Cast Bullets for hunting

[Turk]

Do you use cast alloy bullets for hunting over jacketed?

If so do you use hand or machine cast?

What calibers do you shoot and what type of bullet Keith, LBT etc.

Who do you purchase from or do you cast?

What manufacturers moulds do you use.

If you cast what lube do you use and do you get leading?

What game have you taken also what bullet and distance?

I know way I use cast bullets over jacketed as I want one large size hole in and one hole out. In addition I can get a little more MV and less pressure out of a load using a hand cast bullet. I orginally started casting to save money shooting a lot of 45 ACP but now mostly cast for big bore hunting calibers in handguns.

Have a good day and remember to pray for our troops around the world that are in harms way.

Turk

 

[David Wile]

Hey Turk,

While I no longer do any hunting, I started casting bullets in the 1960s and did plenty of hunting back then. I have a Lyman two cavity 30 caliber 150 grain gas checked Loverin design bullet that I have been using since I began, and it still makes perfect bullets. These bullets have given good results in almost every 30 caliber rifle I have ever tried, and I have also had great results with this same bullet (sized in a .312 die) in 7.62X39 for SKS and AK47 use.

I use Lyman and RCBS casting/lubing/sizing equipment since it is interchangeable, and both are good quality products. I cast from an iron pot for about twenty some years until I finally bought a Lyman casting furnace with a bottom pour spout. I can still cast with my old ladle, but I really do like the bottom pour spout. I have used Lyman and RCBS stick lube since the beginning, but a few years ago I got a recipe from a fellow who used a mixture of toilet ring beeswax and parrafin, and I found it worked real well and was less expensive.

My bullets are better than any I have ever purchased commercially. I use gas check designs for most of my bullets (including pistol), and I really do not care at all for rifle bullets without gas checks. I don't really think gas checks are all that necessary for pistol speeds, but I still like them. I have a 10 MM Megastar semi auto pistol, and I have to admit that I do use commercial bullets for it. I found a commercial bullet that worked well in it, and I just never got around to buying a mould for the 10MM.

I generally shoot the same very hard alloy for both pistol and rifle use. For hunting purposes on thin skin animals like deer, however, I used to change from my hard alloy and cast my hunting bullets in dead soft virgin lead. They would shoot to the same point of impact, and they would mushroom very effectively. Since I wasn't shooting the soft bullets by the boxes, I never had any barrel fouling problems. If I were to hunt a big animal that required deep penetration, I would stick with my regular hard alloy. I would suspect that one of my hard cast 405 grain 45-70 bullets would punch pretty deep in most big animals.

Best wishes,
Dave Wile

 

[GooseGestapo]

Turk,
Try to find an old copy of Lyman's Cast Bullet Handbook. It has an excellent section of articles regarding cast bullet performance. I lost mine following a move in '01, so I can't give you the volumn number. I also had lots of data written in it.

Cast bullets can and do perform well on game. Particularily the larger the bore and lower the velocity, the better suited they are to any specific task you may present.

I've shot a variety of small game, and large game to include pigs and deer with cast bullets. I now almost exclusively use cast bullets for hunting, as they are what I shoot/practice with and most of my guns are already sighted in for them.

Though performance is not the same as jacketed, -"different" is often "better". Especially related to penetration vs. light weight/small bore jacketed bullets.

I cast bullets from 49gr semi-pointed GC-FN for .224 to 1oz. slug for 12ga (.690" @440gr), so its hard to make a gereral statement !!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Have killed deer with both and many in-between too!)
(head shots w/.22cf at close range, don't normally recommend it though for other than small game. The .22 Hornet w/cast bullet performs better than .22WMR for same use where legal).

With firearms .35 and above, cast bullets are ideal, and not really handicapped with the realistic upper velocities of ~2,300 fps. vs jacketed bullets.

 

[Paul "Fitz" Jones]

Cast rifle bullets

My son was interested in making a mountain man outfit from skins so I ordered a 6mm 2 cavity mold from California Saeco in a gas check design for my Rem 700BDL with a 3x9 variable scope and I nailed a few dozen coyotes on our ranch when he was away for a couple years and the cast bullet did not damage the skins at all. I also picked up road kill and skinned a freezer full for him.

John Paul
Retired California Saeco Distributor