Bullet Casting

[scrat]

Ok again im new at this black powder stuff. I have casted probably about 50000 or so bullets for Smokeless cartridge loads. However i have some questions on black powder.

On Centerfire cartridges you usually would cast a bullet .002 over the diameter of a standard bullet. IE 30-30, or 30-06 uses a .308 jacketed bullet. In casting a bullet you would cast out to either .309,.310, .311. This would depend on the bore of the rifle. Its always best to slug the bore to determine what size you should use.

Next after casting you would size and lube the bullet. I have used a lubrisizer and lee liquid alox. Now here is the main questions.

1. Do you have to cast over in black powder. meaning a 50 cal would you size to .502


2. Do you still lube the bullets. Lee liquid alox works great in cartridge loads. Just fantastic. WHEN I Start casting bullets for black powder. Do i lube the bullets like center fire rounds or ?????

 

[Wildfire]

NO.

When casting for a ML you cast the bore size. The reason is you will not get it down the bore if it is bigger. Pure lead only with maybe a little tin to help the casting. Very soft is what you are after. Wheel weights are tooooo hard.
It is not recomended to size for MLs because that will work harden the lead. Maybe not a lot, but enough. MLs are to fire as Cast bullets. Lubing can be done by hand. The lube 1000 is best but others work fine also. No petro products. All natural lubes are best. If firing with a sabot then it won't matter on the sizing thing or the hardness. And you would not need to lube.
Slugging the bore is up to you but likely not needed. A .50 would be .500"
you know the game there. They should load with little resistance and expand in size upon firing in the bore to create a good gas seal. Thus the pure lead thing. The use of Pyrodex "P" in less amounts then RS is better for lead rounds because it is faster the RS. This creates a quicker upset to the base of the bullet and makes it seal faster. 80 grs of "P" is about the same as 100 grs. of RS. Some guns may shoot better with a slightly fouled bore with cast bullets. Magnum loads with cast bullets can build higher PSI then is perfered.
Depends on the gun and the risk you are willing to take.
The "Whites" used this system but were made with "Shallow Groove Rifling".
And they had larger bores. Their .50 cal was .504". They are extremely accurate rifles when the right bullets are used. But finding the right bullets now is very hard to do. Hope some of this helps.

 

[Pancho]

Scrat, I've been experimenting with maxie ball molds for all my calibers. 58,50,and45. Haven't looked for a 32 cal. minieball if they have it I'll get it. I was having some very productive days with powerbelts until I ran out so I figure that the powerbelt is just a reinvented minieball and I've got a lot of pure lead. I'll give a report on my findings as soon as the weather breaks and have a lot of time to really explore these rounds. The neat part about MLing is that you can do all the things a reloader does on the bench but we can do it at the range.