Anybody Still Cast Bullets for Their Rifles

[waldedw]

Just wondering if anybody still shoots casts bullets for their rifles, I used to cast 7mm - 150 gr to shoot in my 7TCU but haven't cast any for probably 30 years.

[oldgutpile]

Did most of my casting for the odd and unusual stuff. Mostly old double barrel rifles. The bullets carry enough weight and with the old guns, would have to stalk in close or off bait (shot numerous bears with them) anyways.
Have taken moose, deer, and numerous black bears with cast. Could never seal the deal with elk.
Only ever retrieved one bullet to check retention, as all the others were pass- throughs, and that was with plain old wheel weight castings.
Still have a number of molds if there is something in specific you are needing.I have a good supply of bullets made up, with bullets to spare on most.

[Rdamours]

Just starting to get into it soon. A friend is going to do 38-55, 38 and bucksot and slugs. Let me know what you’d like to get rid of if you’re thinking about selling any of it.

[catnthehat]

I cast for my .303, 9.3x72R drilling , and my 8.15x46R shuetzen rifle, as well as making shot and casting for my muzzle loaders .
Cat

[waldedw]

I was more or less just thinking out loud, I found a mold and RCBS lube sizer die for the 7TCU that I used to use, thought they all went with my other casting supplies when I cleaned them out and it got me wondering if guys still did that. I cast and shot 10's of thousands for the 7TCU and 44 Mag when I shot IHMSA as there was a cast bullet category to shoot in.

[Puma]

I started shooting muzzle loaders last year, so I thought I would start casting as well. I have picked up a few molds , a furnace and some of the misc accessories and a couple good books. Been scrounging some pure lead for the muzzle loaders and collecting some wheel weights for some centerfire bullets as well . Id like to cast some in .45 70 and .303. Once it warms up a bit I will try my hand at it.
Any tips are welcomed.

[freeride]

I do for my 45-70

[Dmay]

Originally Posted by freeride

I do for my 45-70

Me too. And my cannon


[IMG][/IMG]

[ken1989]

Yep, I cast allot, I have close to 50 moulds. It is still amazing to me how accurate cast bullets can be. Enjoying old iron can done with cast bullets.

[fordtruckin]

Wish I had the stuff to cast but I have enough hobbies already. So I end up buying commercial cast for my 45/70.

[32-40win]

I have all the supplies I need to last me quite a while, still have a mould or two for each cal I own, haven't cast anything for a while though. Contemplating dedicating one gune to it again, a 7-08, or converting one 1885 I have, to some form of rimmed cartridge.

[brass410]

still casting here for 45-70 44Mag 30-30 even for my 06 410 shottie and 12 gauge (looking for a light weight mould in .458 or some who would cast some collar buttons)

[vic1]

I cast for my 30 30, 308, 30 06 and lead shot. I do my own gas checks as well. I don’t use them for hunting just the range.

[303carbine]

I shoot 425 grain cast out of my M 70 458 mag, it does make an impression.

[vanadium]

Someone once said that if you aren’t casting bullets on your own then you really aren’t reloading. There’s a lot of truth to that.

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by vanadium

Someone once said that if you aren’t casting bullets on your own then you really aren’t reloading. There’s a lot of truth to that.

Sounds like someone who was a cast bullet elitist .
I know lots of precision shooters that hand load that have absolutely no desire to shoot a cast bullet and probably never have , but they don't make their own jacketed bullets either.
Casting is just another facet of shooting IMO, I do it mainly because I have to for the cartridges I cast for and it's fun.
Cat

[32-40win]

These days, in lookng at cost of practice, even with buying new premix #2 or lead/tin, it's lookng pretty attractive to reduce the cost of shooting. Not like I don't have the time to spend casting. I can definitely load it cheaper than some of the .22 ammo I see out there now. And I have enough to load a good 5000 rds if I want to, then I'd have to maybe buy some primers. Might have to buy a few lbs of tin too.

[CaberTosser]

What is the going rate being paid for clean casting lead these days?

[Puma]

Originally Posted by CaberTosser

What is the going rate being paid for clean casting lead these days?

Not sure, but if its pure I will pay you more than the scrapper for 20 or so pounds.

[Rdamours]

Just wondering if anyone powder coats their cast bullets. Might be able to get higher velocities before they melt with just straight cast.

[freeride]

Originally Posted by Rdamours

Just wondering if anyone powder coats their cast bullets. Might be able to get higher velocities before they melt with just straight cast.

I do powder coat.
So far no leading in my barrel even with some high velocities. Although I enjoy lower velocities better in my 45/70.

The one pain in the butt is the powder even though its a very very small increase in size I do have to seat my bullets further down because it adds a bit to the nose of the bullet and they will jam in my rifle if I seat them to the same dimensions as when I dont powder coat.

[Rdamours]

Good to know. Thanks. We’re going to do some 38-55 and go from there. I may do a trade on one of my rifles for 45-70 and do some for that too.

We just did Lee 1 oz slugs and are going to range test those with my 12 gauge and do a video. I’m going to scope my 12 gauge for the test to see how accurate they are at 50 compared to some commercial slugs.

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by Rdamours

Just wondering if anyone powder coats their cast bullets. Might be able to get higher velocities before they melt with just straight cast.

Really big powder coat Fanboy here! AO member
Boogerfart taught me, I ciat for all my cast bullets. Some clear Powder coat, A $10 toaster oven from Value Village, a cheap oven pan from the dollar store, some parchment paper and I was good to go!
Much easier than mixing my bullet lube tgat I used to use, and I can push the velocity if I want to, but I mainly do it for barrel cleanliness, and accuracy in my cSt bullet rifles.
Cat

[32-40win]

I may have to give PC another shot. Not real sure about the accuracy part of it being maintained though, with rifles. I haven't done a lot of research on it in the last 4-5 yrs to see if folks have really figured out a reliable method for it that works in the accuracy dept. My last thoughts on it, were to get a slightly undersized mould made and try that out, to avoid having to size them. Probably need to acquire a sprayer to do the next bunch, I would expect, that is the more reliable method.

[Dmay]

Casting and powder-coating are huge, and very common among many folks. Look on some firearms forums like GOC or CGN and there are lots of people with experience and advise to give, if you are interested.

[freeride]

Originally Posted by 32-40win

I may have to give PC another shot. Not real sure about the accuracy part of it being maintained though, with rifles. I haven't done a lot of research on it in the last 4-5 yrs to see if folks have really figured out a reliable method for it that works in the accuracy dept. My last thoughts on it, were to get a slightly undersized mould made and try that out, to avoid having to size them. Probably need to acquire a sprayer to do the next bunch, I would expect, that is the more reliable method.

Apparently you can also try to undersized the mould with some high temp paint. I might give this a shot for the should issue I have with my PC bullets. Just paint rhe nose/shoulder area of the mould to drop slightly smaller while maintaining the body size.

[catnthehat]

I run my bullets through a sizer after coating g with no worries at all.
The powder coating doesn't scrape off , and from what I
understand ,the clear goes on very ghinv anyway.
Cat

[Rdamours]

Awesome. Thanks for the info man. Now to find a deal on clear powder coat

Here’s my YouTube channel with some gun and just fun stuff to practice. Still learning to edit videos. I’ll post some of the casting stuff and the range tests as well.

https://www.youtube.com/@Richard-D

I heard about the shake and bake method. I think we’re got about 50 lbs of lead but with slugs and buckshot it goes fast.

Originally Posted by catnthehat

Really big powder coat Fanboy here! AO member
Boogerfart taught me, I ciat for all my cast bullets. Some clear Powder coat, A $10 toaster oven from Value Village, a cheap oven pan from the dollar store, some parchment paper and I was good to go!
Much easier than mixing my bullet lube tgat I used to use, and I can push the velocity if I want to, but I mainly do it for barrel cleanliness, and accuracy in my cSt bullet rifles.
Cat

[freeride]

I bought the princess auto powder coat. The red works better then black at coating for some reason.

[Rdamours]

Looking at this stuff. It’s the clear one and there are comments from people coating their bullets.

https://a.co/d/3IPqG9n