Cast bullets

[41mag]

I say heed the advice from EMC45....the guys at "castboolits.com" are awesome.
I've been loading, casting for 40 yrs....these guys have showed me stuff I didn't know. Great, friendly group.
Personally, for you, I would buy cast instead of trying to cast your own if you have never done it.
If you think you may want to get into it, find someone that will allow you to cast with them some, to see if you like it before investing time and $.

Oh, when buying your cast bullets, find someone local if you can....the shipping is what sux. But it's not awful if u only buy 500-1000 at a time. Some will put it in USPS flat rate box.

 

[EMC45]

I got a 45-70 about a year ago and have never run a commercial bullet thru it. Mine is a marlin 1895. I purchased a Lee 405gr plain base mold, electric bottom dropping pot and learned to cast my bullets in about 30 minutes.... no gas checks. I use wheel weights and pan lube my bullets. I do not have to size them as they drop from the mold .460 and that works great in my gun. I'm not sure what they cost me per bullet, but its certainly less than .10 if I don't include the cost of the pot. I can use the pot across several cal's (45acp, 30-30, 38spl, 45-70) so I call it good on the cost of the pot. My Lee mold was the cheapest available, but it makes accurate bullets. I don't own a chrony, but I have run my loads up to what the book says should be 1650 and have not had any leading at all.... most accurate load for me was right at 1500 using 3031. A 405 grain chunk of lead will kill anything walking ( and most kia's, toyota's ect) at even slower velocities.
I can sit on the porch for an afternoon and make enough bullets to shoot all year. I can inspect every bullet and if its not absolutely perfect I simply drop it back in the pot and it becomes another bullet. Pan lubing adds a little time to it, but I find that I enjoy the process and I have more time than money anyway.
I would do it again even if I had more money than time. With shortages of components that seem to come and go, I'm happy to know that I will not run out of bullets simply because some far away company thinks that government orders are more important than mine.

I have killed 3 deer with this very bullet and Wheel Weights too. Sized them to .460 and was shooting them out of a Handi Rifle over 15-16gr. Unique and they are a killer.

 

[done911]

I've been using 3031 and haven't bothered with any other powder. What size is your mold dropping at with WW. Mine are dropping .460 after the mold is up to temp. I generally just dump the first 3 bullets right back into the pot without even looking at them...
How much case fill are you getting with the Unique? (i've never used that powder for anything)

 

[coach482]

Subed

 

[rbstern]

I cast, too. Mostly for 38, 9mm, 308 Win and 300BLK. Also some paper patching of cast loads for my 45ML.

If you just want cheaper shooting and don't want to delve into the casting hobby, as has already been said, you can buy commercial cast lead bullets. They almost always come lubed or coated and ready to load. Plain lead bullets work great in older cartridges like 45/70 and 38 special; that's what those cartridges were loaded with when they were invented. With some work, the more modern, higher pressure/velocity cartridges can be made to work as well, but there is sometimes more effort involved.

Casting is as time intensive as reloading itself. The gear is diverse and there's some learning involved: Molds, lube/sizers, lead pots, gas checks, sometimes additional dies. I find it all to be great fun, and I enjoy it as much as reloading and shooting.

If you just want to shoot more for less money, skip the casting setup and buy commercial lead bullets.

If you want to expand your shooting hobby and go deeper into handloading, start with a small casting setup and see if it's for you. castboolits.gunloads.com is a great resource.

 

[EMC45]

Case fill is minimal with Unique. Careful loading ensures no double charges. Casting can be cave man simple or full on neck deep nerd level. I'm somewhere in between.

 

[1006]

I have a 375 Winchester in which I shoot lead.

I always use/add a gas check and I get my bullets from Hunter's Supply.

I add the gas check as insurance against a leaded up rifle barrel--I really do not like cleaning. The bullets can be shot without the gas check, but with a gas check I get zero lead in my barrel, and less in my lungs., and I can easily get 1500fps out of an accurate load.

If you have a Lee Factory Crimp die you can add the gas checks to any bullet cast specifically for a gas check by crushing it in place with the crimp die--works for me anyway. Check on U-tube.

Where the jacketed bullets shine is in accuracy without much thought to sizing the bullet. A lead bullet has to fit the barrel throat in order to be accurate and to shoot clean without leading. A jacketed bullet can be off by a couple 1/1000's and still shoot pretty well--9mm bullets work pretty well in 357 barrels if they are jacketed.

If you like fooling around and searching for the magic load, shoot lead.

You can zero in on an accurate load without a lot of measuring by simply asking a few guys on the web forums what they like in a gun of the same make, model, and production period as yours. My Winchester uses a different sized bullet than a Marlin, and Marlins of different ages use different sizes as well.

Alliante #7 is a good powder for a wide range of loads in straight walled rifle cartridges. For me: Trail Boss works well for light loads, as does Red Dot, Unique, Blue Dot, 800X. I use pistol primers for pistol powders.

If you are new to it, I would stick with Trail Boss until you find the correct bullet size, and then decide if you want to gas check, and then move to #7 for heavier loads.

 

[EMC45]

With cast handloads I can shoot centerfire cheaper than I can shoot .22LR. Thing is, you can't even find .22LR. That type of shooting goes from mild to wild too. Plinkers to rip snorting dinosaur loads. I cast for .32 ACP, .32 S&W/.32 S&W-Long/.32Mag, .380, 9MM, .38Sp/.357Mag, .40 Cal./10MM, .44Sp/.44Mag, .45 ACP, .223, .308 (30-30, 7.5 Swiss, .308 Win), .312-.314 (.303 Brit, 7.76X54R), 8MM Mauser, 45-70 (.460) and I also cast 00 Buck and 1oz. slugs for the 12ga. I want to try my hand at powder coating and paper patching soon. You can truly go off the deep end with casting.....