Commercial Cast Bullets

[Missionary]

Greetings
I will have to give a "thumbs up" to Bullshop. His are the only "bought" cast bullets I have used and I would not hesitate to order from him.
The big plus is he is a shooter/ hunter also. He well knows what will work well and under what conditions.
Mike in Peru

 

[JWFilips]

Mike,
Did you ever weigh the bullets Bullshop sends? I have bought both .224" & .246" When I weighed then they vary by only .2 grains! They are an outragouly good deal! Plus you need only tell him the BHN you need! You don't get the stock commercial cast BHN 18-20!
I don't have any .224 moulds so I will continue buying these from him; But now I own good .246" moulds so no excuse for me to cast my own!
Jim

 

[shootnlead]

I was happy with Montana Bullet Works offerings, then Dave quit for awhile. They are back in business again with Dave as a consultant, I can't offer any opinion on the new owners product. If one is going to buy cast bullets, they offer several options most casters do not.

I actually talked with them about buying the company, when it was for sale. Turns out that it was too cost prohibitive, to do it...would have been much cheaper to start over...BUT...you wouldn't have the established name, to work with.

 

[Missionary]

Howdy JW
Last one's I received were all .378. If I am remember right some were 278 grains GC, some were close to 300, some were 327 and the "heavies" were around 342 grains. Was shooting them in a CZ 375 H&H, a Browning High Wall 375 H&H and a JES 375 Whelen rebore on a 03 Springfield Sporter.
Did not weigh all of them but 10 samples of each convinced me that it was not necessary to weigh them all. Wanted these on hand so we could start shooting the 375's much sooner than I could have got the casting stuff together out of storage when we got up north there last June. No regrets.
Mike in Peru

 

[Bowfin]

My brother thought cast bullets were third rate until I loaded him up some 115 grain .32 H&R loads for his wife. He just wanted something to go "bang!" for her. Then he shot a cylinder full himself...and then another, and then they finished the box. Now he wouldn't even look for .32 H&R ammunition in a store.

 

[Rick]

Yeah Bowfin, lot's of people think like your brother did until they get some edjumcatin, once they do the more they go with cast.

 

[358156 hp]

Most people seem to believe certain things are impossible, but only because they've never done them.

How did mankind ever evolve?

 

[Winelover]

Least we forget.....there were cast bullets, long before jacketed.

 

[KHornet]

There are numerous reasons to shoot cast bullets other than
cost savings, even though commercial cast can cost as much
as jacketed. However one of the best reasons to shoot cast,
commercial or self cast is barrel life. For me that factor alone
is the primary reason for shooting cast.

Paul

 

[Winelover]

That's what lead (pun intended) me to pursue casting.

 

[Rick]

I can say with all honesty that I have never cast a single bullet to save money. And that is a mighty fine thing because I could buy one heck of a huge pile of jacketed bullets for what I have in casting equipment. I cast to have what I want when I want it but mostly for the satisfaction that I made it myself with my own two hands.

 

[Pistolero]

Rick,
You were smarter than I was at the start. I had a 9mm to feed and little money. I had loaded
for my 7x57 with Jbullets, and a friend had cast for his .58 cal Rem 1963 rifled musket with great
success. So, I bought the Lee mold which looks just like a miniature H&G 68 in 9mm, 105 gr
and it worked great right out of the box, even sized to .356. Saved a lot of money, had great shooting
and enjoyed that HP a lot.

Moved up to a Gold Cup, cast my own for a while, but eventually was practicing for IPSC so much
that I went back to comm cast H&G 68s and burned about 5-12K per year from about 81 until about
2005 when I was losing interest as my eyes degraded and knee slowed me down a bit.
I picked up lots of casting for .44 mag, .38 Spl and a lot more, even some rifles over that time,
but the "blasting ammo" was usually just commercial H&G 68 clones. Good enough for IPSC
fast and furious and my time went to practice, building an airplane and casting smaller quantities
of higher quality for .44 mag hunting and fun.

Bill

 

[Ian]

I have never purchased a cast bullet. Closest I've come to that would be pure lead round balls.

 

[Brad]

I have purchased a few. Learned what real leading was with some 358 RN in 38 special. Turns out they were nice and hard but ran .356 in reality. Hard, undersized bullets are excellent leading machines. By 25 rounds I was beginning to get keyholes.
Never think of casting as saving money. It is a hobby in itself and like Rick said, a matter of pride. I tell people I don't save money but do shoot far more for the same money.
The initial cost to start casting is enough to keep many away. I don't mind, it keeps people out of my berms.

 

[Pistolero]

My worst failures with commercial cast were attempts at using 405 commercial cast in .45-70 Trapdoor. Yikes!
Hopeless. The Lee 405 HB was the solution, instant accuracy with 12 gr Unique and lead versions of that HB.

Lots of commercial went down range in very hot loads in .38 Super. 145-158 gr SWCs, but more pointed, more
TC with a shoulder, really to feed in a 1911 for IPSC. 1220 fps avg with a 150 gr is pretty hot and made major
caliber in IPSC. About 70K of those went downrange over 6-7 yrs. Actually, those were .358 diam, since the Wilson Accucomp
bbl was marked "Super .38" and slugged .357 rather than the nominal .355 of normal .38 Super bbls. I asked
Bill Wilson about this name game, and he said since a whole lot more .38 cal bullets were available than 9mm,
and esp in heavier wts, he had a .38 Super chamber, but set up to a .357 groove diam and throating, hence the name change.

All my 9mm now, and even when I started, is with my own cast. Never even tried commercial cast in 9mm.
Some .38 Spl commercial cast are used, mostly when letting friends who are not good shots shoot a .38 Spl
to try it out at 10 or 12 yds. Not really worth the time spent to give them quality when they will shoot 4-6" at 10 yds with
anything.

I find a place for them, but they aren't the bargain that they used to be, I have more time available and most of my
shooting today is more for accuracy than speed. DVC - dilgentia, vis, celeritas - accuracy, power and speed - are the
IPSC motto. Much less speed today, and somewhat more accuracy. Similar power.
Mostly home cast these days, even in the H&G 68, and 452460s for good accurate .45 ACP loads.

Bill

 

[Intheshop]

Commercial cast?They've caused me more trouble than any benefits ever did.

Leading?Don't like it and can easily engineer around it with home brew CB's.But it can be cleaned out fairly easy.

Misconceptions?Heck,last commercial indoor range some DA female range officer misunderstood my question of using simple cast swc's.....she goes to the head honcho saying I was shooting armor piercing.Had to explain what a cast bullet was to both of them.Kinda sucked.

Nope,the biggest problem is when getting someone started on a solid CB path then,with the bestest of intentions they go snag commercial CB's and it sets back their learning curve.Occasionally,fostered by internet nerds.....then it's game over.That shooter will continue to have the "never cast" mentality.

 

[Eutectic]

99% of commercial cast I have will see my lathe first for some sort of mod.. I may even modify one just to look at as I ponder a new design. ALL will receive a lube change and will be correct diameter for correct use. Like Pistolero, I've shot a literal ton of H&G 68's over the years. I got 12,000 Oregon Trail 068 copies several years ago for a price I couldn't refuse. They are .452" and my Gold Cup likes them (with a lube change) I'm down to about 1500 and will have to cast pretty soon for that ol' gal.

Pete

 

[Intheshop]

Yeah Eutectic but,what kind of lathe?

I swear,everytime seeing "Eutectic",can not think anything but,Eutectic Castolin (sp) on welding rods....kinda like Fiver and sm block Fords?Bear....Bob Lee,both mean trad bows.

Wifey and I were "discussing" the shallow'ness of men this a.m.,in....at least to me,in a positive manner.

 

[Eutectic]

My little 'bullet' lathe is an old Craftsman 3" swing.... I put it right on my loading bench when needed. I have either a 3 jaw chuck (if .001" to .002") is OK or multiple home made collets is I want it dead on. I've modified the headstock bore to use a set of precision stops which I can adjust for optimum bullet length exposed..... and speed of production... This way all mods are made to the thousandth via the lathe dials.

Funny about "Eutectic"..... I haven't cast with an 'eutectic' alloy in years! I use what 'eutectic' alloy I have as a blending component!!

Pete

 

[Intheshop]

Thanks for the info Eutectic.....

Wifey and I are purging,don't really know what it means to her.For me,get rid of some equipment.So,one of the boys took a very nice C-man DP(drill press) out of my reloading rm.Gonna replace it with a much smaller and frankly a way higher quality Pratt&Whitney sensitive DP that's been growing spider webs in big shop.

So,thanks for the brain jog on the benchtop lathe/equipment.I snagged a 618 C-man square "way" metal lathe bed.It's a hillbilly "bench center" and part time fixture in shop.

I know some guys here have jumped in the lathe pool.Maybe in the future ya'll could do a write up on reloading small lathes?When looking for the above 618 bed,there didn't seem to be a shortage of bench lathes?Which normally means pricing is tolerable.