well I'm new to the game of casting bullets for handguns. I'm casting for a .454 casull SRH 9.5" barrel. I managed to get a meat test this deer season and was not vey impressed at all. The exit wound looks as if the bullet simply passed through and did not expand. i'm mixing about 9% tin to lead in my bullets w/o gas checks and lee liquid alox for lube. come christmas time i'll be getting a sizer and gas checks for a present. now here comes the question. my pistol shoots fine with a minimum load with soft lead, and no leading of the barrel, and when shot into sand they expand great. when the load is increased the barrel leads pretty heavily. but who ever wants to shoot the minimum out of any gun, i don't. I am wondering if i can cast a bullet that I can shoot at the max load, and have no or mild leading of the barrel, and I want it to expand somewhat on game. how much do gas checks help with leading? This seems to be about as long as a 10 year olds wish list to santa clause but I want to be satisfied with my own bullets.

Most of the time cast bullets well act as solids when shot into game. If you want expansion go to a good JHP.

When shooting cast bullets in pistols, aim to take out both shoulders. Don't expect to get great performance on lung shots with cast bullets, there forte is deep penetration.

My preferred meathod of making pistol bullets is to use straight wheelweights, cast hot, and dropped into a 5 gallon bucket of water. They should come out of the mold frosted, and sizzle when they hit the water. With a gas check bullet, you should be fine up to 1700 fps. With a plainbase, I find 1400 seems to be about the limit. Even with the quench hardening, the wheelweight bullets will expand somewhat, and not shatter.

What mold(s) are you using? My recomendation for the 454 on dear size game would be a 330 gr WFN gc mold. Balisticast makes excellent molds, look at Cast Performance Bullets website, all the bullets they sell are from Ballisticast molds.

well thanks for the input. i'm using a lee 300 Gr. semi wad cutter that can be gas checked. the bullets i'm casting now are frosted out of the mold and sizzling when they hit the water. lee claims that the mold weight should be 300 gr. if it is mixed to 10% tin. my bullets are weighing around 306 Gr.

I would not bother with a quest for high velocity with cast lead bullets. I went thru this long ago with the .357 mag.

Instead shoot jacketed bullets for high velocity and cast bullets for loads around 1000 fps. With a Keith type SWC these flat nosed bullets hit quite hard on small game and are easy on the ears, wrist, gun and money.

You can make your own jacketed bullets.

There are no commercial cartridges shooting lead at high velocities. The .357 always had a lead load like that and it fouled the bbls bad.

I use pure linotype in my cast bullets.

once again thanks for the input. I'm curious on how to make jacketed bullets. let me know about this

One source of jacketed bullet making is Corbin at www.bulletswage.com/jackets.htm

I beg to differ with the suggestion to keep cast bullet loads to 1000 fps. While cast bullets may not be ideal for all situations with big bore handguns, they can be accurately shot to high velocities. Many of the folks I know who shoot 454's shoot cast bullets exclusively.

If you really want to learn about large bore sixguns, go to sixgunner.com and look through the archive articles by John Taffin and Paco Kelley. Lots of good information there, and load data.

With the bullet you're loading, definately put the gas checks on, they will allow you to increase velocity and keep the accuracy. I've pushed 200 gr cast bullets over 1700 fps from my 10" 357 mag contender, with no leading or adverse effects to accuracy. Keep it simple, straight wheelweights, water quenched, gas check and a good lube.

Lee liquid alox works quite well, though it seems that at low temperatures 10F and under, the accuracy degrades a bit. I'll have to do some more testing next year when the range re-opens to verify that.

i can only speak for the 10mm as far as hunting goes and only one deer at that but i feel a hard cast flat nosed bullet is the way to go. i cast mine from wheel wights cast in a mold to drop 200gr gas check TC/FN bullets from. i run them to 1200fps from a 6" barreled 1006 and 1125fps from a 5".
the deer i shot was hit just far enough behind the shoulder to hit a rib on the way in, punch through the heart and then hit another rib on the way out. the exit hole was just a touch bigger than the entrance hole about 1/2". deer is dead had some of him for dinner!

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born on a mountain, raised in a cave, hunting and fishing is all i crave!

Hard cast bullets can be made to deform on impact if cast of the proper alloy. You can also anneal the nose of the bullet and soften it considerably. The best method I have found is outlined on the beartooth site. It involves annealing the bulets in a pan of water much like annealing case necks. The driving bands stay hard and there is no leading. The nose will expand considerably down to about 800 fps. When used in rifle cartidges, the nose expands and sometimes will seperate from the remainder of the bullet which goes on to penetrate.

That said, I see little wrong with hard, flatnose cast bullets as is. They are very effective given that they are placed well. They have yet to design a bullet that will work without that.

DOC

[This message has been edited by DOC (edited 12-08-2001).]

[This message has been edited by DOC (edited 12-08-2001).]

I also would vote for the plain hardcast flat points. I have used the Cast Performance Bullets 335 gr gas checks for great performance on game. I have always felt that expansion on pistol bullets is counter productive. You already have the caliber diameter that most expanding rifle bullets will expand up to. The problem is the velocity is not there. You don't have the velocity to lose from expansion. I personally feel that penetration and an exit wound are far more important for handgun calibers than expansion. You simply have to line up the shot so that the bullet will travel through the heart/aorta area of the vital zone, and if you can break at least one front shoulder in the bullet path, so much the better. I have not had good success with jacketed pistol bullets, especially hollow points, so I don't use them. They perform too erratically for my tastes. Since I have switched to heavy-for-caliber hardcast, flat nosed bullets, I have seen a good improvement on performance and game reaction to the shot. For me, I could care less about expansion, give me penetration, it's more reliable on game.

Hi

I have tried a variety of bullets in my Ruger Super Blackhawk and have settled on hard cast / Keith type 245gr SWC bullets with gas checks, my handloads average 1300fps with these bullets.

I have takedn a variety of African games with these, from warthogs to kudu without any hassle.

I have hunted with a number of folk also using hard cast bullets and have concluded that a flat bullet with cutting edges makes a good wound channel and penetrates well ... which is first prize on the game we hunt.

Regards

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Peter
www.shafa.net
Shafa Safaris

I have been using the Keith 245 gas checked bullets also. I have been using either 2400 or Unique powders.

Do you have any other powders that work well with those bullets? What kind of accuracy do you get with the SBH and those loads?

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Drifty

I'm not reloading these days anymore, but I wonder if a pure lead shot of proper size preheated placed in the nose of the mold, then pour a hard alloy to fill, would result ina softer nose hard bodied bullet? Anyone tried that? I know it can be done, don't know the effect in hunting. Bullet will be offweight from what you usually get, but not much. Treated with MsMoly and gaschecked, should be able to get decent velocity I would think. Almost makes me want to start shooting again.

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Good Shooting!

I've gone to hard cast exclusively in the 454. I got mine from National. They are advertised as BH18, and a casting buddy gave them the nod; reluctantly, because they showed some signs of mold misalignment, but he indicated they should be okay below 1800fps, even without a gas check.

I am loading them to probably 1500-1700 fps, just going by the load data (that chrony is on my wish list). I experienced minimal leading after 160+ rounds at a recent match. There was way less leading than copper fouling of similar jacketed bullets, and they were way more accurate.

I shoot sillhouettes, so velocity is important to me, but haven't punched a hog with one yet.

I long ago opted for cast bullets exclusively in my .44Mag and 45 Colt. I still use jacked in the .454 because my particular Freedom Arms revolver doesn't seem to like cast as well. I've killed a lot of game with the Kieth style bullet but am now convinced the LBT style is better. Put that bullet on the shoulder rather than behind it and you're going to have a dead animal on your hands real quick.