O.K. folks I am going to start loading for my .41 mag. and .45 long colt soon. I was planning to use Hornaday xtp bullets but hear alot about cast bullets. What are the pros and cons?

WEll, for the cast bullets, it's pretty much all pros! For the jacketed bullet, the big con is the cost of bullets.

I load for both and shoot cast and jacketed in the 41 and cast in the 45 Colt. The only thing I haven't been able to equal or better with cast bullets is violent expansion. I can load the .41 with jacketed hollow points and have a pretty explosive round. But it doesn't kill any deader or faster than cast.

Bottom line is you don't really gain much of anything with jacketed bullets in pistols as opposed to good cast. And with the sources available for top quality cast bullets, it's almost silly to shoot jacketed bullets. IMHO.

Take a look at Leahheads Bullets for both these calibers. The real bullets are just as pretty as the pictures, by the way.

Hope this helps.

A couple of additional points.

1. Cast bullets tend to be easier on barrels than jacketed bullets due to less friction.

2. Bullets in larger calibers (.44, .45, .50) dont need to expand to be effective. They are already big. And many cast bullets offer wide meplats for real impact and shocking power.

3. Cast bullets tend to penetrate further and usually more completely than jacketed bullets. In front of the appropriate powder charge they will travel through a deer from stem to stern.

I only use jacketed bullets for barrels that require them (GLOCK) and for defense where you want an expanding bullet that will dump all its energy fairly quickly versus penetrating fully and going through walls, etc. Besides, is a .41 or .45 revolver really the most ideal home defense weapon?

Try Cast Performance bullets http://www.castperformance.com/. They have reasonable prices for high quality bullets. I use them extensively in my .44 Mag and .45 Colt revolvers with great accuracy and power.

I use both in my .41s', cast only for hunting and jacketed in my carry gun. I use cast bullets from CPBT and BearTooth in all my hunting loads. I have never recovered one from any animal I have killed with them even very large feral/wild pigs. I used to load a Sierra 210gr JHC over 19.5gr of 2400 as a hunting load never recovered any of those either. I now load the Sierra 170gr JHC for my carry gun.Don't have a .45 so can't say for that.

For practice rounds, cast can save you money. I paid 13.50 for a box of 100 Hornady XTP for my 41 mag. 215 gr cast can be found for 25.00 for 500. If you cast your own and can get free wheels weights, you can pay off the equipment pretty quick and then it really get cheap.

Hie ye to the land of cast, and ner' look ahind ye again for the Devil, as he may not tempt ye further.

Well I will have to look into cast bullets. I carry my Glock for protection. Forget the bulk of a wheel gun. They are for plinking and hunting. I looked at a couple websites for cast. Did not add up shipping cost though. The local gun shop can get cast bullets also. I will have to price the options.

Here is a couple of more cast bullet sources I found. These are geared towards "plinker"
National Bullet Co. http://www.nationalbullet.com/
Mid West Bullet Co. http://www.mkcb.com/

The question that I have to ask myself is do I really want the penetration that cast bullets give me in some light skinned, medium sized game such as deer. My blacktail this year was taken with 240 gr XTPs at 1425 fps approximately 30 yards distance (still don't trust those range finders) The shot was right behind the shoulder, took out both lungs, and ended up under the skin on the far side. Worked great. For bear and elk I do use 310 gr Cast because they are bigger tougher animals. But that is just me. The debate goes on. Exit hole vs no exit hole. For practice I use cast bullets on top of a reduced load, lot's of shooting for less money. After shooting 50 to 75 rounds of cast I will shoot 6 jacketed bullets to clean up the lead that might have been deposited in the barrel. IMHO my 2 cents worth. Slim

Slim,
What you say makes alot of sence to me. It don't take that much to poke a hole thru a white tail. I will only be shoting 50 yards or less. The handgun will be for those shots where it is too hard to get the .300 around. See I hunt in the middle of a hay field. I sit down on my butt nice and comfortable and put the .300 up on the bipods and wait. Many times deer cross about 50 yards from me just as it is getting light. I figure with the sixgun on my lap things could get fun! Like I said I am a hunter period it don't matter what gun I use.