Casting more due to shortages

I just found 200 lbs of bullet scrap and lead sheet...its too hot outside to cast now, but I'm getting ready for fall fun.

Oh, and RMR shipped my order of 8k 115 gr match winners MUCH faster than I expected. Kudos to Jake and his crew.

I cast almost every bullet I shoot, somewhere around 99% of them.

I cast and load 9mm for just over a nickel a round.

I'm debating getting into gas checks so I can move into cast rifle bullets. Not because I can't find the bullets now but definitely would be comforting to know I could if needed. Definitely feeling way better than my friends that never learned to reload and now can't find any ammo.

somethingbenign said:

I'm debating getting into gas checks so I can move into cast rifle bullets. Not because I can't find the bullets now but definitely would be comforting to know I could if needed. Definitely feeling way better than my friends that never learned to reload and now can't find any ammo.

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Some people have had good luck driving Hi-Tek coated bullets to rifle speeds with no problem.

I am doing the same. Cast my first 308 yesterday. Failure, but close. Will keep at it til I learn.

I had already planned to buy it before the panic but I finally stopped waiting around and ordered a mold for 9mm when it first disappeared off the shelves. I love shooting cast bullets, I feel like I’ve got more skin in the game.

I’ve Also started looking around and buying scrap lead where I can find it.build up the stash.

I cast because I am cheap, I can always buy what I need, if not what I want...

I'm seriously looking at tooling up for casting because of the shortages.

Shame I can't easily make my own primers.

I have the capability to make cast bullets for virtually all the handgun cartridges that I load for. Currently, I have a good supply of purchased and self cast bullets on hand but when I need to replace some inventory, if commercial bullets are not available, I'll fire up the casting equipment.

(Side note, I've been shooting mostly skeet for the past year so I have not been consuming much centerfire cartridges of late.)

While most of my cast bullet moulds are for plinking or casual shooting, I have a couple moulds that I plan to try for more important uses.

I cast the vast majority of what I shoot and have for a few years. Prices for lead have been rising if you do not scrounge and smelt your own. Still cheaper than buying bullets, and in this environment you can at least make what you cannot buy.

I went shooting this afternoon with my 58 cal muzzleloader. You would think that with 278 grain balls you would burn up a lot of lead quick, but it took me the whole afternoon to shoot 45 rounds, so even the big balls stretch the lead compared to, say, a 45 ACP.

I need to get the blowtorch set so I can smelt a bunch of cast lead I was gifted. 9mm powder coated is fun stuff.

SQLGeek said:

Shame I can't easily make my own primers.

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I have been reloading for more than 30 years, but casting fewer than 10.

Primers have always been the weak link. Many powders can be made to work, but without a primer nothing goes bang.

In every shortage I've experienced, starting with the AWB during the first Clinton days, primers have always disappeared first.

Just got into casting this year, luckily right before all the craziness started. A few years ago I was getting some projectiles from another member here, when I went to pick them up he had a few other items he was getting rid of. In the menagerie was an old Lee 4-20 pot and some molds. The pot and molds sat on a shelf for almost 3 yrs. About 2 years ago, my dad brought me a 5gal bucket of used wheel weights from his local tire shop. After sorting and smelting, netted about 120lbs of clean alloy, and maybe 8lbs of pure lead. All of this sat until this spring when I finished building my reloading room in the garage. As luck would have it, I finished it in mid March. I had a decent mold for 158gn 38's, bought 3 other molds for 9mm and 45 right before everything got tight. Also bought another 50lbs of alloy from Acme, so I should be good for a little while at least. I'm still on the lookout for primers though...they're definitely the weak link in the supply chain

I have some 9mm and .45ACP factory ammo on order but it is taking a while to get here. I am trying to hold out, I really have no desire to reload let alone cast for either one. Unfortunately, I might have to change my thinking on that.