Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Cast Bullet Fun!!!

Attended a shoot this weekend where everyone was shooting cast bullets at various steel swingers located at different stations replicating hunting conditions that one commonly encounters. Some are partially hidden, uphill ,downhill, in the woods, in the open & from 40yds out to 300 yds. All shooting was done offhand and with open sights. It was a really fun event. I will urge all of you to break out those old mil surplus mausers, smle, mosins etc. , lever actions or what ever you have , load up some good cast bullet loads to around 1500-1600 fps and go shoot. It certainly beats sitting at a bench all day and it will make you a better shot. Lots of fun with your friends amid all of the hoots and laughter.

And fun is what more people should be having! It sounds like you had a blast. Congratulations.

Much better than arguing velocity, which cartridge is better for skunks, monolithic vs cup & core, etc. Imagine actually leaving the computer and heading out to the range!

Loads of laughter and good company. Excellent!

I'm surprised that more people haven't answered you. I wonder if there are bullet snobs on the board?

sounds like fun, I have some 30 cal 115 gr bullets I use in my H&R 30-30

Ah yes a good time to be had. Or you can just get your own gong and load up some nice low pressure loads and bang away. Cast slugs are fun and relatively cheap. Exceptionally cheap if you cast your own. Something I will do some day. They perform well on game too if you know where to put them. I have loaded hard cast slugs in 45-70 and 450 Marlin and they have absolutely flattened deer and black bear. I have some 22 cal hard casts that I plan on loading up in my .223 for the trapline with some mild Blue Dot loads. Also some 300gr 44 cals are on the menu for the 44 Mag for deer season. The flat points with a nice wide meplat are serious game getters. I get mine from Beartooth Bullets. They are good folks to deal with and they are a great resource if you are like me and know just enough to be dangerous.

Only just logged on to the forum because I was in my gun room re-loading some cast bullets for my 7x57 and 404 Jeffery. I run 160gn cast bullets in the 7x57 at 1900 fps as a good plinking load and a soft nose/hard shank at 2415fps that is my standard hunting load with aperture sights and is good out to 250yds.
A 350gn bullet at 1400, 1900, or 2365fps gets the 404 plenty of shooting time.
Best of all is that I make my own gas checks as well, with al for up to 1900fps and cu for the quicker loads.

Von Gruff.

I'm surprised that more people haven't answered you.

Actually I think it is maybe more of a sign where the shooting sports has headed for the past generation. Partially due to the lack of land and access as a shoot as we had takes probably 50 acres at a minimum and that is in a rural area. Also the shooting sports has become more of a solitary sport and group matches if you think of it especially rifle shooting are few and far between. The clay games in shotguns is still doing pretty well and some cowboy shooting is popular but in my small town there are no organized pistol or rifle clubs that shoot bullseye or steel silhouette anymore . All the shame as it is a lot of fun if it is run right and with the cast bullets it is fairly inexpensive. It reminded me of why I really love shooting.

Used to cast quite a few for a Winchester Ranger 30-30. Had a good peep on it and it was a fun rifle. Accurate it wasn't. My cast loads would out shoot the jacketed handloads but a 1 pound coffee can lid was pretty safe at 100 yards with either type. Put scope on the thing to help shoot it better and still couldn't keep half the shots on that coffee can lid. Killed several deer with the 311041GC Lyman bullet at moderate ranges. Son-in-Laws Marlin 336 would shoot well under 2" with the same loads.
Still use only cast in my old (1906) M94 Marlin 25-20WCF. This one is as accurate as I can be with the peep sight.
Neither rifle would be much good at those longer ranges but it would be fun to try some time with the right rifle.

I load cast 350 grain 416 bullets to those velocities and shoot them out of my Rigby. It is great fun.

Nothing I enjoy more that whacking long range steel with my big bore handguns. Pretty amazing what they are capable of.

That's about all that I shoot anymore and especially enjoy shooting the milsurps. It's surprising just how well that a cast bullet will shoot even have managed to get some cast bullet only matches started at my home club. We've been trying to keep it very friendly and go to extremes to help new shooters get started on the right track and make it enjoyable for everyone.

Richard

I have a 1903A3 that I got with a shot-out barrel, and was lucky enough to find a new barrel with the same date stamp on it. The new barrel has never seen a jacketed bullet, I shoot the RCBS 180 gr bullet cast of WW+2% tin at about 1650 fps. It's accurate enough for squirrel at 50 yards. Of course, you need something behind the squirrel to stop the bullet. Makes a sizeable bang on the 200 yd gong at the range, too.

I've been shooting cast bullets for nearly 60 years and currently cast multiple bullets for about a dozen calibers. I recently got involved in paper patching smokeless loads.
Cast bullets are the original monolithic bullet and paper patching allows you to realize their full potential yet retain a soft bullet that expands and does not shatter on impact and delivers accuracy. I am getting MOA 5 shot groups from my 35 Whelens with a 260 grain bullet at slightly over 2500fps. Wish I had discovered high speed paper patching a long time ago. I'm waiting delivery of a new mould to patch bullets for a new Ruger # 1 in 303 British. Casting and shooting cast bullets is an activity that either grows on you or doesn't. It's another way to expand a hobby.

Good thread. I shoot lots of commercially cast bullets in my handguns, but haven't cast my own in years. I'm hoping to get 2-3 different moulds and remedy that.

As far as cast bullets in rifles, I received a Lee 2 cavity mould for 160gr. bullets for my 7.62x39. I'm hoping to get some casting done this summer and give it a whirl. Would love to cast some soft nosed, hard shanked bullets for it to try on a deer this fall.

We had an antique military rifle match Saturday. As always, I elected to use my Swiss K-31, 154 grain cast gas checked bullet, powered with Unique propellent. It does quite well out to 200 yards and would probably do even better if my 65 year old eyes would stay calibrated and not put whiskers on the sights. Only two of us used cast and one placed 2nd using a Finnish M-39 and I placed 7th out of 18 shooters. We had very much fun! It was gratifying to see a simple iron sighted rifle, shooting wheel weights, outshoot all the Garands and all but one '03A3.

Depends on the vintage of that 30-30 how well it will shoot. I had one circa 1985 that was a POS. My dads from the mid fifties was a shooter though with or without the old side mount Marbles scope.

Yeah, but you were cheating using a K31. As they happen to be one of my favorite rifles i would be curious to know what bullet you were using, and the powder load of unique. I am assuming somewhere around 15grains?

I shoot 99% lead bullets, though a lot are 22LR. A 280gr .376 at 2000fps from my 375 Ruger is one of my favorites, and the Ranchdog 250 gr .410" at 1000fps from the 1894S Marlin goes along on a lot of dog walks.

30-30 was made for full power lead loads.

If anyone is looking for a good do it yourself cast bullet gong I know scrap yards are getting an influx of man hole covers. A little welding of heavy chain onto them would do well for long range.

Watch your step, if you make it to town.