I think you have answered yourself. It takes quite a complement of tools to do a decent casting job. As a suggestion, try to attend a gun show in your area. You'll find people wo willl sell many of the cast bullets at a decent price. That is how they justify their cost of equipment.
I lucked up on a deal many years ago, someone with all of the eqipment made a swap with me; I got almost all of the reloading tools I needed, and it included a furnace, sizer (.357) and the molds. A hefty amount of lead came also with a couple hundred rounds of .38 brass.. I loaded for a local Sheriff's association when revolvers were the going service arm. I had to supply 1,000 rounds monthly. It was a hobby then, and I did not have any dreams of getting rich.
There has to be a desire to do the casting thing, and if you are worried about the cost, I'll be honest, you'll probably won't want to get into it.
Russ
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Age and treachery will always best youth and skill
I used to do my casting but I did it because I wanted some bullets that weren't offered in bulk ( or any othre way for that matter) . At the time I didn't even consider when or if it would pay for itself it was a fun hobby. If you get into it and the bullets are just for plinking wheel weights worked well for me.
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The needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few or the one
You can start casting for under $100 set up.
You need:
1. A pot. Lyman, RCBS, and Lee offer pots for melting lead. $10 to $12
2. A Dipper. Look at those three again. $5
3. Molds. For the price, you are limited to Lee molds. While not perfect, they generally cast good, usable bullets. You can get them for less than $20 apiece, with handles.
4.Use Lee's liquid alox bullet lube. $3
All you need to add is a heat source, like a campstove, or even your own kitchen stove, if you are careful. You need a piece of broomstick, or dowel, to open the spruecutter on the mold. A cardboard box to catch the sprue and another to catch the bullets.A candle to flux with, and some lead or wheelweights, and you are set.
Granted, the pot on a stove isn't as nice set up as an electric, bottom pour furnace, but it is how I started, and I did fine.
With lee bullet molds, especially the tumble lube designs, you can shoot them as cast, and the liquid alox lube means you don't need a lubrisizer to lube your bullets.
your lucky if you started out on a stove, i started outside with an old cast ion skillet on a fire. and that was only 2 years ago. quickly bought a bottom pour and i enjoy it tremendously. dont have a lubrisizer yet, maybe next christmas, so far the bullets can be used as cast but i want hard lubes and some gas check designs
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propmahn
save the world, reload your brass
I use a Lee Production Pot 4 for all my casting, still use a frying pan and a lead pot for producing ingots and cleaning bulk lead. I kind of lust after a Lyman or RCBS electric furnace, but they won't do anything the Lee wont do, and $50 vs $230 or so is a lot of differance. I'll probably buy a lee 20 lb. pot some time in the future, but the 10 lb. works for almost everything.
Molds? I have SAECO, RCBS, Lyman, and Lee. All have advantages and disadvantages. Many people HATE Lee molds, but I have always had good results with them. Their roundball molds are FAR superior to Lyman's, IME. Lyman molds leave a large sprue projecting from the ball, no matter how you adjust the sprue cutter. Lee's RB molds cut it flush.
eBay has lots of stuff for cheap if you wait until the last minute to bid so the price is not driven up. Be sure to compare the prices to online catalogues to plan your bid. Also figure in shipping to the total price to avoid surprises.
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