at the beggining.

so you got the warm glow of new gun ownership, all happy and fuzzy full of optimism.
then you get home and realize... now what?

what am I going to shoot in this thing?
where do I start looking for a mold?
do you just open the lyman catalogue, look on midway and buy what's on sale?
find something in a S&S section somewhere, dig through the mold pile in the drawer and start with whatever might fit?

how do you make a conscious effort to find a mold for that new gun?

The intended purpose of the new firearm will determine which bullets I start with. May already have molds for the caliber and intended use or if not may look for a new mold from RCBS or one of the custom makers. All depends on intended purpose. At any rate it's a decision made well before any new firearm arrives at it's new digs.

I get the Lee pot, some Pb and 175 moulds for 40sw when I decided to try casting. Wore the TC out. Went with the RD from Lee for 30cal., 3 GC 3 PB. Worked OK. Read about the 31-165 and got the 4 hole version for 308. Replaced the Lee with a stock accurate 40SW mould, another for 9 Luger. Tinkered with the 31-165 design and PB concept. Came up with modified versions of it and the RD that work great. Could change the 40 & 9 moulds but for my shooting, not worth the $$. If I get another, some changes for the short throat marlin 30/30. Basically 5 mould for all I need that do extremely well. Rest are on the shelf collecting dust (don't do evilbay). Haven't really found any benefit with the slotted sprue plate either.

I'd like to say I have a plan, but usually it turns into an "anywhichway ya can" affair. You can plan all you want, but until gun is in hand and has been measured, you don't know for sure what you have to work with. Sometimes I buy a gun/barrel/reamer to fit a mould I already have, but usually it goes something like this......

After I clean the thing and make an impact impression of the chamber and throat (or whatever is necessary, as in measuring a revolver's cylinder), I sigh real big in disgust and lean it in a corner for a few days while I mull over how I'm going to deal with the almost invariable dimensional paradoxes. Part of the subconscious number-crunching and mental 3D analysis involves figuring out if I have any moulds already that will fit and work for the intended purpose, or if I'm going to have to spend some more money. After sleeping on it for a while, if I have something close, I make some dummy rounds and check them with a sharpie, playing with seating depth and sizing to find out if I got something good enough to try. Then I build some loads and go shoot. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. If it does, great. If it doesn't, then it's on to the long process of figuring out why, fixing the gun, trying different loads, bullets, alloy, etc., which happens to be a large part of my entire time spent in the cast bullet hobby. Sometimes the throat has burrs and needs to have the bejeezus shot out of it with whatever random jacketed bullets I have laying around, or maybe a bunch of dry paper-patched bullets, or throating may be in order, or more severe firelapping....the list goes on. If I don't already have a mould on hand that will work, I dig around the usual catalogs and see if something already exists that will work, or if I need to have a custom mold made.

fiver, I feel your pain, just bought my first black gun since I got back from Viet Nam, a Colt AR-15 Sporter in 7.62X39.

what am I going to shoot in this thing?

Something that is safe, meets your accuracy requirements and you have not done before.

where do I start looking for a mold?

If it is not a caliber that you already own 25 of, what will be the purpose? Light for plinkers, mid-weight for accuracy or heavy for hunting.

do you just open the lyman catalogue, look on midway and buy what's on sale?

Bad Bad plan! Ask your friends on the 'net for experiences.

find something in a S&S section somewhere, dig through the mold pile in the drawer and start with whatever might fit?

Always my first option! If it is a beautiful rifle, I usually hang it in a place of honor so I can look at it until I'm tired of it. Then it gets buried in the safe for 10 years.

fiver said:

what am I going to shoot in this thing?
where do I start looking for a mold?
do you just open the lyman catalogue, look on midway and buy what's on sale?
find something in a S&S section somewhere, dig through the mold pile in the drawer and start with whatever might fit?

how do you make a conscious effort to find a mold for that new gu

Click to expand...

You already got some ammo to try in it.

Try the third shelf down.

No, it would be undersized I'm sure, maybe, I like to check their clearance section when placing orders. Always find something worth getting.

Sure, grabbing another used mold is almost always worth it.

I don't take adding new cals lightly, probably ordered a mold to at least try, before the gun was on the way, except for the attic rifles, didn't know I was guna find them.

Questions like this .........

My usually move it to know in the back of my head that I should do a pound impression of the chamber but not do it.

Then using my oal measureing tool to see where certain bullet make contact with the rifling. From there I start shooting what I already have and seems like it will work.

After all this I usually end up doing what I should have done in the first place and do the pound impression. Then it’s off to find something that matches my rifle or send an email to Tom at accurate molds.

I usually have a good idea what I want to do with the gun before I even buy.
The River SSM was an exception. I looked online, saw what others seemed to have good results with, and got a mould. No problems, all worked well.
The Win 92 in 357 I just tried a bullet I figured would work at a size I figured would work and it all went well.

Much of it is experience. We learn to know what is likely to work and what is likely to be a bust.

And look in a Lyman manual? Are you frickin kidding me? What is this, like kindergarten bullet casting?

Not to sound cavalier, but after experimenting with countless loads in the same 20-odd cartridges for a lot of years, I don't look at loading manuals for inspiration any more, only for sanity checks. Handloading is a lot like cooking: At a certain experience level, you don't need a recipe book anymore.

I do use QuickLoad a lot, but mostly to look at burn curves, muzzle pressure, and to get a better idea of where the pressures will go as the load is worked up, seating depth altered, or bullet weight altered.. QL allows me to go way outside of the box (what does a case full of H4831 do in a .223 case behind a 68-grain cast bullet?) or save a lot of time/components to hit target velocities for subsonic loads not found in any manual.

Yep...... This can be complex at times...... The 'cookbook' at times gives us something that tastes like.........you know what! Most of us have our routines to get an idea what the 'new animal' will like. Most of the time we are on track 98% of the time.... But does anyone else seem to deal (a lot) with those 2% guys? Then sometimes what you absolutely know something won't work.....IT DOES!! Several times I've sort of test fired a 'new baby' with some loads I have laying around. Heck ... the fired case may talk to me if nothing else. Maybe the fun of all this is the mystery sometimes as to what the particular 'animal' likes..... I've said this before..... "When we can closeup video the launch and watch it in slow motion we'll have a real tool.!!" Down the bore too and the exit..... I think we would then learn C.O.R.E. intimately as well. Like an MRI for our 'condition' in other words..

Pete

Be careful accepting everything that worked for others as gospel. My Marlin 1894C won’t shoot worth a damn with most bullets, including the 358156 that shoots so well for many others in theirs. Marlin rifles are prone to variations over time in throat dimensions and shapes and mine has a very steep throat angle. Won’t shoot the “accepted” norm for the rifle into less than 6” at 50 yards for 5 shots.
That rifle damn near broke me. I spent the better part of a year working to find something it would shoot. Finally found the MP 359640 and now it is closer to 3” at 50 yards.
Just because it worked for someone else doesn’t mean it will work for you. Only your gun knows. Best way to learn what a particular gun wants/needs is lots of range time. The gun will tell you what it wants, you just need to be willing to listen!

I wish we could have 100,000- million fps video of the muzzle through 30 ft .
It would resolve 100s of questions and put 2-3 of the really painful discussions to bed .
It's only $2000/week to rent and run cameras and it shouldn't take over 5-600 rounds across 5-6 cal and 10 twist rates to resolve the 5 most nagging questions .

but it wouldn't answer any of the internal ballistic problems.
the external's just exasperate those internal mistakes and make you look bad.
easy to blame, just not the real problem.

I'd be OK with just the first six inches out of the muzzle, camera just ahead of the muzzle, so a good angle of the crown could be seen. If some of the Hi-Speed utoobers would get together with cast bullet utoobers (most of those guys love doing collaborations), something could be put together that might be really useful. Problem is, not many Ph, D. level cast shooters on utoob who would know exactly how to set up the experiment. Destin from Smarter Every Day has done some neat videos about shooting Prince Rupert's drops and other HS bullet vids, he could easily do the cast bullet exiting the muzzle thing IF he had a rifle and cast loads worked up for it.

Thing is, we need more info than just the HS footage. We need a load workup and 100-yard group records of every shot, over a long string. Thing to note is when groups start opening up, or what happened at the muzzle (if anything notable) when flyers occurred. We're talking dozens if not hundreds of video files to each be carefully reviewed against shot sequence and POI to see if any cause can be determined, and even then, it may be difficult to draw any conclusions unless something like an obvious yaw on exit was observed, or un-even gas jetting around the base.

The main thing I would be looking for is gas leakage prior to bullet exit, and uniformity of land engraves on the nose to see if it got a crooked start or not (same thing I look for on bullets recovered from my oiled sawdust trap).

Having a window into the chamber neck and throat has been discussed, and may actually be feasible in lower-pressure situations. I know a lot of eternal questions got answered when Silencerco made a .22 rimfire suppressor with a polycarbonate tube and filmed shots in slo-mo. Same thing could be done with a test barrel and a slug of polycarbonate inserted into a hole drilled into the throat area and cut with the chamber reamer and then buffed out tediously to give a clear picture. Might be good for one shot?

I start with pound cast. Measure to see what sizer i need. Put that on order. Check the leade and throat. See if i have something on hand. Most times i order a Lee mold or look at NOE to see if they have something specifically designed. The one time i did have something on hand it didnt work. After 6 months bought the only thing i could find in 6.5mm on the buy/sell/trade. Well that didnt work. Darn bore riders and their fat noses pushing bullets into cases. Tried other routes. Nine months latter was bord perusing NOE and saw a bullet design i had never seen before in the 6.5mm caliber. Design was close enough. Now 3 months latter i have a gun that shoots cast finnaly after almost 2 years of failure. I knew my luck would eventully run out but persistence pays off. So now, I try to find a bullet specifically designed for the caliber i am using.

I try to keep the bullets design with in the scope of use. However, sometimes options are limited and use what i can find. Like 6.5 and 6.8mm bullet designs are few and far between but 30 cal, 35 cal and 9mm bullet options will make your head spin. Just happy I havent yet had to have a custom bullet made. Think i am done buying guns, i take that back, i still want an sks ( i have the dies and mold all ready). Think next thing i get is custom .270 win and. 260 Rem barrels with lower twist rates for cast.

Got tired of playing this game with all my guns and cast bullets (and jackets in some rifles). FINALLY bought Waters Pet Loads full set. WISH I had done that before I ever started loading! I have looked at caliber pet loads I no longer have, and they are spot on with what worked well for me. I use it a good bit for a new caliber. Now not many new to me calibers, and can start with what I have on the shelf. The two new 32s - 32 S&W L and 32-20, in vintage guns, have created a new challenge for me. Same with the 38 SPC in 1920 Colt Army Special and just acquired 1918 vintage steel S&W Mdl 1917 45 ACP/45 AR! my new project stuff! The first two, as was clueless and vintage guns (wanting light loads). Last two, well known calibers but old guns/light loads, and 45 AR!

Pet Loads is a great compendium of well-tested loads. What I like the most is the in-depth discussion of results and philosophy behind each thing he tried, not just a chart with raw data. You read an article on a caliber and you really get a solid concept of how the stuff he tried worked.

^^^^^ Like Ian said! I regret not having the two volume set before I even bought my reloading setup! I recommend it to anyone starting out reloading!

Reading Waters' Pet Loads makes me want to buy guns in calibers I don't have.