Pro's and Con's of shooting Cast?
- Thread starter CheeseBurger
- Start date
- Location
- Southern Vancouver Island
Cool Troll pic! 
I use cast for all of my rifles now. Been casting since '70 and prefer lead over jacketed any day.
Fun to make and experiment with, cheap and reliable with careful loading and proven on all
game at sensible ranges.
As for toxicity, lead has been way overblown as a horrible toxin by the Nanny State, Safety Nazi's.
A few common sence proceedures used when handling, casting & shooting lead will ensure a
safe and rewarding experience.
Oh crap, my plonker just dropped off!
I use cast for all of my rifles now. Been casting since '70 and prefer lead over jacketed any day.
Fun to make and experiment with, cheap and reliable with careful loading and proven on all
game at sensible ranges.
As for toxicity, lead has been way overblown as a horrible toxin by the Nanny State, Safety Nazi's.
A few common sence proceedures used when handling, casting & shooting lead will ensure a
safe and rewarding experience.
Oh crap, my plonker just dropped off!
BigUglyMan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- New Scotland
Oh crap, my plonker just dropped off!
Probably from scoping a lever action. Lead exposure doesn't cause dickdropoffitis. Kill you it may, but you'll die with your #### firmly attached.
- Location
- Southern Vancouver Island
Are you shooooor?
One overload could be a bummer!
I don't scope leverguns anymore since I got out of Marlins.
A whole bunch of Deer and Moose I've killed with cast bullets over several decades would agree with you....
Casting does require a time commitment, acquiring lead, tin, wheelweights, etc. You can buy ingots, if you live somewhere where the freight factor isn't too bad, that is still a reasonable alternative to wheelweights.
It also requires some investment in time to learn about it and make the bullets. And then whatever equipt you need/want. There are a few items to spend some money on, moulds, handles, thermometer, a lubesizer and size dies may be a necessity, M-die and expanders make life with cast bullets a lot simpler. You need some means to melt it, some means to make ingots.
you need the right weather on a given day, to get out and cast, if you don't have a sheltered area to work in. No rain, not too much wind, and you need to be comfortable out there doing it.
You can buy cast bullets, most likely still need the M-die and expanders.
Whether the cast bullets you buy, are the proper hardness for what you want to achieve, can be questionable.
Some guns will shoot them right away, some take a bit of fooling around with, and some are just plain obstinate. You need to learn about the various foibles of cast bullet alloys and applications, before buying or casting them.
Taking expensive bullets out of the picture, lower powered loads that help brass life, cuts down shooting expense, in some applications, drastically. You have to evaluate what your time is worth vs how much you are willing to spend on bullets and brass.
Shooting my 450/400NE, at 50.00/box of 50 bullets, most of which are not realy suitable for hunting around here, or 90.00 a box of factory rounds ( which are not always easy to come by) 40-50.00 for 20 brass, is a fair incentive to cast for.
My .218bee, .223, no incentive to cast for it. Bullets are cheap enough, brass lasts long enough and is cheap enough, it isn't worth it. I had a 7x57 I shot nothing but cast in, worked well for me. For my 32-30 and 32-40, they were built to breech seat the bullet, brass lasts forever, as it never gets sized, those two are only about 4-5.00/100 to shoot. I have special loads for my 7-08 for hunting with, no expense factor involved, it was the application diversity I was looking for, a chicken/rabbit/whatever load.
You will need to do a bit of research and evaluation on what it is worth to you, to get into it. If you are a tinkerer, you will enjoy it ( most of the time), if you are not, you can get frustrated by it.
It also requires some investment in time to learn about it and make the bullets. And then whatever equipt you need/want. There are a few items to spend some money on, moulds, handles, thermometer, a lubesizer and size dies may be a necessity, M-die and expanders make life with cast bullets a lot simpler. You need some means to melt it, some means to make ingots.
you need the right weather on a given day, to get out and cast, if you don't have a sheltered area to work in. No rain, not too much wind, and you need to be comfortable out there doing it.
You can buy cast bullets, most likely still need the M-die and expanders.
Whether the cast bullets you buy, are the proper hardness for what you want to achieve, can be questionable.
Some guns will shoot them right away, some take a bit of fooling around with, and some are just plain obstinate. You need to learn about the various foibles of cast bullet alloys and applications, before buying or casting them.
Taking expensive bullets out of the picture, lower powered loads that help brass life, cuts down shooting expense, in some applications, drastically. You have to evaluate what your time is worth vs how much you are willing to spend on bullets and brass.
Shooting my 450/400NE, at 50.00/box of 50 bullets, most of which are not realy suitable for hunting around here, or 90.00 a box of factory rounds ( which are not always easy to come by) 40-50.00 for 20 brass, is a fair incentive to cast for.
My .218bee, .223, no incentive to cast for it. Bullets are cheap enough, brass lasts long enough and is cheap enough, it isn't worth it. I had a 7x57 I shot nothing but cast in, worked well for me. For my 32-30 and 32-40, they were built to breech seat the bullet, brass lasts forever, as it never gets sized, those two are only about 4-5.00/100 to shoot. I have special loads for my 7-08 for hunting with, no expense factor involved, it was the application diversity I was looking for, a chicken/rabbit/whatever load.
You will need to do a bit of research and evaluation on what it is worth to you, to get into it. If you are a tinkerer, you will enjoy it ( most of the time), if you are not, you can get frustrated by it.
- Location
- Southern Vancouver Island
Well put sir. I love lead...The look of it, the feel of it, the shmell of it!Still the best and most adaptable boolit material......bar none!
Still the best and most adaptable boolit material......bar none!
Totally agree!!
just having some fun
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Some info can be had at--- you could spend a whole day reading stuff on the 9.3x62
h t tp://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?118395-9-3x62mm-cast-boolit-loads&highlight=9.3x62
the only trade off with cast bullets is Speed / more bullet drop at long range
Accuracy can be better with cast
but if you are shooting 270-280g bullets it's going to put dinner on the table and to put holes in paper
h t tp://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?118395-9-3x62mm-cast-boolit-loads&highlight=9.3x62
the only trade off with cast bullets is Speed / more bullet drop at long range
Accuracy can be better with cast
but if you are shooting 270-280g bullets it's going to put dinner on the table and to put holes in paper
Northman999
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Southern Yukon
I got into casting a couple of years back.
For some rifles, like my Marlin 45-70, cast bullets give up nothing to jacketed. My 1895 CB puts 405 grain cast at 1915 fps into an honest inch at 100 yards; and that was with no fiddle-farting around with special sizing or anything else. I also got loads set up for my father's 1895 GBL very easily, pusing 340's @ 2100+ fps.
In order to get higher velocities (say, noticeably over 2000 fps), more experimenting is needed. Sometimes it can be a PITA, to be honest, sometimes not.
Developing plinking loads for the kids to use, or to shoot small game with your big game rifle is not difficult at all.
Doing a bunch of reading on the internet will give you information on patching bullets, hardening bullets, annealing tips for expansion, etc.
Personally I very much like casting and shooting my own bullets, but I do wish I had more time to get the most out of every rifle I shoot cast in.
For some rifles, like my Marlin 45-70, cast bullets give up nothing to jacketed. My 1895 CB puts 405 grain cast at 1915 fps into an honest inch at 100 yards; and that was with no fiddle-farting around with special sizing or anything else. I also got loads set up for my father's 1895 GBL very easily, pusing 340's @ 2100+ fps.
In order to get higher velocities (say, noticeably over 2000 fps), more experimenting is needed. Sometimes it can be a PITA, to be honest, sometimes not.
Developing plinking loads for the kids to use, or to shoot small game with your big game rifle is not difficult at all.
Doing a bunch of reading on the internet will give you information on patching bullets, hardening bullets, annealing tips for expansion, etc.
Personally I very much like casting and shooting my own bullets, but I do wish I had more time to get the most out of every rifle I shoot cast in.
- Location
- Invermere, BC
I'm going to have to sit on this for awhile. I have so much on the go right now that I don't even have the time to do all the reading required. So even making a decision on whether or not I want to try and shoot cast will have to wait for a month or so. Cheers guys and thanks for all the info.
