Excellent post. I've been casting for a couple years, and agree with everything you said. I bought a Dutch Oven at Harbor Freight this winter, and just got it out to smelt a bunch of wheelweights over my turkey-fryer stand a couple weeks ago. Goes a lot faster than smelting in my Lee pot.
Only problem was filling the ingot molds.....I HATE lifting that heavy Dutch Oven off the burner and pouring into the molds. I tried dipping the ingot molds into the Dutch Oven, and that didn't work too well, either. I am just leery of trusting that wire handle on the Dutch Oven when I pick up 30+lbs of molten lead.
Will be adding some linotype to the pure wheelweights and casting some water-quenched boolits for 30-30 and .30 carbine soon. Gotta re-stock my gas-check supply; I suppose they've gone up like everything else copper.
All in all, casting is a great way to reduce the cost of one of the more expensive components of reloading. Plus, it's satisfying to roll your own boolits.
Come on, give it a try!
