I shoot a lot of cast bullets myself. In fact, I realized that the only jacketed bullets I loaded/shot during the last few years have been through my AR-15 and occasional .22HP (although I shoot 3 or 4 cast bullets out of the HP's for every jacketed bullet). I have a couple rifles that have never had a jacketed bullet ever fired through them, and never will as long as I am their custodian. For me it is extremely gratifying to make groups and kill stuff with bullets I made myself after sussing out how to make them work- not to mention the insane amount of money I have saved over "store bought" jacketed bullets.
Molds are expensive you say? Yes they are, but make 3-400 bullets with it and the cost is amortized. Lead is still cheap and common if you show a little ingenuity.
A couple thousand rounds of full velocity jacketed bullets through a typical barrel and the bore will be starting to show wear, if not entirely done for (depending of course on a lot of factors). That many cast bullets and the same barrel would be just getting started, with tens of thousands of shots left in its future. Something for those of you who shoot our beloved old Savage 1899/99's, 23's, 1920's, 40's, etc. to consider- the last I heard Savage isn't making them anymore.
