I just thought I would post some information regarding bullet casting.
I noticed allot of people are wondering what calibers can be used for cast bullets.
Concerns about lead being to soft for that specific caliber.
Well here is some info that im hoping will inform people on casting for various calibers.
The caliber is not that much of a factor but what does need to be taken into consideration is the pressures, velocity and lead hardness.
What does matter is the pressure and velocity you want to push the bullet.
I shoot 308 cal and even 223 rem with wheel weight bullets without a problem, as long as I keep my pressures low and velocities reasonable for my bullet BHN.
If you want to push the bullet faster consider your powders, different burn rate etc etc’.
I can suggest alloying your wheel weights by adding some antimony and tin to your wheel weight mix.
Most hardware store sell something called pipe solder which is a combo of antimony and tin, perfect for adding and making your lead harder, you only need to ad a very small amount.
Do some math to figure out how hard you want your lead alloy for the pressures you see listed in your manual.
A side not: PSI and CUP units of pressure are NOT interchangeable and do not mix them up!!!
Refer to the lyman cast bullet reloading manual for lead recipes or even better; look at the lead casting chapter in the Lee book that explains how to calculate and make your own recipes.
Weigh your metals before combining them and write your recipes down for future use.
Make sure you check your BHN hardness afterwards (it may very slightly from your calculations) and document it for your records so you can create that mix again if needed.
After you get your BHN reading you can refer to the BHN chart in the lee reloading manual to see how fast and how hard bullets can be pushed using that lead mix.
I think the Lyman cast book manual also has a BHN chart listed in it as well.
Once you know your BHN your off to the races and can know exactly how hard you can push those bullets, no need for guessing and wasting time to think if its to soft or too hard a lead mix.
Hope this info helps.
I noticed allot of people are wondering what calibers can be used for cast bullets.
Concerns about lead being to soft for that specific caliber.
Well here is some info that im hoping will inform people on casting for various calibers.
The caliber is not that much of a factor but what does need to be taken into consideration is the pressures, velocity and lead hardness.
What does matter is the pressure and velocity you want to push the bullet.
I shoot 308 cal and even 223 rem with wheel weight bullets without a problem, as long as I keep my pressures low and velocities reasonable for my bullet BHN.
If you want to push the bullet faster consider your powders, different burn rate etc etc’.
I can suggest alloying your wheel weights by adding some antimony and tin to your wheel weight mix.
Most hardware store sell something called pipe solder which is a combo of antimony and tin, perfect for adding and making your lead harder, you only need to ad a very small amount.
Do some math to figure out how hard you want your lead alloy for the pressures you see listed in your manual.
A side not: PSI and CUP units of pressure are NOT interchangeable and do not mix them up!!!
Refer to the lyman cast bullet reloading manual for lead recipes or even better; look at the lead casting chapter in the Lee book that explains how to calculate and make your own recipes.
Weigh your metals before combining them and write your recipes down for future use.
Make sure you check your BHN hardness afterwards (it may very slightly from your calculations) and document it for your records so you can create that mix again if needed.
After you get your BHN reading you can refer to the BHN chart in the lee reloading manual to see how fast and how hard bullets can be pushed using that lead mix.
I think the Lyman cast book manual also has a BHN chart listed in it as well.
Once you know your BHN your off to the races and can know exactly how hard you can push those bullets, no need for guessing and wasting time to think if its to soft or too hard a lead mix.
Hope this info helps.
