Blade Report post Posted April 11, 2014 For the few "boolit" casters on here. Is there any manufacturer besides lee that sell a reasonably priced bullet mold? the Lee molds run about $20, everything else i have found is $80 to well over $100. I bought one Lee 45 cal 300 gr gas check mold that seems to be working ok. i was just wondering what else if available. overall i've been very pleased with my new casting hobby. i have a hot 44 special load with 250 gr bullets over 8.5 gr. of sr4756 that has been shooting very well out of my old pinned S&W 29. I also have a mild 357 mag load that has been shooting well out of my marlins and revolvers. Im still working on a good 460 S&W load. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MT_Sourdough Report post Posted April 18, 2014 Lee's costs are well below anything else I know of. I just got a Lee .360" round ball two banger. I am going to use it to make dual alloy bullets. The .360" round ball with 50%ww/50%pb alloy drops from mold weighting 70gr and a hardness level of 14bhn when water quenched. When I am casting my "hunting bullets for my 444, I'll melt the 50/50 into the nose of bullet. Once the alloy is fully melted in the mold's nose, I'll fill the cavities up with straight ww. Bullets are dropped from mold right into water. The resulting water quenched bullet will have a soft nose, but rest of bullet is very hard to withstand high velocity loads. The soft point will improve terminal performance when velocities drop to the 1700-1500 fps velocities. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
brent Report post Posted April 19, 2014 Im no expert, but when I was casting, Lymans seemed to be the best quality. I found that Ebay was a great place to buy molds. Then if you don't like it, you can turn around and sell it for what you paid for it. O, and when researching loads for my 29, I read that its best to keep loads in the mid range. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blade Report post Posted April 20, 2014 I just dont see how Lee can afford to sell aluminum molds for $20 and other aluminum mold manufactures have to raise the price to $100. MT sourdough thanks for the tip. i have heard of people casting soft point cast bullets but wasnt sure how it was done. I was hoping to get drawn for elk this year and use cast bullets but maybe next year. Brent Ill have to check out e-bay. About six months ago i saw close to 100 different steal molds and handles sell at public surplus auction for just over $100. I'm still kicking myself for not bidding. The load I've been shooting out of my 29 is a hot 44 special or light 44 mag. I load them in 44 mag brass. I shoot the light load out of it for two reasons one becasue that was one of my dads guns and i would hate for somthing to happen to it and two sicne i got the s&w 460 if i need to get my recoil and muzzle blast fix the 460 takes cars of it Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
