Some local guys shoot 375 h&h 340 grain cast bullets at 2100 fps wit good accuracy at 100m, and no more fouling than with regular bullets. Gas checks of course.Anyone tried it in doubles?

My Bradshaw 450 is progressing and I am wondering if I should start casting bullets myself to make practice less expensive...

I have shot pounds of hard cast lead bullets from my 450 BPE, 458 Lott. 375 H&H,and several others. I run them in the 1700-1900 fps and usually light for caliber. In doubles you can almost alway get regulation using Nitro for Black loads developed by Sefried and others. And while these 45-70 power loads won't kill anything they are good reduced recoil paper punchers
Larry

I have only shot cast bullets in my BPE double rifles. Have had great experience with correct weight for caliber projectiles and IMR 4198.

Dutch

I have tried cast bullets for my 500/416 and was disappointed with the results, even though they were gas checked.
Peter.

I have shot numerous cast bullets in my .470 NE and .500NE. They are great low recoil practice loads with point of impact similar to my hunting loads. I have not hunted with the cast bullet loads however.

Downloaded, low recoiling practice loads sounds interesting. Is it tricky to find loads that regulate? Lets say for a rifle regulated for 480gr @ 2150 fps?

How do the bullets handle full tilt loads? I was even thinking of shooting moose with cast bullets here as they qualify as expanding bullets and therefore are legal.

I shoot 405grn cast in my 450ne in front of a load of Trail Boss at speeds around 1300-1400fps. great for practice and re-establishing good muscle memory after a shooting session of full power loads... They will shoot pretty much to point of aim if I flip up my 200yrd leaf..

I developed a regulating load for my friends 450 NE using 300gr cast bullets, 50 gr H4198 and case full of foam filler. You may need to vary the powder 48-52 gr, and as mentioned it will shoot low due to lack of recoil.just flip up a sight leaf. Graeme Wrights book on Shooting the British Double will be helpful. I also shoot reduced 470 NE with 375-400 gr cast and jacketed pistol bullets in my rifle. Nice for practice.

Norsk,

As Cal and others have mentioned elsewhere you can use the 75% rule as a good starting point to regulate with a lighter bullet. Keep the same powder charge while using a bullet that is 75% of the regulating bullet, If regulated with 480 gr use a 360 gr or 350 gr

quote:

Originally posted by ELeeton:
Norsk,

As Cal and others have mentioned elsewhere you can use the 75% rule as a good starting point to regulate with a lighter bullet. Keep the same powder charge while using a bullet that is 75% of the regulating bullet, If regulated with 480 gr use a 360 gr or 350 gr

Eric's words are true. However, in my limited experience I find the 75% rule pushes the lighter bullet so much faster, that if shooting lead, leading of the bore will result. I have started to experiment with a reverse 75% rule where the same bullet is fired but with 75% of the powder charge. Accuracy is not quite a good but certainly acceptable. One MUST use a filler to keep the powder next to the primer for proper ignition thereby avoiding a mis fire or hang fire.
Just my two cents.
Cal

PS. This reverse rule is also good in calibers where 75% bullet weights may not be available in jacketed bullets.

I once acquired an old but unused Lyman 366408 mould (245 g in #2 alloy) but haven't found the time/motivation to resume casting. So far, I tested some paper patched .38 (Lyman 358429, backed by 2400 + Kleenex as a case filler, in my 9,3x74R O/U (individually, both barrels grouped very well but not together). Considering that, if not for a yearly zero check at the range, my double is exclusively used for drive hunting with fully developed handloads, I didn't fell like pushing the experimentation further.

What kind of lead do you guys use? I have acces to wheel weights from local auto shops. I have read the alloy is pretty hard. I would prefer to shoot lead in normal regulation loads if that is possible without a lot of leading... So a hard alloy 480 grain RN lead bullet with a gas check will foul the barrel at 2150 fps? What about pressure? Does it increase using cast compared to jacketed bullets?

Wheel weights work fine, just beware that there is getting to be more weights made from zinc..

Those won't work.

If you feel that the weights are too soft either add tin or heat treat them in the oven.

Norsk, this guy makes a living in casting bullets....if you provide the mould he will cast for you...he is very experienced..

http://www.gulesider.no/p/clarry+haglund/78434697

I cast with uncut linotype (= no leading).

Thanks guys

I shoot paper patched pure lead at about 1800 fps in my 450 BPE. No leading at all. I suspect paper patched bullets con be driven to 2100 fps without leading.

Dave

I don't doubt it. My remark about linotype referred to regular casting (for handguns in my case). You may paper patch soft (and expanding)lead bullets because the lead does'nt come in contact with the bore anyway.

I have shot a heap of lead through my doubles in 375HH and 470NE.
Leading have never been an issue. By using the right size bullet and gas check you will be pretty safe.
I shoot all my doubles off hand and NO scoope on. I have never seen any notisable regulation problem even with different loads. My full loads is made with N140-160,( 2000 fps +) but for reduced loads I only use N120 and a grain or two with Dacron. I have tried reduced loads with the regular powder, but the click – bang didn’t sound healty, so now I always use a faster powder for reduced loads.
Tom at Accurate Molds made me some exellent bulletmolds. Both the 375 bullet (340gr) and the 470 bullet (530gr) are made with a large meplat for hunting purposes. And they work well.
The biggest game I have tried them on is Eland (several), both cow and bulls. They all went down. The longest run was about 60 – 80 yards. I never recovered any of these bullets. All of them went through like a hot knife in butter and the exit wound almost looked like made with a full metal jacket. These bullets was a little on the hard side made from 1 part Linotype to 2 parts of soft lead. I am afraid they would splinter on a really perfect shoulder bone hit.
My new hunting bullets are a little softer alloy with 1-5 and 3% Tin. I will do a test on them in April.

There are some interesting pressure results from using cast bullets in the "Double Rifle Bullet of The Future" thread. Extensive testing by our own Scrose and Michael458. I would read it before shooting any cast bullets through my double. Scrose and Michael458 used to post regularly on here until some assholes wouldn't get off Sam's case about a hunt report that was no ones business but Sam's. Its a real shame because Sam and Mike contributed more to this forum than anyone, regarding terminal bullet performance and usable data... But uppity assholes have to be themselves and good old boys like Sam and Mike just choose not to take part.

I shoot a lot of gas checked cast bullets in my 470 using AA5744, regulates well to 50 yards and no leading. No filler used either.


.

quote:

Originally posted by Double BC:
There are some interesting pressure results from using cast bullets in the "Double Rifle Bullet of The Future" thread. Extensive testing by our own Scrose and Michael458. I would read it before shooting any cast bullets through my double. Scrose and Michael458 used to post regularly on here until some assholes wouldn't get off Sam's case about a hunt report that was no ones business but Sam's. Its a real shame because Sam and Mike contributed more to this forum than anyone, regarding terminal bullet performance and usable data... But uppity assholes have to be themselves and good old boys like Sam and Mike just choose not to take part.

SO TRUE