Are cast bullets and casting a growing or shrinking market

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I doubt many of those who entertained casting during this shortage will stick with it. Casting will always be a niche hobby and is held close only to those who love the process and the fine tuning of loads it provides. I only began because I wanted a particular bullet at a particular diameter and particular hardness that was not sold for a price I was willing to pay. I would not consider buying a box of 500 9mm bullets now. Anytime I think about buying premade bullets I ask: how many primers or how much powder could this go towards? Haven't bought bullets in years.
 
I know for me I quit buying plated bullets and casting at home when the high tech coated bullets hit the market and got reasonably priced. I,ve cast bullets since i was about 16 but I don't see the point anymore with so many choices of coated bullets that dont lead my barrels, and lead not being free anymore.
So I think the coated bullets for sale and lead being so hard to find anymore has had a big impact on how many cast bullets these days.
I still like to cast but it isn't worth it to me anymore.
 
Varminterror said:
Ebb and flow. We see casting, and reloading as a whole, pick up whenever we have political unrest in the US. Folks believe they’ll become self sufficient in preparation for policy which has largely never even begun to come to bear in any respective instance.

Overall, generationally, casting is dying off more and more, and largely had collapsed quite some time ago. More folks reload now than in any generation prior, but fewer folks are interested in the under performance their high performance cartridges deliver when restricted to cast bullets.

I’m equipped, but I hope to never cast again. I enjoy shooting hard cast in a couple of my cartridges, but I enjoy more BUYING them rather than making them, and I’m certain I’ll never cast to produce a low performance load for any modern bottleneck rifle cartridge again.
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I think my longest practical shooting distance is over fresh clear-cut and that's about 300 yards. Not really something I like to do more than once a decade. Other than a few odd rifles in my collection - because I have eclectic taste - the most modern rifle cartridge I shoot regularly is .35Remington. After that is .30-06 and then .30WCF.
"Modern" is, in my opinion, highly overrated.:cool:
 
GeoDudeFlorida said:
I think my longest practical shooting distance is over fresh clear-cut and that's about 300 yards. Not really something I like to do more than once a decade. Other than a few odd rifles in my collection - because I have eclectic taste - the most modern rifle cartridge I shoot regularly is .35Remington. After that is .30-06 and then .30WCF.
"Modern" is, in my opinion, highly overrated.:cool:
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Modern in most cases is increased capability. The big stumbling block with that is that some of us would need that added capability. My big range is 300 yards... not exactly ELR... now if I lived in Arizona or New Mexico I'd probably own a 338 lapua.
 
I just don't see casting. Unless bullets cost 100x more to buy than cast ill just buy. No lead inhalation. No added length to the time it takes to reload (im one of the few who despises reloading, I reload to shoot more...not shoot more to get to reload).

Like I said, I save my lead wheel weights I take off In my shop and I have a couple molds I've got through trades. But the proverbial s done h the f many moons ago if you see me getting low on ammo and needing to cast bullets. It was just too cheap to buy ammo and even components over the past years. For years cabelas ran buy one get 50% off of xtreme bullets. Sometimes with 100 free starline brass. Rmr was cheap etc etc. Missouri and even lasercast wasn't too bad.

I have other hobbies like building cars and tinkering with them to "improve" them. So I get that aspect of casting and reloading. But other than the dentist, a funeral, or a wedding, I can't think of a lot id rather not do than spend more time reloading. Lol. Im glad others enjoy it.
 
I think Castboolits.com had a poll asking the age of the bullet casters. Most were in their sixties. Younger casters were present. I think there will be a continued trend supporting the hobby. Lee stopped taking custom orders, the price of used molds went up, and custom mold makers arose. I bought most of my molds during this last pandemic because the availability of components decreased and I discovered powder coating. I sold most of my bows to buy the molds because I plan to make my own bow using a fruit three that originated from my grandparents. When I make enough bullets and find my accuracy loads plus a few practice rounds for some of my guns, I can turn to making the bow.
 
dannyd said:
I have casted over 200,000 bullets. Over 30 years ago used wheel weights and range pickup. Buy the lead now; I cast because I like to do it. Never saved any money if I wanted to save money I would stop shooting. At one time had over a ton of Lee one pound bars between the studs in my shed.
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I think when people say that they want to learn to reload and or cast to save money, they really do not know the rabbit hole they will fall into. Had I not picked up shooting and hunting I could easily have been a millionaire several times over.
 
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ms6852 said:
Had I not picked up shooting and hunting I could easily have been a millionaire several times over.
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Ah, if you're at all like me (and most people, I suspect) you'd have just found something else to spend your money on. Shooting and hunting are just two of the better things that some people spent money on. In fact, shooting and hunting are two of the best things that I spend money on. ;)
 
I have never learned to cast. However 95% of what I shoot are cast bullets in Handgun. I just ordered a new batch of bullets from RimRock and was able to keep the price at 8 cents a piece with shipping. For the rare occasion that a particular range requires jacketed or lead free I keep a stock of plated in a few calibers loaded and on the reloading bench. If cast bullet availability ever started to dry up I would learn to cast.
 
BJung said:
I think Castboolits.com had a poll asking the age of the bullet casters. Most were in their sixties. Younger casters were present. I think there will be a continued trend supporting the hobby. Lee stopped taking custom orders, the price of used molds went up, and custom mold makers arose. I bought most of my molds during this last pandemic because the availability of components decreased and I discovered powder coating. I sold most of my bows to buy the molds because I plan to make my own bow using a fruit three that originated from my grandparents. When I make enough bullets and find my accuracy loads plus a few practice rounds for some of my guns, I can turn to making the bow.
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One of the drivers for me was that I could have the same bullet forever, and I was not subject to availability... despite that huge testing and workup component savings I just test and log more powders.
 
.308 Norma said:
Ah, if you're at all like me (and most people, I suspect) you'd have just found something else to spend your money on. Shooting and hunting are just two of the better things that some people spent money on. In fact, shooting and hunting are two of the best things that I spend money on. ;)
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Before guns, it was computers and electronics. Guns and ammo hold value much better than computers and electronics. :)
 
.308 Norma said:
Ah, if you're at all like me (and most people, I suspect) you'd have just found something else to spend your money on. Shooting and hunting are just two of the better things that some people spent money on. In fact, shooting and hunting are two of the best things that I spend money on. ;)
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You are correct. For me there is nothing like the smell of bacon frying early in the morning at camp and drinking a hot mug of black coffee.
 
ms6852 said:
For me there is nothing like the smell of bacon frying early in the morning at camp and drinking a hot mug of black coffee.
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You bet! I'm kinda old (74), and I'm not rich. But as I look back on my life, I don't think I'd trade a single hunting trip/camp for the chance of having a million dollars now.
BTW, my wife and I figured out way back in the '70s that venison cost us a lot more than beef. It was darned well worth it though, and it still is. ;)
 
.308 Norma said:
You bet! I'm kinda old (74), and I'm not rich. But as I look back on my life, I don't think I'd trade a single hunting trip/camp for the chance of having a million dollars now.
BTW, my wife and I figured out way back in the '70s that venison cost us a lot more than beef. It was darned well worth it though, and it still is. ;)
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It's kind of like fishing. Once you factor in the cost of a boat, fishing rods the fish per pound was high dollar, especially if it took us several trips to get a fish.
 
No idea as I'm not a caster and I've never known anyone that was. I think there are more commercial casters than there were a few years ago however.

My feeling is it's a lot like reloading. It takes time to learn the process, time to do it, a place to do it and the ability to locate the needed material.

People who reload usually don't start during a component shortage so I doubt anyone will start casting for the same reason. It sounds good but the investment is substantial.

Lead is toxic to work with so it wouldn't be something I would want to start doing. Especially when I can buy coated bullets and someone else can deal with it. I had lead poisoning about 20 years ago. It's a long and expensive process to remove it from your body. I'm not saying that casting is unsafe, just that personally I don't want the exposure.
 
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CoalTrain49 said:
Lead is toxic to work with so it wouldn't be something I would want to start doing. Especially when I can buy coated bullets and someone else deal with it. I had lead poisoning about 20 years ago. It's a long and expensive process to remove it from your body. I'm not saying that casting is unsafe, just that personally I don't want the exposure.
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I've been casting for about 12 years.

Before that I had reloaded tens, if not, hundreds of thousands of rounds using uncoated cast lead bullets from commercial manufacturers since 1987.

I take usual precautions: good ventilation, no eating while casting etc but nothing extraordinary.

While getting some routine blood work done about 2 months ago, I asked my doctor if I should have my lead level tested.

He said "Absolutely!" (Also said the same as you, the removal process is slow and expensive)

Results came back; "no elevated levels of lead whatsoever"

My doctor said in all the tests he ordered for lead over 30 years, only one came back elevated: a police officer who shot in a league for many years indoors.

I'm curious if you know what caused your lead poisoning.

Did you work with lead in some capacity in industry?

It's my understanding elemental lead cannot be absorbed through the skin, has to be ingested.

Molten lead gives off no "fumes" as long as it doesn't exceed it's boiling point which, IIRC is over 3000°F.
 
AJC1 said:
What's the rate when you throw them all back...View attachment 1084653
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You think fresh water fishing is high dollar, you should gear up for salmon and crab. I once knew a guy that bought a 20K boat to fish for salmon. He always said he would never live to see the price of a salmon he caught drop below $100. Of course he didn't figure in the recreational value but still......
 
Y-T71 said:
I've been casting for about 12 years.

Before that I had reloaded tens, if not, hundreds of thousands of rounds using uncoated cast lead bullets from commercial manufacturers since 1987.

I take usual precautions: good ventilation, no eating while casting etc but nothing extraordinary.

While getting some routine blood work done about 2 months ago, I asked my doctor if I should have my lead level tested.

He said "Absolutely!" (Also said the same as you, the removal process is slow and expensive)

Results came back; "no elevated levels of lead whatsoever"

My doctor said in all the tests he ordered for lead over 30 years, only one came back elevated: a police officer who shot in a league for many years indoors.

I'm curious if you know what caused your lead poisoning.

Did you work with lead in some capacity in industry?

It's my understanding elemental lead cannot be absorbed through the skin, has to be ingested.

Molten lead gives off no "fumes" as long as it doesn't exceed it's boiling point which, IIRC is over 3000°F.
Click to expand...

I shot a lot of trap and reloaded hundreds of pounds of lead. Other than that I don't know where it came from. I had high mercury levels also. I know where that came from.

The research shows that lead generally isn't absorbed by the skin. I was fairly surprised but it was there.
 
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CoalTrain49 said:
You think fresh water fishing is high dollar, you should gear up for salmon and crab. I once knew a guy that bought a 20K boat to fish for salmon. He always said he would never live to see the price of a salmon he caught drop below $100. Of course he didn't figure in the recreational value but still......
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LOL A whole fresh water salmon runs $150 on the low side, flash frozen. Your friend made a good choice.
 
GeoDudeFlorida said:
LOL A whole fresh water salmon runs $150 on the low side, flash frozen. Your friend made a good choice.
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We get fresh AK salmon here for 10/lb whole and $15/lb fileted in season. A whole Sockeye will weigh about 5 lbs. When you butcher one you loose 50%. So a 5lb sockeye becomes 2.5 lbs of edible fish. It's expensive but smoked or grilled will win you friends and impress your enemies. I generally butcher my own fish but if the price per pound for butchered fish is low enough I won't break out the knife. The trick is to buy whole fish without the head then filet them yourself. Less waste.

Not sure how the season went in AK this year but the Sockeye should be here any day now. If that isn't a good harvest then maybe Coho. We wait.

I don't need a 20K river sled. ;)
 
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It is my opinion some will stick with the process of casting lead projectiles and 97% will not regardless of any concern for the age of the individual.

I am 30 and I cast and have an extensive lead supply and casting equipment both furnaces and molds and lube sizes.

As long as I have the health and ability I will continue in this regard, I would also like to point out when 9mm was $120 per 1000 qty locally I bought powder and primers and reloaded my 9mm with no concern to what the societal view on the merits nor economics were.

I say 97% will fall by the way side and forgo casting due to the fact its inconvenient and unpleasant unless ample funds are spent to create a comfortable environment...... men and women have spouses who frankly will not support such an investment. I have always taken great pride absorbing the words of wisdom of my elders who spoke of hardships and shortages during the great depression and ww2. I learned early in life money was worthless and possessions were not due to the possibilities they created. Right now yes its pointless when for almost the same money you can buy the bullets already formed BUT HOW ABOUT 10 YEARS?

People said the same stuff about ammo and reloading supplies in 2016-2020 and now look at this mess we collectively are in.

Store up for a day of reckoning is soon coming
 
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