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I have already ordered my 20lb bottom pour pot and a few accessories. I am intending to get a couple of Ranch Dog moulds and sizers but am having trouble ordering the sizer off of the site. When I hear back from them I'll get the moulds for my 32/20 and 38/55 and 375. I have put this decision off for as long as I can and now feel I must enter the realm of casting. I am certain to have a lot of questions and know that this place will have the answers. And yes , I do blame this new "addiction" on spending time here and reading about your exploits with cast bullets. I want to take my first head of game this year with cast bullets that I have cast myself. A shooting buddy gave me about 40 pounds of pure lead and I am going to have to find out how to alloy it to be used in my 32/20 and 38/55. I am open to all the suggestions on what I need to do as I begin this new adventure. Thanks to all who have pushed me over the edge.....
Goat
 

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If you think Marlins were addictive, casting will cause sleepless nights. You ll need a smelting pot and heat source. Also lead, tin, wax:.......Satisfying activity, unquenchable thirst for material. I ll help where I can.
 

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40# i remember those days...

40# goes pretty quick... My wife puts on a skirt and goes down to the tire store, those boys will load 5 gallon buckets full of wheel weights in the back of her truck for her, hehe... I've got around 800 pounds of wheel weight alloy melted down into 1# bricks in my garage now.
 

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That ain't fair and and... I will have you know they want $1 a lb at my tire store. and have you seen the price payed for recycled brass.
Which would bring up a more serious point gun control by way of regulating the retrieval of lead from down range.Yep there are laws to protect you from this toxic element. Oh did you know lead kills? OOPS I forgot that's why we cast it...I agree this is a vicious cycle .
You can cast bullets if you want but I cast fishing wts, I will buy consistently casted bullets and save money.
 

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MacGregor said:
My wife puts on a skirt and goes down to the tire store, those boys will load 5 gallon buckets full of wheel weights in the back of her truck for her, hehe... I've got around 800 pounds of wheel weight alloy melted down into 1# bricks in my garage now.

I agree that is just not right. ;D Some of us would consider that cheating but I guess it just shows you what lengths we will go through to get the things we need for casting. :eek: ;D

Goat I am getting ready to start casting here in just as soon as it gets daylight good. I have three five-gallon buckets half full of truck wheel weights that I plan to smelt down and then start casting some of Ranch Dogs TLC311-165-RF and some for my 375. I have about 6,500 cast bullets on hand at this time of all different calibers. Just want to make sure I have enough for the summer.

I agree with Iamshooter2 the casting makes my hobby affordable and a whole lot more enjoyable. Also, if the lead that you have is pure lead you are going to have some alloy. I have never tried mixing pure lead so could not give any suggestions there.

Welcome to the fraternity. If you like, challenges and making things you are going to enjoy this hobby.
 

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MacGregor said:
40# goes pretty quick...
When I got my 6-cavity Lee mould for 45ACP I used that much in an afternoon. Let the scrounging begin! 8)
 

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in my defense, it was her idea. wish i could see those boys loading up a 5 gallon jug full of wheel weights into the back of the truck for nothing more than a smile...

I tried it myself, with a case of beer... they sent me packing, told me that the wheel weights go to recycling.
 

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MacGregor said:
in my defense, it was her idea. wish i could see those boys loading up a 5 gallon jug full of wheel weights into the back of the truck for nothing more than a smile...

I tried it myself, with a case of beer... they sent me packing, told me that the wheel weights go to recycling.
I've had the same experience. A local station that has turned me away for years suddenly found a bucket available when the wife asked.

But women have known for centuries that a skirt is the solution to many problems regarding men...
 

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Goat said:
I have already ordered my 20lb bottom pour pot and a few accessories. I am intending to get a couple of Ranch Dog moulds and sizers but am having trouble ordering the sizer off of the site. When I hear back from them I'll get the moulds for my 32/20 and 38/55 and 375. I have put this decision off for as long as I can and now feel I must enter the realm of casting. I am certain to have a lot of questions and know that this place will have the answers. And yes , I do blame this new "addiction" on spending time here and reading about your exploits with cast bullets. I want to take my first head of game this year with cast bullets that I have cast myself. A shooting buddy gave me about 40 pounds of pure lead and I am going to have to find out how to alloy it to be used in my 32/20 and 38/55. I am open to all the suggestions on what I need to do as I begin this new adventure. Thanks to all who have pushed me over the edge.....
Goat
Best wishes to you!

Catherine
 

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Welcome to our world Goat! I took the first step of getting you headed in the right direction and moved this post to the appropriate forum.

I am intending to get a couple of Ranch Dog moulds and sizers but am having trouble ordering the sizer off of the site
If you are talking about my site, I changed the location of my Lube & Size Kits within my store so you didn't have to look through all of them to get to the one you want. If you browsed the kits prior to this change, the old url is probably cached in your browser. Go to this link and refresh your browser (F5 or Control+R), that will bring the new directory up.
http://www.ranchdogoutdoors.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2

The 32-20 is a dandy little cartridge to work with and the 375/38-55 Wins are easy as well, just keep them "fat". Each fall I get a lot of emails and phone calls with hunters excited about their success. I had an unusual amount of excitement from guys shooting the TLC379-235-RF, my 375/38-55 Win bullet. May be the shortage created by Hornady redirecting the production to other bullets or something along those lines made the difference in guys picking up the mold. On opening evening I had a rancher friend of mine call me about an hour before dark. I had my phone on "silent" because I was hunting but figured if he was calling there was a good reason. As I answered he said "did you hear me hit that deer?" In that he is about 15 miles from me, I said "no..." He was pumped as he had bought a M94 Big Bore, tired of waiting to find a Marlin, and had just shot his first deer with a cast bullet. 160-yards with open sights, the very large buck had went straight down. Said he had never heard a bullet hit a deer so hard. Two large bucks had been coming down an open hill side. Both saw him and stopped, one turned around and left and the largest kept looking at him. He shot it head on through the chest and the 235-grain bullet exited the ham. The contents of the chest cavity was liquefied but only a .38 hole through the meat!
 

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Discussion Starter · #15 ·
Ranch Dog, thanks for the link. I got my order in and am anxiously awaiting the arrival of "the package." I never thought to ask if mold handles are incuded with the Ranch Dog molds or if I need to purchase them seperately. Either way I am really looking forward to casting my first "boolits" and entering the elite fraternity of those who cast their own.
Goat
 

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To answer your initial question, I use half pure lead and half wheel weights, water quenched.
I use this for plain base .32-20 bullets, RD 170's in 30 cal, and .357 bullets.
M.
 
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