Powder coating is just as easy as the lee tumble lube except it's less messy, doesn't gum up your seating dies and works better which allows you to push bullets faster even without gas checks. I shot thousands of homemade cast lead and powder coated 55 grain 223 bullets without gas checks to velocities between 2200 fps and 2400fps with great results. At speeds above 2400 fps the accuracy gets bad. There's plenty of videos on youtube showing simple powder coating methods and there's also videos showing complex methods. The simple methods work fine. There's no need to make it complicated.

I love experienced experts talking about what they like to do! Priceless information all over the place! Please keep them coming! Thanks a lot for your hard work on these videos!

I love the Lee molds, been using them since the 70's. Casting bullets and loading them is as much fun as shooting them. I use my old Coleman camp stove for melting.

I have never wanted to mold bullets and probably never will but I really appreciate your knowledge on everything that you talk about

I'm really glad you're doing this series. These are important things to know. You're easy to learn from as well. Thank you.

Excellent video! You are the best gun tuber on youtube, hands down. Thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge.

The best video about how to start casting on YT. Tons and tons of tips. Your knowledge sharing is much appreciated. I just started loading shotshells recently and came across some videos for casting slugs. Next thing you know I am watching your casting videos. 😁Thank you.

Thanks so much for your information, I inherited my father in law’s reloading equipment, he’s been gone now 20 years, back then I really enjoyed reloading bullets with him, now I’m going to enjoy my retirement making bullets and reloading, he never took the precautions that you’re taking about, so I’m glad to hear all this, I’ve already purchased, newer equipment, thanks again, Tony

I’ll probably never get into casting. But I think knowing how to do it is important. We’re getting hammered up here today. I’ll be firing up my press when I’m done snow fighting! Always enjoy your videos

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and years of experience. You are a scholar and a scout.

In the shooting sports for me. This is the heart of it. Hand loading and all the aspects. Thanks for your knowledge share.

An excellent tutorial on bullet casting. After 50 years of casting, I have very Little to add. I usually buy a lee 2 cavity mold to try out a bullet or for modifying a mold for a certain use. If i lreally like the way a bullet works then i will invest in a 6 cavity mold or two. Closed toed shoes, long pants and sleeves, eye protection. One glove maybe is good PPE.. Have a pair of plyers handy for gently picking up stray bullets. Too cold a mold has wrinkle bullets, too hot is frosty. Frosty bullets can be brittle and break up on impact. I usdually cast a years suplly of bullets in the fall. I have a lee production pot and a 6 quart cast iron pot on a propane turkey fryer close by. I use a dipper to fill the lee pot from the 6 quart pot. When the lee pot gets down about half full i add a dipper of merlted lead from the big pot. I use a lead thermometer to keep the lead in the big pot around 700 degrees. I flux the big pot with half a crayon. I try to do as much lead refining or casting as i can at a workbench outdoors. Bullet casting is an enjoyable hobby that will save you a lot of money on bullets. Heres the thing. If you are going to develope your shooting skills to the maximum of your ability you are going to have to shoot ten thousand rounds in practice. The only way for the average person to be able to afford that is to reload your own ammo. The most expensive part of the round is the bullet. Enjoy.

Sir, your videos are mesmerizing, and a pleasure to watch. I hope you keep them coming. God bless you and your family. Greetings from Argentina

I enjoy your videos as they are interesting and informative. I have reloaded for over fifty years, and I still learn from watching your videos. Please keep them coming.

The best tutorial I’ve ever watched for anything! Let alone casting bullets, and such a nice person too ❤

What about MP, NOE, Accurate, Arsenal, LBT, Mountain Molds? All very good molds. The TL or Tumble lube LEE bullets are the ones designed to not need sizing. But thats a extremely generic statement. Bullets must be properly sized to a bore. Bullets should be properly sized and lubricated. (Or Hitec/powder coated) A bullets diameter is also strongly determined by your alloy. Harder or softer can give you larger or smaller bullets from the same mold. Speaking materials. You have "iron" and Aluminum molds as you mention. But Brass is the king of mold materials. Heat retention is outstanding meaning more time casting steady temps creates better bullets. Lyman has made 4 cav for decades. Accurate, MP, Arsenal, NOE all make molds with more then 4 cav. Then there was "ARSENAL" molds not the manufacturer but called arsenal because of the use or where used. These was 8-10-12 cavities!!! These was usually 8-10# behemoth's and literally rained bullets. Mineral oil is a dandy lubricant for storage. It washes off easily. It burns off quickly and cleanly. The need for a hot plate is a boon to your casting set up. Cheap easy and efficient FAR FAR better then the top your pot for warming the molds. Add a old saw blade wired to the element for a flat "table to support a few molds at a time. You want about 400°. If you want to test hardness a simple chart and some artists pencils is far far cheaper and very accurate and easy to do to see what you have. Search google for lead pencil test chart. Casting is a rewarding and economical way to keep shooting longer. Its been something I have enjoyed for over forty years.

Just love the content on this channel….another excellent series. Just want to say thank you for taking the time to share your wisdom with us👍God bless.

No mention of the modern, semi-custom mold makers, with their ingenious hollow-point or hollow-base systems?! (NOE, MP, etc.) We are in a golden age of quality molds unparalleled in all of history! It's at least worth mentioning. Also, no mention of powder-coating cast bullets? For all of your concern about lead poisoning, powder coating all but eliminates lead exposure by handling the bullets during reloading. And finally, if there is one mantra worth repeating, it is that FIT IS KING! Not bullet alloy, not hardness, not the lube, not chamber pressure, not velocity. A lead bullet must make a perfect gas-seal inside the chamber and barrel. When those hot gases leak by, they erode the bullet like a plasma cutter and spray that lead forward. The bullet then irons that lead down onto the lands & grooves. FIT is the reason lead bullets are passed through a sizing die. The mold should drop bullets large enough to be sized down correctly for all the guns you own in that caliber. You buy a sizing die for each gun based on the measured barrel throat diameter. This is one reason chamber-casts are made, but swaging the bore with a dead-soft bullet is another way to take the measurement. The lead bullets should be sized to 0.001" larger than the throat diameter. Otherwise, a very good video. Thanks for making it. I look forward to the rest of the series. God bless & be well. -J

I own Lyman, RCBS, and Lee moulds all work great for their given purpose and I can recommend all 3 brands. I am really enjoying this series thank you!

When I bought my casting and reloading equipment back in 2017, I bought every single piece of LEE Presicion equipment.. Now I am watching this video and the advices of this waise man, I know that I did well.

I shoot just about every weekend and have gotten tired of the prices of bullets and the lack thereof. I have debated on casting for quite some time. Thank you for your information and taking all that time to inform us. Plus I imagine there is just something about making your own bullet and then hitting the target.

I got into casting during the great shortage of 2020 with a Lee 7/8 oz slug mold that I transformed traploads into slugs to feed my 870, my first gun. I had fun. Im glad the ammo is coming back around.

@GunBlue490, I always feel like I need to pay you for the lesson after each video! Great series, Thank you!

You are looking well sir. Thank you for another great excerpt from your mental encyclopedia of gun knowledge. Safety first.

I agree with you on the aluminum molds. I was skeptical of aluminum, having always used Lyman iron blocks. I just got an aluminum Lee mold and it works great. I have come to really like Lee products.

Absolutely great video. I have been a long time viewer, so glad that you have decided to make a series on casting. I have been reloading for years and recently wanting to get into casting my own bullets. i will be looking forward to the next video.

Great video Sir! I have been casting now for quite a while and I love it. I have hooked up with several tire shops in my area and I and getting about 75% lead out of a 5 gallon pale. Not to bad I don’t think. Thank you for your knowledge!

Excellent video as always. I’d respectfully add eye protection to the list of required equipment. I knew someone who received a very serious injury making dive weights. Moisture (say dew on your iron muffin tin as you make ingots) trapped under molten lead seems to be the way to get serious splatter. Secondly, I also don’t use a Lee type sizer much, as it is slow and messy- especially with bevel base bullets. A Star luber is much faster and cleaner, but I now powder coat most all my general handgun stuff. To me it’s also easier/cleaner than Lee/Alox, at least for higher volumes. You’d need a Craigslist toaster oven, some powder (I’d suggest Eastwood’s light ford Blue) and some baskets (Bed Bath and Beyond sells powder coated steel mesh drawer organizers- work better than hand folded hardware cloth baskets).

Always love your videos. So knowledgeable. Thank you

Very well discussed as are all your well thought out seminars! Sir!

I have been waiting for you to do this subject for a long time. I am enjoying every word of it. I like to hear of the different methods used, you explain them all. Thank you!!! And please thank Benny for showing up too!!

Great video...very informative. Just at the beginning of this adventure. Many thanks!

I like the Lee molds as well.. The days of getting free lead wheel weights at your local garage are over.. I have been lucky enough to melt down and save more lead than I will probably use in my lifetime. Great vjdeo.

Wow! That is a real practicum. Thank you!

Thanks for another great video! I enjoy watching the series and have learned from your knowledge. I have always used sawdust for flux, but am now interested to try beeswax. When melting Super hard into the pot, I have found a pair of vice grip clamps to be extremely helpful. They can be clamped so to rest on the top of the pot with the desired amount of the ingot sitting in the molten lead. The heat transferred to the pliers is greatly reduced, minimizing the risk of burning through the gloves.

As always great information, delivered so it's easy to understand with anecdotes to highlight a point ,from safety to startup costs of necessarys and desireable components making it accessible to all .Your style of teaching reminds me of a teacher I had in school, one of the few who could engage a troublesome and unruly boy from East London in the 70's. Mr Thompson he Fought against the Japanese in WW2 and was one of the Chindits ,a mild man but he had a presence that said behave,listen and learn .This was in the Days when Corporal punishment was aloud in schools, a practice I was the innocent recipient of several times ,but not Mr Thompson .

Great information and well presented. Thank you

Very well explained great job. Thank you.

Thanks. I have the LEE 4-20 pot. It's great. Looking forward to your next casting video.

Thank you for a great and informative video. Much appreciated

Another great video . Thank you again sir .

Great timing for this series, I'm going thru some items I gathered thru the great scourge of 2019-2022, (lessons on no common store bought ammo availability), and making a list of additional items I need to get proficient at this. .357 wadcutters first, then on from there. Thank you.

Great video my man. Im a 100percent lee man. I have loaded thousands of 9mm and 40 cal. Also a 2 cavity 50cal. If i do my part i dont think lee can be beat. The more you use them the better they get.

Not something I’ll ever do but it’s really cool to see the chapters revealed. Thank you!!

My first handloadihg book was the Richard Lees 2nd edition recommended by you👍 All my casting equipment was and still is Lee's. They have products that are just fine and good price. I do have to do long sessions as I have to set up and tear down every time for casting. I would like to mention I have found Synthetic 2 cycle oil is my favorite for lubing the mold

Great info thank you for sharing this, some of things you say really crack me up... By the way I am student at SDI and this is one of our subjects this week. Love watching and listening instead of reading about it.

Fantastic information for those that are into casting

Why is everyone so "down" on Lee and Lyman? At my range, those guys thumb their noses at the mere mention of Lee reloading, and I suspect they'd do the same with the casting equipment. I've never been much on snobbery of any kind, and I really find Lee is a great value. They are getting the job done for me and I feel good about not getting sucked into the premise that I have to spend a fortune to gain a fortune. Anyway Captain, I am really finding this series more and more interesting. I am really looking forward to anything you might show us is the metallurgy of making hard cast alloys of lead, tin, and antimony. I had zero interest in any of it until I watched your casting videos and now, I read and watch content with strong interest!

Literally just watched the last one.

Try anti seize and a mold lube. It handles much higher temperature, and doesn't need reapplied as often. It's used by the "industrial " casting companies. I use the copper Permatex, been using it for years with no issues

I saw a guy in a KZfaq video talking about zinc wheel weights. The guy recommended not letting your pot reach a certain temperature. (Wish I could remember what it was.) Apparently, lead melts at a lower temperature and you can spoon off the zinc wheel weights when they float to the top of the pot.

Fantastic video thank you sir

Thank you for sharing ! Take care!

Sir; I would like to respectfully request a video on your personal favorite cast bullet molds and your favorite powders. (rest assured, I am *not* asking for favorite/pet loads!) There seems to be little information on selecting the best bullet for an application and given that all the mold manufacturers have a rather extensive catalog, often listing hundreds of bullet designs, the sheer number of available molds can be overwhelming. Also, there are a fair number of powders out there. I would love to know the nitty-gritty of powder selection. Perhaps let us know your favorite powders you keep on-hand and why...? Thank you much! I greatly appreciate your videos.

Thanks much. 490...I discovered your stuff about 2 weeks ago! Rotometals..in San Leandro, CA! I am about 2 hours away, and my daughter lives 15 minutes away, so I will be pestering them!

Absolutely no desire to cast bullets due to the hazards of lead, but your videos are fantastic education...and I like knowing about things. :)

Come spring, I will be making some hollow based bullets for my Mark 1 1892 Webley. This series couldn't be more timely on all levels... thanks for choosing this time! ( : < ) Have some of the gear already but now I will have a great list to work from to complete my kit. Don't know if you will deal with casting hollow base bullets but if you have the opportunity, I would appreciate you dipping into that topic. Or demonstrating it if you can. Just got a six cavity mold for the standard 265 grain, hollow base Mark II Webley bullet. Many thanks!

Thank You GunBlue490 for the fine knowledge you pass on, you are a wealth of information. Its guys like you that give guys like me the confidence to take the Dive! I have now!

great thanks!

Another advantage of aluminium if that it is a good conductor of heat. This means it heats up quickly and cools quickly when you want it to. It also means it draws the heat from the lead and helps solidify the bullets more quickly. I am not likely to ever get into casting bullets but I find this very interesting. Thank you for sharing. Blessings from Australia.

I would really like to hear what you have to say about making primers and or gun powder. I was interested slightly in black powder rifles because of the ammo shortage. I have seen some people powder coat while a youtuber I watched has sheets of copper he has formed into 223 jackets. Primers and powder is the problem I have heard because of how complex it is chemically.

Thank you!

youre the best, thank you

great video! I'm watching it a second time. I've just noticed that the other video that was uploaded next to this one, with actual casting in real time is not available anymore, that's a shame, surely due to youyube antigun policy or something.

Wheel weights. Used to be the tire shops couldn't wait to see us come around so they could get rid of all of that. Would even load it in your vehicle for you to the point where the headlights would only get the tree tops because the butt end of your vehicle was weighted down so much. Then they used to sneak it to you so that they didn't have to pay to dispose of lead per regulations. So it was great still. And yes get your lead melted just to the liquid state and all of the nonsensical crap would float to the top and you would skim it off before putting it into ingots. The problem is now that there is no longer lead production in the US, His lead is getting very hard to find. Now those same tire shops are holding on to their lead for the highest bidder. People like us are now paying them to take out their lead. Luckily I have yet to have to resort to that.

An inget mold. I'm all about economy. Go down to your local Cracker Barrel store. They usually have a 4 cavity, cast iron corn fritter sheet pan Is for around $15. Works just as well although a little smaller than normal ingots. But I promise you mind you're a lot prettier. Ha. Just clamp on a set of vice grips from your toolbox and it works just fine.

Thank you for time and knowleage, do you have more follow up videos on techniques and casting?

Thank you for your videos! What are your thoughts on powder coating? Seems to be the current and most popular method.

Tomorrow is the best day for 22 caliber lovers. 2/2/22

Awesome segment. Gun blue 490 I'd like to hear your thoughts on the 17hmr

"Somebody hid my ingot mold" 😂

Nice setup. Good stuff as usual. Wondering about the lead fumes a bit. When we exhaust them outside the building, what do we do to mitigate lead contamination of the area immediately around the exhaust vent? That vent is in the business of spewing lead vapors out, right? Hopefully the vege garden is not close by outside. Or the mailbox underneath. Or the grandkid's play area. I'm thinking of venting into say a 20 gal drum filled with maybe coarse scoria, broken charcoal or similar. Something the majority of the lead vapor will settle on to before the air carrying it gets to the open. Thoughts?

A set of LEE handles costs $20. A 2 cavity LEE mold with handles is around $25. Might as well get the handles with a 2 cavity mold since you're only paying about $5 for the mold. You can use the same handles on 6 cavity molds. Another way to look at it. It's an inexpensive way to try out the bullets with the 2 cavity mold and if you like them then get the 6 cavity mold and reuse the handles. You're only out about $5.

Third! I love his voice and serious nature. That's probably why a die hard anti-gun liberal is subscribed.

Do you have or can you make a video on barrel upkeep. I love your content, thank you Sr. God bless

You just told us the temp when zinc melts. Now I know.

You are right. Follow lees instructions to the tee. Trust me on this, they know what they're doing.

Would it be a good idea to wear latex gloves when handling the lead bullets?

15:45 take a magnet to the sprue-cutter of a 6-cav Lee mold and you will see it's not blued steel. Looks like anodized duralumin or some other high strength aluminium alloy to me. Tried it with 3 molds made within the last 5 yrs. Yet they work great and probably the sprue cutter will not be the first part to break.

I disagree when he says aluminum doesn’t corrode. I had to scrap a couple of moulds because they got pitting corrosion around the edges of the cavities ruining the bullets.

Can't thank you enough. Have you read From Ingot To Target by Fryzell and Applegate? It is available on line and verifies much of what you are teaching.

What kind of furnace do you use for silver bullets? Seriously, this series has been better than the books I have.

What size fan, CFM, is needed to get enough air flow to evacuate the lead fumes? thanks

Good storm huh!? A few weeks ago i first watched one of your videos and about 9 seconds in i go “this guys either from vt right on the river or nh” so… which is it?

Do you know of a source for the exhaust fan you have above your melt pot?

Hardness Tester? I have a Lee hardness tester that measure 20-1 Alloy from Rotomatals to have the BHN of 8. Isn't that low? Shouldn't it read BHN of 10?

Can you cast bullets usable in 9mm Luger, 9mm Makarov, 10mm, 270, 7.62x54R? Or they have to be jacketed? If you can, how such bullets affect the barrel, any special barrel cleaning considerations after using them?

Quick question - hopefully someone can help. When casting the slug it’s becoming stuck in the cast on the slug dyes. It requires a lot amount of force to release the slug from the cast? Am I missing any sort of lubricant on the due before pouring ?

How did you cut a 4” hole in the SS salad bowl?

I got started for less than $100 and have cast thousands of bullets.

I tried a 230g Lee mold for 45acp but with powder coating got poor accuracy. I believe that the mold itself casts a poor bullet for accuracy. What is the best mold for 45acp?