My google fu is not very good. My searches must not be artfully drafted.

Brand spanking new to Schuetzen. Not even fired a match yet. Heck, not even fired a shot yet. I did buy a single cavity Saeco 200 grain .324 mould. I reckon that will get me started, and experience and knowledge from you guys might fill in the blanks. Cal 32-40.

My bottom pour Pro Melt coughed up a fur ball, and is back at RCBS for warranty repair. So I've been casting with a RCBS ladle from an old Lee melter. I'm sure not past the experimentation phase of things to arrive at consistent bullets.

Do you fellas bottom pour your bullets, use single or multi cavity moulds?

Before foolishly trekking into a mine field fraught with frustration and failure, I was sort of thinking when the Pro Melt returns to try bottom pour, and maybe get a 3 cavity mould so that I have adequate bullets to learn how to shoot this rifle.

What do you recommend? Thanks to all who respond. BTW, no response is too simple, and no risk of offending me with condescension.

With respect to alloy hardness, I can mix up 20-1 with the supplies on hand, but have been using an alloy of unknown composition which tests out at about 15 BHN. I wonder if this might be too hard to be used well, or might break a breech seater?

Single cavity molds with a ladle. I use 25-1 alloy.

Single cavity molds with a ladle here too. I'm using 20-1 alloy.

Thanks fellas. I've been casting bullets for pistol since mid 1990's, and 40-65 and 45-70 since late '90's. I always used single cavity moulds for the bigger slugs, and ladle poured the bullets of 20-1 alloy. 

I am glad to continue ladle casting, but just wondered if any success would be obtained using bottom pour method. I guess I can try it and see, though the cumulative wisdom would suggest that to be perhaps a waste of time. The question about multi cavity moulds is directed more towards building up a stockpile of bullets more quickly. I have never had any real success ladle casting multi cavity moulds, hence the bottom pour idea.

Thank you all so much for helping me out. 

Have yet to talk to a top shooter who bottom pours. Simply not consistent enough for best results on the target. Same with single cavity vs. multi-cavity molds. As always, YMMV.

bpjack wrote on Aug 31^st, 2015 at 1:18pm:


A.  More time for casting and shooting
B.  Better bullets!

I cast using nothing but bottom pour, and have very good consistent bullets.  I cast mostly .321 dia, but have cast large 45 and small 25 with the same consistency.
Don't let anybody tell you you can not cast well using a bottom pour pot.  They are dead wrong.

Mine is a RCBS pot and it does not leak.  You have to tune the things, not hard at all.

I poured iron for many years it is the same thing only hotter.

Casting Pistol bullets out of range scrap and casting good Schuetzen bullets are two entirely different things. Consistency is the most important thing when casting bullets good bullets are filled out with no wrinkles, have good sharp edges and flat bases and are all within .3 of a grain of each other. This is a skill that will take time to learn how to do right. 
My recommendation is stick with a single cavity mold. It is hard enough to get match quality bullets out of a single cavity without complicating your life by two or three. I believe that it is easier to learn to cast good bullets with a dipper that a bottom pour pot but you already have one so go ahead and use it. Cast at the highest temperature that you can and still get the bullets to drop freely from your mold. Learn to develop a rhythm with your mold. Some will let you go fast and others will be slow. In ten years or so you should have the hang of it.

40 Rod