Just finished casting 375 ea. 45/70 bullets...

[canoeguy]

A friend of mine gave me some 45/70 bullets he had cast for his Browning single shot rifle, a 300 grain lead flat point gas check, and a 405 grain lead flat point gas check. They worked good in my Marlin 45/70, so he invited me up to his place to cast a bunch for my rifle.

He moved here to the Eastern Shore of Virginia several years ago from Wisconsin, where he was heavy into Cowboy Action Shooting. There is none of that here, so he never unpacked his bullet casting gear. What a friend, he dug around and unpacked his furnace, molds, gas checks, lube etc, as well as a bucket of wheel weights and some linotype to introduce me to bullet casting.

We made 125 of the 405 grainers, and 250 of the 300 grain bullets. Sized, lubed and gas checks installed. I'll load some up tonight and head to the range tomorrow.

I'll probably wind up buying an entry level bullet casting set up, with a cheap furnace and molds for 45/70 and .38 Special. I am hoping to mine the back stop at my range for lead. I know the lead must be dry before it goes into the furnace, anyone out there use recovered bullets from a dirt back stop, if so, how do you ensure they are dry? Are stuff like .22 bullets worthwile recovering and melting?

 

[primersp]

i cast with a rcbs bottom pour and the main lead comes from back stop range made in steel
all the lead gather together ,before casting i cast in clean and flux lingots .
sometime i take it in another range (dirt back stop) whash in a bucket on water and put on new paper dry at sun .
be very carefull with lead moisten .
good luck and good shooting