What’s better, casting or shooting?
- Thread starter BBerguson
- Start date
fiver
Well-Known Member
casting and loading tend to wear me out quite often.
just the focus on detail seems to drain my energy pretty quickly, and it seems to take forever to knock out a box of ammo.
sometimes it's super nice to just stand in front of a progressive machine and hear the ka-ching/or clack of a case falling into the tub or bouncing onto the bench at the back.
the shooting part generally means it's a nice day, or it means I gotta sit down and dump more focus into the outcome to double check all that work in the reloading room and at the casting bench.
it all seems to stack up and every step matters.
so it sort of boils down to which one of the two types of casting shooting or reloading I'm doing.
the one for volume and good-nuff to take out that rock or soda can at 10 or maybe 100yds, or the one where I'm trying to cut that into less than an inch at full on why not just buy a box of sierra bullets speeds.
just the focus on detail seems to drain my energy pretty quickly, and it seems to take forever to knock out a box of ammo.
sometimes it's super nice to just stand in front of a progressive machine and hear the ka-ching/or clack of a case falling into the tub or bouncing onto the bench at the back.
the shooting part generally means it's a nice day, or it means I gotta sit down and dump more focus into the outcome to double check all that work in the reloading room and at the casting bench.
it all seems to stack up and every step matters.
so it sort of boils down to which one of the two types of casting shooting or reloading I'm doing.
the one for volume and good-nuff to take out that rock or soda can at 10 or maybe 100yds, or the one where I'm trying to cut that into less than an inch at full on why not just buy a box of sierra bullets speeds.
Ian
Notorious member
The lead-free alloy test is probably the last major scientific shooting project I'm gonna do for a long, long time. That necessarily pedantic R&D stuff becomes hard work real fast and kills all the fun.
Powder coating changed my whole paradigm because now I just take any decent gun, some of that mystery alloy over there that's about 8 or 20 bhn (if I even check), pick a known-good bullet mould for the caliber, size like so, use about that much neck tension, such and such powder oughta be close 'nuff, pick a jaxketed bullet starting load and get 1.5 MOA all day long.
Powder coating changed my whole paradigm because now I just take any decent gun, some of that mystery alloy over there that's about 8 or 20 bhn (if I even check), pick a known-good bullet mould for the caliber, size like so, use about that much neck tension, such and such powder oughta be close 'nuff, pick a jaxketed bullet starting load and get 1.5 MOA all day long.
richhodg66
Well-Known Member
Well, I like shooting better than casting or reloading, but will say the reloading process is pretty therapeutic at times. Casting isn't exactly my favorite activity, but it sure does give a feeling of accomplishment when you see a pile of good bullets forming and know that's some good shooting in the works.
Grwoing up, I used to wonder that about my Dad, does he cast and reload to shoot more or shoot a lot so he can cast and reload more? At some point, the process does become more than just a means to an end, I'm way past that point.
Grwoing up, I used to wonder that about my Dad, does he cast and reload to shoot more or shoot a lot so he can cast and reload more? At some point, the process does become more than just a means to an end, I'm way past that point.
Shooting just for fun is my favorite.
Testing loads not so much. I find it a necessary evil.
I enjoy casting more than reloading unless I think I need to cast a thousand or so of one bullet.
The closest think to a progressive I have Is a P200. The rest are loaded single stage.
A long session of loading one caliber gets tedious.
So, it`s shooting, casting, and reloading in that order from most fun to least fun.
I don`t dislike any of the processes.
Testing loads not so much. I find it a necessary evil.
I enjoy casting more than reloading unless I think I need to cast a thousand or so of one bullet.
The closest think to a progressive I have Is a P200. The rest are loaded single stage.
A long session of loading one caliber gets tedious.
So, it`s shooting, casting, and reloading in that order from most fun to least fun.
I don`t dislike any of the processes.
Kevin Stenberg
Well-Known Member
As many have said. Life is too short to do anything not enjoyable.
I thought i was a touch off to enjoy the act of casting.
I thought i was a touch off to enjoy the act of casting.
462
California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
Between casting and shooting, I prefer shooting. I used to enjoy casting for hours, but anymore an hour is about all my patience allows. The Winter of '18/'19 I cast enough of my favorite bullets to keep the guns well supplied for many years. But . . . isn't there always a but? . . . if I were to buy a .44 or .45 caliber Blackhawk the 429421, 452374 and 452460 would be called out of retirement most quickly.
Someone brought up reloading. From case prep to removing the last round from the press, it is like a welcome therapy and is not the least bit patience taxing.
I do enjoy it all and hope it's a very long time till I'm not able to do any of the three.
Someone brought up reloading. From case prep to removing the last round from the press, it is like a welcome therapy and is not the least bit patience taxing.
I do enjoy it all and hope it's a very long time till I'm not able to do any of the three.
trapper9260
Active Member
I like casting and shooting, I also like to go hunting and trapping and fishing. For me it is something I like to do all that I do also I like load developing too. Like to see what the gun tell me what it likes and how to make alloy mix for what I will use the boolit for. I also for casting with the bottom pour and ladle.
CWLONGSHOT
Well-Known Member
YES! 
CW
CW
They are both quality time for me, love both !
dannyd
Well-Known Member
burbank.jung
Active Member
My favorite is casting because it's new to me. Reloading is second because I want to find the best loaded cartridge for my rifle or handgun. Just as important is knowing how to place my shots but the first two have to be done first. But before I finish that, I'm off to another firearm to start the whole process over. What makes me happy is having a forum like this. Where I live - the SF Bay Area - I haven't met a bullet caster yet.
Before I retired, shooting a match took so much concentration and effort that I forgot all about work and the coming week. For a Saturday. this was the first relaxation. Going to the range for working up a load or simply practicing gave the same feeling.
I tell members of the various clubs I belong to and the people that I coach the advantage of shooting for relaxation. The added advantage of shooting matches is the time limits add stress and you learn to manipulate the action for recovery under this stress. Shooting long range matches allows you to adopt a habit of looking at the wind plus gaining knowledge of reading the wind in the field while shooting game.
After retirement, cancer struck and regaining my ability to shoot has become a hallmark of my recovery.