In a method for producing a riser for inserting into a casting mold used for casting metals, the riser includes a riser body (31) surrounding an inner cavity (36) as a riser volume and is composed of an exothermic and/or insulating riser material (30). To produce a single-piece riser body (31) in a two-part core box (10), a cavity (14) reproducing the outer contour of the riser body (31) is formed and, in order to produce the inner cavity (36), a reversibly expandable king (15) is set in the cavity (14) in such a way that, in the shooting of the riser body (31), the wall region (32), the cup region (33), and the base region (34) of the riser body are formed by the riser material (30) introduced into the intermediate space (41) between the expanded king (15) and the inner wall (40) of the cavity (14).