I wonder how many people get led down the rabbit hole of bullet casting by starting out buying commercially cast bullets? I bet a lot do.
My very first casting experience back in the late 60's was laughable (now). I bought a Lyman 311241 mold (155gr. RN plain base) to feed my $40 Krag carbine with, along with a can of 2400 powder. I cast a big handful out of god knows what soft alloy, sized them to .311 in a Grampaw-made push through sizer, and skipped the lubing part because, well, I didn't have any and thought "what could possibly go wrong?" Powered by a fairly stiff charge of 2400, the first couple shots went smack dab into the bullseye. By the twentieth shot god only knew where those bullets were flying, because I sure didn't. A peek through the barrel saw little evidence of the presence of rifling- those grooves were packed solidly with lead. A lot of cussing and several bronze brushes later I had it back to normal. Then I broke down and bought a stick of lube, and some Red Dot to replace the 2400.
Last edited by gnoahhh; 02/15/15.
