Speaking Truth To Newbies

[Char-Gar]

For all you folks new to casting, I would like to give you a heads up about human nature as manifested on this and other internet boards.

This is prompted by a recent thread where a new caster was experiencing frustration because he bullet bases were not as clean and smooth as those show in pictures posted here. He wanted to know what he was doing wrong. After he posted a picture, it was clear he was doing nothing wrong, just had unrealistic expectations based on the pics that others had posted.

Please realize that all pics posted (including mine) have a big "brag factor" to them. We post pics to show you what we have or did and any helpful information is very much a secondary concern. Therefore, our bullets are "enhanced" to one degree or another and out targets are the best we have produced. We don't show you our run of the mill bullets or the targets we didn't bring home to photo.

There is nothing wrong with this and we all do it. However, I always take the pics and posts for what they are, i.e. an expression of human nature. I started casting many decades before Al Gore invented the internet and therefore knew the reality of this craft long before the pics and posts started to be a part of our world. With this experience, I can pretty well divide the wheat from the chaff and it is mostly chaff.

I truly want to see all new folks get off on the right foot and don't get their heads filled with unreal expectations due to the brag factor of pics and posts. Just trying to keep it real for you guys.

[edctexas]

I would always want to polish my boolits before showing them to someone else. This makes them shinier, removes any excess lube. I don't do that on normal reloads. I also would not show pix of ones with seater marks on the boolit or marks from the wrong nose in a sizer. So please remember that good working boolits don't always look like movie stars.

Ed C

[Love Life]

If only the new casters could see the boolits I accept. For my pistols, if it 75% resembles the cavity in the mould, then it gets loaded and shot. Rounded bands, wrinkles, raised sprue cuts, etc.

Those are my everyday boolits, I have been shooting them for years, they shoot straight and hit stuff hard.

[JWFilips]

Char-Gar,
Very well spoken!
Jim

[Duckiller]

Newbies meed to remeber "Always shoot your boolits". If they hit where you want them to go then they are GOOD! Lots of us can't shoot of our back porch so we cast to have plenty of ammo when we get to a range. The main objective of this hobby is to get a hole in something near where we want the hole. Your really pretty boolits, after they have been shined up, should go into a shadow box on the wall.

[GhostHawk]

On a good day I only cull perhaps 3-5% of boolits cast, but on a bad day it can be as high as 30-40%.

Some days stuff just doesn't work right, ask any plumber. Some days the solder flows, and any monkey can do the job. Other days it just doesn't work no matter what tricks you pull out of the box.

Clear sky's, dryer air = better days casting for me. Humidity can be a factor.

The other day I started casting and noticed that the sprue was cutting hard. But I persisted, kept slogging away at it.

After about 40 casts all of a sudden the sprue's were snapping clean and easy. Temp finally got a bit warmer in the pot?
Mold finally warmed up? Who knows, but at that point I was in the groove, thought stopped. I just cast. When my arms got tired I refilled the pot for another day, and unplugged it.

When it all comes together its a bit like Zen, your in the groove, the melt is hot enough, the mold is working, the boolits come out shiny, well filled, all is well in heaven and earth. I stop thinking, and worrying, and just exist in the moment.

It won't always happen, or you may get interupted, no sweat. Just turn off the pot, there will be other days.

When it happens you cast until your out of lead or your arms get tired. And maybe you refil the pot, take a 10 min break and do it again.

Main thing is don't sweat it. A lot of this casting is experience, and we all started with none pretty much.

[1911KY]

I for one just post what I have done. I don't go out of my way to pluck the best. Many folks on here are much better at this than I am, so I don't post pics to brag or boast, more to share with others as I think everyone enjoys seeing pics.

I am fairly new to this, but have had pretty good success due to my research and understanding of what I am trying to do. I don't accept casts where the driving bands have voids, but I do take them with small voids in the bullet tips because I powder coat them. A super clean sprue cut is not overly concerning to me either. Powder coating takes care of a lot of this. My first casting session I remelted half of casts. Since then I have learned to heat my molds sufficiently and have started with good bullets from the get go.

These are typical results for my casts, as you can see they are by no means perfect.
http://i1159.photobucket.com/albums/p628/jamesearnett/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20140830_015748_zpsyc95xkpg.jpg

I try to encourage everyone to ask questions and share their experiences. Pics just make things more interesting.

[Love Life]

Here are my final thoughts on it:

A) Cull for the right reason
B) Nobody ever became a better shooter at the reloading bench and casting pot

Let me elaborate:

Cull for the right reason- If you are shooting benchrest, sillywets, Bullseye, long range, long range BPCR, etc then absolutely cull away and be happy. If you are loading for a "Defense" gun like the Glock, 1911, XD, etc then a heavy culling is not necessary. I challenge all here, excluding the accuracy match shooters, to weight/visual sort 100 boolits and then just grab a random 100 bullets after a casting session. Load both batches of those bullets to the best of your abilities. Go to the range, and shoot them on target as best you can. Look at the results. That will really tell you if your efforts are worth it.

Nobody ever became a better shooter at the reloading bench or the casting pot- Trigger time can't be replaced. Yeah you can dry fire with lasers and stuff, but it just isn't the same. While people are spending time worrying about the minutia at the pot and the bench (see cull for a reason before match guns are brought up to address this point), others are on the range shooting and proving concepts...and getting better.

[waco]

I agree with LL. Life is too short to nit pick plinking Ammo for handguns. All I look for to weed out is rounded bases and driving bands. Other than that, they get loaded. Targets out to fifty yards will never know the difference.

Rifle boolits on the other hand is a different story all together.

And yes. I'm guilty of polishing boolits for pictures too! :)

[flyingmonkey35]

To all you Old timers.


Your knowledge and expertise is appreciated and welcome.

To the new caster's.

The only dumb question is the on unasked.


Just remember a ask a dumb question you may get a dumb response.

[emoji205]

[dragon813gt]

Feel free to judge me.
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa39/dragon813gt/Firearms/Reloading/E11C0E0B-76CC-4F50-97C1-48D6A67D5D9A-318-0000002ECD4AA68F.jpg

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa39/dragon813gt/Firearms/Reloading/9753082D-8B17-4761-B807-F8E65B7D6DA4-15008-000007EDBFB0304A.jpg

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa39/dragon813gt/Firearms/Reloading/A63C0E40-57BA-47F4-BE0B-8D750632B315-11736-0000069F9B9519DB.jpg

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa39/dragon813gt/TimeToMakeAmmo/1FFF390C-A861-4A79-A05B-3E32848DB531-16881-00000A9602690D73_zpsdb7ce7d2.jpg

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa39/dragon813gt/TimeToMakeAmmo/E24870D1-2CA7-49BD-9469-CF4A1BCCD109.jpg

Don't care what others think. I just wanted to post pics. I could have really spammed this thread ;)

[doctorggg]

dragon813gt they all look shootable to me. I do enjoy looking at pictures.

[Love Life]

Dragon813gt- I find those bullets reprehensible and offensive. If you expect to get phone numbers and free gas money then you need to slap some coating on them bad boys to hide the ugly.

[edadmartin]

great insight into the head of a new caster. Love the poster who said if its 75% and looks like a bullet Ill shoot it . cool.

[smokeywolf]

To those who are disenchanted with their casting results, just send them to me and I'll see if I can do something useful with them.

smokeywolf

[Love Life]

I'm not disenchanted at all!! If it falls from the mould and cools then there is a very high chance I'll shoot it.

However, NOE moulds really reduce the amount of culling necessary. Why, just today I cast 103 keepers from my new 453423 2 cavity mould. Only the 1st 20 casts were rejected because that is how I clean and break in a NOE mould!!

[dragon813gt]

Dragon813gt- I find those bullets reprehensible and offensive. If you expect to get phone numbers and free gas money then you need to slap some coating on them bad boys to hide the ugly.

I'm perfectly happy w/ my old nasty grease lubes. I'm not getting on the PC bandwagon. I don't shoot competitively I get a kick out of the looks I get when at the range. I had one guy ask me where he could buy black powder 9mm rounds :sly:
There isn't near enough smoke to warrant that question but I digress.

Most of the bullets I posted were sent down range w/ a bang and puff of smoke. Just thinking about that smell makes me antsy to go shoot :D

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa39/dragon813gt/Firearms/Reloading/831BCBFE-79AC-4735-B58E-67AE23918C03-12837-000007A3AB887AB5.jpg

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa39/dragon813gt/TimeToMakeAmmo/38FE2EE7-8B61-4978-A960-1CD589413040-631-00000026CF48C7F0.jpg

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa39/dragon813gt/TimeToMakeAmmo/7A08331E-8A14-4D95-B32C-4A90876625E2-32242-00001AC03CD8FB09_zps3fb38fc6.jpg

[1911KY]

The flat wadcutters are crazy looking! I need to get a mold for those.

[Bullwolf]

Very well said Char-Gar. I forget from time to time that we get so many here that are very new to cast lead boolits.

Pictures from books and magazines were all that I had to go on when I got started as well, since there was no internet yet. I got my cast start with printing type, as my family was in the printing business. Printing type will cast differently than pure lead or wheel weight lead. It also melts earlier, and is much shinier.

I was surprised at just how dull and different looking my first cast boolits were from wheel weight lead, and how the sprues, boolits, and alloy acted compared to casting from straight print type alloys. Some of my Mono-type alloy was so hard that it was prone to break or shatter if not diluted some with pure lead.

Until recently (after purchasing foundry pure alloys from Rotometals) I had cast almost all of my boolits from either straight type metal, Wheel Weight lead, or a mixture of the two. When I got started I had almost no soft lead except for a few spacers, and a large amount of print type on hand.

I've noticed many boolit mould designers cast from straight Linotype when they want perfect fill out, and a really good example (or picture) of their boolit design. I had no idea whatsoever about tin back then either. I vaguely knew that it was added to Linotype from time to time for the type machines, but I couldn't have told you why.

Nowadays Linotype is quite rare. I hate to think of how much straight Lino I have wasted. Lino is also not a common alloy choice for most pistol or rifle hunting boolits. Linotype will cast a larger and shinier boolit than wheel weight lead (as will Lyman #2) so it can be somewhat deceptive.

I have shot my fair share of ugly dull mystery alloy boolits myself. WW lead, mixed with other scrounged lead. Most tumbled in mule snot (LLA) to boot, and would likely have made a magazine photo shoot editor cringe. They worked great, but sure weren't very pretty too look at. I've shot many ugly boolits, but I rarely took pictures of the ugly ones.

I'm guilty of posting pictures of extremely shiny alloy boolits, overly tumbled or lemi-shined brass, and/or nickel plated brass. I have even taken the time to wipe Alox or 45-45-10 off of boolits in pictures as well. I guess we are all just attracted to shiny things like a magpie.

Here's hoping the new caster's and re-loader's don't get any unreal expectations from the images shown here. I really do enjoy seeing the amazing photos many post of their cast, and those colorful powder coated boolits.




- Bullwolf

[Lefty Red]

Thank Goodness! I was hoping I wouldn't have to leave due to poor performance! :)

[Love Life]

I'm perfectly happy w/ my old nasty grease lubes. I'm not getting on the PC bandwagon. I don't shoot competitively I get a kick out of the looks I get when at the range. I had one guy ask me where he could buy black powder 9mm rounds :sly:
There isn't near enough smoke to warrant that question but I digress.

Most of the bullets I posted were sent down range w/ a bang and puff of smoke. Just thinking about that smell makes me antsy to go shoot :D






I do not PC. I use HI-TEK exclusively. How rude to state otherwise and I'm filing a formal complaint as soon as I can get Hamish's attention.

[Garyshome]

My boolits are so bad i don't take them out in public!

[runfiverun]

why wouldn't you strive for the best you can do?
heaven knows I don't make all of mine great, but I throw enough of them back that I at least get a good margin.
my mom does shoot my boolits sometimes and I don't want her seeing shoddy work.
besides, getting good consistent boolits is nothing more than paying attention to details and making some notes if it helps you.
mine don't come out super shiny I'd be worried if they did, the key is getting to that zone and staying there.

[TXGunNut]

I always keep a few shiny boolits from a new mould's first run for photo ops but when things get rolling good the boolits are generally a bit frosty. Never bothered to polish one, tho. Funny thing, I keep a sample row of my boolits on my desk at work. Most of them are actually culls, never had anyone notice. Some are lubed with SPG, some checked & lubed with LLA. Some just nekkid-they don't stay shiny long anyway. Pretty is as pretty does.

[bangerjim]

New members seem to get totally lost in the weeds on hardness and quality of boolits. Reading is good.....overthinking is not.

My recommendation is shoot anything that does not have voids! Wrinkles, smeared bases, frosties, etc are all acceptable. Unless you are taking pix. Then most of us ONLY show the very best! Shame on us!!!!!!!!!

Whether you choose grease or PC, they are all fun. And this hobby keeps me out of the bars and warehouses!!!!!!

Don't overthink this relative simple and very fun hobby! Just shoot 'em.

banger

[TXGunNut]

We all like a pretty picture now and then. :mrgreen:
116218

[303Guy]

Now that you mention it, I used to cast golden boolits. My then ageing digital camera had a way of altering the color in low light making them look golden. Pretty cool.

I used to be hung up on pretty and shiny boolits then one day I picked up a fired one and discovered the groove impressions stood proud of the lands! Gas cutting. I had read about wheel weights and lino-type and all that. I also noticed that my ugly, soft, grey and fat looking boolits from crappy lead shot way better. Luckily I had a pile of that scrap lead that I got for next to nothing. There was nothing wrong with the castings, just the color and a kinda expanded appearance. My cull rate was very low come to think of it but then 44mag boolits are cast friendly.

[smoked turkey]

This is a great where the rubber meets the road thread. I call this real world casting/loading/shooting. I admit to taking extra time cleaning brass because it not only looks better, but mainly because it functions better in my dies and chamber. I am glad to know that others often keep their less than perfect boolits. Most of my boolits are used for punching paper in the back yard and almost no one else ever sees my targets. A less than perfect boolit is perfectly suitable.

[triggerhappy243]

this thread has to be the most inspirational thread I have yet to read. And I am reading alot of them. most of you have read the trouble I have been having trying to cast bullets for my 44 mag. to say I am frustrated is an understatement. I have decided to melt everything I have done and start over. If I cannot make it work at that point, I will cut up this lyman mould, sell the pistol and make due with my 45. I feel soo much better now.[smilie=w:

[A pause for the COZ]

I have no idea what you guys are talking about.... I have never shined up a boolit just for a photo...[smilie=1:

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d66/Kelly2215/100_8342.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d66/Kelly2215/100_8343.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d66/Kelly2215/100_8344.jpg

[303Guy]

Ummmm ..... it had never occurred to me that you folks did shine up your photo boolits! :mrgreen: I was thinking like "sheesh these guys are good". Well actually you are good.:drinks:

P.S. Nice photo's and nice boolits! (Shined up or not!)

And buy the way, we enjoy and welcome newbies. :drinks:

[possom813]

I read this thread, and I think y'all hid some kind of messages in it, now I feel the urge to pick up an hp mold or two...


And to those that are worried about their boolits not shining, a small piece of 0000 steel wool does wonders [smilie=w:

[dragon813gt]

why wouldn't you strive for the best you can do?


I don't think anyone is saying not to strive for perfection. But for new casters it's best to not fret over it. Rifle bullets are a different game entirely if you want to push them to high velocity. But for run of the mill pistol bullets you can get by w/ some imperfections. I don't know if it was mentioned yet. But the base is the most important part. Nose imperfections, w/in reason, aren't going to effect it. But a poorly filled out base w/ rounded edges is going to be a problem.

Sorry for turning this into a photo thread :(

[Boyscout]

Casting is almost a hobby unto itself. We try to achieve "perfection" just because it's fun. I polish every bullet that I use LLA on becuase the mule snot collects dust and picks up debris. Even my frosty bullets look more polished after I'm done. I have two lubrisizers now and I don't polish much now except to wipe off some excess lube after I load. I don't like the looks of frosty bullets much but they shoot the same so I don't cull them.

I do weigh all my rifle bullets and cull the extremes and those with imperfections on the base or visible inclusion. For handguns, I inspect the base and the driving bands. When I give a box to my brothers, I tend to give them the shiny ones.

[44man]

I have always posted pictures to make a point after discussion but I might have a shiny boolit somewhere! Or not. I might toss one out of 100 since I don't cast rejects, too easy to get good ones. Comes from casting something for over 61 years I guess.
I never weigh any boolits, even for my rifle. Went through that useless exercise a few times, nit picking to find they shot worse in the end. Sprue cuts mean nothing unless you have lumps that mess up a GC. The little tears don't hurt.
I make a mess because I don't like lube sizers so I lube by hand with Felix mostly, hate TL. I get lube on the nose so I scrape excess with a thumb nail so I don't waste lube, the rest stays, Only place I don't want lube is in crimp grooves, thumbnail again, same on the base. Lee push through, upside down to keep checks in place. I never wipe anything.
Friend seen me take loads out of the MTM box once and asked what all the dirt was on the noses. I told him I tumble brass, size and seat primers, then put them in the box, get walnut media in there. Boolits don't mind at all.
The secret is to relax and ignore all the nit picking stuff. Sending dirty looking boolits to 500 meters and out shooting rifles with huge scopes is a pleasure. I have had more rifle shooters pack up and leave after shooting revolvers that I can't count anymore.
Cast is KING! Even my 30-30 Marlin has done 5/16" at 100 yards. Holds under 1" all day. Not a single boolit has seen a scale.

[Garyshome]

My boolits are better then some and not as good as others. But they shoot pretty well!

__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ ___________

I also know a thing or 2 about a thing or 2!

[Love Life]

44man- I'll shoot against you at 500 yds with my rifle. Just for fun though...

Seriously, it's not hard to rain keepers from a mould. I only cull the seriously disfigured ones as I'd rather be shooting!!

[country gent]

To help put the culling in perspective, off and on this past summer my shillouette ( bpcr) has been short on bullets so in a couple matches he shot pulled bullets. 20-1 alloy bullets pulled with a pair of side cutters at some point in time and reloaded. These had a grag mark on each side of the nose from the side cutters. Hes been shooting in the mid to high 30s and placing with these bullets. This has me questioning little wrinkles and frosty spots now LOL. He has shot these from 100yds to 500 yds. and they performed good for him. I beliee alot of the bullets thrown back are actually good bullets that are useable.

[Thumbcocker]

mmmmmm boolit porn.

[cbrick]

why wouldn't you strive for the best you can do?
heaven knows I don't make all of mine great, but I throw enough of them back that I at least get a good margin.
my mom does shoot my boolits sometimes and I don't want her seeing shoddy work.
besides, getting good consistent boolits is nothing more than paying attention to details and making some notes if it helps you.
mine don't come out super shiny I'd be worried if they did, the key is getting to that zone and staying there.

Exactly!

I can say in all honesty that I have never polished or otherwise shined up a boolit to take a picture of it. I have a photo of a boolit from most of my molds for my loading notes, none of these boolits were picked selectively to pose for the camera, they were picked at random from a casting session. For the most part these are the pics that I post here.

Now again in all honesty I did selectively choose a pic for a thread started by Goodsteel where he was posting pics of how bad his bases were and he was right, they were really bad. I had a pic from several years ago of an absolute perfect base on a 35 cal boolit and posted that. To this day I can't help but chuckle a little as I envision Tim going cross eyed looking at that picture. :mrgreen: On the other hand it did show Tim that good bases are possible. Tim, hint: A bit of tin goes a long way to cleaning up those bases.

So Run5 is right . . . Why wouldn't you strive for the best you can do?

It is just as easy to make a good boolit as it is a lessor quality one. I couldn't care less what anyone else thinks of my boolits be it good, bad or indifferent. I do care a great deal of what I think of my boolits. As my Dad told me many times when I was growing up - If it's worth doing it's worth doing the very best you can. If it's not worth doing the best you can it's not worth doing.

Rick

[44man]

44man- I'll shoot against you at 500 yds with my rifle. Just for fun though...

Seriously, it's not hard to rain keepers from a mould. I only cull the seriously disfigured ones as I'd rather be shooting!!
Always welcome but my best at 500 with a revolver was 2-1/2", clanged steel rams at 500 meters every shot but had to aim my red dot at a tree limb about 26' over steel. No way to adjust for it with a red dot so need something high to aim at.
I hit 4 out of five on the 6" swinger the rifle guys were shooting with rifles at 400 yards. I asked them if I could shoot at it. First shot a sighter my spotter seen, Had to put the bottom of the dot on top of the 500 meter berm. Pete also hit the swinger 3 times after I told him where to hold. We used the .475 BFR for that. Mass leaving of rifle guys but some came to see what we were shooting. They could not believe we were shooting cast from a revolver, Creedmore, no bags.
The only game I never tamed is BPCR, have a Browning I never mastered. My revolver will out shoot it all the time.

[44man]

It is just as easy to make a good boolit as it is a lessor quality one. I couldn't care less what anyone else thinks of my boolits be it good, bad or indifferent. I do care a great deal of what I think of my boolits. As my Dad told me many times when I was growing up - If it's worth doing it's worth doing the very best you can. If it's not worth doing the best you can it's not worth doing.
Your dad must have been a great man, hope he is still with you. If not, I give a prayer.
Respect is earned and I have more respect every day when you post truth. I miss my father, he taught me to work and learn. Do not ever say "I can't", get on the roof and take the roofing off and put new up. Pipe leaks, fix it. Car quits, fix it. The new generation wants a quick fix without work. Find it on the phone. Find it on the puter. They can't make change in the stores today unless it is put in the computer. I see blank stares when I give change.

[Love Life]

Can we please not let this thread degrade into a generational war? I'll start saying mean and true things about prior generations if it continues on this route.

Save that garbage for the pit.

[Elkins45]

I strive for the best, but many times I am willing to accept less. Pistol bullets have a much lower bar to reach than rifle bullets, especially those destined for hunting do. If it looks halfway decent I will shove it in a pistol case and blast it down range, but rifle bullets need to have flat bases and sharp driving bands or I will throw them back in the pot. There's a soup can on my reloading bench just to catch rejects to give them a second chance. Hopefully I will discover these flaws before seating a gas check.

[auto5man]

Very well said Char, thanks for that post!

[Fishman]

I recently loaded and shot some boolits that were cast by me over 20 years ago. I shot tons of them prior to seeing anyone else's castings. Always fun and actually some decent results. Anyway, they were awful looking, with rounded bases, wrinkles, and a thick uneven coat of alox. You know what? They shot just fine and for what I was using them for, they were perfect. The cans never saw what hit them! No leading either.

Great post as usual Char-gar.

[Love Life]

Great post as usual Char-gar.

Char-Gar is the man and has my nomination for the Golden bullet award. His advice is always spot on, backed by experience, and given in a no BS kind of way.

I am not being facetious.

[MBTcustom]

[QUOTE=cbrick;2929617]Exactly!

Now again in all honesty I did selectively choose a pic for a thread started by Goodsteel where he was posting pics of how bad his bases were and he was right, they were really bad. I had a pic from several years ago of an absolute perfect base on a 35 cal boolit and posted that. To this day I can't help but chuckle a little as I envision Tim going cross eyed looking at that picture. :mrgreen: On the other hand it did show Tim that good bases are possible. Tim, hint: A bit of tin goes a long way to cleaning up those bases.
[QUOTE]

Yeah, I'm figuring that out. Still not getting perfection, but it's much better than it was.

I have no problem with pictures of perfect boolits. If there were no standard, we would not have anything to judge success or failure by. When I found castboolits.com, I had been casting for years, and had never met another person shooting lead boolits except at a cowboy action shoot I went to once, and those guys were all shooting store bought lead boolits. Leading up their barrels just added to the mystique.
I honestly thought I was one of the last holdouts, and when I find this little website dedicated to my sport, I thought "Oh these poor misguided people! I probably know more about this than any of them! I must share my expertice!" LOL!
Didn't take me long to see that I had spent the last 15 years spinning my wheels and doing everything wrong. It was pictures of superb boolits (I'm not going to lie, cbrick, your avatar inspired me to do better long before we ever met or corresponded.)
I saw groups that trumped my best renderings. I saw molds that had been used for years, that still looked new. I read about how to do these things and it worked.
Now that I have gotten through most of the catching up that I needed to do, I feel that I am on the edge, and pushing for perfection. I have made molds, and seen what does what. I have bought quite a few custom molds, and have observed what works and what does not. I have designed boolits that were epic successes, and horrible failures.

I have done all this because I was challenged to do so, and who doesn't enjoy a good challenge?

I guess what I am saying is that most of our membership comes here to learn. Every now and then we hit a home run and post some really awesome stuff, but for the most part, I hang out here because I am surrounding myself with people who are better than me. That's what I need. That's what I want. It takes a while to learn how to do these things, (heck most of the experts here have been pushing for perfection for 30 years or better) but I'm getting there slowly but surely, and I dare say, much faster than the people who did it through the school of hard knocks who had no one but themselves to compete against.
In that sense, I have to say that a picture of a perfect cast boolit is not just something nice to look at. It is also a representation of a man's ability to learn and progress. Those pretty boolits are hard won and it took a long time to be able to make something worthy of a photograph in the first place.

Keep em coming gents. It is greatly appreciated!

[44man]

Can we please not let this thread degrade into a generational war? I'll start saying mean and true things about prior generations if it continues on this route.

Save that garbage for the pit.
What you don't see is experience. Many make boolits shoot better then bullets. go back in time to flint lock shooters that were long range snipers. Look at the shot Billy Dixon made with a 45-70.
Many here are old with experience so don't say you know more. Respect elders.
If you think you can cast better then this old goat, Come show me, you might learn something.

[Love Life]

It has nothing to do with respecting elders. You dished out the following

"The new generation wants a quick fix without work. Find it on the phone. Find it on the puter. They can't make change in the stores today unless it is put in the computer. I see blank stares when I give change. "


Really not relevant to the thread at all. I can discuss how divorce became acceptable, accruing debt, giving away freedoms, latch key kids, alphabet agencies, etc which came through and really messed us up.

However, that is not the point of this thread.

I never said I know more, and I will not blindly respect elders when elders are the ones who sold my country down the river during the gravy times and to save the children.

You start blindly respecting the "Youngsters" and I'll start blindly respecting the "Elders"

Next please.

[Char-Gar]

People learn in stages with obtainable goals at each stage. This is the reason you don't start a child out in 12th grade. If we place unobtainable goals in front of people, most often discouragement and self doubt are the likely results.

Nothing encourages a person to continue than acceptable results early on. This is true in bullet casting and everything else in life.

The notion that we help people by setting unrealistic goals (intentionally or unintentionally) in front of them is just not true. If we truly want to help and encourage people to make progress, we cut back drastically on the brag factor of what we post and try to keep it real. Again, this is human nature and understandable as such, but it sure isn't a good educational model.

If I started into casting today with all the convoluted detail and unrealistic expectations that abound on this board today, I would have dropped out a very long time ago. In one way or another, I have been trying to teach people all of my adult life and that is why I keep coming back here. I just can't get it out of my system. I wish I could.

[Char-Gar]

I don't think anyone should blindly respect any other person of any age bracket. Age alone is not worthy of respect, but character and experience are.

When I turned 40, my Grandmother told me "Son, you are starting to get some wisdom". I was old enough to understand what she meant and was not offended. Knowledge is available to any person of any age. Wisdom is knowing what to do with that knowledge. Experience can be a key element in wisdom, but it is not necessarily so. I know some old folks that are as dumb as a sack of hammers and no wiser than they day they were born. I also know some young folks whose counsel I would take in a heartbeat.

It is a mistake to assume that old folks are wise. Those who can learn from experience probably are, those who cannot probably are not.

It is also a mistake to dismiss old folks as irrelevant but because they are not thinking young anymore. That can cut a person off from much wisdom.

It is also a mistake to think that young people are wrong because they do things different and have different points of view. If we are wise, we will recall that were once doing things different and our elders though we were wrong as well. All of this stuff is a moving target.

If you can combine the energy and creative thinking of youth and the experience and wisdom of old age, you have an unbeatable combination. Unless of course you are just an idiot of any age, and then nothing will help. :-)

One generation did not sell this country down the river, that was done by the politicians. The politicians of my day, no more represented my view wants and desire that the politicians of today do. The political class of any generation represent themselves, those who pay them and their handlers. If you want to blame somebody for the mess, don't blame the old folks, because there were victimized by the politicians just as the young folks of today are.

[mdi]

I agree Char-Gar. When I started casting I only had books fer pictures of "badly cast" boolits, and even those looked better than some of mine! When I purchased cast boolits, they were all filled out, sharp corners, flat bases, and neatly lubed, and I thought I'd never get more than 50% of my boolits looking that good. To carry that over to today with the tons of information available today and the "need it now" type thinking that seems to prevail, new casters can see "perfect" boolits on their computer, tablet, and even their phone. I can see where it would be frustrating for a new caster to see all the "perfect" cast bullets posted on line and in forums, and try to cast some to the same quality.

But on the other hand, pics of "perfect" bullets can be seen as a goal. Another human, with no more intelligence than I, can do that, well so can I! If I never saw a good hand cast boolit and if the best I could hope for is so-so, why try any harder?

I gotta say, I'm guilty of picking out my best, staging a photo so only the good side shows, and choosing the best pic (sometimes the best outta 10), kinda "look whut I done"...

[cbrick]

People learn in stages with obtainable goals at each stage. This is the reason you don't start a child out in 12th grade. If we place unobtainable goals in front of people, most often discouragement and self doubt are the likely results.

Nothing encourages a person to continue than acceptable results early on. This is true in bullet casting and everything else in life.

The notion that we help people by setting unrealistic goals (intentionally or unintentionally) in front of them is just not true.If we truly want to help and encourage people to make progress, we cut back drastically on the brag factor of what we post and try to keep it real. Again, this is human nature and understandable as such, but it sure isn't a good educational model.

If I started into casting today with all the convoluted detail and unrealistic expectations that abound on this board today, I would have dropped out a very long time ago. In one way or another, I have been trying to teach people all of my adult life and that is why I keep coming back here. I just can't get it out of my system. I wish I could.

Unrealistic goals? Unrealistic expectations?

I don't believe for a second that either the goals or the expectations are unrealistic, the only alternative is to strive for mediocrity. If I didn't set much higher standards for myself when I started casting I would still be at the same level of competence I was over 40 years ago.

To not show a "newbie" what is possible is to condemn him to mediocrity, to convince him there is no need, no purpose in working to learn and improving. To do so in my view is unrealistic and a profound dis-service to those that do wish to learn and improve.

Rick

[triggerhappy243]

Amen!

[10mmShooter]

For me shooting is my main hobby, but reloading and casting over the years are now equally my hobbies too. When I'm at the range or at the bench or at the pot, its my Zen time, just focus on the tasks at hand and enjoy it, reloading and casting and shooting for me are all time well spent.


For me and my old eyes most of my guns are more accurate than I can hope for at my age, I know the pretty bullets don't shoot any better and shiny brass does nothing for accuracy, but when I hand my revolver over to a newbie to shoot, I want them to see my best work. I know they would never notice that little blemish on the nose and they can that perfectly filled out base..... but I would know they are there.

[runfiverun]

this definitely isn't a generational discussion it IS about boolits.

I make a lot of boolits so I can do a lot of shooting.
I use the same boolits and loads I shoot at paper and rocks as I use for hunting.
so that box of ammo on the shelf might end up in the truck for deer hunting come October just as easily as it might just be thrown in for an afternoon of plunking rocks down in the canyon.
I do not want to wonder if I can thread a boolit through that opening into whatever part of the deer I can see, or whether this is one of my so-so gonna veer a bit wide not so good boolits in the chamber.
and this type of situation is exactly what I use boolits for.
I take a different set of tools for the open country, across the canyon hunting that also prevails in this area,,,, up until things get tough and you have to go in and get a deer out of that bramble/willow/scrub oak jungle or give up and go home.

we have all had failures in the casting and shooting arena of whatever game we play, and they have all made us better [if we learned from the experience] as much [more] than the wins have.
ask me about trying an oversized [314x304] 314299 on top of a starting jacketed load of 7828 in the 30-06 some time...

yeah you can shoot some pretty ugly boolits at 25 yds and have some success doing so [shrug] and you can just pour them out of the mold, throw some undercoating on them, load them as is, and get them to work too.
but when they don't [or you get tired of 6" groups] is it time to quit? or is it time to ask yourself just what is happening and start looking at cause and effect.
as simple as melting lead and pouring it into a hole in some chunk of metal is, things can get quite complicated along the way.
understanding the what/why of each step from the property's of the alloy itself all the way through the load you choose is the best guarantee to success.
yep,,, you can get bullseye to work and you can get H-110 to work, but how are they going to affect on target performance?
how are they going to work with that harder/softer alloy you happen to have on hand?
make the wrong pairing and you have mediocrity or worse failure, make the right one and you look good.

you need that early success, and that little bit of pride it gives to make it past the starting gate, but after that the next steps come a little easier.
it's the final stages of success [master class] that takes/took the patience, time, and failures to make it happen, you might as well lay out the foundation of good basic fundamentals along the way because they are what got you there in the first place....

[Love Life]

A) Cull for the right reason
B) Nobody ever became a better shooter at the reloading bench and casting pot

For those preaching perfection and doing your best...agree, but there is a time and a place.

Steel matches, random plinking, self defense purposes, etc whatever is the right diameter and leaves the barrel with the speed and accuracy required.

For major accuracy competetions, cull away and make sure every poor is as consistant as possible so you only get the best from the mould. Weigh em, junke em, dance a jig around them as you place them in the box.

If you are getting 6 inch groups at 25 yards, it is time to put the guns in the safe and take up basket weaving!

Just to vindicate myself and my usual castings...my castings are nicer than every commercial boolit I've ordered since I started casting. Some commercial casters should be ashamed of themselves.

[Char-Gar]

Unrealistic goals? Unrealistic expectations?

I don't believe for a second that either the goals or the expectations are unrealistic, the only alternative is to strive for mediocrity. If I didn't set much higher standards for myself when I started casting I would still be at the same level of competence I was over 40 years ago.

To not show a "newbie" what is possible is to condemn him to mediocrity, to convince him there is no need, no purpose in working to learn and improving. To do so in my view is unrealistic and a profound dis-service to those that do wish to learn and improve.

Rick

Place what I said in context of my OP and things look different. You are taking a few words out of context.

[montana_charlie]

For all you folks new to casting, I would like to give you a heads up about human nature as manifested on this and other internet boards.

Please realize that all pics posted (including mine) have a big "brag factor" to them. We post pics to show you what we have or did and any helpful information is very much a secondary concern.
I don't post very often in threads where a newby is asking for casting advice. There are plenty of others with knowledge equal to mine. But, I DO post in threads where a newcomer has posted pictures of his 'product' ... and HAS ASKED for a critique on the quality.
I will not criticize a 'flaw' in a bullet he made unless I can post a picture which illustrates how a bullet looks without that 'flaw'.


Therefore, our bullets are "enhanced" to one degree or another and out targets are the best we have produced. We don't show you our run of the mill bullets ...
There is nothing wrong with this and we all do it.

When participating in one of these discussions, I will normally be talking about rounded corners on driving bands or (most usually) bullet bases.
I can easily post a picture of a good base, because ALL of the bullets I have stored have sharp corners ... sharp enough to 'scrape' when a fingertip is dragged across. If bases aren't that good, they are culled out.
My bullets will also look 'shiny' because I use a lead/tin alloy and the temperatures I cast at do not cause frosting.
When frost begins to occur on my bullets, I slow down my cadence.

You say posted bullets are 'unrealistic' because you 'enhance' your stuff.
And, you think it's 'not wrong' to do that to a newcomer.
Additionally, you would have newcomers believe that 'we all do it'.

I would appreciate it if, in the future, you confine comments like these to those people who you know are as 'disingenuous' as you describe ... and leave the rest of us out of your broad brush painting.

CM

[dtknowles]

Can we please not let this thread degrade into a generational war? I'll start saying mean and true things about prior generations if it continues on this route.

Save that garbage for the pit.

Thanks, LL, you saved me from saying something not as nice.

Tim

[Char-Gar]

I have always heard that in life there are two certain things, death and taxes. I think we can add a third, on this board positive threads will become negative because some grumpy soul will twist things in order to be offended and go on the attack.

You have fun, but I will not play. By y'all!

[dtknowles]

I have always heard that in life there are two certain things, death and taxes. I think we can add a third, on this board positive threads will become negative because some grumpy soul will twist things in order to be offended and go on the attack.

You have fun, but I will not play. By y'all!

Hey, you had your say and said it well. You can stand pat with your posts they don't need defending. Thanks for your thoughts. Wisdom it is.

Tim

[dtknowles]

If you post a photo of a "pretty" bullet just be prepared to take a bit of flak ! :) :)

Jerry

I don't think I will be posting too many close ups of my ammo, I wore out two tumblers and have not replaced them. My brass is looking a little grubby, I do wipe their noses, I don't like stuff sticking to the noses. When I sort my bullets they first go into three piles, perfect, good enough and scrap. I don't preheat my molds so I almost get some scrap until they get up to temperature, they don't really get sorted as the drop right into the scrap box. For rifle ammo sometimes the good enough get scrapped. For rifle ammo sometimes perfect get scrapped if they don't shoot well or lead or don't weight sort in the sweet spot. Pretty does not have much to do with it.

Tim

[twc1964]

Im really glad i saw this thread to confirm my suspicions. I began casting 4 months ago and i have probably cast about 3000 boolits in several pistol calibers and i started right off culling over half of my casts. Now i just shoot em if they will correctly size in my lee push thru and come out the size im looking for. I do cull wrinkled ones or ones with trash in the driving bands but the rest shoot just fine. The goal of this hobby, to me at least is to save over the cost of j words and have a good time. I like having lots of boolits on hand to load as i please and not having to run to my local cabelas and pay too much for something i can make myself.

[500MAG]

I stopped trying to get perfect boolits a long time ago. My "throw back in the pot" bucket gets hit less and less and it's not because I've become a better caster. In most cases, unless the base is a mess, they are a go.

[bedbugbilly]

Char-Gar . . . a great post.

[Bullwolf]

Casting is almost a hobby unto itself. We try to achieve "perfection" just because it's fun. I polish every bullet that I use LLA on becuase the mule snot collects dust and picks up debris. Even my frosty bullets look more polished after I'm done. I have two lubrisizers now and I don't polish much now except to wipe off some excess lube after I load. I don't like the looks of frosty bullets much but they shoot the same so I don't cull them.

I do weigh all my rifle bullets and cull the extremes and those with imperfections on the base or visible inclusion. For handguns, I inspect the base and the driving bands. When I give a box to my brothers, I tend to give them the shiny ones.

I was glad that Boyscout said this. There is a big distinction between taking say Mothers Mag Polish and individually hand polishing every single boolit till it shines, or just wiping tumble lube off boolit noses, or excess Carnuba Red off of boolit bases.

I personally don't like to put boolits with tumble lube on the noses into my media tumbler. If they are already gunky with Alox or 45-45-10 on the boolit noses, then tumbling media just seems to stick or get embedded into it. The loaded rounds also gunk up all of my ammo boxes.

I wipe lube off my boolit bases with a paper towel, and I use a splash of mineral spirits, (or baby oil when indoors ) to help cut the lube off the boolit noses.

Like these Lee 105 SWC boolits. I did not intentionally "polish them" I just wiped the tumble lube off the noses with baby oil and a paper towel.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=98517&d=1403146119&thumb=1

I was being lazy at the time and cast them from straight Linotype because I knew they would cast well right from the start. I wiped the tumble lube off the boolit noses using baby oil and a paper towel. They are shiny because they were cast from Lino, and they were in nickel plated brass so the cases won't tarnish as easily. They are also way harder than was necessary, but they were the first few 105 SWC cast that I used in 9mm.

Since most of my alloys are tin rich, and I cast far under frosting temperatures, the majority of my boolits are real shiny, and perhaps I have a touch of OCD when it comes to tumble lube on my boolit noses

Straight wheel weight lead seems to cast a dull looking boolit, that is harder to get good fill out with, and also oxidizes faster.

I occasionally do cast dull looking boolits... I cast 50+ frosted Lee C430-310-RF cast HOT from a 50/50 mix of Hardball & Pure lead obtained from Rotometals. I wanted to use a somewhat softer and more malleable alloy specifically for use in 44 Magnum.

Here's 50 very shiny UN polished straight Linotype boolits, right from the mould. My print type alloy will often cast with a pink or purple surface oxidization hue.
(that will wipe right off with a paper towel)
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=52374&d=1305080033

Loaded, with tumble lube wiped off the boolit noses.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=52372&d=1305080033

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=52373&d=1305080033

They look pretty, but they are hard enough to be brittle. Frankly they're a waste of precious Linotype. My dull or frosted boolit alloys in most cases actually shoot better.

I'm more likely to let a relative shoot a box of my clean and nice shiny boolits with the lube wiped off the noses, rather than my lower grade mixed range brass, with corn cob media grit stuck in the lube on my boolits.

It's a pride thing. I don't think it's really a big enough issue that we need to say these photos were taken of unpolished or polished boolits.

When I figure out how to take pictures that look as good as GLL (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/member.php?77-GLL) 's do, or learn to cast and size my boolits quite as cleanly as he does, I'll feel like I've moved up to a new level of cast boolit craftsmanship.




- Bullwolf

[dondiego]

"I personally don't like to put boolits with tumble lube on the noses into my media tumbler. If they are already gunky with Alox or 45-45-10 on the boolit noses, then tumbling media just seems to stick or get embedded into it. The loaded rounds also gunk up all of my ammo boxes."

Why would you ever put lubed or even unlubed boolits in a case tumbler? Just curious.

Don

[44man]

Mistakes are to learn from and if I listed all, it would take this whole site. It is what you do after a mistake.
I might have said wrong about age because I have an old friend that stares at me funny and can not get both hands to work together. I wind up casting his boolits.
I sold him a revolver, told him what to load and every time he comes to shoot he has a different load.
It is OK to show your best and only need ask yourself if ALL are like that or did you cherry pick.
I might get one out of 100 a reject because I did not pay attention, experience taught me what caused it and I correct it before I get another.
Same as needing a note book for molds, I must have 100 molds and every one is used the exact same way and they all cast the same. I see no difference between a .22 mold and a 540 gr .45 mold. Friend could not make a good 30 caliber, blamed the mold until I cast a full pot of perfect boolits for him. After watching me, I gave him the mold and he was making perfect boolits.
I am right about new youngsters that want to read how to cast, not going to happen, need to hot the pot and get busy.
Someone will always come in and say you need to pour 5# of lead over the plate.
If you open a mold and see a bad boolit you should know instantly why and correct it, comes with age and experience. I have over 60 years of pouring lead for one thing and another.
I do NOT want to stand over a pot for hours and throw back half. NOT going to happen.

[woodbutcher]

;) Great thread.Sorta reminds me of a joke that I heard many years ago.Maybe y`all might have heard it too.
Young fella walking down the sidewalk in NYC.Stopped to ask an older gentleman"how do I get to"Carnagie Hall"? The answer"Practice son,practice.Same goes for casting.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[nachogrande]

The truth to newbs"

[dragon813gt]

Why would you ever put lubed or even unlubed boolits in a case tumbler? Just curious.

Don

Most likely puts loaded rounds in the tumbler to clean them up after handling them. I only do this w/ jacketed bullets but even then it's rate that I do it.

[Char-Gar]

I'm sure I'm not the only one that may be a "NEWB" to internet forums, that has been successfully getting it done, long before the net existed, (NOT TRYING TO PLAY THE AGE CARD). There are all kinds of newb's, some quite experienced with reloading, but not the net. I'm sure many of us newbs are new to reloading, just as there are some 5 year members with long post counts, that have only been reloading for a relatively short time. I'm sure ALL of us, newb or tenured member will have an acorn of wisdom to share from time to time. "SPEAKING THE TRUTH TO NEWBS" sounds rather looking down your nose/ condescending- ish.

It might indeed be some arrogant jerk being snooty OR is might be some fellow trying to help new casters along to success. I guess it depends on what is in the head of the reader. I choose to believe the latter and give the old coot the benefit of the doubt. It costs nothing to believe the best rather than the worse about a person's motives.

[45 2.1]

B) Nobody ever became a better shooter at the reloading bench and casting pot

Your firearm only shoots as well as what you put in it.................

[Harter66]

When I started I struggled rather badly even after reading the Lyman casting section in the 47th edition several times . I cast gobs of 9mm/38/358 and 45s nice bullets (better now). Rifle bullets were a whole nuther bucket of fish. WW wasn't happy, harder wasn't happy, and more than that I just couldn't get the clean pour. I FINALLY got past that and found that the rifles were part of the shooting problem. I had a bad run getting through that too. The hardest thing was to get over what I thought I knew from jr high metal shop casting. Some of the folks here directed me to the stickies dozens of which I'd read and applied . More than that I'd read dozens more threads looking for an answer that I hadn't tried. Looking back my favorite critique was that the rifle I had in hand didn't exist and therefore I was wrong about everything I had tried and applied to my difficulties.

Many of the posts do lead to expectations above what a beginning caster can produce. Thankfully there are many that are willing to read the whole post and details, and will tell you nope you don't need to have this perfect bullet,but it helps.






There are still a few that just won't read a whole post and reguard a leading problem to be a failure to have a fat enough bullet or a good enough lube . To bad that sometimes its neither. Funny that an "oldtimer" could have read a whole post or 2 weeks before and saved me hundreds of rounds, and hours of scrubbing , damn that roll mark choke. I had to find a solution in the hand cannon forum by mistake.

[milrifle]

I appreciate the thread Char-Gar. Sorry some did not take it in the spirit in which it was obviously intended.

[Love Life]

Your firearm only shoots as well as what you put in it.................

See: Cull for the right reason.

[45 2.1]

See: Cull for the right reason.

I see a lot of that going on most places. Proof is what you can do though....... and that doesn't happen much.

[Love Life]

I see a lot of that going on most places. Proof is what you can do though....... and that doesn't happen much.

That is the truth and is across the spectrum from handguns to rifles...on just about all internet forums.

[dudel]

Well said CG. It ain't the boolit; it's the group on the target. I'd love to be able to produce high percentages of PERFECT boolits. I don't. I've gotten better, but I still get to remelt a number of them. One day, I just decided to see what the less than perfect ones would do. Loaded some up, went out back, and in the 25 yard range, it was hard to tell any difference. They all rang the 3" gong. I'm sure (I HOPE) there would be a difference at 100 yards and beyond, but that's not were I plink at.

I'm not saying I load any misshapen lump of lead; but wrinkles in the nose don' bother me like they used to. I like nice clean bases, and the profile should at least be identifiable. If they meet that criteria, I'm likely to load them. Rifle on the other hand, I tend to fuss over a bit more (don't know why).

It's good to self edit and throw the really, really bad ones back (why waste primers and powder). But I don't beat myself up over the less than perfect. My casting has certainly improved from when I started, and I still have hopes of one day being able to produce a gem like I see here; but then I'm likely to save it and never shoot it. I really don't need queens in the safe. That goes for guns, rifles and boolits.

[Char-Gar]

Well said CG. It ain't the boolit; it's the group on the target. I'd love to be able to produce high percentages of PERFECT boolits. I don't. I've gotten better, but I still get to remelt a number of them. One day, I just decided to see what the less than perfect ones would do. Loaded some up, went out back, and in the 25 yard range, it was hard to tell any difference. They all rang the 3" gong. I'm sure (I HOPE) there would be a difference at 100 yards and beyond, but that's not were I plink at.

I'm not saying I load any misshapen lump of lead; but wrinkles in the nose don' bother me like they used to. I like nice clean bases, and the profile should at least be identifiable. If they meet that criteria, I'm likely to load them. Rifle on the other hand, I tend to fuss over a bit more (don't know why).

It's good to self edit and throw the really, really bad ones back (why waste primers and powder). But I don't beat myself up over the less than perfect. My casting has certainly improved from when I started, and I still have hopes of one day being able to produce a gem like I see here; but then I'm likely to save it and never shoot it. I really don't need queens in the safe. That goes for guns, rifles and boolits.

There are functionally perfect bullets and cosmetically perfect bullets. A functionally perfect bullet does what you want it to do 100% of the time. The purpose of my original post which started this thread is to let new casters know that cosmetically imperfect bullets may indeed be functionally perfect.

This is a distinction that often gets lost amid the pics of enhanced or selected bullets in the pics posted hereabouts, resulting in frustration in some. Not everybody does it, but it is done often enough to result in some confusion among the folks new to casting. I will stand by that is being a true statement.

It was not my intent to be arrogant, insulting or offensive to anybody, just truthful. Those who are offended will just have to look inside their own heads for the source of the offense as it didn't come from me.

[dudel]

There are functionally perfect bullets and cosmetically perfect bullets. A functionally perfect bullet does what you want it to do 100% of the time. The purpose of my original post which started this thread is to let new casters know that cosmetically imperfect bullets may indeed be functionally perfect.


Thanks CG, once again, you said it more clearly than I could. I strive for FUNCTIONALLY perfect boolits. As that group grows, my COSMETICALLY perfect group may as well; but that's not my goal.

Thanks.

[Ickisrulz]

The fact that people post pics of their best bullets and best targets should be intuitive, but it is often not. The same way photographers take hundreds of pictures just to have a few good ones to display or the way Hollywood actors always look their best on screen and 20 years younger. People come away thinking less of themselves by making comparisons when there is no need to. The original post was a good one.

[1911KY]

I am going to load up some of these from the cull pile and see how they fair, as I have never shot anything that I thought might be scrap. Not all of them are serviceable but I think a few of them will get the job done. I powder coat as well so that will really mask some of the cast issues. Most of these have driving bands voids/lines or really bad/deep wrinkles.

http://i1159.photobucket.com/albums/p628/jamesearnett/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20140915_014313_zpsoc3oback.jpg

[fouronesix]

Most newbs to cast bullets or shooting or firearms or reloading or ballistics or hunting usually begin by following the slickest sales pitch/most clever lingo tempered by the cheapest or easiest. Legitimate, long lasting education and understanding usually come from using one's own brain, doing it and finding out what works. Some listen to wrong advice, some don't, some learn, some never progress and give up, some are lazy and some are industrious.

[Bullwolf]

The fact that people post pics of their best bullets and best targets should be intuitive, but it is often not. The same way photographers take hundreds of pictures just to have a few good ones to display or the way Hollywood actors always look their best on screen and 20 years younger. People come away thinking less of themselves by making comparisons when there is no need to. The original post was a good one.

An excellent point Ickisrulz. I recently had the pleasure to attend the wedding of my niece in Carson City NV. I took many many photos while I was there. Some were good, and some not so good. It's not surprising that I did not send the less flattering ones to her of people chewing food, or of those who were talking while I was taking photos.

My photo shop skills just aren't good enough to edit the unflattering things out.

Again, a great post Char-Gar, with an added touch of insight into human nature.


- Bullwolf

[GhostHawk]

I don't see anything in that last pic that I wouldn't load.

Since I'm loading for HV rifles I do tend to be fussy about perfect fill in the gas check area.
Worm lines, or a bit of frost would not stop me from loading and shooting a boolit.

I've yet to see any significant change in POI from cosmetic flaws.