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Nice looking ammo Ron...would you send me an email with where you get the product and how you apply it...

Thanks...Bob

already sent it bob

Got it....thanks....

Ron, looks like you are getting ready for Christmas. Put some little LED lights in them and you have it made.

Why?

Takes the place of lube to prevent leading.

Edit to add: and it looks really cool!

So, why not just shoot copper jacketed bullets exclusively?

Not as pretty...

DF

Because not so very long ago, store bought bullets of most sorts were pretty hard to come by. With a mold, a sizer, some powdercoating material, some wheel weights, and a hot stove you can make your own. You can play with the hardness of the lead and tailor the bullets to what you want to do. Soft bullets at low velocity will still expand where a jacketed bullet wouldn't. That equates to less recoil. Essentially, it's just something else to play with.

In theory it'd be cheaper to cast your own, but it never really is.....

well, among other things, those copper jacketed bullets cost money.
And i doubt if you are gonna find easily in a store a range of bullets for a 41magnum from 170grain to 300grain.

Oh i think it's cheaper to cast, after a while. cept you end up shooting more among other things.
I started years ago because of a 44magnum partially. And when i quit a S.O. dept and couldn't get those 38 wadcutters for 1.50 a box, i knew i had to do something.
I have picked up a LOT of brass off the desert and bought the less common stuff like 41magnum. Which will last forever if not hot rodding it. And i can make ammo the way i want it.
And over the last few years with the lack of availability of all kinds of things that bypassed the caster reloader.
The other thing i am going to do after talking about it for years are duplex cast bullets. Soft lead nose, with a hard base.
not exactly a new idea but i haven't done it.
All this stuff exposes you to a lot of the theory and practice in making ammunition to work properly which isn't a bad thing.

one thing that is relatively new. Traditionally you didn't run lead bullets, mostly, at jacketed velocities.
but after screwing around with powder coating pistol ammo, i am about ready to go to rifle ammo. My understanding is people are running lead powder coated bullets at normal rifle velocities without leading issues.
That opens up a whole new world.

I got my .358429 lyman mold in to throw 170grain bullets. Will start on them hopefully next week, and powder coating them.
In addition to 38special/357magnum, can you say 350remington magnum, 35remington, and 358norma magnum?
it isn't like there has been a lot of availability in that caliber range available in the last few years in the 180grain class.

Very interesting.

this is going to be "tested" this weekend. The RP nickel brass was obtained as part of an estate liquidation a few years ago, had been sized and primed with cci primers, and left in that condition. Back in the 60's. the projectiles are 358156 which cast to about 160grains, over 2400 at 13grains. Not a top load, but it ain't weak either. They are going down range in that revolver and in a rifle.
cost?
negligable for the brass, lead was throwaway, cost was a few cents for the powder and primer. Primers were obtained back when you could get them for 9bucks a thousand.
I bet i don't have two bucks a box in this stuff.
and that is why one reloads, casts, and abhors paying the money for jacketed ammo. i should add by using various alloys/lead combinations i can control hardness from somewhere around 8 or 9 on the brinell scale up to the high 20's.
people have been experimenting with various lubes to get lead going as fast as jacketed with some success. I think powdercoating is a better idea. I have a really old lyman two hole mould in 50grain for .224 throwing a really sharp tipped spitzer. I think it was made originally for .222 or something like that. It's on the drawing board to work up for an a.r.15.
This probably isn't really needed but it negates being at the mercy of having to buy the projectiles. I remember getting .55grain winchester fmj's for 25dollars a thousand. Try that today. As to this stuff i can probably do ten boxes for about the price of one box at cabella's with better bullet selection too as they have made a lot of different molds for this caliber for a long long time. And the first bullets in the magnum were lead.

Cast is more fun and may in some cased out preform jacketed. The picture below shows what soft lead 280 gr powder coated bullets will do at around 1050 fps out of a 5 1/2" 45 Colt barrel. Weighed after recovery shows less that 12 gr loss of bullet weight.



After 90 some rounds there was no leading and the barrel looked new after one swipe with a wet brush and two dry patches.