[Jeff Higgins]

I've cast bullets all my life. I shoot thousands of my own cast bullets every year from a broad variety of pistols, revolvers, and rifles. Muzzle loaders and breech loaders, black powder and smokeless. I own dozens of molds, three lead pots (for three different alloys), several lubricator/sizers (for different lubes), and on and on. All but one or two of my handguns have never fired anything but my own cast bullets. So, yeah, I cast a lot of bullets.

I do my casting on the workbench in my garage, with the doors open. I wear long sleeves, leather gloves, and safety glasses. I wash my hands when I'm done, and my clothes go right into the hamper or wash. That's the extent of my safety precautions. I specifically request that I get tested for lead every year as a part of my blood work, and have never had any cause for concern.

Bullet casting is a very enjoyable, relaxing hobby for me. Plus, I can make ammunition that will markedly out-perform anything you can buy commercially in accuracy, velocity, and penetration. With free lead, I can shoot centerfire revolvers for less than most pay to shoot things like the .17 HMR, .22 WMR, and high end .22 LR. My only real cost is primers and powder. I can reload some cases seemingly forever - I have .45-70 and .45-100 black powder match cases that have been loaded over 70 times by actual count. .44 mag and .45 Colt cases will typically go a couple dozen reloads before mouths start to crack from crimping and flaring. So, other than my time, this is about the cheapest shooting I can do.