Bullet casting. How many per hour?

[flatnose]

I dont know who casts their own bullets here, but how many bullets per hour for a 45-70 lee double cavity mold, would be a reasonable rate of casting?

[TedH]

It would partly depend on the size of your pot. 45-70 slugs will empty a 10# Lee pot fairly quickly. If you had a good rhythm going you should easily get 100+ in an hour of casting. Those big bullets in aluminum molds can get the mold over heated pretty fast if you're casting quickly. A wet dishrag to touch the bottom of the mold on will help with that problem and let you keep on trucking.

[Rusty]

I wouldn't worry about speed as much as I would quality. When you get a rhythm going you'll be surprised at how fast it goes.

[Don McDowell]

One problem that crops up real fast in those Lee molds is overheating, especially in the larger bullets.
Don't worry about how many bullets you can cast in an hour , worry about how many usable bullets you can cast in an hour. Take it nice and easy and get into a good rythym and your bullets will come more uniform and your molds won't take as bad of a beating.

[Griff]

WHAT??? You're supposed to keep track??? I generally run 3 2-cavity molds till I get tired or bored. Which has to happen immediately upon notice that my wife wants me for something else! Sometimes I get alll day, others only a few hours. Sometimes the pot doesn't even get waem!

[Don McDowell]

Griff it can vary a whole big bunch. The other day I braved the cold and ran a bunch of .400 pp bullets from the new baco mold, and ran some of the rcbs 530's also, went about 45 minutes and probably got 30 of each that were keepable, and have about a dozen of those, that didn't make the cull, in the box ready to go back to the pot.
I try to do my casting while she's still at work, then I don't have to get bored so quick

[marlinman93]

I usually cast several different bullets when I get ready to cast for the same reason Don gave; don't want to over heat my molds and have quality go down. By casting from several molds I can let one sit if the mold blocks start to get too hot. Never really kept track of numbers cast.

[Chuck 100 yd]

I too cast for quality and not speed. If everything is right I usually can get a couple hundred KEEPERS in a 3 hr session.
I scrutinize my bullets with an intense scrute!! No need to shoot krapp when there are more good bullets in the pot waiting to be cast.

[flatnose]

Thanks guys. I think I will sell the lead on e-bay, then just go buy the bullets I need.
I have about 300lbs of wheelweights here, and thought I would put them to some use. I can buy 1000 405grn bullets for $160, which shoot fine in my rifle.
I was trying to weigh out the economics before getting into casting.

[Sixgun]

On Sunday, I cast up 1600 115 gr. 32-20 bullets and 1400 175 gr. 30 cal rifle bullets. From start to finish (heat up to clean up) it took me 6 hours.

I cast with two 4 cavity moulds out of a 22 lb. RCBS furnace. Next to the RCBS furnace I keep a 30 lb pot on a gas stove so I never run out of good hot alloy. Everything gets water quenched into 5 gal. buckets, so I never run out of an area to drop the bullets.

Only the first few are thrown back in. When the temperatures of the moulds and the alloys are kept at a constant, rejects are rare.

I am half Italian but my other half (German) gives me the ability to be efficient, with no down time and no waste:D -----Sixgun

Unless you have time to burn and can afford it, buy them. I'm cheap, poor, and have rifles and sixguns to which bullets are very hard and expensive to come by.------------Sixgun

[44LVR]

I probably cast differently than others. I tend to use 1 mould and mostly use only iron. Can't stand aluminum though I have a few. I check every bullet as I cast and throw bad ones back in the pot as I go, using a 20lb pot. Casting in that manner I tend to cast about 200-250 rounds per hour. I'd use more than one mould but I tend to use a bit more pure lead mixed with my WW's for pistol bullets and straight WW's for rifle stuff. I NEVER water quench my bullets as air cooled works best for my hunting.

44

[Chuck 100 yd]

44LVR , That sounds a lot like my system. No hurry, casting bullets is a hobby of mine that just feeds my second hobby, reloading.
Reloading feeds a third hobby, shooting. I enjoy each.