[ohman11]

Have any you fired cast lead bullets through your AR? If so how many fps are you running it and what grain bullet?

[rcmodel]

I certainly haven't.

Leading & bullet lube gunking up the gas tube & bolt carrier seems like a very bad idea to me.

Not to mention all the vaporized lead dust blowing out of the bolt carrier right under your nose!

rcmodel

[ohman11]

I have had some of those thoughts but was curious

[Z-Michigan]

Good point about the vaporized lead blowing up your nose, but I always wonder about this (in the AR15 design) with conventional FMJ bullets - they have exposed lead at the base too. Not to mention all the lead from the primer, which is almost unavoidable. (There is a bit of totally nontoxic ammo around, but it's pricey and usually intended only for short-range paper punching.)

I know that shooting an AR you breathe more of the propellant gases than you do with anything else I've shot.

[rcmodel]

True, but the exposed lead on the base of a jacketed bullet is but a small percentage of what gets shaved off the side of a cast bullet when it runs past the gas port hole.

rcmodel

[brighamr]

I've researched this. Some other sites actually have how-to's, measurements, etc.

IMO, after reading other's experiences, it's not a great idea. Kind of like reloading your own primers... sure you could do it, but the time/effort and lack of a quality end result make it not worth it.. well for me anyway.

[lordgroom]

I asked the same question on this and another forum. Here is the post from The Cast Bullet Association, especially of note is Ed Harris' response:

http://www.castbulletassoc.org/forum/view_topic.php?id=1884&forum_id=9



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http://www.castbulletassoc.org/forum/view_topic.php?id=1865&forum_id=9


No I haven't tried it yet. My first cast was for the k31 Schmidt Ruben and I am still working up loads for that. I may get to the .223 but right now, jacketed rounds are pretty cheap.

[ForneyRider]

Guy on Castboolits website shoots them.

Keep em at 2400fps or less.

Gas checked, hard as rocks, proper lube.

[SSN Vet]

you can still get 55 gr FMJ for ~ $.07/ea at Widener's or even Midway if you catch their sales.

People over at Cast Boolits are reporting that you can push a .22 cal. bullet over 2,700 fps. and not get barrel leading IF you gas check, size properly (must have an accurate slug of your barrel) and lube with a hard lube like Lars Red (uses Carnuba wax).

I' been working up loads to shoot my home cast boolits in an AK clone, but have only had one range session to test these out. Though my barrel was clean as a whistle afterwards (it was actually shiney, like I had just swabbed it out) the face of the gas piston gets totally coated with a thin layer of lead after only 20 or 30 rounds. This required a good scrubbing with a bronze brush to clean up, though I did wait a few days to clean the rifle and it may have been easier if I had sprayed it off with bore scrubber right at the range while still hot.

It's reported that the gas ports are oversized (like every other dimension on an AK :)) so lead fouling is not a concern there, but I think the direct impingement gas system presents an entirely different potential for problems.

Getting downloads to cycle the action of the AK properly has been an issue for me. I would have to speculate that it could be problematic for an AR as well.

I'm hoping to set up and cast for several differnet rifles, but my AR is not one of them.

[ohman11]

Well I am building a AR (so far just the lower assembly) I wanted to get it bought be for November. So I was wondering about this since I cast my other bullets.