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

Ive been casting and shooting bullets for most of .35-45-58 caliber rifles for 4 decades, if properly done and loaded for a velocity range that's appropriate there's been excellent results, in fact in many cases I find I have a difficult time duplicating both velocity and accuracy with jacketed bullets.
So, why is there the reluctance of a good many people to try cast projectiles ? now I can understand many guys don,t want to get into casting, for various reasons.
but there's certainly a wide selection of commercially available options.
once you find out the ease of use of those cast bullets,and the potential reduction in cost I can,t see why its not a more popular option.
about 35 years ago I had purchased a marlin 45/70 and at that time I decided to get into casting bullets for that rifle. Id been casting for about 10 years prior, but just for hand gun ammo, as at that time I had heard that velocity's over about 1300fps would not work with cast projectiles. but after doing some research and some experimentation, I soon found I could load 350 grain cast/gas-checked slugs in my 45/70 to be very accurate at up to 1800 plus fps, if I sized and lubed the bullets correctly, and the last bit of doubt fell when I shot my first elk with a 400 grain hard cast bullet and he dropped instantly.
I later found that the 350 grain weight cast 45/70 bullets worked even better.

http://www.neihandtools.com/catalog/index.html
I found this bullet to be especially accurate in my marlin 45/70 over 45 grains oF IMR 4198, Im not sure what velocity youll get in your rifle but cast from 95% wheel weights and 5% tin,well lubed its accurate,and it shoots thru deer,hogs and elk real well with expected results..very dead game

http://www.handloads.com/loaddata/default.asp?Caliber=45-70&Weight=All&type=rifle&Source


this nei design works well in my brother in laws marlin 357 mag carbine

If you start casting bullets regularly youll find , as your speed picks up, that you must wait for the SPRUE, or over-fill lead on the molds cut-off plate to change appearance as it cools before you open the mold to allow the bullet to drop out or the bullets deform as they are still semi hard ,the lead alloy doesn,t fully get solid for a few seconds after the mold releases them, in fact that they normally come out of the mold rather soft and easily deformed for the first few seconds,if you cast bullets as rapidly as possible, dropping them on a soft cotton towel reduces the deformed culls , that get damaged while dropping, that might hit previous cast bullets but theres an option that works better. dropping hot cast bullets in water quench both cools and reduces the impact velocity as they reach the bottom of a bucket youll use but Ive found the less common and taller 7 gallon buckets with both a taller column of water and greater mass seems to work better than the more typical 5 gallon bucket.
a typical 5 gallon bucket holds about 4 gallons of liquid and the bullets fall thru about 18" of water , the taller 7 gallon bucket adds at least 6"-8" more cooling distance and on larger 300-500 plus grain bullets this seems to help reduce culls)scrap quality bullets cast) and allows you to cast a bit faster.
water quench also tends to make some alloys with tin and antimony harden and work better.









[img]http://www.grumpysperformance.com/7gal3.jpg[/img]
the 5 gallon buckets not as effective in my experience as the taller 7 gallon buckets

Shhh, it's hard enough to come by ww's anymore, don't need any more competition

To me casting was a natural extension to the reloading hobby. I can't really imagine not casting my own bullets.

I think the one reluctance has to do with the fear of, or past experiences with leading. When reloading jackted bullets it's generally as simple as measure powder, seat bullet and shoot. Increase/decrease powder charge to tune for accuracy.

When it comes to leading, there seams to be alot of contradictory information and views which can put off someone who just wants to shoot with as little trouble as possible. When it comes to the causes of leading, there is no simple formula and the solution to eliminate leading in one gun can cause leading in a different gun.

On the upside there is lots of good information out there and eager experienced casters who will gladly stear you in the right direction. There also seems to have been a renaissance in in the past 5-10 years were the selection and availability of production, limited run and custom molds is unmatched to the past 100 years. Not to mention a variety of machines to semi to fully automate casting and lube/sizing.

It's dangerous! Lead and arsenic fumes are deadly. The risk of fire and debilitating, permanent injury is high.

You can't watch TV, drink beer, text your buds and surf the internet while casting boolits! It takes way to much time to make 500 bullets than to just credit card Midway for some non-leading high tech perfect mono-metal bullets. You only need 50 of them to become expert class shooter!

I am not buying lead, molds, pieces and parts as we speak to begin casting my own 45acp, 45/70, 38/357, 338RCM! (I'm 55) because it's too dang scary, and boring. I can't see why anyone would cast...

BTW my bro, 53, talked me into it.

Steve
Orygun

Indeed. I ran into a guy who is convinced that putting a couple lead bullets down his bore will ruin it forever for jacketed bullets. There are so many old wive's tales, urban legends, half-truths, and outright lies floating around concerning guns in general and cast bullet shooting in particular that I often wonder if we still live in the Dark Ages.

Visit the Cast Bullet Association website. Good info and major league help, without the drama and much of the bad grammar that crops up on Cast Boolits.

Guessing there are many reasons it isn't universally popular. Probably a lot like the reasons more people don't handload. Startup costs, volume of shooting, on & on. I've purchased a fair number of lead bullets in my day, but the only ones worth beans have been Hornady production. Small business suppliers of cast bullets haven't worked for me a single time.

I gave up casting when my children were born, the wife did not want lead fumes anywhere around the house. I purchase cast bullets from local suppliers, ask them for their best price. Last time a 100K order resulted in minimum pricing, in state shipping in Priority Mail cartons kept shipping down. The 100K order was split smoung several shooting buddies. I have a guy that will cast "special" bullets for ome if I provide the mold which then becomes his property. He gives me his best pricing for repeat orders. All this works for me, I cast for many years. Culled lead from the gun club berm and melted and cast outdoors.

Lead fumes never bothered me, bothered me, bothered me, bothered me, b

well guys I just got unplugged from a IV chelation treatment because I didn't use proper sense when I cast boolits in the years past. my serum lead levels are off the chart and around the back of the page. costs me 150 bucks per treatment and I have 2 a week. guess what? now that I'm unplugged i'm going down to my gun room and cast some 200g 357's to squeeze down to 351 for my 1907 Winchester. casting is like breathing for me and always will be. so when I die dig me up and melt me down. should be good for a couple shots anyway.

How did you get your lead levels up casting? Are you not washing your hands & touching your mouth? Perhaps stirring up lead dust on the bench?

I've been casting for 45 years, much of it in admittedly poorly ventilated conditions, and have never attained readable levels of lead in my blood (and due to other medical conditions I have blood work done on a regular basis). I take great care to avoid hand-mouth contact until I've washed my hands is about the extent of my precautions, and have never once worn a respirator. I don't advocate such lackadaisical attitudes, I'm just saying...

Poured lead myself since '73, commercially beginning '01. I use very little ventilation but I'm very careful with my hands & lead dust. Have my levels checked every 6 months & I'm a 3 & have been for a few years now.

well it took 45 years of sloppy action on my part. reclaiming 1000's of pounds of lead from any and all possible source. started when I was a kid helping my father lead pipe joints and finished with 2000 lbs of sheathed drywall from a dental school. that also got me a dose of uranium. discovered they film coat the lead with uranium to catch runaway xray particles. some of my levels probably came from fluxing without good ventilation.

About all I shoot in my handguns though I buy mine as I do not have the time to cast my own.

creeker, glad your levels are low. my highest was 7.7 and now are at 5.2. gaining on it

Many of the "younger" generation I know aren't concerned about "lead fumes" or harming anything. They're not interested in anything that requires much time or any degree of concentration, or has any less than instant gratification. Their mental activities run towards gaming their cell phones, sexting, Lady Gaga and dreaming of what they're going to do when they get a job that pays them big bucks regardless of having nothing useful to offer a potential employer

All meaning our professional education system is moving our kids into the docile mental PC drone mass they've long sought. Such "kids" do make a solid voter base for the liberal politicians who seek to rule rather then governand, as such; they aren't much for firearms.

you nailed it boomtube.

They will make dandy cast bullet targets. Irony and poetry in one verse.

Nice post and pictures, thanks. I like water quenching also.

Jerry

I would like to share with you all, a few facts (a story) if you will about my casting experience. I began casting lead bullets around 1972, with a few of my buddies from the local gun shop in Azusa California. We used mostly recovered bullets, and wheel weights. When we were very lucky we would get lino type metal from one of the local newspapers, as they were happy to have it hauled away. Now to today, we are still casting mostly for hand guns, have a casting machine called a Master Caster, which is very fast and efficient. We also drop our own shot. We still use what ever lead we can find or scrounge up, mostly wheel weights. So for the past 41 years, I have been casting and handling lead, more in an evening than most people are ever exposed to in a lifetime. When all this furor about lead came about a couple years ago, some Doctor in South Dakota, had proved all the donated game meat was tainted with lead, and should and was thrown away. He was proved to be a fraud latter. I then became concerned, as I had been around so much lead for all these years. Couldn't wait to get to the doctor, and have my lead level checked. You know what, mine is below average!! Think of that 41 years of casting and smelting lead and lead by products, and I am not in any danger. Can't say why, other than our procedures, must lend themselves to a safe practice. I guess if you eat it, or are shot it may be dangerous to you, I would guess someone using a product with possible danger would take the proper precautions, which I guess we have over the years.

Jerry