adjust the die a slight bit or size the cast bullets to .4515 or .451
One other thing that may be causing issues that I have ran into as well is if you are using bullets "as cast" and not sized you need to bell the case mouth a little harder.

billarrington wrote:its always best to refer to your reloading manual, use calipers to measure the dia. at the case mouth after taper crimp..try to get 1 or 2 thousands less than what is in the manual (whats listed in maunal is max dia)....if it is a .45 i think its .473 max dia after taper crimp..hope this helps....bill

yea i think mine was reading some where around .474 before crimp then icrimped them they seated better after that!

Congrats on the first cast boolits Dart. Ironing out the bugs as you go is half the fun as long as it is safe . I don't have that much casting experience myself but it is way cool to see them shiney little buggers come out of the mold!
I agree with DW - throw some pics in here for good measure

ok here is the pics the first ones are the ones i loaded the unloaded ones are the ones i casted

Congrats Dart! Oh man that's it. Once casting gets in your blood "no pun intended" You will start to envision different ways to manipulate and form the lead. You'll be swaging in no time.

GET R DONE!!!! those look great WTG

Awesome, congrats!!!

those look awesome, job well done

thanks guys i cant wait to get my camp stove and start making my own ingots iv got dad wanting to do it know im gonna get him some 40 molds when i order mine iv still got alot of stuff i need to buy iv got molds on my list and need to buy some good welding gloves, a camp stove, my own production pot, eventually i want a lubersizer but i dont have the money for that yet!

Go to Harbor freight for your welding gloves ... no they aint something you would want to professionally weld with but they work pretty good for casting

ok thanks for the tips guys

The bullets look good. Did you try putting an empty case into your chamber to see if it fit the chamber fine.

Nice!!! lets go shoot them now. Now leave the rock island and the reloads on the bench and I'll pick them up when you go to work and I'll let you know how they shoot.

yea most definatly need to go shoot