school me on cast vs jacketed pros/cons
- Thread starter jay007
- Start date
If you are doing things wrong....
Benefit to casting to me is cost and availability. Once you make the initial investment and get a good pile of lead saved away you can make decent bullets for far cheaper then commercial. My plan is to cast in the winter when its too cold to shoot, so come shooting season i have a decent stockpile of ammo.
Depending on where you shoot some people manage to salvage a lot of their fired lead and re-cast it, even further saving money.
Depending on where you shoot some people manage to salvage a lot of their fired lead and re-cast it, even further saving money.
If you cast your own, which I highly recommend, then jacketed are WAYYY more expensive. Both the bullets as well as the higher volume of powder to load makes jacketed stuff just to hard on the wallet. As a plus, for practice, you can download cast so the rifle barely farts in your hands. Performance on game? Several million buffalo show that cast can, and has, been used very successfully on big game. Depending on where you obtain your alloy for casting, you can easily load a box of 50 45-70's for under $10, including powder and primers. I can't understand why anyone shooting a 45 cal rifle would ever use jacketed stuff.
I have been casting bullets for my 45-70 Marlin model 1895 for a bout a year now..
If you buy a Marlin make sure that you don't have the Micro groove barrel.
I can reload very light loads to practice and you won't break the bank. If you want to load higher you can.
The 45-70 with heavy loads can get you attention really quick and after a while are not fun to shoot..
With light loads you can shoot all day it is like shooting a 410 shotgun.
After you got lots of practice you can load some THUMPERS.
This is what I called my rifle [THUMPER].
Save the heavy loads for hunting.
If you buy a Marlin make sure that you don't have the Micro groove barrel.
I can reload very light loads to practice and you won't break the bank. If you want to load higher you can.
The 45-70 with heavy loads can get you attention really quick and after a while are not fun to shoot..
With light loads you can shoot all day it is like shooting a 410 shotgun.
After you got lots of practice you can load some THUMPERS.
This is what I called my rifle [THUMPER].
Save the heavy loads for hunting.
Jacketed bullets are more expensive(Hornady's run abut $44 per 50 for 350 grain bullets at Cabela's Canada. Bullet Barn wants $60 per 100 for cast. Not the only places.), but can be driven faster than any cast/plated bullet. Cast and pre-lubed .458" bullets aren't always easy to find. Without the lube they'll tumble.
The answer to your question really depends on which cartridges you plan to shoot with cast.
Some cartridges work just as well with cast as with jacketed bullets. For example: 303, 7.62x54, 30-30, 38-55, 44 mag & 44 special, 32 special, 32-40, 45-70, 9.3x57, etc. These cartridges are lower velocity and cast bullets can be loaded to the same velocity or close to factory jacketed ammo. Performance on game is excellent.
Other cartridges need to be loaded to reduced velocity, for instance: 30-06, 308, and any cartridge that shoots over about 2000-2200 fps. You can load reduced velocity cast loads for low cost target shooting and hunting.
You can use cast in reduced velocity loads for lower recoil in the big cartridges for plinking and practise shooting. I load cast reduced velocity loads in 458 winmag so I can get more trigger time with less recoil. Full power 500 gr loads have fairly stout recoil but loaded down to 1600 fps it's quite tolerable, and allows me to spend more time shooting and getting used to the rifle. Cast bullets cost a fraction of the price of jacketed in this calibre.
You can load reduced (1000-1400 fps) loads in most rifle cartridges for economical small game hunting and fun shooting. Cast is usually half the price of jacketed bullets to purchase, and much less if you cast your own.
Cast bullets don't have as much practical use in the uber-velocity magnums. Loading a 30-378 with cast might not be practical but in a 30-06 or 308 it works great.
Some cartridges work just as well with cast as with jacketed bullets. For example: 303, 7.62x54, 30-30, 38-55, 44 mag & 44 special, 32 special, 32-40, 45-70, 9.3x57, etc. These cartridges are lower velocity and cast bullets can be loaded to the same velocity or close to factory jacketed ammo. Performance on game is excellent.
Other cartridges need to be loaded to reduced velocity, for instance: 30-06, 308, and any cartridge that shoots over about 2000-2200 fps. You can load reduced velocity cast loads for low cost target shooting and hunting.
You can use cast in reduced velocity loads for lower recoil in the big cartridges for plinking and practise shooting. I load cast reduced velocity loads in 458 winmag so I can get more trigger time with less recoil. Full power 500 gr loads have fairly stout recoil but loaded down to 1600 fps it's quite tolerable, and allows me to spend more time shooting and getting used to the rifle. Cast bullets cost a fraction of the price of jacketed in this calibre.
You can load reduced (1000-1400 fps) loads in most rifle cartridges for economical small game hunting and fun shooting. Cast is usually half the price of jacketed bullets to purchase, and much less if you cast your own.
Cast bullets don't have as much practical use in the uber-velocity magnums. Loading a 30-378 with cast might not be practical but in a 30-06 or 308 it works great.
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