Dose anyone cast there own bullets instead of buying them ? I know some leads are harder then other lead so dose this make a difference as far as shooting ? Will lead instead of a jacketed bullet lead rifleing up quicker ? Any other do's or don'ts ? Thanks Bill

Best place I know of for casting and cast boolit informatin (other than the "Cast Bullet Association") is located at http://castboolits.gunloads.com/

Castpics has some good information also

Get a copy the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook and start reading. Probably everything you'll need to know pertaining to cast bullets.

Thanks I will do that !

Then we have the Cast Bullet section right here on AR. You might consider Paper Patching. Information available over on castboolits. I have begun making bullets - still early days. Mine are intended to be heavy for caliber, hollow point and made from wheel weights, which is quite soft. I have tested some on turkey and found them to be quite effective. My bullets are larger than bore size in order to fit the rifle throat better, which is supposed to improve accuracy. Bullet casting/making also happens to add to the shooting fun factor!


These weigh in at 243grs! A tad heavier than the average 303 bullet.

I cast with wheel weights! I was told to my surprise by a local smith that in using wheel weights that I dont need to use gas checks due to the hardness of the lead, unless really pushing the fps! I have been casting now for about 2 years and really hit it hard over the last year. Everytime I hear something new I go to my bench and try it load it, and shoot it. Sometimes I try more then one lot in the the testing.

Lyman makes a great starting kit! I highly recommend all there casting equipment because it is great quality and at a modest price!
PM me if you would like to talk about it. I beleave 303 guy and myself have talked about it before.

One of the best sites going for casting info.
http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletNotes.htm
It's not always about the hardness of the alloy when it comes to leading. WW are fine for vel. upto 1400fps if sized & lubed properly. If yo ucan get metal for free or cheap, it's worth the time, if for no other reason than you always have bullets to load w/o ordering or driving someplace to buy them.
If you are going to cast your own, I recommend a Lee 20# bottom pour pot & their 6cav molds. They also sell an inexpensive lubing/sizing kit.

Tell us what you plan to use as cast bullet gun(s) and we can be a little more concrete with answers.

How many rounds do you expect to shoot a year
Pistol
Revolver
Rifle (bolt/Lever/Semi Auto
Muzzleloader
Calibers
Inline
Plinking and playing
Competition
Hunting

Each answer may cause the answer to shift somewhat.
Peruse as many sites and read things like Lyman's "Cast Bullet Manual", and ask questions.
Casting good boolits can start out as simple and cheap as one wants and more things added as needed/wanted.

I m going to have to jump in to this for advise too!
I shoot bolt and semi rifle's
Thinking about loading for a 9mm auto pistol

Cast also for muzzle loading rifle 58cal 1853 3band endfield using lyman's 577cal mini ball

Bolt
30-06 1903A3
303 Endfield SMLE
7.62x54 Fin-Mosin Nagunt 90-91
6.5x55 Swedish Mauser
Semi
30-06 M1 Grand
30 Carbine M1 Carbine

I shoot for
accuracy
Hunting
plinking

I try to keep my standards the same accost the board to keep things CONSISTENT!

My most resent chrono is for my 1903A3 and so I can remember FPS being around 1100-1200fps area

I shoot in the area of 100 to 1000 monthly! It all depends on what life throws at me really.
(I'd like to keep it over 1k month but that's dreaming)

I keep detailed notes on all my reloading from anything after Jan-08 because frankly I want the best damn loads for my rifles I can make!

As Craigster mentioned Lymans cast bullet handbook is a good place to start. Casting can be very time consuming and testing will take even more time, but what's better than shooting. I think you will find about 90% of your casting for centerfire can be accomplished with straight wheel weights air cooled or quenched. I shoot plain based and gas checked, make gas checks for 30,32 and 35 cal, cast for muzzle loader and cap and ball. I've taken deer and one buffalo(NA bison) with bullets I've cast myself, very good feeling to be self sufficient. I now use a 20# electric pot and ladle cast, but started with a bottom pour, which ever you prefer will work fine. Great hobby, enjoy!

quote:

... make gas checks for 30,32 and 35 cal ...

I need larger than 30 gas checks for my oversize 303 Brit cast bullets. Care to share how you make your gas checks?

I bought the set of tools for these calibers several years back from a guy in California, he sells on E-bay now, search gas checks, you'll find freechex gas check making tool. Charlie is a nice guy and can do you a custom size for you shank size. We chat by me-mail several times a week, or atleast send each other jokes. Scot

Heres some 30 cal made from beer can, red bull can and valley flashing. The ones made from pop cans are used 3 thick on std .284 shank, the valley flashing is .013" thick and a single layer is used. The disc are punched out and are formed in lyman 4500 sizer, the top punch is replaced with appropiate ram, the washers are of correct size to center the disc over the sizer die.

quote:

Originally posted by craigster:
Get a copy the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook and start reading. Probably everything you'll need to know pertaining to cast bullets.

Get a copy of JACKETED PERFORMANCE WITH CAST BULLETS by Veral Smith (Lead Bullet Technologies http://www.lbtmoulds.com/) and start reading.

billm,
Casting can be a very large or very small subject.

At it's simplest you cast bullets for a .38 Special and shoot them up.

For a lot of rifles you have to pay attention to the bore diameter and bullet diameter fits.
I love shooting "almost free" bullets.

My bullets are running .02 pennies