Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting why the reluctance to try cast projectiles

gnoahhh,

I've even found that sizing bullets can be a waste of time. Just did it again this past month when casting some .22 bullets, using Lyman mold 225438. Wheelweight bullets come out of the mold measuring .225" and weighing 43.5 grains.

This is a gas-check model so I tried three variations, all lubed with Lee Alox: as they came from the mold, sized with gas-check, and sized only. From-the-mold bullets shot most accurately, with 5-shot groups averaging a little under an inch at 50 yards from my .22 Hornet. The sized bullets did around 1.5 inches.

I've had this happen with a number of cast bullets, both in rifles and handguns. Probably half the cast-bullet loads I use are with unsized bullets, but I REALLY found it nice with these .22 bullets. Just cast 'em, roll 'em in Alox, let dry overnight and load 'em up!

Agreed, John. That mirrors a lot of my experiences too. Again with the Hornet, the molds I have all produce bullets at .225". I run them through the .225 sizer merely to install the gas check and lube them. (I never cared much for liquid alox, but that's just me being me.) Ditto my favorite .30 molds and my favorite .30 cast bullet shooting rifles. The molds pop them out at .310 which serendipitously is the diameter I need in those rifles. Again, a trip through the lubrisizer .310 die to lube and GC them leaves them essentially as-cast.

Running them through a matching sizer die does have another little benefit. Molds from previous generations were notorious for producing bullets slightly out of round (and current generation molds aren't totally immune) and a trip through a 'friendly diameter' die to iron things out a bit doesn't hurt.

At the risk of totally derailing this thread:

A Hornet I'm playing with has a real oddball bore. It is nominally a 5.6x35R, German stalking rifle, 8�" twist, for which Hornet dies work just dandy for handloading. I initially slugged the bore and came up with a .222" groove diameter, the slug being pushed through from the breech. My initial experiments had me sizing my bullets at .223"- just as a starting point to get me shooting it. Accuracy was pretty good at 50 yards- 3/4"-1" with 50-55 grain cast bullets. Then, I finally got around to doing a chamber cast and had my eyes opened- the throat is .225", and the grooves naturally start out at that. Slugs pushed through the bore part-way to incremental distances and tapped back out confirm the fact that it is a tapered bore, uniformly so from throat to muzzle as near as I can tell. Aha! By switching to doing the as-cast thing at .225", groups shrank by 1/4"+ at 50 yards.

Next experiment is to be with breech seating. I made a nifty little breech seating tool, and have acquired a truly ancient 225438 mold that actually casts a tapered bullet (probably by accident, but maybe not) that allows for neat insertion into the leade. But that's a story for another time...

Just goes to show, following "rules of thumb" can often lead to very good results, probably even sufficient satisfaction so as to preclude further testing. But, investigating the true dimensions of one's chamber/throat/bore dimensions and selecting a bullet to match (which includes size, shape, and alloy) is how the nth degree of cast bullet accuracy is achieved.

Or, just melt a bunch of lead in a soup can with a propane torch and have a ball!

I've had very good results with Alox at velocities up to 1200 fps or so, which is all I was looking for in this Hornet--and all I normally want out of a handgun. Just being able to roll the bullets around and then shoot saves a LOT of time!

That's interesting about your 5.6x35R bore. I've found tapered bores in a number of German rifles, including my Sauer 12-gauge side-by-side.

why so close? stretch it out a bit and see how they do.
Seriously, that's some good shooting!

like this, yep that 6 shots, 5 in one hole then one somewhere else
Ruger SRH in 44mag at 40 yds

Nice shooting
I can not do that good at 5 feet

20 grs 2400, one of my favorite charges

Yep.

I've learned a few things over the last few years of some pretty intense casting and testing of cast bullets. Much of what I learned came from developing cast loads for a Schmidt-Rubin K-31 to be used for High Power competition on the 100 yd. reduced course.

I personally find sizing important, but I'll qualify that by specifying nose-first sizing which is important for concentricity. In the aforementioned rifle, I used a little 155 gr. plain-base FP bullet from an NEI mould. After applying a home made lube in a over sized die in a standard lubrisizer, I'd run the bullets through a Lee sizing die. Excellent results.



Eventually I went to ACWW alloy and the load shot WAY better than me, but I did manage, much to the chagrin of a few AR shooters, an Expert classification with said rifle and load.

Even old military surplus rifles shoot nice with properly cast and sized bullets.







Softer, within reason, is always better in my experience. I cast a bunch of .430" SWCHP's @ around 9.5 Bhn and gave them to a buddy who loaded them in his S&W 629. He runs them right at 1150 fps with zero leading. I've run a ACWW 180 gr. FP bullet out of my old 03A3 a smidge over 2000 with not enough leading to matter, certainly not during hunting season anyway. Ditto with my revolvers. The soft bullets obturate to fill cylinder mouths and barrel grooves better thus sealing off gases thereby improving accuracy and preventing leading.

35WN

Reluctance? I've been shooting lead since the early 80's 9mm, 38, 357, 44 mag and 45.

'Nuther problem with casting is you can't hit what you're aiming at most times. That confuses the neophytes a bit.

50 yards:




My experience to date indicates Lee LA works fair well up to around 1900 fps with GC bullets and 1500-1600 fps with plain base. Alloys softer are more fun than hard. If I could just get to where I could hit what I'm aiming at?

An excellent point that could be expanded to handloading in general.

A bump for the helluva it. LGS consensus seems to be that round of .22 mag is worth .60 plus tax. This keeps up and casting will become America's most popular pastime.

I haven't touched my "war chest" full of .22 rimfire ammo in quite a while. Some of those bricks are over 20 years old now. When I want to squirt lead out of a tube I grab a sackful of cast bullet loads and the rifle du jour.

Haven't done much of that either except for the odd CB short here and there. Never was much of a plinker either. Pushing 2 years since I shot a jacketed bullet except for familiarization with a Little Chitty Pistol. Have been shooting cast and swaged bullets exclusively.