how do they shoot for you?

tell me about it
thanks,
jeff

My 44 magnum and 357 magnum barrels (both 10 inch) like lead just fine. The 357 barrel in particular will put cast bullet 38 special handloads into one ragged hole at 25 yards.

The only caliber I played with cast in for my contender was 35, and I had a factory 357 mag 10", factory 357 Herret 10", and Virgin Valley 10" stainless 357 max.

Mike Bellm has a writeup on what he refers to as the "toilet bowl" throat in the factory 357 mag barrels and their negative effect on accuracy. I tried about 1/2 dozen 150-160 gr cast bullets as well as a 200 gr, and about 1/2 dozen powders, and only found one combo that shot with reasonable accuracy, everything else was ~3-5" at 50 yds. The throat was so long on that barrel that I could seat the 200 gr bullet with only the gas check in the case, and still not hit the lands!

With the 357 Herret, I only used the 200 gr bullet, and was able to get 1 1/2" 3 shot groups @ 100 yds with AA 1680, at about 1900 fps. I ended up trading that barrel to Greybeard and he reported 1" groups at 100 yds using the discontinued 680 powder.

With the 357 max, I primarily used the 200 gr cast bullet and with AA 1680 was getting ~2" 50 yd groups, which to me wasn't quite what I'd have expected. They guy I sold it to said he put a couple hundred jacketed bullets down the tube, and that seemed to break it in and drop the cast bullet group size.

I used to shoot Lyman 140-gr. gas-checked cast out of my 7mm TCU. As long as the casting was up to par (I am NOT a great caster), these bullets would shoot great. Out of a 14" barrel, I think (can't remember right now) I was getting around 1800 fps without leading. Lots of fun and cheap going, but I quit casting due to the time and (lack of) skill involved.

I've never spent much time shooting cast bullets in the single shots. But as a rule, cast bullets have not done well for me in factory Contender barrels. In customs, however, there has never been a problem getting excellent accuracy, and in some cases, cast bullets rivaled the accuracy of the best jacketed projectiles.

But again, I have not spent tons of time with cast bullets in Contenders, so you can take my assessment with a grain of salt.

My factory .357 Mag. barrel is very finicky with cast ammo. I had some 158 SWC's over Unique that shot pretty well. I'm out of that brand of projectile and can't find any more. What I have access to now doesn't group well at all. They are fine in my GP-100, so I can't say it's the fault of the projectile itself.

Jeff,
My most extensive experience with cast in a factory COntender bbl. has been with my 10" .41 mag. Using a very mild load of Unique under a 225 gn. bullet I get .5-.75" grps. @ 50 yds using a good sandbag rest, and a Leupold-Gilmore red dot sight. They go to 2" @ 100 yds, but are consistent, almost to the point of being boring...
Cheers,
Don

I have had good luck with cast boolits out of a dozen or so Contender barrels over the years. My 10" .357Mag doesn't have throat issues and shoots 158gr swchpgc's without problems, but I am aware that other very experienced casters have had some problems, so there must be something to it. I can only speculate that T/C may have experimented with different style reamers over the years.
As with any firearm that you want to shoot cast with though, the basic ground rules apply. Slug the bore. Size your boolits .002" over groove diameter. Make sure you have ALL the copper fouling cleaned out of the barrel. Remember that you can't push cast to the same velocities to which you push jacketed, but this is more important with high pressure and rifle cartridges.
Where you would pick a light fast jacketed bullet for hunting, you should choose a heavy slow cast boolit for best results. Choose the softest alloy that you can to insure good expansion with anything smaller than .35cal. Many (but not all) people who complain about leading and poor accuracy with cast boolits in their Contenders and Encores are expecting them to perform as if they were shooting jacketed, trying to shoot them too fast, or using ones that are sized too small.
Sometimes you run into a barrel that will group jackets wonderfully and just won't shoot cast no matter the alloy, profile, weight, or powder. When you do, you have to face reality and sell it to someone who doesn't cast and will be happy with it.
If you are a real cast junkie, you can have a custom barrel for your T/C made specifically for cast by OTT - www.ottllc.com - or one of the other makers of premium products.

Encore 454casull using cast performance gas checked bullets no leading and they're accurate.

I have a 14" pro hunter in 41 mag that likes hard cast 215gr semi-wadcutters, and blue dot. Can shoot 1.5" groups all day. No leading problems.

I have had satisfactory plinking and playing results with 6.5 mm and 7mm TCU, 357 Mag, BUT so far the 45-70 performance with cast SUCKS. Anything that delivers patterns at 25 yards is DISCOURAGING!!