Shooting cast in a .223 bolt action, is it worth it?

[three50seven]

I shoot and load for my CZ 527 carbine in .223. I absolutely love this rifle and love shooting it. Other than a couple of boxes of cheap stuff to break it in, I have fed it nothing but my reloads. So far, they have all been j-words...but I'm wondering if it is worth finding some cast boolits for this rifle and playing around to see how they shoot.

The problem is, I don't cast personally. I buy my boolits (handgun only) from a local source and they are so reasonable and high quality that I can't justify plunging into the expenses of casting my own. Is there a good source for .22 cal cast GC boolits?

[Litl Red 3991]

Googling found one company http://www.montanabulletworks.com/224_Rifle.html at least. It also found a thread on the ASSRA forums about the same question. It was about 10 years old. ASSRA would be the shooters most interested in your quest.

Those bullets are all Linotype with GCs, intended for as high a velocity as possible with "lead".

[MT Chambers]

Using boolits is always worth it esp. if you make your own however, if you can get them cheap it is worth it to work up and accurate load, if for no other reason then to duplicate .22 rf. performance. I can`t get decent accuracy out of cast over 1500 fps. even with about a dozen diff. molds. That`s fine with me esp. in these times of not being able to purchase rf. ammo.

[JeffinNZ]

I believe so. I run my .223 Rem at two speeds. Full power jacketed loads for reaching out and touching varmints at range and cast loads between 2000-2300fps for 150 yard shooting (which is most of is these days). Very satisfying. If you decide the go ahead be sure to check out the NOE site as Al has a lot of a great .224 moulds on offer.

[claudesapp]

MT Chambers mentions it, and I load 22 cast at rimfire velocities - absolutely minimal report and zero recoil. 4.0 grains Blue Dot at around 1200fps with 44 grain Lyman mould. Tons of fun.

[three50seven]

Thanks for the info guys. I see the Lyman CB manual shows data for 4 different weights in .223. I may look into loading up some light loads just to plink around with and not burn up my good stuff.

[JWFilips]

I was told it was a bad Idea....so I went & did it! I shot it in my Remington Sportsman 78 .223 First time out with cast ( no real experience) I shot 1/2 inch 10 shot groups at 50 yds using boolits I bought from "Bullshop" ( banned here but you can find him on the internet under http://bullshop.weebly.com/

[leadman]

I cast and load for a T/C 22 K Hornet and a 23" 223 Rem barrel. Also my Left hand Stag Arms AR15. I have found it is easiest to get accuracy and velocity casting with linotype and coating the gas checked boolits with Hi-Tek coating. I heat treat the linotype if I want really high velocity (3,600 fps+).
I have been buying jacketed for around $10 per hundred and bought these just because of the time and time needed to cast and coat the lead boolits. Wasn't bad when the arthritis was not as severe and I did not have the AR. That thing eats boolits!

[waksupi]

For good results in a .223, it really helps to weigh the bullets for little variation. I was getting around 2650 fps, and a 1 9/16" group when I quit playing with that particular chambering. It isn't user friendly to reload for fat fingers.

[bangerjim]

I cast & shoot the 55gn BATOR design 223 in my Mossy bolt action.....both lo-vel (22LR) load and standard rifle load (with Cu GC), as well as FMJ BT's.

Those little pills are a PITA to powder coat and put GC's on! Just a head's up. But you can easily reload 223's for less than you can find stinking 22LR's these daze.

I BBDT the lil guys, dump them on 1/4" hardware cloth and bake. Yields 90+% good coatings. Only a few with unacceptable lay marks. I just throw them back in the pot.

With a 6 cavity mold, you can really crank out those dudes fast!

I was lucky to find a ton of FMJ BT 223's sometime back for 6 cents per unit, so I use those a lot.

Have fun!

You REALLY need to get into casting!!!!!!! Adds another dimension to your hobby of shooting!

bangerjim

[Jupiter7]

PITA is right. ^^^^^

i also cast and coat but my expectations are not for really accurate ammo. About 4moa with full power. About 3 with a couple grains fast pistol powder. For the non caster, no not worth it, hornady 55grn FMJ can be had for 7.5 cents a piece and bought in bulk. For me, I load jacketed in .223 for my auto loaders and only for precision.

[SniderBoomer]

I cast for a pal with a 22 Hornet who does Pest Control. The NOE 37 grain and 45 grain molds. I gas-check with Pat Marlin's 'tall' Gas-Check, his 22T tool.

Oven-and-quenched, hardened to BHN 30. I lube with 45-45-10.

Also supply softer Plain-Base of both boolits for 22RF plinking, which are appreciated as this isn't likely to contribute to wear of the bore at all.

Small things...truly...a PITA for anyone with eyes over 40 and with 10 thumbs. BELIEVE.

but... they do group well when driven to a velocity for the hardness, and are economically a no-brainer.

[gloob]

Is there a good source for .22 cal cast GC boolits?
Not if you're trying to save any money over jacketed. You have to roll your own, for that.

[GhostHawk]

I have 500 Hornady 55 grain bthp I got for 7 cents each. For serious shooting which I do very very little off I will use these.

But I recently also bought the Bator mold, and checks. I have not yet had a chance to shoot them.

But, being around the same cost as a .22lr, being reloadable, being able to make a cast bullet at need is well, priceless.

I don't intend to make thousands of them. Those gas checks are a bit of a pain. But I can if I ever HAD to. That lets you sleep sound at night.

[Shiloh]

There have been pics showing respectable groups from cast .22 cal boolits.

Shiloh

[Lonegun1894]

I load .223 and cast for it and use them in bolt-actions and a Contender pistol. I have been using jacketed in my AR, but working up cast loads for it is on my short list of projects coming up.

[robg]

if I remember right handloader did an article on this ,tried various molds using 7gr of unique worked well with rcbs 55gr gc boolit

[JWFilips]

I knew I had a photo of one of the first times I tried cast in my .223 Remington Sportsman 78 Bolt gun. My shooting partner said it doesn't work well with cast ( he rechambered his to 222Mag to get a case with a longer cast boolit friendly neck)

I got a few designs off of Bullshop in a sampler pack to try out . This target was shot with his 55 gr CBE design I didn't even work up a load. I just took the Lyman Handloading book info for the "best load" which was with Reloader7 ( knew it wasn't too high in pressure since it was one of the lighter loads listed) shot them and I was amazed ....much fun to shoot!
Since I didn't have any cast boolit type loading tools at that time for the .223 I just partially full sized the cases just to squeeze 1/2 of the neck and then used needle nose pliers to flare the case neck to start the boolit.
Wish I could be so lucky with all my other first time cast boolit projects!;-)
141651

[JWFilips]

Took My Remington Sportsman 78 out today With Bullshop's CBE Spitzer boolits Granted it is only a 50 yard target but the darn .223 bolt gun shoots good , don't you think?
142543

[GhostHawk]

I had my .223 Handi Rifle to the range thursday. 55 grain Bator bullet with gas checks over 5 grains of Red Dot.

Less loud than factory loads, Original point if impact was down a few inches. Still working out fine details yet I had no problems getting 1" groups. Granted they were not all that close, but they were all within a couple inches.
Certainly good enough to shoot a rabbit or a squirrel. About the same price as .22LR with more bullet, more power and reloadable. Good enough for me for now.

[Harter66]

I'm still working on getting a load for 222 and 223 but I'm at $3.58 /20 ,about a dime less for the 222,actually since it is a bolt gun and getting Unique it's a lot less than that . Just ran it down $1.60/20 . Even Wolf steel case is more ,and casting my own I guess I should be amortizing the mould out and figuring something for power and gas but I'm not . Casting your own the first round down range will set you back about $110 but the next 1 is pretty cheap. You can actually get away cheaper than that .
Lee Bator $25
steel pan. $ 5
Spoon. $ 1
lead. $ 1/300 boolits
gas check $24 /1000
sizer die. $15
lube. $ 0.001/100 ???
_________________
$75 bucks for the 1st 1000
$27 bucks for the next 1000 less if you can get WW for less than a buck a lb.

Just me but I look at it like this I have to pay right around $23-35/100 for most of my bullets from the store ,I have the bulk of the gear already ,so I spend between 1 and 3 boxes of bullets for a mould . This even works with comm cast . When I hit that number of bullets the mould is paid for whether it's a $16 2nd hand Lee or a brand new $90 NOE. More than that 45 Colts runs around $38 /50 (apples/apples) and I cast and load for $13/100 it only took 500 boolits to pay for the 6C Lee and a lot less than that at $63/100 difference. I understand it takes longer when it's only $10/100 difference ,but it's worth it to me.

[bangerjim]

I did the "how much does it cost me per cartridge" thing early on when ammo $$ first went thru the roof.

Now these days, I really do not care. IT IS JUST PLAIN FUN...........to make your own! Even if it costs more than comm-ammo, I would still do it.

22LR's show very little sign of getting reasonable again in the next few years. You read of someone on here stumbling across a find, but that is about like finding pewter in a junk store........plain old non-repeatable luck.

All of my 22's were bought at $18/555..............3¢ a round!

Cast and shot away................don't worry about the cost/round! This IS your chosen hobby!

"JUST DO IT"! :cbpour:

banger

[Bad Water Bill]

Several years ago I found a NEW Savage 223 bbl for $30.00.

My long time gunsmith took about 45 minutes to convert it to his favorite 22 cal cartridge.

Harry Mc Gowen swore he had fired OVER 10 K bullets down his 222 and the accuracy was still 1.00 all day long IF he did his job.

Well I cast up a batch of lino and headed to the range.

At about 30 feet every boolit disappeared in a puff of grey stuff.

Yes a 1/9 twist can and will do that IF you push it to fast.:bigsmyl2:

[GooseGestapo]

I have both Lyman 22541 (now called 225415) and Lee Bator. Both cast ~50gr. Bator isn't really accurate. I only load it over 2.5gr Bullseye in the Hornet. It's a bit more powerful than .22 rf, but really works on the armadillo's!
I've long used the Lyman in my .22Hornets. Lately in .223.
I tried w/w alloy in AR's but no accuracy at levels to cycle actions.
My go-to load in .223 is 7.5gr Unique for ~2,100fps. Near 1.5moa from my Rem. Mod-7, which shoots this to zero at 100yds with +2" zero for jacketed. However, since I got a Mossberg MVP last year, the Mod.7 is a dedicated cast boolit gun. Guess which one gets shot the most!

[GhostHawk]

FYI it isn't just cast.

Way way back in the 70's my local gunsmith and I were working up a varmint load for my new then Rem 788 in .243.

Hornady 60 grain boat tailed hollow points. 32 grains of Dupont 3031, but about 2 bullets out of 10 were failing to make it to the target.

So my gunsmith grabbed 2 frames which each held a single sheet of newspaper, set them up about a yard apart.

Boom then all kinds of strange noise from down range. First sheet had a single small hole, dead center. 2nd sheet looked like an explosion had gone off 3 feet away from it. Now I don't know if it was simply going to fast for the air. Or if we were hitting the random mosquito 50 yards down range. Results were the same. We backed the load off to 30 grains and all the rounds would be on target.

Wicked lovely round that was, flat shooting, busting a crow sitting at 3-400 yards was an every day thing.

[smkummer]

Yep, about 7.5 grains unique and lymans 225415 with water dropped WW alloy and a gas check. I am still working up and down from that to find the sweet spot. 3/4" at 50, shooting for 1" at 100 out of my Colt/Sako bolt action 223 of the mid-sixties.