Are cast bullets and casting a growing or shrinking market

[GeoDudeFlorida]

That looks good but I don't want to look so obviously greedy.

Pphht! "Looks" I used to take a shop vac and a 12V-DC/110V-AC converter in the back of my truck to the club range and vacuum up full buckets of brass. Most people thanked me for "cleaning up the range."
Public range was different and I about came to blows once or twice with a couple of brass chickens. Didn't stop me I just made sure to go on days I knew the range was not going to be used.

 

[CQB45ACP]

I don’t mine for lead, in the excavation sense of the word but I rarely miss a chance to stop by after a rain. All the little white dots sitting on top of the dirt ready for pick up, always puts a smile on my face.

Memories…decades ago during high school I worked at two golf driving ranges, one on the site of a Union civil war fort in the perimeter defense of DC and the other maybe 20 miles away on the site of the Sept 1,1862 Battle of Chantilly (now a shopping mall and apartments just a rifle shot from NRA HQ).

And you bet, after a rain and especially at night with the stadium lights blasting, bullets, balls, blobs of lead, buttons, and other small relics would jump out at you from the red Virginia clay. They were a very bright off white and visible even while driving the ball picker.

I didn’t save enough to melt and use today but I do have a few samples some shown in picture.

Should’ve kept them separated as to location found cause relics from a battlefield are more significant. Regardless, they’re a dime a dozen unless you found them yourself. Like an Elvis autograph given to someone else. Who cares?

 

[CQB45ACP]

I expect there was a surge in casting because of the Pandemic but other than that I'm going to say that casting is a shrinking market. Between the fears of lead poisoning and difficulty finding free or cheap lead I'm personally not seeing a lot of new casters. Most of my regular shooting buddies do cast but none of our offspring have gotten into it.

I see casting as an extension of reloading much like tying flies is to a fisherman.

Well the good news is all ya’lls casting didn’t prevent you from having offspring

And great analogy re:fly fishing.

 

[.308 Norma]

When I am at the range, I like to shoot what guns I want to for as long as I want to without needing to be concerned about ammo costs.

You don't have to be a reloader to do that - you could shoot less expensive ammo, or you could win the lottery.
Just kidding around, P Flados. I know what you're saying even though I've probably never even been to the type of "range" you're talking about.

 

[P Flados]

You don't have to be a reloader to do that - you could shoot less expensive ammo, or you could win the lottery.
Just kidding around, P Flados. I know what you're saying even though I've probably never even been to the type of "range" you're talking about.

Well since my "shoot what guns I want" includes 357 Max, 357AR max, 30 Herrett and 7 TCU, obtaining factory ammo might just be a little more challenging than for more common stuff.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Well since my "shoot what guns I want" includes 357 Max, 357AR max, 30 Herrett and 7 TCU, obtaining factory ammo might just be a little more challenging than for more common stuff.

Yup!

Far as I know, nobody ever made a black powder .45AutoRim for shaved Webley Mk.1's so, either I ditch the gun, blow it up with modern smokeless, or roll my own.

 

[Bearded Phil]

I've been hand loading for a little over a year now. I'm in my early 30's, single, have my own home and the space to do it. Soon my loading will move inside and I'll have space in my outdoor shed to set up a casting operation.

My shed has just enough room in one corner to build a new bench near the electrical outlets that I can dedicate to my casting area. I hope to have this achieved in 6-8 months (hopefully less!) and then to start acquiring casting equipment.

For me it's a natural transition. I already have a preference for cast coated bullets due to the inexpensive cost. And with the advent of Hitek and powder coating I can get just as good of performance out of cast as I could with plated or even jacketed bullets.

Dipping into the casting world will be another asset to my shooting just as hand loading has been. The best part will be being able to make bullets that I couldn't otherwise find commercially and being able to tune the diameter to what really works best.

Whether growing or not it's definitely in my future. I just hope places like NOE keep keeping on while I collect the basic supplies so I can get the molds that I want.

PS Spoiler alert- I'm going to have plenty of questions on casting in the next year. Stay tuned! lol.

 

[Elkins45]

I guess 90% of my shooting over the last 10 years has been with bullets I cast myself, and that includes centerfire rifles. It has become increasingly difficult to get scrap lead. I used to buy it from a scrap dealer but they went out of business and nobody in my area will sell lead because it’s a “hazardous material.” I tried putting up some wanted ads on Craigslist but the nannies kept flagging them.

I finally just broke down and bought a half-ton of ingots from a commercial lead supply company that services the nuclear industry. It wasn’t cheap but it sure is nice having such a consistent metal supply.

 

[Anchorite]

I used to cast quite a bit, both rifle and pistol/revolver. Time just got in the way. I can order so much online that it means a savings to me of valuable time now. I’d rather load and shoot than cast, load and shoot. It’s all in what’s most important to you.

 

[dannyd]

Memories…decades ago during high school I worked at two golf driving ranges, one on the site of a Union civil war fort in the perimeter defense of DC and the other maybe 20 miles away on the site of the Sept 1,1862 Battle of Chantilly (now a shopping mall and apartments just a rifle shot from NRA HQ).

And you bet, after a rain and especially at night with the stadium lights blasting, bullets, balls, blobs of lead, buttons, and other small relics would jump out at you from the red Virginia clay. They were a very bright off white and visible even while driving the ball picker.

I didn’t save enough to melt and use today but I do have a few samples some shown in picture.

Should’ve kept them separated as to location found cause relics from a battlefield are more significant. Regardless, they’re a dime a dozen unless you found them yourself. Like an Elvis autograph given to someone else. Who cares?

View attachment 1085247

We would do the same thing down the road from you in Winchester.

 

[CQB45ACP]

We would do the same thing down the road from you in Winchester.

Definitely one of my favorite Virginia towns.

 

[dannyd]

Definitely one of my favorite Virginia towns.[/QUOTE




I left 48 years ago when it had about 6,000 people. Definitely remember old 50 going over the mountain before the upgrades. My cousin is a guy named Turner Ashby you may have heard of him.