I'm thinking about getting into casting bullets for a couple different hunting calibers, has anyone made their own? I realize the velocity and terminal ballistics can't compare with modern jacketed bullets but it looks like fun. Some of the lubes used, and gas checks really cut down or eliminate lead fouling in the barrel.

I have cast for many, many years. I have also taken several deer with cast bullets, but admittedly at short range. I'm one of those crazies who take deer hunting personally, and use it as a testing ground for my fieldcraft. Scent control, sound and movement discipline, tactics and strategy. I only hunt on the ground, and often simply sneak up on the deer to collect them. Cast bullets fit my style of hunting perfectly. You can push a cast bullet much faster than you think you can, once you figure them out. I've pushed them over 2500 fps, with excellent accuracy, but don't really consider the fastest loads to be ideal for hunting, most of my hunting load hover around the 2000 fps mark. With some of the calibers I've hunted with, 2000 fps is quite formidable.

Couldn't you cast bullets and sabot them? This would give you velocity, the soft lead, and not the cleaning issues..... Just a thought, really no idea what I am talking about.

Honestly, cast bullets kill as a function of bullet design. If you count on expansion to help you out, you could seriously limit penetration by using too soft of a bullet alloy. I've tried sabots, I got some bore fouling from the sabots, and that was worse than any leading I've ever had. The thing to remember about cast bullets, is that they will lead the bore is they're sized too small, but they'll also lead if your bullet alloy is too hard. It's a real balancing act to develop proper cast loads. After you've done it a few times, it seems so simple to you that you sometimes wonder about people who don't cast their own bullets. Most commercial cast bullets are too hard for their intended use. Using 22 bhn bullets for plinking in a 45 ACP will lead to frustration. There's simply not enough chamber pressure to obturate the bullet in the bore. Using 22 bhn bullets in a rifle will probably work well, if you match the load to bullet hardness. I've shot thousands of cast bullets from rifles. The load development process makes a lot of sense once you understand it. Also, you can alter the bullet to suit your particular needs. You can change the hardness, weight, diameter, intended velocity range, all by simply juggling alloys. You can add or subtract the amount of bullet lubrication by using bullet lubes, I make my own, or simply use more or less lube to suit your needs. You can change your sizing diameters if desired too. Want subsonic rifle loads? Easily done. Regardless of caliber. Want to make your own Partition style bullets? Yup! You can do that too.

I suppose there would be more satisfaction bagging a Deer with a bullet you made yourself, as opposed to buying fancy Vmax or some other ballistic tip bullet.

It makes me feel very independent. Sometimes, almost mad-scientist like

Do you use gas checks? Also, is there much fouling in the bore?

I loaded for a .45-70 a few years back. I used cast bullets with a gas check. It cut down on the fouling a lot compared to plain cast bullets.

I have used a lot of cast bullets for handguns, mostly .45 ACP and .44 Magnum, but also .30 mauser, .38 special, .44 special, and .45 Long Colt. I used to primarily load with hard cast lead bullets, because they were less expensive than jacketed bullets. In my experience, there is a leading problem, but I usually got acceptable accuracy for at least 100 rounds in the handgun calibers. I think cast bullets work better with the larger diameter bores, and slower velocities. The main reason I don't shoot cast bullets anymore is that it is harder to clean the firearms after shooting. I am also concerned about lead exposure. Also, I think handling and shooting jacketed bullets is safer. I used to wear latex gloves when loading with lead bullets. When I shoot lead bullets, I notice that there is a lot more smoke in the muzzle blast, compared to jacketed. It can't be a good idea breathing those fumes.

Just my

James

I'll see your two cents, and raise you a dollar...

This sounds like another case of store-bought lead bulletitis. You likely got leading because your bullets were too hard for your chamber pressure. The lube on store bought bullet is usually the cheapest stuff they can find, and in the case of the cheapie store-bought bullets, mostly ineffective. Think "crayolas, and recycled candles". Your store-bough bullets also didn't likely fit the bore as well as they should've. Keep your fingers out of your mouth while handling lead bullets, and wash your hands afterward, and you won't have a problem with lead levels in your blood. You need to take the same precautions when handling jacketed bullets. Gloves are fine, but most lead poisoning is caused by ingesting lead, you can't get lead poisoning from osmosis. The smoke you see with lead bullets is from the bullet lube, not vaporized lead., there may be minute amounts of lead particles in the smoke, but I've been casting for over 20 years, and my blood work is perfect. All you need to do is take simple precautions.

Anachronism:

Thanks for the information. You are right. Mostly all store bought bullets. Actually, I usually bought them at gun shows. The .45 long colts were cast by me, but it was more work than I had time for, and that was over 20 years ago.

Explain what you mean about the lead bullets being to hard for the chamber pressure. I thought having hard lead bullets would make less fouling, and softer would mean more fouling? Am I wrong?

What lube do you use?

Thanks,

James

I shoot 45-110, 45-70, 50-70 all in Black powder and I also cast for my Springfield Krags in which I'm shooting smokeless powder. All in all it's very easy to do. I cast all the calibers in 20:1, and seem to get the best results at a casting temp of around 750 degrees. For the BP rilfes, I'm casting bullets and allowing myself a .5 gr margin of error on the bullets for the -110, and around 1 grain on the -70's. Closer the weights helps with accuracy. In the BP rifles fouling occurs only if you don't have proper compression of the BP as far as lube I use a 50/50 beeswax/pork drippings (I.e. bacon greese) which served the Brits well for 150 years and works for me. In my krags I'm sizing to .310" using Rooster red smokeless lube and have the Lyman 220gr. bullet gas checked. Shoots very nice in the old krags and doesn't have much fouling.

Anyone know how cast bullets work for the 8x57 Mauser? Hunting purposes of course. I've seen molds for spitzers in a number of different rifle calibers.

Cast bullet require obturation to seal to the bore. Obturation happens when chamber pressure exceeds the elastic limits of the bullet, causing the bullet to compress, due to the resistance from the bore travel retarding the bullets forward travel as chamber pressures climb. The bullet will shorten slightly and increase in diameter, to the limits of the barrel dimensions. This is a rather poor attempt at describing how a bullet "slugs" up to fit the bore. If the bullet is too hard, "slugging" does not occur, and if the bullet fit is even slightly on the small side, "gas cutting" occurs. Gas cutting is simply where the powder gases go around the base of the bullet and eroding the sides of the bullet. The lead that is gas cut from the bullet attaches itself almost instantly to the coolest surface around, the barrel. And barrel leading is born. Gaschecks help alleviate this condition, but cannot eliminate it totally, unless your bullet size is correct. Some people try oversizing their bullet diameter to the bore, to artificially create obturation i.e. use overly large diameter hard cast bullet. Sometimes they get away with it, sometimes they don't. Every combination is unique. Leading from hardcast bullets usually rears it's ugly head in low pressure calibers, 45 ACP is a good example, standard velocity 45 Colts are another. It's a bit rarer with high intensity calibers in the 44 mag. and up class, in fact I get my best results with hardcast bullets in 44 mag. I cast gaschecked bullets of about 22 bhn, which I size to .432 dia. I size to .432 because my bullets cast .431, which means my bullets aren't sized at all, but the gascheck is sized to .432, giving me a slightly larger than bore diameter check to give me better sealing. I could probably get by with a .431 sizing die, but this approach works perfectly, and I am loathe to change something with a proven track record. Non gaschecked bullets are sized to the same diameter, but I use a softer alloy, about 16-18 bhn so the bullet will perform correctly without the gascheck being there to bat cleanup for me. The magic number for cast bullet obturation is 1422 by the way. Bullet hardness, in bhn multiplied by 1422 roughly equals the chamber pressure required to cause bullet obturation. So a 22 bhn bullet would require a chamber pressure of approximately 31,284 to obturate. For this purpose (only), you can use C.U.P or PSI interchangably. This is a really close ballpark figure. Your actual results will likely vary a little bit.

anachronism:

Thanks for the info. I may have to re-visit hard cast bullets for my .44 mag.

Thanks,

James