Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting How fast can hard cast bullets be run out of a rifle?

You can run ww's air cooled to 2000 fps, and they will also expand at that velocity. There was a good article on the 35 whelen with cast ww bullets vs. elk a few years back in handloader. The results were that air cooled ww @ 2000 fps were accurate and effective on game.

Hawki
Anywhere round the Des Moines area to buy cast bullets with a gas check reasonably? I want to load a 30-30 with cast and a gas check. Or is it best to order them from somewhere?. kwg

I'll make you some, but they won't be flatnosed.

I'll poke around and see what I can find; I make all of my own so I couldn't tell you what they run. S-W might have some and I think they are trying to get rid of them.

I'll get back to you and see what I can find.

kwg, I'll send ya some, I have some flat nosed ones.

Just let me know what dia you need. Have you slugged your barrel?

It's a Marlin 336 30-30. I have been using .308 diameter. I like the few 150's I have shot but I'll take 170's. I will be more than glad to order some if anyone can point me in a good direction. It's my son's gun but I like it so well I've thought about getting one too. I have some all lead cast 150's but I have loaded them down because I don't want to lead up the barrel. The lead feels a little soft thus my concern.

I retire from my current job in December so I have held off buying any more guns but I'm still reloading anything and everything. I am looking at one of the contract over seas jobs so if I buy another gun, I won't be here to shoot it.

Are thses bullets you guys have made yourself or are they commercial? I used to cast black powder balls and I still have a few around the house somewhere. I have not shot my muzzle loader for probably close to 30 years. I see the gas checks at Sportsmans warehouse but I'm not sure the process of making the bullets. I was at SW today but I saw no gas check bullets. Infact I only saw some Hornaday 170's for the 30-30. Their selection is pretty skimpy and expensive if you ask me. kwg

The RCBS 30-180FN cast from quenched WW alloy and patched with 6 wraps of teflon tape works well at about 2000 fps through Lee Enfields.

KWG,if you have a good lube and they are sized right you can use soft lead, it doen't have to be really really hard.

generally speaking you will want to use a lead bullet about .001 larger than the slugged size of your barrel.

you can lead the barrel even with reduced loads if the bullet lube is bad (bad meaning not designed for the velocity your shooting at) or the bullet doesn't fit properly (wrong dia.

I make all of my own bullets.

the process to make bullets, cast lead bullet is this.

Melt the lead/alloy (many use wheel weights, minus the zinc ones)
Pour the lead into the mould, open mould out pops the boolits.

then after the boolits cool you will need to size them to the size you need and apply lube and gas check.

Usually lubing sizing and putting on the GC (gas check) is all done in one operation.

I currently have a 226gr 30 cal bullet I shoot out of my 30-06 at 1850 fps, I can shoot all day and not get leading and the accuracy is very good.

With your marlin you will have 'micro groove' rifling if I'm correct. To get those to shoot lead bullets well it is important to slug the barrel and find out how long and how large (the dia) of the throat is.

when shooting cast bullets it's customary to want to shoot a heavier bullet at a bit slower speed.

You get good down range "oomph!" with the heavier bullet.

why shoot heavier?

because sometimes it's not practical to shoot the lighter bullets at the same velocity as the jacketed ones.

so shoot a bigger one.

Thanks Blammer. If this overseas job plan falls through I'll think about casting my own bullets. In Iowa we are greatly limited where we can shoot deer with a rifle. Most of the state is shotgun or muzzleloader. I had never shot a lever action until my son bought his. They are really cool and I'm thinking a 45 70 or 444 would be a neat round to reload and shoot.

cool!

If I were you I'd get a 45 70.

way more boolits to be able to cast and shoot out of that caliber.