how many of you make you own bullet

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jside86

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I got into reloading last year and I am now into a new challenge... bullet casting

how hard is it and mostly is it fun to do

how cheap does is come to for a 3006 308 bullet? compare to a coper plated HP

on some picture I see some bullet have a coper or brass bottom?
 
Safe unless......Or eat after casting without washing, or breathe the fumes from a lead pot for too long without a mask/ ventilation fan.

Lead cast bullets are only good for moderate velocities (aprox. 1700fps) before the lead starts to melt...the copper base you speak off is called a gas check and this helps keep the bullet from melting and ups the serviceable velocities up to about 2100fps.
 
The bullet mold has to be made for a gas check and it is installed while sizing the bullet as it is crimped on, some folks have played with velocities up to 3000fps, as I have with paper patch bullets. Usually best accuracy in the .30 cals. is around 2000fps or so, depending on whether you use it to hunt or not my fav. ./30 cal. bullets are Lyman #311041, Saeco #315. I find that the bigger bores including handguns are friendlier to non-gas check bullets.
 
Would it be legal to get the lead out of military bullet?
I often go shooting on base with my own rifle on ranges
Can I go dig the lead out at the pistol range ?
 
Ask the Range officer. But wheel weights is better stuff.
Most jacketed bullets have a real soft core and are not the best for reloading.
Go to your local garage or tire shop and get some old wheel weights. They have a small % of tin & antimony which alloy to make the lead a bit harder...and thus will go faster before coming apart inside your barrel.
 
Bullet casting if you want good results is for people who want to learn and do things right. Anyone can cast bullets but only a few can get the same results you will get with jacketed bullets.

It can be a lot of fun or a lot of fustration. To get really good results shooting and making cast bullets you have to be prepared to put a lot into it. Buy all the books you can find on the subject and read them and you will still only know a part of what you will need to know.

Casting and shooting handgun bullets tend to be a lot easier then doing it with rifles. I have spent nearly 40 years doing it and have spent a fortune and some days I think I don't know anything. Just when I figure I know it something else comes up or I talk to someone who knows more.

If you get into it my advise is buy the very best equipment you can afford and you will get more out of it sooner.

Graydog
 
I cast a few different bullets.

Ronnie10007.jpg


My newest NOE double crimp groove 160 gr. 360 dia. gas check mold. I can change the pins and cast HP's,Solids or created my own nose profile with the two extra blank pins.

Picture002.jpg
 
jside86 said:
Would it be legal to get the lead out of military bullet?
I often go shooting on base with my own rifle on ranges
Can I go dig the lead out at the pistol range ?
Click to expand...

Watch out for tracer's.
All source's of lead are great. If you can get it for free that's even better.
 
You can re-claim a lot of lead by making a bullet trap. Hang mud flaps from trucks or that thick rubber mat they sell at Home Depot ant Canadian tire for stairs. Four layers will stop any .22LR bullet, and if you leave space in between them, the slightly expanded bullet just full to the bottom. You get nice clean lead without any work.
 
kombayotch said:
You can re-claim a lot of lead by making a bullet trap. Hang mud flaps from trucks or that thick rubber mat they sell at Home Depot ant Canadian tire for stairs. Four layers will stop any .22LR bullet, and if you leave space in between them, the slightly expanded bullet just full to the bottom. You get nice clean lead without any work.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a great idea. I wonder if it will work for pistol bullets?

Done right, home cast bullets can shoot very accurately. Good advice from previous posters already, especially read all you can in that link for the castboolits forum. Casting is not rocket science, so to speak. At worst, you will get have cheap bullets that fly out of your barrel that can hit a barn door. At best, you will have satisfying accurate bullets from your rifle.

Mel Gibson cast his own bullets in the movie, The Patriot, so I guess they did it at least as far back as the American revolution, so its not difficult.
 
Trying to recover the lead from a rifle range, especially a military range, is not as easy as it sounds, even if you have permission to dig into the backstop.
Even with .308 (7.62 NATO) bullets, there is often a very small opening at the rear to allow the lead to come out. I found that I almost had to take each one individually and shake it to get the lead out. Lots of work. With 5.56 bullets, there is even less lead and as much work. You are probably better to find another source, and as mentioned the lead is usually almost pure and therefore quite soft for most purposes.
And, as mentioned, careful of tracers!
 
kombayotch said:
You can re-claim a lot of lead by making a bullet trap. Hang mud flaps from trucks or that thick rubber mat they sell at Home Depot ant Canadian tire for stairs. Four layers will stop any .22LR bullet, and if you leave space in between them, the slightly expanded bullet just full to the bottom. You get nice clean lead without any work.
Click to expand...

Length's of conveyer belt also work's.
 
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