In you guy's expierence what bullet shoots best in any caliber. a Light weight cast or a heavy cast.In particular I am wonder about 30 caliber, 357 and 44 caliber.In my marlin 1894 128 gr jacketed bullets shoots extremly well. 158 gr doesn't shoot as well.What mbullet weight mold should I buy.Thanks for the advice in advance.

I can't give you a definite answer to your question since every gun is going to like what it likes. However, in my experience, both rifle and pistol prefer heavier cast bullets driven at the same or somewhat slower speeds than you would normally drive a jacketed bullet.

For the .30 cal, I've been using the Lyman 170gr flat nose with good results in .30-30 & .30-06 and while I have not had time to try them yet, I've told by several people the Lee & Lyman 180gr & 200gr both shoot very well in the .308 Win & larger .30 cal rounds. The 170gr FN's in my '06 will print average 1.5" @ 100 yds, think I'm running these around 2200 fps but can't be positive w/o looking it up. My model 94 in 30-30 used to print these at or under 3.25" @ 100 yds (sold the rifle like a doofus) and my old Savage single shot will print them no bigger than 1.75"

In the .357 rifle & pistol I've had excellent results with the Lyman 158gr RN & Lee 158gr SWC both flat base & shoot equally well running them around 1100 fps. I have found that both of these molds actually weigh in around 165gr depending on the alloy used. The 148 wad cutters are excellent loaded light keeping them around 700 fps they will print super. (Nice quiet hard hitting load in a rifle at close range too.)

I don't have a .44mag bud my dad does in a rifle. We picked up a Lyman #429421 mold cheap at a yard sale and it shoots excellent using strait WW and if I recall they actually weigh in around 250gr. These actually hold better groups than any of the jacketed bullets we've tried.

I have found that sizing .001" over the "actual" (have to slug every gun to see exactly what it is) bore diameter is a good rule of thumb when shooting cast. I generally cast with strait WW's for plinking but use a more controlled alloy for hunting bullets.

For my 6" .357 revolver, I have some bought hard cast bullets in 125tc and 180grn tc design that are very accurate. In my Marlin '94 rifle in 44mag, the Ly. 429421 245grn is very accurate. But thats my guns, yours may be different. In 30 caliber, the 170-173 gas check bullet is hard to beat in my 30/30 and 30-06, although I'm working with other weights.

Bill

In you guy's expierence what bullet shoots best in any caliber. a Light weight cast or a heavy cast.In particular I am wonder about 30 caliber, 357 and 44 caliber.In my marlin 1894 128 gr jacketed bullets shoots extremly well. 158 gr doesn't shoot as well.What mbullet weight mold should I buy.Thanks for the advice in advance.
wire nut if you would like I will send you a sample of some 357 and 44 that I cast this might help you in finding out what you can shoot in your guns the only thing I ask is you pay the shipping on them I have 3 kinds of 38's and 2 kinds of 44 that I could let you try out if you would like to :D Forest Punch

Thanks , I went ahead and ordered a 158 gr mold. The mold is a lee mold that casts a round nose with flat.I tried some 158 gr semiwad cutters but the gun would jam about every other shot. It shot fairly well otherwise.These were shot in a marlin 1894.Any other info appreciated as this will be my first bullet casting experience but I have been casting jigs and sinkers to fish with for several years.

OH Man ... if only that Lee .358/158 RFN came w/ a gas check. I have had very good luck w/ it but can't push it beyond abt 900fps.. The .430/310 RFN w/ a check is really good too. I have not pushed it over 1300fps... cause I'm a wuss!! Marty

In .44 cal for my 44 Mag I have both of the following molds from LEE: 90858 C430-310-RF 310 grain, 90338 C429-240-SWC 240 grain, I have loaded them both up to the MAX loads listed using both Unique for lower powered plinking loads and H110 for hunting loads. They both shoot great. You can read a bit more about them in this thread http://shootersforum.com/showthread.htm?p=87337

In .30 cal I have LEE's 90369 C309-180-R 180 grain mold, these come out at 172 grains for me using wheelweights. So far I have loaded and shot them in a single shot 30-30 (not safe in tube feed guns) and my 30/06, I have not yet got around to loading them in my 300 Win. Mag but plan to do so sometime in the next few months. These also shot very good for me. These were loaded using Unique for plinking and Win 760 or H4350 for full power hunting loads.

None of the bullets were sized, they were loaded as cast, no gaschecks.
All were lubed using LEE's liquid Alox, no noticable leading except when I pushed the 44s up to the MAX loads listed using H110 then I got some pretty good leading, after 24 rounds I had a pretty good amount of lead flakes and dust come out of my Ruger Super BlackHawk when I ran a brush thru the bore.

Racepres, the 310 44 Mag. does not kick all that bad, my 15 year old Nephew and his 14 or 15 year old friend shot them with no problems. You can always start with the lower starting powder charge and work up to the full charge if you feel the need.

Mike Grace