Hey bullet casters

[aviator41]

Agreed. Alum muffin pans aren't worth the mess.

Wheel weights will most likely be plenty hard for making good pistol bullets.

Thermometers are worth their weight in gold. I totally forgot about that.

The aluminum molds heat up quickly, which is great to get up and running,but when the mold gets too hot, the bullets can take too long to cool, let the mold cool and just keep going. brass and steel molds can get very pricey, but they are great molds.

 

[Shadowrider]

For .38/.357 seriously look at the Lyman 358156 gas check mold. It has two crimp grooves, one of which you can seat them long in .38 loads, loaded hot for use in large frame .357 magnum guns. If you are careful you can get magnum loads with .38 brass. Did I just say that?

It was Skeeter Skelton's favorite bullet in .38 bore for good reason.

 

[Old Fart]

Pretty much all the name brand stuff out there makes good bullets. Unless you're an active regular shooter who's trying to squezze the last micron of accuracy I'd start with the Lee stuff. You probably won't notice any difference.
I'd wait until I felt a need before upgrading to the pricey stuff. I've used them all over the years, I cast to stretch my shooting $'s and just can't justify the price anymore. But like everything else your mileage may vary.

You might try to find someone close to you that you could watch.

 

[swampratt]

All my molds are Lee and I use a green aluminum muffin pan for ingots and i have another aluminum thing that is thick and makes 4lb ingots..no issues at all.
I have even used many many coke cans that i cut the tops off and dried the insides out really well.
It will not even burn the paint off of the coke can.

But you must peel the can from the lead and it is a snug fit into a lee pot..some i had to smash with a sledge hammer to make fit.. easy enough.

My lee 6 cavity 45acp has made over 3,500 bullets and still makes great bullets. that is a bunch of shooting on the cheap.

 

[okietom]

If you want to load hotter cast bullet loads a gas check bullet is better than anything else. The powder coating or painting may work too, I have no experience with it. If you go with a heavy for caliber bullet it will help keep leading under control with the slower velocities of the heavier bullets.

A turkey fryer burner will be overkill. A small electric burner would do and so will a coleman stove. If your turkey fryer will burn low enough it will do too.

Outdoors for ventilation is best also.

 

[Good Cheer]

clintbailey,
The wheel weights with the molded in steel clips have a crevice around the clip. Depending upon the storage of the wheel weights that crevice can hold some unwelcome moisture. Just saying, be cautious about how you add weights to the melt.

Best wishes on your pursuit of casting. If you are a hunter wheel weights does bambi just fine.

 

[Sam Upton]

Lee molds are great. I use turkey fryer with cast pot it burns real hot usually ready to start pouring in 20 minutes or less, then turn it down I place a steel plate on burner surface next to pot to rest mold on while fluxing. It does a great job of maintaining heat in the mold.

 

[Blitzfike]

If using a large burner like a turkey fryer to render your wheel weights, it will get hot enough to melt the zinc weights ruining your batch of lead, and if you ever get zinc contaminated lead in your molds they won't fill out the sharp edges of the bullet design. On steel molds a little muriatic acid will boil off the zinc from the mold, but that is a bad thing to do to aluminum.