Getting it slowly but surely

[mmt44]

Hello,
Brand new member here and first post. I am predominantly a sixgun guy myself, and after a lot of research have started gathering supplies to reload. I am also, in the very near future, going to start gathering my supplies to cast. Due to money being tight, I can't buy everything at one time and have to piece it together as funds permit. Wife and kids have to come first ya know. In the meantime I am going to load for my 44 mag super blackhawk and my 357 blackhawk. Got press, dies, etc... and am starting to gather components. I really would like to start shooting cast so I am going to try some commercial cast to start with. Any good recomendations would be appreciated.

Also, I am not going to hotrod these loads. Looking for something like a 240 to 250 gr. cast swc at 1000 fps type load for the 44, and something on the lines of a 38 +P swc in the 357. In 44 mag and 38 special brass as that is what I have on hand. What hardness would be suggested, and also I would assume gas checks would not be needed.

I am going to try to stick with basic powders that are versitile. Like Unique, 2400, ect... as I will also eventually be casting for other calibers as well along with a rifle or two.

Looking forward to soaking in all the awesome information on this site, there is so much that it can be overwhelming at first. I am a research and learn first then do, type of person so I think I have come to the right place. So with all that said I guess my first questions are: What are some recommendations for good commercial cast, and what hardness would you look for. also would gas checks be needed for those lighter loads?

Thanks in advance,
Mike

[Walter Laich]

Welcome!
check out the stickies at the top of each sub forum. World of info in them.
I would check around were you live and see if anyone is casting in the area. That way you would save shipping on cast bullets. You can also check with the commercial casters and see what Bn (hardness) they are casting. That will give you an idea to shoot for at least to start out.
Also powder may be what is available in your area. Know if you buy on-line or by phone you have a haz-mat fee tacked on top of the cost of the powder and primers.
Get a good reloading manual and do some reading. Reloading/casting is not hard but a mistake can ruin you day not to mention your pistol/hands.
When you get to the casting part check our Swapping/Selling section for deals on lead. You can still find it at a reasonable price.
As you plow your way though this site be sure to ask questions. It's the cheapest and least painful way to learn :)

walt

[ShooterAZ]

As you prepare your "wish list" for boolit casting, please put at the top of your list some good reloading manuals. The Lyman 49th edition reloading handbook, and Lyman 4th edition cast bullet handbook are highly relevant to the adventure you are about to embark on. There are many other good manuals available from all the major bullet makers. as previously mentioned, spend some time in the stickies as there is a wealth of education in them. I can't help much with recommendations for commercial cast, but I could send you a few boolits for your 357 & 44 to try if you like. Proper boolit fit to cylinder & barrel is primary, boolit hardness arguably secondary. Gas checks are not generally needed for moderate loads. Hope this helps and welcome to the forum!

[mmt44]

Thank you both for the responses. I have the Lyman 49th edition. First manual I bought. Need to get a couple more. Also need to slug the bore and chambers I know for proper fit as I understand fit is everything. ShooterAZ, I would be overjoyed to try out some of your boolits. Just let me know what I need to do, and thanks for the generosity. Been reading up on the stickies, wow, this could take awhile, lol.

Mike

[ShooterAZ]

PM me your address, and we'll put together a small care package.

[runfiverun]

nice,, shooter....
just keep on looking around the site, you'll find what works best for most every body.
but I'd bet you most often are recommended a bhn of about 10-12 and a 358/430 diameter for your needs.
see what powders are available to you in your area and work with that.
someone's recommendation of bullseye or unique isn't gonna be any good if all you can find is clay's or green-dot.

[mmt44]

10-12 bhn does seem to be pretty common. Would that level of hardness be sufficient as long as they aren't pushed hard? I would think so, but I'm the beginner here. Powder is a slight issue, lots of big box stores around, but they don't carry anything hardly. Couple of private run stores I will have to check into. Thanks.

Mike

[Pb2au]

Welcome to the site.
Get creative on looking for powder, and as runfiverun said, don't get discouraged when you have a hard time finding the usual suspects for powder. Hit those stickies and search the threads for info. A lot of cartridges get loaded with the less than "popular" powders.
If you don't have one yet, get a reloading manual. If you can find Lyman's cast bullet manual, even better.
Good luck!

[mmt44]

Appreciate the info. Yep, Lymans cast reloading manual is the next one on the list as I can see myself needing it a lot in the future.

Mike

[runfiverun]

10-12 bhn is about all I use.
I push it as hard as I feel necessary.
even a plain based boolit can be shoved along surprisingly fast.
I routinely push plain base cast to over 1600 fps in my lever guns, I use the same loads in my revolvers but generally don't bother to chronograph them.
I'm not a huge handgun guy I shoot them often enough, I just don't get all that involved with the details for them.

[mmt44]

I don't really intend on pushing anything to the extreme. Might be interesting to try once in awhile but for 99 percent of my hunting/shooting mid range stuff is more than adequate. I will eventually be loading and casting for my 30-30's as well. Both marlins with micro groove but from what i've heard its ok just have to size a little bigger. Thanks for all the info.

Mike

[GP100man]

A powder that makes $$ go futher is Hodgdons "CLAYS" it`s very dense & not case fillin (usually don`t recommend it for beginners as ya can almost triple charge a 357mag case)but if available we do what we gotta.

A158-180gr. boolit over 4.5-5grs. makes a good all around load (1K fps.) for shooting what needs shooting , this is in a 357 case

I`ve shot a bunch of 38s with 3 grs under same boolits.

This is a very fast powder & not for full mag loads.

& WELCOME TO :cbpour:

GP

[MtGun44]

No need to go very hard. Air cooled wwts (11-12 BHN) or even softer are fine up to
about 1500 fps with plain base good design and good lube.

For your 1000 fps 240-250 gr, find a Keith design, Lyman 429421 or RCBS 44-250-K and
size to the diameter of your cylinder throats (front) and load over about 9-10 gr of
Unique. Accurate and comfortable, will pretty much kill anything that stands in front
of it.

Bill

[mmt44]

Been seeing a lot of recommendations for clays around lately. Might have to try and find some. Also a lot of the commercial vast stuff you see is bevel base boolits. I assume for ease of extraction from moulds. Does the bevel base stuff increase possibility of leading more than plain base? Would seem so, but i'm no expert. Will be off shortly on a hunt for powder, we'll see what i can find.

Mike

[Animal]

mmt44, I started out using Hodgdon Clays (not universal or international). A little dab goes a long way and doesn't cost much. Don't worry too much about boolit hardness. Find a load that gives the ideal accuracy within the published data, then you can tweek the hardness when you establish the load. In fact, when you get your commercial boolits you can probably experiment with lube before getting carried away with hardness.

I'm new to casting myself and my reloading bench rarely sees a copper jacket. Eventually you may find that your commercial cast boolits will find their way into your casting pot :D. My commercial cast boolits are scheduled to be melted down and used as rifle boolits in the coming months. So far, the hardness of clip-on wheel weights is more than sufficient for my handgun needs. The harder commercial cast will probably make fine 7.62x39ers.

Welcome to the forum and the addiction!

[Landshark9025]

Welcome! I am fairly new to reloading just ordered my casting supplies, so take my opinion for what it is worth.

I have shot about 1k Berry's hard cast 158g sec in 38spl. Good accuracy, but messy. Commercial cast bullets are beveled for mold release and ease of case loading. They are also really hard to prevent damage in shipping. The article "From ingot to target" is a great resource.

You can also get plated bullets fairly cheap from Berry's, Xtreme or others. I have shot a couple thousand of those on my way to deciding to cast my own. They are "good". Gotta figure....if they were great, I wouldn't have ordered casting equipment. :)

[mmt44]

With the plated bullets, with no place to crimp, do you have any trouble shooting out of a revolver? Seems like they would jump some. Or do you just crimp them anyway? Roll crimp or i guess you could taper crimp them. Also with the plated, are they strictly target bullets or can they be used for other things as well?

[runfiverun]

they are soft lead coated with copper by electroplating.
they actually have a lower velocity window than a naked cast boolit has.
the plated boolits do real well in stuff like the 45 acp and the lighter 38 special loads.
but that's where home made cast boolits shine too.

if you roll crimp into a plated bullet you'll most likely break the plating and have leading in your barrel.
many of them have a canellure rolled into the plating and you put a light roll crimp there, or taper crimp.

[TXGunNut]

Welcome to the affliction, after all the good advice above all I can add is jump in there and get started. After a few years and more than a few dollars invested I still don't have "everything" and hopefully never will. If you have a mould, alloy, a heat source and lube you have enough to get started on a wonderful journey.

[trucker76]

Some advice from a new caster. Casting is pretty cheap. Start looking for lead now. If it's too tough check out metal recyclers, $.60-$.70/lb is average to buy from them. Instead of buying more bullets to reload I took a break and saved that money for a few weeks and got a furnace, 2 molds, and some liquid lube for around $125. Then I snagged a camp stove, cast iron pot and some other supplies for smelting the lead into ingots. Find them at flea markets or yard sales to save money. I just did my first cast yesterday and have a bowl full of good .45 bullets (about 800). I bought my lead from a metal recycler and spent about $150 for 130lbs of wheelweights (smelted weight) and 100lbs of pure lead. I mix them 50/50 with 2% tin. I used about 26lbs of my lead for those 800 bullets (230gr). If you can find your lead cheaper or free all the better.

Good luck and welcome to the addiction.

[Landshark9025]

To echo runfiverun, the Xtreme plated swc can be had with a cannelure. Xtreme recommends not exceeding 1500fps velocity, Berry's recommends 1200max. I was only pushing 38 SPL +P loads.

I crimp in a separate step than seating, so it makes it easier to control. Just a light roll crimp was all I needed. Here is a photo showing different crimps as defined by number of turns on the die. I settled on just a hair over .5. .75 was too much. The others were just to see if I could crack the plating. I couldn't, but I imagine it would have torn if they were loaded with powder and fired.

101475

And again, there is a reason I just hit the "submit" button on an order from Midway today for a furnace, mold, thermometer, ladle, sizing die, etc. Reloading with store bought is better than buying ammo, but it feels like a compromise and a half measure.

[HeavyMetal]

mmt44:
Glad to hear your working on getting into casting, the 44 and 457 mags are both good calibers to load for no need for gaschecks and pwders can be narrowed down to Two WW 296 for full power and Unique for everything else, standard pistol primer only you'll see good groups with them.

Boolits? Like Lee molds but have yet to see a design in either of thes caliber I like save the 357 125 RF I can strongly recommend RCBS 44 and 357 SWC molds I have had both and they cast great and shoot very well.

Lyman 429421 and 358477 are two great choices and come in 4 cav molds if you can find a deal on them, LOL!

Check out www.hollowpointmold.com some times Eric will have a surplus mold on sale plus the "eye candy" is worth the visit.