casting and income.

[troy_mclure]

did you get into casting so you could afford to shoot your guns(more)?

or can you easily afford jacketed bullets, but cast because you simply enjoy the process?

[Recluse]

Neither. I got into it as it was a natural extension of reloading and made me even more self-reliant so far as my firearms and components were concerned.

[warf73]

I starting casting to get boolits that fit my gun since no one made the size I needed. It grew from there.

[63 Shiloh]

Casting for me is both enjoyable and economical.

I get my WW for free and also mine my range berms for range scrap, bit of work involved in cleaning it all up and getting it into ingot form, it is worth it though.

I would not be able to shoot the volumes I do with my handguns if I had to rely on jacketed bullets due to cost.

Even though our Aussie dollar is on par with the USD, we are not seeing the savings from the importers.

For a pack of 20 45-70 rounds you will pay $60.00, I priced a box of 50 flex tips just out of curiosity, it would cost me $76.00.

So, I have bought my molds and cast perfectly good boolits for hunting and competition at a greatly reduced cost.

The info I have gleaned from his site has been invaluable in helping me feed my casting addiction

Once I thought cast to be a recipe for leaded bores and terrible accuracy, also believed that I had to cast the hardest possible boolit for any success. Very happy to have been educated in the real aspects of casting.

My current 45-70 has never seen a jacketed bullet and it shoots wonderfully with the right size boolits.

All in all, casting has been one of the best moves I have made with my shooting hobby.


Mike

[stubshaft]

It was the only way that I could afford to shoot IPSC, PPC and Silhouette. Consequently I have fired very few J-words in my pistols.

[garym1a2]

I like to shoot my 1911 45 acp a lot and store ammo is over $32 per hundred. I can make my own for less than $6 per hundred. So now I can afford to shoot a lot of 45's.

[Walter Laich]

enjoyment followed closely by savings

[Bret4207]

About like Recluse I guess. I was reading Elmer and Skeeter back in the late 70's and it just seemed interesting. My first castings were from a Lee 405 gr 45/70 mould for my Siamese Mauser. I NEVER should have sold that rifle! I used a Lee dipper and 3031 IIRC, got groups well under 1.5" at 50 yards from the start. Won several running deer comps with that gun.

From there it was a natural extension to my 32-20's which I was already reloading with jacketed. It built from there and when I found the 35 cals in rifle and revolver...well, if ever there was a match made in heaven it's cast and 35 cals.

These days I'm much to busy to do much shooting, but I still cast in the odd moment to build up my supply. I haven't bought any bullets in 6 or 7 years other than the ones that came with my Hornady LNL. I just bought my first brick of primers since 1985 last year and my last pound of Red Dot I just emptied was marked $10.49. I had/have a pretty good supply built up!

Economically I couldn't afford to shoot jacketed, much less factory anymore. I don't know how anyone can. I just talked with a guy who bought a new truck to save fuel. A $48K truck! Something doesn't jibe there for me.

[rintinglen]

At first it was economics. I could buy factory reloads for $5.00 a box or reload for$3.50, but a yard sale purchase got me a lead pot and a lachmiller 358-432 copy. A friend working at Montgomery Wards Automotive Center got me a 30 gallon garbage can of wheel weights. an old burner salvaged from an abandoned stove and some hard ware store fittings and soon I was loading 50 rounds for about $1.00. It was all about the money then, I made $2.65 an hour. If I wanted to shoot much, I had no choice.

[btroj]

I learned from my father in law. He did it so I did it. Now after 25 years I cant imagine not casting bullets.
Save money? Nope. I figure I just shoot more on the same money.
I do it because it is a part of my hobby. I do it because I enjoy the tinkering nature of it. I do it to keep me busy. I really don't think about the cost savings much.

It is who we are and what we are that makes us cast boolit shooter

[gmsharps]

I started casting initially out of economics. I had just returned from Vietnam at the end of 1971 and had brought back a really nice Browning High Power as a war trophy. Ammo at that time was around $5 per box factory and that was out of my budget for a soldier at that time. A good friend loaned me a bullet mold a bucket of tire weights plus a Lyman 310 tool to size and load the 9mm ammo. I basically knew how to cast from a few years before but did not have the guns to support until then. I quickly discovered how much better the ammo could be and cheaper than factory stuff was. The folks that play the casting game are a different breed of animal and I have made a lot of friends over the years that have this same interest. I was told once that when you are ready to cash it in you would be able to count your real friends on one hand and have several fingers left over. Well the casting fraternity has given me friends that take all of my fingers. GM

[southpaw]

I started reloading so I could shoot more. I started casting for the same reason. Factory shells are out of the question. I could not afford to shoot as much as I do if I had to buy them. I could however afford to buy the J-words. But I heard that I could save more money if I cast my own. So I figured I would buy a couple molds and shoot cast in the spring and summer and switch to bullets for hunting season. That was the plan anyway. Then I got addicted.

Given the amount of money I have invested I should start saving money when I retire. So now it is for the enjoyment. OK I got to go back to the group buy page.

Jerry Jr.

[Kraschenbirn]

Started casting in the early '70s to feed my reproduction Civil War M/Ls (I was a reenactor back then.) and, to save a few bucks, progressed to casting for my modern handguns. Got away from it for awhile because a friend owned the second largest (at that time) commercial casting operation in the U.S. and I couldn't match his prices casting my own. Then, a few years back, I bought my first BPCR - an H&R Trapdoor reproduction - and the rest, as they say, is history.

Bill

[wingnut49b]

I started watching this board to learn to smelt ballast ingots for karting. Then I bought a 1911, and 1000 bought SWC's. This winter I bought bottom pour pot, mold, star, etc.

I figure it's going to take me 5 years of casting to pay for it all, if I don't count my time. But I enjoy it. In the end, it's just a hobby.

[white eagle]

I believe I can build a better mouse trap there fore I cast

[Bulldogger]

For me it was a combination of combining my enjoyment of shooting and learning new hobbies. It never occurred to me to roll my own until the price of plinking 9mm went over $8 a box, which in my opinion was twice as much as it should have been already.

I would be lying if I didn't add I also like it because it makes me autonomous from Gubmunt watchers trying to track ammo sales, etc. I try not to get swept up by the SHTF mentality, but do believe that part of what prevents the Gubmunt from taking our guns is their acute awareness of just how many of us are buying, building, training with (we call it plinking and hunting) and storing supplies for them. The more the better. They SHOULD be afraid, that was intended by the 2nd Amdt. I do my part.

[3006guns]

Early 70's also. I had a good friend that I got interested in shooting .38 special and niether of use could afford factory ammo in those days. We used to have late night casting/sizing/reloading sessions where sometimes the boolits were still warm from the mold during loading....BUT....we were also the guys who had unlimited shooting at the range while everyone else was subconsiously adding up the cost of each shot. Then, it was back to the house and reprocess everything again........

Casting for rifles started several years ago to feed my milsurps. Same situation though. While I'm merrily blasting away, some other poor guy is carefully squeezing each $1.25 "store bought" round.....

[nwellons]

I just started this month to get ammo for antique rifles (.42 Russian Berdan and .43 Egyptian) and a BP only .44 Russian revolver.

I hope to expand to smokeless reloading later.

[RobS]

Something about shooting your own creation and having better accuracy while doing it. I almost forgot, I'm an el-cheapo too.

[fishnbob]

I got started casting .38's and .357's back in the 70's using a borrowed mold and cast iron pot on top of a soil compaction kit stove in the back of a construction trailer during winter shutdowns. From there it led to .44 mags and black powder stuff, crappie jigheads and in the fall of 2008, I saw the necessity to become self proficient and the rest is history. BTW, thanks to all you guys out there that helped me down the straight and narrow path of rolling your own.