Did you have a "mentor" to help you learn?

[RicinYakima]

My brother and started casting bullets in 1961 for the centennial of the "War of Northern Aggression", known as the Civil War to Yankees, in both 36 and 44 revolvers and a trap door Springfield (didn't know the difference!). Used Dixie plyer type moulds and an oxyacetylene torch, heated the mould until the lead would fill up the cavity. All of our hillbilly relations and friends only reloaded for cap guns with black powder, every thing else they bought factory loads.

How did you folks begin casting, and did you have help?

 

[Brad]

Learned in 83 to hunt deer with a muzzleloader. Learned on the kitchen stove of Khornet. That was about when I met my future wife. Still do a fair bit of shooting with the old guy. Sometimes I even get a chance to teach an old dog some new tricks.
A mentor makes the learning process so much better. Getting the hands on learning and coaching makes it all easier to understand.

 

[462]

Think it was sometime in 2008 when I starting casting bullets. My mentors were Lyman’s Cast Bullet Handbook, 3rd edition, and that other site. Read the forum for many months, spending much time deep in the dimly lit and dusty archive of forgotten posts. Eventually, I encountered a revolver leading problem that the archive and I couldn’t solve, so I joined the forum and posted my dilemma. Thankfully, several of the forum’s old timers came to my rescue and helped me to a non-leading resolution. (Just remembered, still have a cylinder leading problem.)

Though my casting endeavor has always been a solo one, I’ve had numerous mentors whom I've never met. Interestingly enough, the majority of them are founding fathers, or well known members, of this forum.

So, with that, and in no particular order, I offer my thanks to:
Rick
Ian
Fiver
Ben
Brad
Pistolero
You have helped me immeasurably though you didn’t know it.

 

[Ian]

My story is much like 462's, except I had the advantage of a mentor shortly after I embarked on my own reloading endeavor in high school. One of my Dad's fishing buddies was an avid shooter and handloader who I credit for piquing my interest in that direction, though he died well before I was old enough for him to have a chance to show me the ropes. So I learned about reloading from the Speer #11 book that came with the RCBS Ammomaster starter kit I'd asked for for Christmas one year. Shortly after that, my best friend from high school invited me to cast bullets with his grandfather and I was totally hooked from then on out. We played with Mosins, .30-30s, and old Trapdoor, and our revolvers. We had a little help from his father and grandfather both, but mostly we just muddled through it and had a blast. On my own through the years after that I cast and shot alone with just two guns and two moulds.

Then, when I finally settled in on my own property and built a shop, all the pent-up interest finally got released and I jumped in with both feet in earnest to the cast bullet world and the IDPA world. Didn't take me long to finally join the on-line world seeking information, and after a long while reading, led to my first post on CB asking a question about (you guessed it) leading in my new 1911. I still remember 44man responding with "Alox works better under your fenders". HA! So true. Then Bret4207 joined in and got me straightened out on bullet diameter, obturation, the myth of hardball, and a few other things. Of all the people who helped me the on the boards when I first joined up, he was the first and gave me some of the most enduring, valuable information of all. The rest, most of you have been there to share with me for dang near ten years now.

 

[David Reiss]

I had started shooting just before college. I had hunted and plinked a little, but that was it. But in the summer just before college, I bought my first handgun started shooting all the time. Within a month I had a Lee Loader and was loading .38 specials like there was no tomorrow. When I arrived at college with no direction, I took the usual basic classes. When I went home for the Christmas holiday I learned that a friend from high school had joined a local police department. We spent the holidays shooting & talking law enforcement. So upon returning in January I knew what I wanted to study. This path lead me to William "Bill" Toney, one of my college professors.

At the end of the spring semester, there was talk of a college pistol team to participate in area police PPC matches. Unknown to us we had a national champion in our midst as we started to form this team. One day one of our team rushed into a meeting with a copy of a 60's Guns magazine, with you know who on the cover. Upon reading the article and then cornering Mr. Toney, we learned that he was a retired intelligence officer from WWII, former agent & founding membering of the U.S. Border Patrol academy and former national handgun champion and legend in the firearms fraternity. To make a long story short, Mr. Toney not only became our sponsor & coach, he taught us that to shoot enough to be good, we better become rich or start casting. So from long casting parties when others were having keg parties, I learned to cast and have been doing for the past 40 plus years.

 

[Winelover]

No mentor for me. Father never even owned a gun. Even, though he was a "turret gunner" in the Air Force and his father was a policeman. Grandma gave the guns away, when Dad was in the Service.

Learned casting at an early age. Started casting lead sinkers for bank fishing, when in my teens. Used an old fashioned gas "blowtorch" that ran on white gas. In my travels, I remember finding a rather large lead like pipe, that was too heavy to pick up.....so I rolled it home. As teenagers, we didn't have cars....we walked or rode bicycles.

Sometime in the 70's, I began casting bullets for 38/357(Python) and 9mm (HP).....my first two handgun purchases. Wasn't any internet, so I read everything I could find on the subject. Made some mistakes, along the way. But that's the nature of "trial & error" learning.

 

[yodogsandman]

My dad showed me how to cast his .58 cal mini balls in about 1974 for his Hopkins and Allen underhammer rifle. Used a Lyman #10 pot on a Coleman stove, Lyman ladle and Lyman 505 gr hollow base mold. Old roof flashing was all we needed. I got a .58 cal Harrington and Richardson break action M/L in 1975 and went into production, just a few hundred, really. We bought round balls, mostly Speer. Lee jean hand cut patches and Hoppes #9 plus worked best for those. Got a job after high school in 1977 at Thomson Center Arms sanding gun stocks and stayed there a year. Those guys knew everything about muzzle loaders and shooting! Started on rifle and pistol bullets with a #10 Lee bottom pour pot in the early 90's. I read everything I could get my hands on. My library would borrow books for me from hundreds of miles away. The Cast Bullet Association members taught me a lot then too, reading "The Fouling Shot" articles. I caught a "flinch" and shot my way out....shot 32,000 rounds in my Mauser 7.62x51 over three years in the mid 90's. My batches were 500 rounds then, single stage press. Think I went through a ton of free COWWs.

 

[gman]

I didn't have anyone to be there with me when I started. I read and studied up as much as I could. It wasn't until I was exchanging messages with Bruce of BRP molds when he made some suggestions to me for an alloy to try in my Rugers. He even sent me some sample bullets to size and lube. About this time I discovered FWFL and things started to fall together. After Bruce shut down his mold making he sent me a mold he had laying around free of charge. Would not take payment. We had been in talks of a mold for my RSR and he was in the development stage. I ended up having knee surgery and was out of pocket for awhile. When I contacted him he was out of the mold making game. A lot of the people I have continued to learn from are right here. This is by far one of the best groups of people who are not only willing to help but to make you think so that you can understand why. Because of the people who have helped me I try to pass that on. Whether its advice or a sample of bullets. Its part of the process. You pay back. So thanks fella's!

 

[Dusty Bannister]

I began in the mid 70's with just the books. It has been quite an adventure through the years. I have enjoyed visiting with many other bullet casters met through email lists and forums since the late 90's. When I started, I was in Law Enforcement and the practice ammo was pretty poor in quality, and very good for leading up the barrel. Some of the stuff on the market was not much better and that is what pushed me into casting my own. My primary focus has always been handguns. Incidental to the shooting and casting has been encouraging new shooters. The casting is not always part of the process because that takes a different set of skills. To shoot well, requires focus. To cast well, takes relaxed consistent repetition. If I only have time for one or the other, I cast. And I usually have folks that are happy to get a gift from time to time. For every post to a forum, I probably do 5 PM's usually positive to encourage new casters that just have a problem and need a little nudge in the right direction. Once they get past those first discouragements, they will get it figured out and excel.

Presently having a new experience by working with a new non-family member female shooter. I have been learning a lot from this. Starting her from the very beginning with a father that had enough of guns in the military, a mother that is deathly afraid of guns, this young lady that was so scared at first she was shaking. I am impressed at her focus and growing ability. She needs a better instructor than I can be. Our goal was to have her become a safe shooter, confident and competent. Even with conflicting schedules, I can see her getting there before much longer. I have also found that there are times that we need to "skip class" and just shoot for the fun of it. So far, the 22RF is her primary caliber. She will try others as we go along, but much prefers the 22RF.

It has always been a good feeling to help a new shooter "get on the paper". I think I like that more than just going shooting. Thank you to all those that take the time to encourage or otherwise help the new ones to the sport. It helps to keep the level of interest up. With out new ones joining, those skills and practices will soon be lost. Dusty

 

[KHornet]

You can learn from the manuals, but a mentor sure makes it a lot easier.

 

[RicinYakima]

Thank you for all the replies! Most are like me, read books and self taught, so that is why we are so helpful. Giving another guy a hand, will always make you feel better! Best wishes, Ric

 

[Rick]

Started casting in the 70's but on a limited basis and more of a curiosity than anything. In the early 80's I jumped into IHMSA long range handgun with both feet but mostly with jacketed. Didn't take long and my interest in the sport turned mostly to revolver category and more and more using cast. Only had the usual printed books as a guide, no internet back then. It was perplexing that when following directions in some article or other and it simply wasn't working, over time I realized that much of the printed material was nothing more than reprinting old wives tales and there was only a few writers that had been there, done that and reading of their work was time well spent. I couldn't find the information I was looking for in the usual gun books and by now the internet was coming into it's own so I did a study of the metals industry online papers on what they did with lead alloys and why. There is some reading that can make ya cross eyed but there was valuable insight that could be scaled down for use in bullet casting. About the late 80's I had decided to go with cast exclusively in silhouette shooting and was discussing this with another shooter at a match when another shooter who I respected tremendously, he had won more National and International Revolver Championships than most all others combined, piped up with don't do that go for the win. That year at the NRA National Championships in Washington state I shot a perfect 80x80 with cast and the following year at the NRA/IHMSA combined California state championships I shot a revolver 60x60 with cast and winning against some of the very best long range revolver shooters in the country including my friend that suggested no cast, go for the win instead. Winning that match was of course a great feeling but there was something else that felt much better than that, my cast bullets beat the very best bullets money could buy.

I've since picked up several tips from the forums, I joined the CB site the first year they were up and running. I had learned early on that one of the most important parts of casting quality bullets with minimal weight variation was mold temp and the alloy no hotter than needed to maintain proper mold temp. For years I had been pre-heating on the edge of the pot and pouring 12-15 mold fills and automatically rejecting them, the first pours of a casting session are the lightest bullets of that casting session. Takes a bit of time to get your casting rhythm, mold temp and alloy temp evened out. One of the biggest palm to forehead moments I've had casting bullets was reading on the CB forum about using a hot plate to pre-heat the mold. Wow Rick you idiot, how could you never have thought of that? Pre-heating on the edge of the pot helps some, pre-heating on a hot plate helps a bunch but even so it doesn't exactly match mold/alloy/casting rhythm and the first 4-5 pours are still the lightest of the session.

It's been a long road and often quite frustrating but the successes far outweigh the frustration. The more I learned and the better my cast bullets did in competition the more I learned how much more there is to learn. Still picking up tips and tricks from this forum, that and passing on some help to others is why I am here.
.

 

[S Mac]

As a relative new caster you guys are my mentors. I live in a rural area and no one I know does any casting. I appreciate the knowledge shared here and putting up with my sometimes silly questions.

 

[David Reiss]

Hey Mac, silly questions are only those you didn't ask before wasting time & money.

 

[freebullet]

Shotshells with dad as a lil tike. Rifles with uncle as a Lil tike. Was waiting at the gun store door for them to open on my birthday when old enough to buy my first legal handgun.

Books, books, & more books in addition to the fine helpful folks I've met along the way. I still learn & soak up everything I can. It's a lifelong journey for me.

I'm definitely not stopping & really enjoy getting folks started. When they shoot their first one hole multishot group you can almost see the light bulb turn on & them pay more attention.

 

[Intheshop]

Started shooting bows because next door neighbors were pro guides.Started shooting guns because of dad.

The cousin nobody would talk about in the family,was a sheet metal/HVAC genius who was a closet machinist got me started in pro-stock turkey shooting.And working on personal 700's.

So I get this first year,722 with a T10 from this older man.He gives me the dies,powder and some bullets,the load was written on a slip of paper.My cousin gets me the press and some instructions.I never thought to question any of them?

Had a 100m range cleared and would shoot groups with that 722 that folks would call me out on 'till they'd come over and watch.Flatbased 52's,4198 5 shot groups in the .1's and .2's.Never did change that load?

Figured out handgun ammo cost $$$.Start casting on a Coleman stove.Then got a bunch of used Lyman stuff from some nice guys(gun store) up the valley.They knew I could shoot,so basically gave it to me.Nobody was into that much back then,every body was magnumitus and we all were making VG money.

Read,cast,shoot,go read some more.

 

[JWFilips]

The guys that helped me ( and put up with me!) over on the other side of the street back in 2012 ...."big hat" guys:..... but back then they were not wearing them!
Geargnasher, runfiverun btroj Ben ( probably one or two others)

I asked many questions that must have been asked hundreds of times before but for some reason I did not get the "Search the Threads" answer from them .....they took the time to explain it to me from within my thread or via a PM to me. I felt very honored by this. Then as years passed I started seeing them become more silent and even absent & I became saddened but when this place came into being I received an invitation to join all my great mentors here!
and again I was .....and still am honored!
Jim

 

[Chris]

I began casting in the early 80's, self taught by reading a lot and fumbling my way through problems. First mold was a Lyman 358315 for my only rifle, a .35 Rem Marlin. Nobody I knew cast, or even reloaded and I would get funny looks at the range.

Some years later Bret4207 became my friend and neighbor and boy was I glad to meet someone else who shared the interest. He was able to unsnarl me some. Later yet a local gunsmith got me interested in precision shooting... he was a benchrest and black powder competitor... and that really changed the way I looked at cast and shooting in general, it brought out the analytical side of me. Then came membership in the CBA, I still have many back issues of the magazine.

Only in the last two years have I discovered the cast community on the internet. What a difference many of you have made, you can't imagine. While I may have been a competent enough caster and shooter, you guys have opened a new dimension which has answers to the many questions I developed working by myself. It is brilliant to have a discussion forum of like minded people sharing knowledge.

 

[waco]

My uncle had reloaded and cast bullets as long as I can remember( early 80's )

So I have been around it most of my life. When He passed away in 1999 I bought all of his casting and reloading gear and components from my aunt.

I knew nothing. I loved shooting and owned several guns then. A buddy at work about 10 years my senior was an avid caster and shooter. He showed me

the ropes and I was hooked. He and I both found the other site and joined in 2009. I learned the basics from my friend but gained so much more from most of you guys both on the other site and of coarse here.

I still consider myself pretty green but as they say the learning never stops.

 

[358156 hp]

My story is pretty much like Duanes, errr Dustys. I made up my mind after shooting for a few years that I was going to learn casting. I blame Skeeter Skelton. I bought a LEE 3 lb pot, a LEE "ladle", a sizing kit, and a single cavity mould. I made every possible mistake at least three times, always in a slightly different approach. The LEE ladle turned out to be the big mistake, but I didn't realize this until I had quit, and retried casting about three times. These were pre-internet days, and all I had for a guide were Skeeters articles in Shooting Times. Ross Seyfrieds articles straightened out several issues for me, and I bought a Lyman ladle which improved my casting immensely. That, and a pot thermometer! I still prefer the ladle, and have helped a large number of local casters get themselves settled. BTW, my number one piece of advice has always seemed to be: try more heat. It almost always seems to be either a cold mould or too low of an alloy temp for various reasons.