This was asked a wihle back - coupel years it seems. What do you folks (all four of you!) consider the most fun cartridge to cast for.
The 45/70, 45 Colt, 358's of all sorts, 348, 30-30, though seem the good ones.
The 45/70, because there's not much you can do with it and a factory round that you can't do with a ca$t load. And there's a number of good moulds on the shelf for it.
Were I lucky enough to own a M71, I'm sure I'd cast for it, since there's hardly anything to buy for it, and ditto what said about 45/70 performance.
45 Colt, because it is so excellent for plinking and there's any mould you could think of.
If I had any of the monster revolvers, I'd sure cast for them, 454, 475, 480, 500 S&W.

The 44 mag is another good one to cast bullets for.

All depends I guess... .30-30 is hard to beat. .444 Marlin is a real fine one. .30 Carbine is my baby right now. Oh...30-06 is great too..Wish I had a .30-40 or .38-55..Maybe should ask which ones are least fun!

I think my 50/70 is good fun. I was given a .490 Lee RB mould and wondered how it would shoot out of a modern Sharps.

Load a shell full of black powder (78gn)then seat a patched ball from the muzzle down over the brass cartridge. The darn thing is a real hoot and suprise, will group those RB's into about 5" at 100yds.

THe most fun I've had is with the 350 Rigby, and the 480 Ruger.

The 350 is a bit bigger than ideal for cast, but its the only 35 rifle I have at the moment. It shoots well with pistol bullets on up to rifle bullets. The two best loads are a 200 gr WFN gc over 14 gr for unique, a 10 shot string at an es of only 20 fps, and a nominal velocity of 1400 fps. At 50 yds it keeps them right around 1". The other outstanding bullet is the Lyman 358009, I managed a 5 shot 1" group at 100 yds, which is as well as I shoot it with jacketed, but unfortunately that load hangfires at low temps, and changing primers resulted in groups opening up.

The 480 has been fun to load cast for because when I first started loading for it, there was little to no data. Better yet was my results have always been good with every cast bullet I've tried, so what isn't there to like? From 310 gr @ 950 fps to 400 gr @ 1200 fps, and whole bunch of others.

Paul, what do you use for cases? It just occured to me, the Newton is for all intents and purposes a short Rigby. Looks like the case capacity should about equal the STA, no? A little less?

The 350 Rigby case predates the 375 H&H by 2 years and is essentially the same case, same body taper and dia, but no belt and 45 deg shoulder to headspace on and 2.76" length. I have two kinds of brass. For full powered jacketed loads my brass is 375 H&H that I turn off the belt, cut down the extractor groove, cut down the rim, fl size then turn down the neck and trim to length.

A royal PITA but the bertram brass I got is too soft for full power jacketed loads, though just right for cast

Case capacity is maybe 1 gr less than a 358 Norma mag. I know this is a cast forum but my best load is a 250 gr hornady rn over 66 gr of Varget for 2700 fps even and 3 shot 5/8" groups at 100 yds, not bad for a 2.5X scope, milsurp VZ-24 mauser w/ 2 stage military trigger and cheapy midway barrel.

OK, so not completely rare if you can just turn the belt off an H&H case. I thought the Rigby was nominal .522" or so at the base, as opposed to the H&H's .511" or whatever.

I think the spec is .520" at the rim and .515" at the case head. I'll have to mike my Betram brass and compare it to the H&H brass. It's certainly close enough, and the H&H brass handles pressure better than the soft bertram brass.

.577 Snider Enfield. Once you assemble the dies, some proper cases and a bullet mould throwing the correct diameter slug (.590 or more), this puppy is as much fun to load as it is to shoot. Best of all is the look of wonder on the other guys' faces when you open a box of your reloads and thumb one into the old BSA.

Back when I was still shooting my 45 acp, I loved being able to burn piles of cheap cast bullets for cheap.

Hey Lar, what did you shoot? I have only tried 230g RN, and lubed them for kicks, due to which they kept jamming. I'd love to get a 200g semi-wadcutter to cycle well, but I've heard people say RN only for cast ACP.

I love my 35's. But I have to say I think my 45-70 Buff Classic is probably the most enjoyable at this time. It lobs 405 grainers with the adjustable arpetuer sights out to 300 yds with ease. It is like playing with artillary..

Ive got a Peruvian Mauser that I am keeping in original configuration that was converted to 06 by FN. I just got a 200 gn mold to try in it, .352 BC.. A stripper clip fed Mauser, cast 06 with elevation adjustable sights, should be fun..

25-20, 30 US, 30-06, 30-30, 45-70, 38/357, 44Mag, 45ACP.

Most funnest? .310 Cadet and 38-55.

For the 45ACP, Lee's 230RN tumble lube works great.

While I have cast and loaded cast for a few 44's(about 7) and a Lott among others, it has been my 7x57 and 404 Jeffery that have given me the most satisfaction. Have just got a another mould made for a 6.5 GM I am building and am really anticipaqting the pleasure from playing with it and getting it to perform up to expectations which include at least a 200-250 yd hunting ability.

Depends on the day of the week.
Right now it's a 30-06 with cast 208 grain gas checked bullet out of a Winchester 1895.
Or the favorite is the 405 Winchester out of a 1895, using cast bullets.

Jim

quote:

Originally posted by arkypete:
Or the favorite is the 405 Winchester out of a 1895, using cast bullets.

Jim

I would LOVE to have one of those old classics!! Teddy liked um too...!

For fun an giggles the 458AccRel is the best something about a 335gr boolit a 2100 that gets the blood moving and wakes up the range. My club range is just a 1/2mile from the CSO range. Was shooting one day and in come a cruiser to find out What are you shooting?? I heard it over my 40 from a 1/2mile away. After a little Bs'ing I let him shoot it. He left with a grin on his face! This year I have been shooting a 9.3x62 and will be shooting it more. will be working with the 22Horet too. Clint

quote:

Originally posted by clintsfolly:
For fun an giggles the 458AccRel is the best something about a 335gr boolit a 2100 that gets the blood moving and wakes up the range. Clint

With you on that Clint as my 350gn GC (custom Hoch mould) bullet runs at 2365fps over 74gn Varget and is great for recoil recovery practice. With aperture sights it is still in the excellent accuracy department but falls a little behind my best load at 1900fps giving me great pleasure.



This was the final load development shots before sight regulation, all done at 55yds with the aperture sights.

Right now it's for .348 Win. with BACO 349250 mould.

quote:

Originally posted by Wstrnhuntr:

quote:

Originally posted by arkypete:
Or the favorite is the 405 Winchester out of a 1895, using cast bullets.

Jim

I would LOVE to have one of those old classics!! Teddy liked um too...!

Picked up my third one today. For all intents and purposes it's brand new. I'm going to fondle it a few days and it's off to Colorado for rebarreling to 375 Whelen.
I'll have an interesting battery of Winchester 1895s. 405m, 30-06, and 375 whelen.
The 375 Whelen in a bolt gun is mighty impressive, don't think I'll be able to stand the same loads in the 95 as I can in a Mauser.

Jim

I'd have to say the 45 Colt. For years I loaded the 22 Hornet, then I got the 45 Colt. I feel like I'm shoveling sand into a garbage can when I load the 45's. I can't get that image out of my head.

303 Savage because if you have one with a minty bore you can load it with a .311 200-210 gr GC cast bullet. As 303 bores tend to run a bit large, you can get better accuracy than with jacketed bullets and the killing power of this load is greater than a 30-30 and approaches that of a 30-40.

32 H&R and 45 Colt, probably because they're easy, and fun

Several years ago I bought a Savage 12-BVSS in 308 Win.

26" fluted stainless barrel, single shot bolt action, 8oz Accu-Trigger.

Several molds, 95-3-2 alloy, like 311284, 311331, 311365, will all shot well under 1/2 inch for 5-shot groups at 100yds.

If you want great molds, check NOE on the advertisers thread on the Cast Bullets website.

Rich

The Schofield revolver

I used to go to some 100yd "military" matches at a local range, with my 7x57, a 1908 Brazilian Mauser, 130gr Lee, and if I remember correctly, about 8-1/2 gr of Green Dot. Had a lot of fun with that, the boys used to look at that pretty hard, it shot very well. They were kinda spooked at how quiet it was.
Twas reaally nice at the end of the day, with that metal buttplate, no soreness at all.
At present the favorite toy, is a #1 in 450/400NE 3" and 320gr WFNGC LBT bullet, it is sweet to shoot with that setup.

quote:

Originally posted by 209jones:
I used to go to some 100yd "military" matches at a local range, with my 7x57, a 1908 Brazilian Mauser, 130gr Lee, and if I remember correctly, about 8-1/2 gr of Green Dot. Had a lot of fun with that, the boys used to look at that pretty hard, it shot very well. They were kinda spooked at how quiet it was.
Twas reaally nice at the end of the day, with that metal buttplate, no soreness at all.
At present the favorite toy, is a #1 in 450/400NE 3" and 320gr WFNGC LBT bullet, it is sweet to shoot with that setup.

I have a nice shooting hunting load for my 7x57 with a 160gn bullet (Lyman 287641) at 2415 fps over 39gn ADI 2209 - H4350, that shot these when I was zeroing the scope. 19.2 gn BLUE Dot gives me 1900fps and a perfect plinking load that will hunt if I need it too. My rifle is also on a 1908 DWM Brazilian action

Sold that gun last year, was a lot of fun. Used that load in my 7-08 for chickens, also. It worked well for that, don't remember why I never loaded up any more. Could just be because I didn't have any Green Dot left. Discovered a can of those bullets and some NEI 150's last month. May have to use some in the 7-08 again or try some in the Merkel 7 mag. I have been way too kind to chickens over the last few years. Should try AA9 with 'em I suppose, have around 10-12 lbs of that to use up.

38 spl 148gr wad cutters just easy to load and a lot of fun to shoot.