Rifle practice with large calibers and expensive ammo.

Dogleg mentioned those that mostly talk about their rifles and I mentioned mostly posting pics on CGN.

If you think either comment was pointedly directed at you, or that we are actually "bothered" by talk and pics of guns, I think you might be reading a little too much into the commentary.

No worries, problem solved.....
 
I use cast in all my rifles from .30-30 to .458 Win. for hunting and plinking. I get plenty of shooting in and save a pile of dough over using factory ammo. The best part of handloading is the tailoring of each load for the job intended. Tooling up for handloading ain't too expensive if one knows a few folks that have lots of gear to thin out, or checks out nearby gun shows.

Cast bullets and reduced loads pay off well in the big bores. Easier on the shoulder & wallet and they are a ton of fun to smash pest critters with.:)
 
I use cast in all my rifles from .30-30 to .458 Win. for hunting and plinking. I get plenty of shooting in and save a pile of dough over using factory ammo. The best part of handloading is the tailoring of each load for the job intended. Tooling up for handloading ain't too expensive if one knows a few folks that have lots of gear to thin out, or checks out nearby gun shows.

Cast bullets and reduced loads pay off well in the big bores. Easier on the shoulder & wallet and they are a ton of fun to smash pest critters with.:)

Cast bullet loads, in addition to jacketed loads is a good option and one I use, primarily in the straight wall cases though such as the 444 Marlin, 45-70 and 458WM. They work well for me in a few others like the 348WCF a;so. I used to cast but now get mine from a friend and site member who is into cast in a big way.
 
Cast bullet loads, in addition to jacketed loads is a good option and one I use, primarily in the straight wall cases though such as the 444 Marlin, 45-70 and 458WM. They work well for me in a few others like the 348WCF a;so. I used to cast but now get mine from a friend and site member who is into cast in a big way.

Bullet Barn is yer friend for good performing cast boolits if one gets bored of pouring out their own. I use BB for most of my boolits except for 12 gauge projectiles & other cals. they don't offer.:)
 
Bullet Barn is yer friend for good performing cast boolits if one gets bored of pouring out their own. I use BB for most of my boolits except for 12 gauge projectiles & other cals. they don't offer.:)

I did used to cast as a necessary evil when I was into some fairly serious paper punching but it is the one aspect of reloading I never really cared for. A few years ago when I first got my 500 S&W, components were sometimes hard to come by. This guy locally was my first reliable source for cast bullets for it and in a variety of weights. Quality is good, variety, good and for decent prices. In addition, as he's close by it's easy to arrange to pick up the goods. Didn't take long for me to start getting all my cast needs supplied by him. He's got quite a set-up and I believe he also supplies a lot of the Cowboy Action Shooters locally.
 
I did used to cast as a necessary evil when I was into some fairly serious paper punching but it is the one aspect of reloading I never really cared for. A few years ago when I first got my 500 S&W, components were sometimes hard to come by. This guy locally was my first reliable source for cast bullets for it and in a variety of weights. Quality is good, variety, good and for decent prices. In addition, as he's close by it's easy to arrange to pick up the goods. Didn't take long for me to start getting all my cast needs supplied by him. He's got quite a set-up and I believe he also supplies a lot of the Cowboy Action Shooters locally.

Yeah, I read ye on the .500 S&W. Had a Handi Rifle in that one a while back and cast me own using a Lee mold. Worked great. Good to have numerous options fer lead tossing.
 
Hi All

I have been doing a bit of practice with the rifle in anticipation for hunting season in a few weeks and it got me thinking about how much practice to do with the 22lr compared to shooting the rifle I will be using (30-06). I find I hit a sweet spot were too much shooting of the 30-06 affects my performance.

I was wondering what people do who shoot large calibers like the 375 H&H were recoil is significant and your almost looking at $5 a shot for factory ammo, cannot imagine that someone is putting lots of bullets down range for practice, do you just limit your shooting distance or do you find the practice you do with small calibers transfers across.

costs aside , try putting a bag of lead shot between the rifle and your shoulder when firing it ... it might feel awkward at first but after a few rounds , less awkward and your shoulder will be less sore the next day .

there are a bunch of other things you can do as well .
 
I rather go to a 100m range with my 308 cause I can shoot steel at it vs the 300y one which I can only shoot paper or a 4 moa gong which is too big. I like my 6" rifle spinner off hand at 100, would be fun shooting it at 300 but nooo the fuds won't have it.

The way to deal with that is to spray paint the targets, then give yourself a smaller painted target or 3 on it. This converts the gong into a big shoot n see target. Miss the dot and at least you know where the miss went.

I wish I had more bigger steel targets for my range. I've got a 24 X 32 inch at the 800 yard line. I put three black dots on it so I don't have to wear my quad out constantly repainting it. With a decent rifle hitting the whole plate somewhere isn't much of a trick; and that gives an instant feed back on a sloppy wind call. I can learn just as much or more from the misses, but only if I know where they went.
 
Relatively mild cast loads in a four five eight do a bang-up job of simulating the recoil of little pop- guns like a hot loaded .300 or .338 mag. Toss a few thousand of those around from offhand and other field positions and it'll reset your recoil meter from "it hurts" to "shooting is fun". It does the same thing for your wallet. :)

If you are pressed for time a couple full power .458 Lott loads will recalibrate your shoulder to the point where a 30-06 doesn't even register. When you find out what won't kill you, it gives perspective on those that you used to think hurt.
 
Last edited:
Relatively mild cast loads in a four five eight do a bang-up job of simulating the recoil of little pop- guns like a hot loaded .300 or .338 mag. Toss a few thousand of those around from offhand and other field positions and it'll reset your recoil meter from "it hurts" to "shooting is fun". It does the same thing for your wallet. :)

If you are pressed for time a couple full power .458 Lott loads will recalibrate your shoulder to the point where a 30-06 doesn't even register. When you find out what won't kill you, it gives perspective on those that you used to think hurt.

I mentioned in a previous post, a selection of cast I have available in a variety of weights, primarily for use in the 458WM and 45-70. :)These are them.

 
Hi All

I have been doing a bit of practice with the rifle in anticipation for hunting season in a few weeks and it got me thinking about how much practice to do with the 22lr compared to shooting the rifle I will be using (30-06). I find I hit a sweet spot were too much shooting of the 30-06 affects my performance.

I was wondering what people do who shoot large calibers like the 375 H&H were recoil is significant and your almost looking at $5 a shot for factory ammo, cannot imagine that someone is putting lots of bullets down range for practice, do you just limit your shooting distance or do you find the practice you do with small calibers transfers across.

The first thing you do is learn to reload and that will usually cut the cost in half at least. Bullets are the biggest expense. Reduced loads don't save much $ but they make for fun plinking and practising. I've shot about 300 rounds of 458 winmag this summer. They were all with cast bullets and about 50 of them were reduced loads. I cast my own bullets and that cost to about $75 per 100 rounds, or $15 for 20 rounds.
 
Hi jethunter
Are your cast, gas checked, 375 Winchester bullets at .377" OK to use in .375 H&H magnum and .375 Ruger cartridges?
Thanks
 
The reason I ask is because your cast bullets are a reasonably priced alternative to jacketed bullets for hand loading and you do cover many of the large calibre choices. I was hoping the 375 Win could be used in the H&H and Ruger.
 
Back
Top Bottom