Hey guys. I have a question....I have been loading for a couple years now and it seems to me that everyone is switching to cast bullets, well of couirse not everyone, but I wonder why they are so much more popular these days? I only load jacketed bullets and have only loaded a few cast soft bullets for the 38 plinking loads. It seems to me that to fire a cast bullet at hunting velocities and not foul the barrel too badly, one would have to load a very hard cast bullet and therefore the bullet would be too hard to expand and therefore not be as good a a jacketed bullet. I did read an article on taking cast bullets and using a technique to soften the lead at the tip so it will expand in game...that sound like a great idea but a heck of a lot of trouble! So why are they so much more popular these days? I've read up on bullet casting at home and to me that is just too darn much trouble. Could it be cost? I know the bulk cast are much cheaper than jacketed but they wouldn't be suitable for pushing fast and I'm sure the Bear tooth bullets and other premium cast bullets cant be that much cheaper than say Rem. bulk jacketed.

Hey guys. I have a question....I have been loading for a couple years now and it seems to me that everyone is switching to cast bullets, well of couirse not everyone, but I wonder why they are so much more popular these days? I only load jacketed bullets and have only loaded a few cast soft bullets for the 38 plinking loads. It seems to me that to fire a cast bullet at hunting velocities and not foul the barrel too badly, one would have to load a very hard cast bullet and therefore the bullet would be too hard to expand and therefore not be as good a a jacketed bullet. I did read an article on taking cast bullets and using a technique to soften the lead at the tip so it will expand in game...that sound like a great idea but a heck of a lot of trouble! So why are they so much more popular these days? I've read up on bullet casting at home and to me that is just too darn much trouble. Could it be cost? I know the bulk cast are much cheaper than jacketed but they wouldn't be suitable for pushing fast and I'm sure the Bear tooth bullets and other premium cast bullets cant be that much cheaper than say Rem. bulk jacketed.

I like shooting cheap ammo that I made in the backyard. It is about the cheapest shooting around except for .22 l.r. All the best...
Gil

I think part of the reason for the resurgance of cast bullets is in part to the number and design of new molds.

Wide Flat Nose bullets with Gas Checks (WFNGC) are a very popular design that has made hunting with cast bullets ALOT more effective for many people.

target shooting has gotten MUCH more popular in the bigger cities. MN recently passed the Range Protection Act...no ranges can be closed down if they are operated safely.

Plated bullets (instead of just jacketed) are also VERY popular.

I think part of the reason for the resurgance of cast bullets is in part to the number and design of new molds.

Wide Flat Nose bullets with Gas Checks (WFNGC) are a very popular design that has made hunting with cast bullets ALOT more effective for many people.

target shooting has gotten MUCH more popular in the bigger cities. MN recently passed the Range Protection Act...no ranges can be closed down if they are operated safely.

Plated bullets (instead of just jacketed) are also VERY popular.

I started with a 11MM Mauser blackpowder rifle, had to cast. My 30-30 is very pleasant to shoot w/cast. The 44Mag will out perform most factory stuff w/cast. What I'm getting at is the odd ball cals. can be shot w/cast and the everyday guns can be shot very cheaply. You don't have to cast your own as gun show venders have many styles weights to suit your needs. One last thought when making your own you can tailor the bullet to needs at hand. Ever shoot a lynotype 44Mag bullet, will not expand ever or shoot a Harvey w/zinc base pure lead no lube will not lead barrel and a .357 dia. expands to about quarter size. TF

Casting your own is a lot of fun and working up loads for cast bullets is much more challenging. Totally gratifying!

Arborman, what do you consider 'hunting velocities'? I might point out that the Bison was nearly exterminated using lead and black powder. A bullet does not need to go a gazzillion miles and hour to make it worthy of being a good hunter. Example: my grandson took a small doe a couple years ago with one of my cast boolits and a small charge of 4227, going about 1600 fps. Took out a two inch chunk of rib on the off side - made a big hole, very effective. That deer could very well have been twice the size and it still would have shot plumb through it. btw, that boolit was air cooled wheel weight. sundog

http://www.castpics.net/meatgetters.htm

Speed is a combination of bore & lube. Currently running a 10bhn bullet which expands nicely provided you alloy properly so it doesn't become brittle. Last set of test loads ran avg. 2265fps, still working upwards....

I mainly shoot handgun (live in the city) so I burn a lot of lead. Wheelweights are relatively inexpensive and casting is a nice way to produce lots of good bullets at low cost. Got almost all of my equipment used on eBay so I was able to pick and choose the best stuff at a reasonable price. The bullets I make are plenty accurate at handgun distances and I can add gas checks to shoot at greater velocities. My rifle shooting pards all cast and have been for a long time. Their groups at 100 yards equal or exceed factory jacketed. Nothing beats years of experience when it comes to turning out good cast bullets and for many of us, it's also a lot of fun.

Casting your own is a lot of fun and working up loads for cast bullets is much more challenging. Totally gratifying!


When you sit down and cast your own bullet, then work up a powder charge for it and go out and win a shooting match or make a nice kill hunting you know that you built that bullet from the ground up.

It takes awhile, playing with cast bullets but after awhile, you can learn how to get the most out of a cast bullet.

Here are some of the reasons that I shoot cast bullets:

1. I shoot NRA Hunter Pistol Silhouette. Soft cast bullets, from my 22 Hornet don't damage targets, at any speed, and I get better accuracy. To hunt with that pistol, all I have to do is load for higher velocity. Leading can be a result of too much speed, but it is usually a lube problem.

2. I shoot NRA Pistol Cartridge Cowboy Rifle. A .357, 125 gr rem short jacket, shot at about 1200 fps will work fine and not damage any targets. They cost about $6.69 + shipping from Midway today. I can cast 100 bullets in less than 20 minutes, after setup, that cost nothing, are more uniform and more accurate. Actually, the cost is that I don't get to watch a 30 minute sitcom on TV. I can cast several hundred bullets in a casting session.

3. I shoot NRA Cowboy rifle silhouette. To regularly knock down 200 meter rams with a 30-30, I need a bullet heavier than 170 gr. I have knocked them down with a 150 gr bullet, but if someone hard sets a ram or the wind ain't right, it won't go down. I shoot a 195 gr cast, gas checked bullet at 1900 fps. They go down.

Some things that I have learned in the last 35 years of bullet casting:

A cast bullet generates less pressure, than a jacketed bullet, with the same powder charge. Therefore, you can increase the powder charge and safely shoot the cast bullet at higher velocities. Or you can increase the bullet weight and shoot at the same velocity.

You can get a cast bullet for any chore that you want to do with your weapon and you can do it very cheap. With jacketed bullets you have to use what the bullet manufactures are willing to make for you.

Cast bullets usually only cost the price of equipment, lead and gas checks. The end result is a bullet that costs a fraction of a penny each. Leave out the gas check and they almost become free. This means that you can shoot thousands or rounds a month for only the cost of powder and primers. That makes you a better shot.

One of the best things bullet casting does is after dinner, when everyone else goes and sits down in front to the TV to watch Ellen doing Sally, you can go and cast some more bullets to practice becoming a better shot.

Sixgun

six_gun
I couldn't have said it better!!! Casting is "A Blast"!!! :)

It's been a while but it got me to thinking. Why do I shoot cast? I bought my first revolver in 1971 along with some factory ammo, jacketed of course. It didn't take me long to realize that I could only afford to shoot once a month. I had 500 hulls for the .357 that I tried to keep loaded up and the only way was to use cast. I would reload evenings all week then on Friday night I'd go to a friends ranch and shoot jack rabbits. He had so many rabbits that I would run out of ammo by Saturday nite. On Monday I was back to casting and reloading. I just got in the habit of casting and to me it is part of the experience of shooting. I guess it has become a life style for me. My daughter says that her Dad and his friends make bullets and ammo in the shop and when they aren't doing that they just sit out there drinking beer and talk about it. She must have been paying more more attention than I thought.
-- Slim

The reason I do it is simple, money.

I've shot just under 90,000 cast bullet rounds in the last six or so years. I could never afford to do that with factory bullets.

I sat down to start a new thread but read this one first and had to reply. Why do I shoot cast bullets? I just now came in from the range with my .308 after shooting some handloads with jacketed bullets and trying out my first cast bullets for that rifle (Lee 180 gas check, 50/50 linotype/wheelweights, 25 grains SR4759). I shot some great groups with the jacketed bullets (.88 .52, .64, and .75) but I shot an unbelievable .23 group with the new cast bullets. Groups were 3 shots each at 100 yards. Yeah, that may be a fluke but it was exciting enough for me to get real enthusiastic about casting for my .308!

Cost is a major factor that started many of us, may have been lost in the equipment as we tried many different things?

Variety was the biggest thing that started me, ever tried to buy a 220-250 gr bullet for a 357 pistol?

Ya, can use rifle stuff, but that price thing then comes back into play. Used to burn 1500+ rounds a month on the pistol silhouette game on a enlisted Navy income.

Then there is the fact cast is gentler on the guns. Are you familiar with the 357 Max story? They gas cut guns bad but I shot a Seveille revolover for years with no evidence of cutting, only used csat bullets in it. Not a single jacket bullet was ever in that gun while I owned it, 200 gr RCBS or SSK bullets slam rams with authority and used 162 RCBS for the closer targets.

Cast and variety, course the "I did it myself" factor is an adder to the game.

By and large, I use commercially cast stuff. For me it is:

1. Less Pressure
2. Less Wear/shoot more
3. Accuracy is as good or better than jacketed.

It also feels more "correct" to use cast lead in a lever rifle, even though a good number shot the copper numbers historically. Just feels right for some reason.

One of the things not discussed here is how well hardcast revolver bullets kill. I spent a bunch of years chasing big game with a handgun and found that the jacketed bullets available were really poor killers. When I switched over to a hardcast I had much better results.

After 19 blackbear and to many deer to count I'll stick to the hardcast lead over jacketed any day of the week.

Adding to that is if you can scrounge lead you can shoot for darn cheap. Once you have your cases the bullet is the most expensive part of the round.

Why do I shoot cast? 95% or better of my shooting is with black powder, eigther cap and ball six guns or cartrige. From the 45-70 to the 45 & 44 colt there designed for black powder and cast bullets.

The reason I cast my on is that I'm in control, I cast the best size bullet to my bores, it's a heck of a lot cheaper than buying cast or jacketed bullets, I don't have to wait on a shippment and I can tailor the hardness to the aplication.

As for jacketed bullets, there's people out there making there own jacketed bullets, and theres always paper patched. I haven't tried paper patched yet, but you can get from what I understand jacketed performance and speed from a pure lead slug without leading using a paper jacket.

And when things get frustraiting in the shop or I just need a break I break out the melting pot and cast a bunch of bullets or balls. Gets me into a kind of Zen state for a little while and is relaxing. And with 6 cavity moulds I can cast enough in an afternoon to last 4-6 months.

For black powder bullets I pan lube and homemade lube and for the few smokless ones I use liquid Alox. Pretty simple operation.