I want to shoot cast

coyote

coyote

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Gooday guys I have been thinking of this for a while and would like to build a rifle to shoot cast ,what caliber should I go with ?

I am thinking between 40 and 45 cal not sure on what chambering.
The WW are piling up here I have been colecting them for a few years with the intention of shooting them some day.

I make my own swaged bullets but that is a lot of work and reserved to target shooting .

Casting seems like a cheap way of getting some range time .
Any suggestions on a good cartrige for cast.
 
What rifle? What kind of shooting? Long range? BPCR? Schuetzen? Just bangin' away at rocks in the backstop?

Tough to go too far wrong with a 45-70, as far as availability goes. 458 Win Mag (and any other handload in this size range, for that matter) can be loaded all the way from grouse to elephant loads, if you want. If the rifle, and your shoulder, can handle the pressure.

405 Winchester is a straight sided case, an updated version of one of the older Sharps straight cartridges. Or 40-65 Winchester.

Those all at least have the benefit of available brass and dies.

Skies the limit, really. You gotta decide what fits what you want to do.

Cheers
Trev
 
You don't say whether you want a bolt gun, levergun, single shot, or what not, modern cartridge or older, possibly Sharps? The .358 Win. and .35 Whelen are excellent cast bullet cals. as are the .356 Win., 38/55, .375 Win.... With any of these cals. or bigger, you can equal power and velocity levels of factory Jacketed loads, and exceed them in some cals like the 38/55 and the 45/70.
 
Further to the above post, the most accurate cals. for cast are the cals. used by cast Bullet bench rest shooters, the .308 for Production class, and the .30 BR. for other classes. This ammo is all used as "fixed" ammo. The other class is "plain base breech seat" and the .32/40, .32 Miller short, and 33-47 are tops here...So it really depends on what you are trying to do, accuracy? Power? Hunting? My most accurate cast bullet caliber so far is the .30 Br. and cast bullets are all I shoot, though I'm working on a .25/20 SS that may eclipse that when I'm done....Ben
 
I shoot a fair amount of cast out of my 38-55, and am impressed with the accuracy of cast bullets in it.
I am shooting bullets .002" larger than my groove diameter for best results..
Eagleye.
 
Cast bullets can be shot in all calibers.
Like ben mentioned it can be further divided into what your trying to get out of your cast bullets.
Are you shooting for top accuracy, top speed, plinking, bench rest, black powder ,Are you looking to shoot rifle or pistol, etc etc.
Most cast bullet shooters take advantage of the fact that cast bullets can be made in diameters that jacketed bullets are hard to find these days like .311, .32 and other odd balls.
Things become much more versatile and you have many more options of calibres to choose from.
I would suggest reading the Lyman cast book manual it has some really good information on utilizing cast bullets in their different applications and it provides a good base knowledge to work with.
From handgun plinking to high power BR shooting to hunting and in between.

cast bullets are fun.
 
You can cast successfully with most standard calibres. I cast for .257 Roberts, 6.5x55, 30-30, 30-40, .308, 30-06, and 45-70. All of them can give good accurate results with cast bullets.
Grouch
 
Low pressure/low velocity calibers like 45 ACP are a great candidate to start with because they're comparatively forgiving of alloy hardness, lube type, and sizing. Plus 230 grain commercial bullets are expensive so you'll be getting lots of bang for the buck.
 
I just recently discovered the joy of Trailboss powder, it is fantastic in every rifle caliber I have tried, It is exceptionally good with the 30-30 the 35 Remington and also the 30-06. With 180 grain cast and moly bullets in the 30-06 I get 1 inch groups at 100 yards easily, next to no recoil and very economical, 20 grains fills the case whereas my usual load of RL22 takes 60 grains. Great for plinking and practice! Next up to try is a 200 grain Lyman .314 in the 303 Brit and the 7.62 x 54.
 
JAGDMORDER said:
Lol I thought you meant "cats".
Click to expand...

There are a few of those I wouldn't mind poping especially the one that almost gave me a heart attack in my wood shed last fall { it was dark I didn't know what the f**k was coming at me lol}.

Will be building on a bolt gun for sure 45-70 sound good to me or even 44 rem mag I have a few 303's that I want to rebarrel .

Thinking I might be able to cast some for one of my 303's it is a parker hale #4 ,I just want some cheap trigger time for practice shooting prone and off hand

I have been shooting competitively ,used to be benchrest but the past few years have been f-class.

Just want to shoot some targets at 100-300 yds not interessted in gas checks at this time.
What kind of speed could I shoot a hard cast 303 bullet @ without gas checking.
.
 
Most bullets for the .303 will be cut for a gas check and one should use the check or risk flame cutting esp. when gasses are directed to the side of the bullet. In smaller cals. like this a gas check will provide much better accuracy. If you find a plain base mold for the .303, I would keep velocities down to 1400fps or so. From a cast bullet standpoint, the .303 is a high pressure, high velocity cartridge and can be very accurate at factory velocities but with GAS CHECKED CAST BULLETS, that are sized to match the bore size, which can be a chore in itself.
 
I'm currently casting for .303. Using quenched ww (drop them into a bucket of water straight out of the mould) and gas checks, i've been able to push to around 2300fps with no problems. I've used the same bullet without the gas check to load up some light loads in the 1100-1400 range using 700x, and they don't shoot worth a damn :)
 
I love shooting cast in my .30/06, and have done quite well with 195-210 gr gas checked bullets from 1600-1800 fps. Powder choice doesn't seem to make a huge difference although I use SR-4759 or Unique mostly.

Lately I've been shooting Ben's 480 gr WFNs in my .458 with surprisingly good results. I seat them out and crimp them in the second grease groove. My first attempt gave me 2200 fps and 1.25 MOA accuracy at 150. When you consider that cast .458 bullets are about a quarter of the cost of jacketed and that at .45/70 or .458 velocities they perform better, what's not to like.

My advise would be to get a rifle that you can use as a dedicated cast bullet rifle. The .32-40 was a favorite of Pope's and would be a good choice still.
 
I shoot tumble lubed 9mm, home cast .000 buck and paper patched 303 ammo and soon I will be casting .50 ball for black powder. In my 303 rifle, I like paper patching because I can shoot pretty well any alloy at any velocity that the gun can handle. Accuracy may vary, but there is never any leading.

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