Casting Poll

[AJC1]

How so?

Gas checks are used generally in high pressure applications, while TL seems to be used in low pressure. Pc kinda destroys those ideas in bullet design, but using traditional methods it seems odd to me.

 

[Hooda Thunkit]

A gas checked tumble lube design seems counter productive?

I have run a tumble lubed GC design to over 1350 fps in a revolver.

Tumble lube is a viable lube. I think that if anyone other than Richard Lee had introduced it to the casting public, it would have been known as The Best Thing Ever!

As for the poll, I do indeed cast. I can't remember the last time I fired a shot out of any of my revolvers that wasn't cast.

 

[Bearded Phil]

But how much is your time worth? I'm buying 405gr .458's for 22 cents and 158gr .358's for 7 cents. You're saving $25 per 500 158's but how much time are you investing in them? This is the distinction, when you enjoy it, you don't factor in the value of your time. When you do not enjoy it, it's only natural to look at cold numbers.

When my afternoon time I'll spend doing casting stuff would NOT otherwise be spent doing anything that can make me money the time factor doesn't matter. Maybe for other people who freelance in whatever they do it does but it doesn't for me.

I hear this argument often from casters but have yet to encounter that situation and I reload some oddball stuff. I'm about to start loading for the .50-95 and it hasn't been a problem finding proper bullets.

Finding ANY kind of projectile for a cartridge, for most cartridges, probably isn't hard, I'm sure. But you may still pay much more for specific items than what it might cost to make them, especially if you want to make a lot of them.

Say you wanted a real 170gr KSWC with a gas check, hollow point, hi-tek coated, sized to .359" and cast in an alloy that's 11-12BHN. That's a tall order to find someone selling commercially cast without placing a special order, if anyone will take that order.

I'm not trying to convince you or anyone else that they should cast, I'm just sharing why I'm excited to learn to do it myself. Like hand loading itself, customization and self reliance is endless.

 

[Docendo Discimus]

I went from jacketed to plated to commercial cast to commercial coated cast. Then I thought I would try making them myself. It worked out well for me and I enjoy it.

 

[jmorris]

Gas checks are used generally in high pressure applications, while TL seems to be used in low pressure. Pc kinda destroys those ideas in bullet design, but using traditional methods it seems odd to me.

Depends on what lube you are using and what you’re trying to get out of it. It’s also not uncommon for bullets from a gas check mold, just do better with gas checks, needed or not, than with a naked bottom. If you are punching your own checks, one might, just for the accuracy benefit, not like it makes them cost more…

 

[.38 Special]

I have been casting for decades.

I wouldn't say it's highly enjoyable, but I don't hate it, either. On a scale of one to ten (one being hate and ten being love) I'd put casting as a solid five - though that can vary one way or the other on any given day.

I'm also not completely sure it's saved me any money. Considering everything I have invested in pots, molds, lead, etc. I might have been better off financially by just buying bullets.

So I do it for three reasons. One is that it allows me to get exactly what I want. For example, a 1-16 alloy flat-base RN sized to .432 and lubed with LBT soft. The bullet is screamingly accurate in a couple of my guns and I don't know where I would buy it if I couldn't make it. I suppose I could probably entice a "boutique" supplier to make them for me, but I'd hate to think of the price.

Another key reason is that I like to dabble with guns for which bullets simply aren't available, at least at any sort of reasonable cost. When you need 535 grain 1-40 nose-poured match bullets sized to .4515, lubed with 50/50 beeswax/paraffin and matched to +/- half a grain, you're on your own.

And finally, a cast bullet fitted to your personal revolver is in many ways objectively superior to any other projectile. Why pay good money to get a lesser bullet?

 

[Bazoo]

Gas checks are used generally in high pressure applications, while TL seems to be used in low pressure. Pc kinda destroys those ideas in bullet design, but using traditional methods it seems odd to me.

I can see that way of thinking. I have run tumble lube in 30-30 with gas checked bullets, at full pressure, with no issues. But I haven’t got extensive experience with it at high pressure. Mostly I use tumble lube for pistol bullets.

The bullets pictured will be loaded in 44 specials but are designed for 444 marlin and 44 mag rifle.

 

[CraigC]

When my afternoon time I'll spend doing casting stuff would NOT otherwise be spent doing anything that can make me money the time factor doesn't matter. Maybe for other people who freelance in whatever they do it does but it doesn't for me.

That's kinda my point. You do it because you enjoy it. There's not something else you'd rather be doing. For many people, this is a question of time vs money. When you have a shortage of money but plenty of time, you might want to cast your own bullets. When you have a shortage of time but plenty of money, you buy them. What I find strange is the attitude of many casters that anyone who isn't doing what they're doing, is somehow inferior.

Finding ANY kind of projectile for a cartridge, for most cartridges, probably isn't hard, I'm sure. But you may still pay much more for specific items than what it might cost to make them, especially if you want to make a lot of them.

I'm not talking about just any old thing to send downrange but specific needs and uncommon cartridges. I needed 300-350gr .512's to feed my .50-95, I just ordered some that were in stock at Buffalo Arms. No compromises had to be made, if I was casting, I'd be casting the same thing I ordered. Yes, they cost more than casting them myself but I'm paying for the convenience of not having to cast them. I can spend my time doing things I'd rather be doing, like shooting.

Say you wanted a real 170gr KSWC with a gas check, hollow point, hi-tek coated, sized to .359" and cast in an alloy that's 11-12BHN. That's a tall order to find someone selling commercially cast without placing a special order, if anyone will take that order.

Close enough and I knew right where to look.

https://rimrockbullets.com/xcart/g-ch-38-357-158-gr-swc-hp-per-100-in-a-plastic-ammo-box.html

https://www.mattsbullets.com/index....ducts_id=323&zenid=2oagp3t2t51gjd4mqjcia7q4d7

 

[Bazoo]

I don’t count the cost of tools in my bullets. Because, first, I ain’t got a large investment. But second, I can recoup the investment if I sell my gear. A lee melter, a ladle, moulds and handles, lubesizer. All of which I bought secondhand, and didn’t give top dollar for.

I get alloy either free or real cheap. The most I’ve paid was about .50 a pound for raw wheel weights, that’s after sorting the junk ones out. But I currently have a free supply from a friend. I could buy some bullets but I’m not a box of bullets kind of guy. I don’t have the financial means to buy 10k bullets. But for $200 in gear I have everything to make that many. I like having a stockpile of lead and the means to make as many bullets as I want or need instead of relying on a company that may discontinue what I want, or shut their doors.

 

[Bearded Phil]

That's kinda my point. You do it because you enjoy it. There's not something else you'd rather be doing. For many people, this is a question of time vs money. When you have a shortage of money but plenty of time, you might want to cast your own bullets. When you have a shortage of time but plenty of money, you buy them. What I find strange is the attitude of many casters that anyone who isn't doing what they're doing, is somehow inferior.



I'm not talking about just any old thing to send downrange but specific needs and uncommon cartridges. I needed 300-350gr .512's to feed my .50-95, I just ordered some that were in stock at Buffalo Arms. No compromises had to be made, if I was casting, I'd be casting the same thing I ordered. Yes, they cost more than casting them myself but I'm paying for the convenience of not having to cast them. I can spend my time doing things I'd rather be doing, like shooting.



Close enough and I knew right where to look.

https://rimrockbullets.com/xcart/g-ch-38-357-158-gr-swc-hp-per-100-in-a-plastic-ammo-box.html

https://www.mattsbullets.com/index....ducts_id=323&zenid=2oagp3t2t51gjd4mqjcia7q4d7

You're opinion of "close enough" and mine are clearly very different. But to each their own. Like I said, I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

I cast for .22 Hornet (and use a Pat Marlins gas check maker to make checks from soda cans), .30 caliber (.30-30, ,30-40 Krag, .308 Winchester and .30-06), .38 Special/.357 Mag, .45 ACP, and .45 Colt. I also cast roundballs in .451 for my Kentucky flintlock and .50 Minnie for my Lyman Deerstalker.

I have two M1903A3 Springfields, a Remington and a Smith-Corona. I zero the Smith with jacketed bullets and the Remington with cast bullets. I load a 160-grain Lee bullet, gas-checked and powder coated ahead of 27 grains of AA 5744 and use that for a squirrel load. In Arkansas the game regulations say "Nothing larger than .22 rimfire" for squirrels, but they also say, "Except when there is a muzzle loading or modern gun season in effect for deer, bear or coyote. Coyote season runs from 1 January to 31 December.

 

[CraigC]

You're opinion of "close enough" and mine are clearly very different. But to each their own. Like I said, I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything.

Casters love to tinker and the line between 'want' and 'need' gets blurred in the process. Like I said, it's nothing but cold hard facts for me, no emotion or "fun" involved.

Which is not even to address why someone would want powder coating and a gas check on such a soft bullet.

 

[AJC1]

Which is not even to address why someone would want powder coating and a gas check on such a soft bullet.

If I was doing something like that it would be to try and tune hollopoint performance. In 357 I can dial a speed. In 38 I would need to play with hardness. I can't speak for their goals or reasons.