being a southpaw

powderburner · Post by **powderburner** » Sat Jul 10, 2004 6:35 pm

while up to quigley I had a chance to cast bullets with a friend who is a lefty all the way. he was havinng a heck of a time trying to run the casting ladle which is set up for a righty. so I came home and was feeling sorry for him cause I cast up all his alloy so I built him a left handed lead dipper , course I had to try it out and what do you know ,it made casting so much faster , I use both hands and didnt give it much thought til I saw him I now dont have to shift hands and mess around moving the ladle and the mould and the hammer and the chair and everything else life just got a whole lot simpler so I had to build me one as well .......
no real point here just rambling on about learning something new after 35 yrs of casting .who said you cannot teach an old dog new tricks..................Dean

BuckeyeShooter · Post by **BuckeyeShooter** » Sat Jul 10, 2004 7:24 pm

powderburner, it's funny that you posted this today. I just received my Paul Jones 45001 mould today. I was trying to follow Pauls instructions and being a lefty it is almost impossible to do it. I found the stop pin that he puts on the handle was causing the most problems for me. I hold my molds in my right hand and pour with the left, usually this isn't a problem except I kept getting lead stuck around that pin. Also the sprue plate pivot is pointing down and was having a hard time keeping the sprue plate aligned on the top of the mould. Tryed with the mould in my left hand and that was a totally impossible. So I just switch hands after I pour the lead to drop the bullet and it seem to work ok as long as when I was pouring I keep the mould tilted forward so the lead flowed away from the stop pin. As a side note this mould cast bullets that are almost to pretty to shoot. I only cast 45 and they all weighed within 8/10 of a grain of each other. Worth every penny Paul charges.

wwben47 · Post by **wwben47** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 9:06 am

Hey Guys,
I had posted this question under the "casting vs swaging" topic..but it fits here..Since I have not cast before, and I am a lefty..would the cost of buying swaging equipment be offset by the fact that swaging doesnt seem to require as much equipment (correct me if i am misunderstanding that)..Also, since I`m left handed would the convenience offset the cost?
Thanks
Wes

powderburner · Post by **powderburner** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 5:13 pm

if you wanted to get into casting and wanted to see if you wanted to do it you can get a good mould for 50 bucks and a lee pot for about 50 bucks as well .$100 dollars and you are casting bullets , then you can go up from there if you want to cast premieum bullets you need better stuff .ie a bigger capacity pot that you can dip out of and that has a good thermometer /thernostat. use a single cavity mould and get your casting cycle down to a very exact science ,lots of practice
also you can use almost any kind of lead you can find for casting most people do
the swageing tools are quite expensive and you need to use lead wire and buy different swage dies it would be a bit higher to start from what I have figured out I also think that the learning curve would be a bit longer than casting ,I have thought about swaging a lot but feel that with all my other junk I dont have room for all the new toys it would require. both would be fun and both will turn out a good to excellent bullet if you do your part

BuckeyeShooter · Post by **BuckeyeShooter** » Mon Jul 12, 2004 9:36 am

Wes, I've been mulling this over for a few days about the swaging. I think that will definitely be more expensive and give you less option in what bullets you'll be able to shoot. I have 3 moulds for a total investment of about $330 bucks (this includes handles for each individual mould). This gives me 3 different types of bullets to shoot depending on the gun and my needs for less than it looks like you would pay for your swaging dies. Throw in a pot $130, a ladel $25-$35, maybe a lube sizer, die, and top punch $165. If you go with a custom mould it's more expensive but you can eliminate the lube sizer and pan lube. I personally feel also that if your using production mouls a lube sizer is a necessity because the production moulds that I have all cast way oversize bullets. So for $660 I have all the stuff for 3 different bullets. I have a source for pure lead and pure tin and I'm in business. Just my thoughts on the subject.

powderburner · Post by **powderburner** » Mon Jul 12, 2004 5:28 pm

there you go

James M · Post by **James M** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 2:29 am

Regarding Casting startup costs,
don't forget the cost of a welders smock, heavy gloves, a face shield, and heavy boots.

Kelley O. Roos · Post by **Kelley O. Roos** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 9:13 am

For you left hander's, an RCBS ladle can be drilled and taped on either side to make it an amadexterious ladle.

Kelley O.

CrossXstix · Post by **CrossXstix** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 12:36 pm

I am a lefty also, and I turned the mold around backwards in the handles to get the sprue plate stop pin out of the way.

X

BuckeyeShooter · Post by **BuckeyeShooter** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 7:57 pm

CrossXstix, it seems the most obvious and simple solution to an issue is the hardest to see sometimes. Your solution worked great for my Lyman and Saeco moulds, but the Paul Jones mould is a different story. If you dont have one, Paul puts a spue cutter stop on the mould handle that stops the sprue plate from rotating more than 180 degrees from the closed position. You can't flip the blocks around or the sprue plate doesn't open at all. I'm getting ready to order another mould from him and I think I'll ask him to put the stop on the other handle and then I'll be able to switch the blocks around with no problem.

rcasto · Post by **rcasto** » Fri Jul 16, 2004 2:03 pm

I guess I never thought about it much, but I am left handed and it felt very natural to cast "right-handed".

wwben47 · Post by **wwben47** » Fri Jul 16, 2004 5:27 pm

I`m "amphibious" too..I can fall outta the boat from either side...Buckeye..you guys were right..It WAS even better than I thought it would be!!..Picked it up yesterday..I am going to MAKE myself wait to shoot it till i can load it with BP...Going on vacation Monday, so I dont want to order casting supplies yet...Other than the Waage pot, what other stuff should i get ? Thought i might order a few cast bullets to hold me over till i get some cast..I wanna shoot that baby...What dies would you guys recommend? I need an expander and taper crimp right?