My Advancements in Casting

dale2242

Well-Known Member
I start out casting with a single cavity mold heated with a Coleman white gas camp stove.
Advancements in order.:
1: Heating my melt with propane camp stove.
2: Heating my melt with a bottom draw. pot.
3: Using 2-4 cavity molds instead of single cavity.
4: Preheating my molds with a hot plate.
5: Using a thermometer to tell hot my melt is.
6: Using a small fan to keep my molds cool as I cast.

I still have single cavity molds that I use.
I still have my cast iron 10 & 20 # pots I smelt in using the propane stove.
I still have and use my ladle that I find I need to use on a stubborn mold now and then.
I am almost 80 and have been casting for nearly 60 years and still have a lot to learn.
Casting adds to the reloading experience.
I have been shooting a lot of cast in my milsurps..
I need to get set up for 8X57 now.
Have fun. Be safe...dale
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
my plan is to run out of pre-made home made bullets at about age 80 and the kids can deal with the leftover ingots and tools.
Dealing with that about now. Your kids may well cuss you.
 
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Rockydoc

Well-Known Member
Giving it up at 80? You guys are giving up too soon. I will be 83 next month and I just ordered a new RCBS bottom draw melting furnace. I am considering a new gun. Just haven't figured out what I want.. a Marlin 336SC 35 Rem, or a Ruger #1 in ? caliber! Best solution is to get 'em both.
 

Cherokee

Medina, Ohio
Not giving up, just no one to leave things to. Selling off stuff I don't shoot and open for replacements I will shoot.
 

Winelover

North Central Arkansas
All the crazy stuff, I did growing up, never expected to live this long..................be 69 soon. It's a double edge sword...............longer you live the more things need replacing. Two knees, already. Shoulders are going fast. Just returned from the Sawbones.............had middle finger on right straightened. What fun..........have to wear a splint for the next month.
 
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Rockydoc

Well-Known Member
Tell me about it! Two hips and one knee already. Bone to bone contact in right wrist, the only solution: remove one bone and fuse the rest together. I don't think I could grip a pistol grip. I'd rather just grit 'n bear it. Is that what they mean by "true grit"?:headscratch:
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
that's the same procedure they use for Keinbock's disease.
make sure your Dr. mentions and talks about packing blood veins and nerves back into the fused area in the hand.
otherwise the main bone in the center of the hand will die and you'll wish they had just cut the whole thing off.
 

dale2242

Well-Known Member
About aging, getting old isn`t for sissys.
It`s only pain, sometimes you just have to push through it.
If it gets unbearable take some meds.
My pace is a lot slower now. I take more breaks.
You gotta keep on keepin' on.
Like the old saying "If I`d known I would live this long I would have taken better care of myself"
 

DHD

Active Member
About aging, getting old isn`t for sissys.
It`s only pain, sometimes you just have to push through it.
If it gets unbearable take some meds.
My pace is a lot slower now. I take more breaks.
You gotta keep on keepin' on.
Like the old saying "If I`d known I would live this long I would have taken better care of myself"
I really love your last sentence! Not even close to 80 yet (early 50's), but I have not been kind to my body!

My daughter will talk about someone at work, and my wife and I will usually ask how old the person is. Our daughter will say that the person is "not too old, about y'alls age", which is code for old....

I wish I was younger so I would know more!
 

Bill

Active Member
My biggest advancement was the Internet, in the early 70s I bought an 1895 Marlin, after seeing the price of ammo I bought a lee mold. One hour after getting it home I had perfect shiny bullets, then it took me 10 years to get them to shoot good

Bill
 

RBHarter

West Central AR
I wasn't anywhere near the cutting edge of the great interweb explosion of knowledge all in one place but I really believe that being able to have 50 guys that have 50 yrs of dedication to the combined shooting and experience of 10 volumes of individual books on each point is what has driven our knowledge base to where we are now .

You can't pick up a single book or even a collection of bullet manuals and have 20 different lubes and complete details about grease , soap and oil interaction . Having read a couple I have that were like "babbitt exists , it's bearing metal" . Who knew copper would wick from plated bullets and make range metal a real viable option for game performance bullets .......
In between we can catch up on cross linked polymers vs epoxy in such a way that a person that can cross the street safely can understand it .
While the ins and outs lead into some "spirited" discussions and contentions of why/what/how to get around it naked speeds are up and group sizes are down .

All of that is owed to the www and places like this and CB (well at least what it used to be ) , where we can take 200 years of written knowledge and actually see the growth curves and build on that from a starting place sometime around 1982 instead of mastering the 1886 buffalo hunter and maybe making 1973 in 20 yrs of tinkering .
There is simply no way that a guy like me would have gotten much past 38 Special and 50 Hawkens without it . Here I am shooting jacketed speeds in gas guns under an inch without a paper patch , paint job , or jacket .