My experience with casting bullets is limited to round balls and slugs for muzle loaders. Basically it was a case of using pure lead for the round balls, and wheel weights for the slugs and they both worked quite well.

Now I'm looking at making up some loads with for a .444Marlin double, and I can't buy anything other than 300gn pistol bullets here.
I think I'd like to shoot a 350gn or 405gn hard cast bullet, but here coem my problem.
While I reload for about 15 calibers at the moment, I don't know anything about making cast bullets.
I understand there are a bunch of presses and dies, bit n pieces I need to start.
Unfortunatetly I can only buy the bullets from the US which is problematic, so I'm looking at getting set up, but need to know what I need to buy and how much it should cost me.
From my limited understanding, this is what I need:

I'd need to buy the "gadget" for putting the gas checks on. Buy gas checks. Is it caliber specific?
Molds.
Lube and the little machine to apply the lube.
The sizer die.
Does all this stuff run off the one press/stand or can I run it off my Rochchucker?

The next problem is the lead, what needs to be added for hardness and how do I make sure it's the right alloy?
Then what about quenching?

...At the moment it all sounds too hard, but like most things, once you get into it, it's really pretty simple, right...?

#1). Visit leeprecision.com and go over the products for casting. Actually most are up to date copies of the tools used by shooters going back 100 years and more. Work fine. Improvements are just a bit faster. Many "lube/sizers" that are alot faster than a pan on the stove but both get the job done. Gas checks, same story.

#2). Visit the Lyman site and pick out a book or three.

Per Lyman, up to 1,000 plain base lead is o.k. With gas checks you might get by with 1400. Maybe more. How hot did you plan to load? Factory, around 2,000, is a bit much.

In the 1800s a trifle of tin was added to assist in casting. 1 in 30 was common. More recently, post WW II, wheel weights for balancing auto tires had both tin and antimony and worked good. Tin got expensive and got reduced. Even lead today is up in price. Lyman #2 had a bit of tin and antimoney. You could dilute the old, used lead type metal. (Beware of the one with aluminum in it. No getting it out. Does not work good.) Then there is dropping the hot bullet into water to harden it. Can help if needed.

Read up and see what fits your exact needs. Many game animals have been taken... luck.

Auzzie
If I can do it and I'm born again lazy, you can.
Basically you learn to get the bullet to fill out the mold well with an alloy of tin/lead antimony. While still very hot, from the mold, you drop into a bucket of water. You now have a hardened lead alloy bullet.
Depending on the size of the as cast bullet you may or may not need to size it. If you are shooting pistol calibers most likely you'll not need to use a gas check design. Low velocity rifle calibers, black powder type loads for a 45-70, gas checks are not required.
I have or are currently loading cast bullets for 45-70 (high velocity), 405 Winchester, 30-06 and 243 Winchester, using jacketed bullet loading data. All requiring hard lead alloy, gas checks, good lube and accurate sizing.
My experience suggests avoiding Lee products like the plague.
Jim

If I can get the Beartooth bullets sent to me, I'll be more than happy to use them, otherwise, exactly what equipment will I need?
Melting and pouring are not a problem, I have that covered.

Express, Before you purchase a mold and the sizing equipment, slug* the bbl's of your rifle in order to determine the final diameter of the bullets you will cast. You ultimately do this by sizing them and applying gas checks if neeeded in a Lee Sizing die (press mounted); a Lyman #45, #450 or #4500 lube & sizing machine; a RCBS Lub-A-Matic. The Lyman & RCBS are separate from your press and use the same "H & I" sizing dies. You'll just need to determine what exactly that diameter is. Btw, the Lee dies can easily be lapped to increase the diameter up to 0.002" if necessary or they can custom-make one for you for a nominal fee. The Lyman & RCBS lube-sizers, on the other hand, can be found in good used condition on your favorite auction site[s]. As for alloy, wheelweights (not the stick-on Pb ones or the new Zn ones) with perhaps 1% Sn is quite useable, responds well to hardening if you need that (via oven or water quenching). The Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook, although a bit dated, has a recipe for #2 alloy, which is their standard. However, you can cut the amount of added Sn by 12 oz. (They recommend 16 oz. of 50:50 solder. and increase the weight of wheelweights accordingly to get ~1% Sn. Hope this helps!

*Slugging your bore (in Lyman CB Handbk.) essentially involves driving a soft Pb fishing weight into and through your oiled bbls. and measuring the diameter with a micrometer. Ideally the breech/throat dimension should be the same as the muzzle dimension or perhaps a bit larger. You add 0.001" - 0.002" to that diameter to determine the final sizing diameter. If you should need a diameter that's not manufactured, you can have Lee make you a custom die or lap one out yourself or look up the Aimoo/Gun Loads Cast Boolit (sic) site and look up Buckshot (Rick Tunell), one of its members. He can make a new H & I sizing die from scratch or enlarge one you already have for a very reasonable fee: His workmanship is excellent too.

For vast quantity of information on casting alloys and heat treating casting alloys, go to Cast Boolits' Casting Forum and do a search on these topics.

Thanks guys. At the moment it looks like I can get 500 odd Beartooth bullets for $100 or a little more and no shipping because a friend in on his way over, so the cost of buying looks advantageous, in the long term I may look at casting some of my own, but I'd have to spend a few hundred on equipent then add my time. For the same amount, I could probably buy a few thousand bullets to last this one gun a long time.

I think your desire for heavier bullets in a 444Marlin is wishful thinking.

I've never heard of ANY 444 with a sufficient twist rate to stabilize a 400gr bullet.

Normally 300gr is the upper limit for a 444Marlin.

the heaviest bullet I've ever heard of in a 44cal (.4295) is a 320gr.

what twist rate do you have?

Frankly it sounds like you had a brain fart and TYPED 444Marlin while THINKING about 45-70.

AD

wheel weights work fine for me. no gas check for 8mm and 6.5 mauser. Must be pushing 1400 as they crack 2 inch creek rocks into pieces and go 4 inches through a maple tree. 9 grains of AA#5 pistolpowder is accurate to 100 yds!! am not purging in cold water either! also no or very minimal leading