Refining My Casting Technique

I started casting many years ago. I think it was the mid to late 70s. At that time I struggled to get good results casting. Then in 1980 I got started in IHMSA silhouette shooting. I advanced to International class in Production and Unlimited in my second year of shooting silhouettes but that was with jacketed bullets. As the years went by I tried to set a goal each new shooting season to challenge myself. In the mid 80s I drifted away from casting. In about the year 2009 I started to think about getting back into casting bullets to see just how far I could take cast bullets in my silhouette shooting. This became my new "challenge". Again, at least at first, I struggled. Then I found this forum. I started fine tuning my casting technique based on information I gathered here. We all have a standard that we apply to the results we seek. I set my standard high. I wanted the best possible cast bullet I could make. Hitting a silhouette target does not require MOA accuracy in the regular course of fire. But in International class, if you get into a shoot-off to break a tie, the targets can get very small. I've been asked to engage targets as small as 2-3" at 200 yards. That's with a handgun. Obviously, you won't get very far with substandard ammo. In the year 2012, I won the IHMSA Region Two UAS Championship using cast bullets, after a three way shoot-off.
This week I had one of my best casting sessions to date. When I turned off my RCBS Pro-Melt, I had a pile of 401 bullets from an RCBS 7mm 145 Silhouette mold. I then did a visual sort for any bullets that had visible flaws (and I am VERY picky with this step). I found only 16 rejects. I then weight sorted the remaining 385 bullets. I found 16 more rejects that did not fit in my weight variation standard. So I had 369 keepers weighing 150.7 grains, plus or minus .2 grains. 178 of these weighed exactly 150.7 grains. Another 169 were off of the average by only a tenth of a grain The extreme weight variation for the lot was less than 3/10 of 1% and only 32 total rejects out of 401.
Now I will admit to being somewhat obsessive, but as I said, I'm striving for the best cast bullets I can possibly make. It has taken me about 10 years to reach this point in refining my technique. I know that many of you don't need or want this kind of consistency. But it can be done. I'm sure I'm not the only person capable of this and I'm equally sure there are some people capable of even better results. My dad instilled in me the value of always doing the best that you can, in everything that you do.

Good to see the proof of what's possible. But the credit goes to you. It took hard work and persistence, just like your win.

2-3” targets at 200 yards, with a handgun, wow! You must be good.

What alloy do you use?

Each of us feeds our personal need and it is a relentless pursuit until that has been achieved. I am a meat hunter with a tremendous amount of trigger and "dirt" time (30-years spent in the woods killing a LOT of pigs - and other game) thanks to the seemingly infinite "Wildlife Pump" of 10's of thousands of acres of State land adjoining mine.

I am just as picky with a rifle, as are you with a handgun, but for a different reason. On my land it is necessary to anchor the wildlife in its tracks. Searching after dark for someone's wounded boar hog, on hands and knees, through ultra-THICK palmetto and wax myrtle, with flashlight and no gun (on State land), is a recipe for human disaster. A wounded pig will kill YOU if you give it that chance.

One shot - one kill. DRT is expected. Shot placement, bullet performance, self discipline, and self confidence are critical components learned and earned through practice, practice, practice.

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Originally Posted by GregLaROCHE

2-3” targets at 200 yards, with a handgun, wow! You must be good.

What alloy do you use?

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I use foundry supplied "Hardball" alloy which is 92-6-2.

I don't consider myself to be that good. Especially not now at my age. I recently turned seventy and my eyes are starting to go. Plus, a few years ago I started to develop a tremor in my shooting hand. There were, and still are, far better shooters than me and I've been fortunate enough to share the range with a few of them. Back in the early 80s most of the silhouette matches I attended were in Lafayette, LA. I can remember some shoot-offs there that boggled the mind. Unlimited category was dominated by XP100 and Wichita pistols with iron sights. Perfect scores were common so shoot-offs had to become increasingly difficult. We started shooting the Chicken targets at 200 yards. That proved to be too easy. We switched to bowling pins at 200. Again, too easy. Then it was snuff cans, filled with dirt to supply some mass. At one point, we used the silhouette chicken again, but it was turned so that it faced the shooter, effectively giving you a target 1/2 inch wide....at 200 yards. We didn't hit all of those but we did hit enough that you knew it wasn't an accident. I wish I still had the eyes and steadiness that I had back then. My brother got in a shoot-off in revolver category. At that time he was using an unmodified 10 1/2" Super Blackhawk with factory iron sights. He hit two out of three 1/5 scale rams at 200 yards to win that shoot-off. The body of those 1/5 scale rams is about the same size as a 3 X 5 card.

Sadly, IHMSA handgun silhouette is fading away. Most new sport shooters are turning to the "tactical" games. Few are interested in our sport. They say it's too slow and boring. Others who do try it say it's too hard. Frankly, the gun stores don't carry many guns suitable for handgun silhouette anymore. I do still love it and will continue as long as I can.

Land Owner
I respect you for your dedication to DRT while hunting. A game animal deserves no less. If I botch a shot at a silhouette, oh well, it's just a target. If anyone botches a shot at a game animal they very likely cause that animal much unneeded suffering. I took two deer this past season with cast bullets in a handgun. One never left his tracks and the other made it only 25 yards.

I’ve always believed that the faster an animal died, the better quality of the meat. The reasoning being, that an animal in flight mode is constantly pumping adrenaline into its blood stream to aid in its escape. That adrenaline taints the meat.

So, what is the formula for obtaining such a high quality in casting?

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Originally Posted by charlie b

So, what is the formula for obtaining such a high quality in casting?

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The first, and most important thing is, you have to want to achieve good results and be willing to do what it takes. It took a lot of steps for me to get where I wanted to be but it all boils down to consistency...in every thing you do. I started with a Lee 20 pound pot and wasn't pleased with it. I got an RCBS Pro Melt and liked it better. I have since learned how to make the Lee work just fine. It took a PID to teach me that. The problem with the Lee was the temperature control. It gave wide temperature swings. The RCBS was better in this regard but the PID made it even better and made the Lee almost as good. If your melt temp varies, so will your results. Consistency. I use a hot plate to preheat my mold and that helped but it got even better when I build a "mold oven" to enclose the mold while on the hot plate. Again, consistency. I use a good alloy with 2% tin but I can get nearly as good results with wheel weight alloy now that I've learned to apply the methods that I've learned. Maintaining the proper melt temp and the temp of you mold is critical to consistency. This does vary from mold to mold. Each can be different. I experiment with each new mold and learn what it take to get good results and I keep detailed notes for each mold. What melt temp does it like? Does it like to be filled fast or slow? How close do you need to hold the mold to the pour spout? Do you fill in the center of the sprue opening or do you fill off center of the hole and "swirl" fill the mold? How long do you wait to cut the sprue? If the mold is a multi cavity, does each cavity deliver bullets of equal weight? How quickly do you refill the mold? All of this matters if you strive for consistency. Do it the same exact way every time you fill the mold and every time you empty the mold.

The results I mention at the start of this thread are some of the best I've been able to get. It isn't always this good but I'm seldom very far behind. For that particular mold, I used the following technique. The mold is an RCBS 7MM 145 Silhouette. It is a two cavity mold but I use only one cavity. My mold will deliver bullets that differ a half of a grain from one cavity to the other. If I want to narrow my weight variation I'm not going to hinder myself by starting with a half grain spread built in. I use foundry Hardball alloy, which is 92-6-2. I set my PID at 710 degrees and don't start casting till it stabilizes at that temp. This is after I have fluxed twice. While this is happening, I've been preheating the mold in my mold oven. I set my mold guide to provide about a 1/4" clearance between the sprue plate and the pour spout. I use sprue plate lube on the alignment pins and the underside of the sprue plate. I never smoke a mold or use any release agents. This mold prefers a moderately slow, swirl fill. I build a sprue puddle about 3/4" in diameter. When I stop the flow, I hold the mold stationary under the pour spout. The sprue puddle is actually touching the pour spout. I leave it there for about 2 seconds. The heat of the pour spout helps hold the sprue puddle heat so that as the bullet solidifies in the mold it can more easily draw metal from the sprue and better fill out the bullet base. I then withdraw the mold and closely watch the sprue puddle. As soon as it completely frosts over, I wait 2 more seconds and the cut the sprue with a gloved hand while applying slight downward pressure on the sprue plate. I gently tap the mold handle hinge bolt as I start opening the mold and the bullet usually fall right out. I then immediately refill the mold. I don't add the sprues back into the pot while casting. That causes temperature swings in the melt. Any deviation from these steps will alter my results. As I said, consistency in everything you do will improve your results once you find what a particular mold likes. You have to experiment to find what that is. Each of my molds require at least some alteration of what works with the above mentioned mold.

Now when I'm casting for my 45 ACP or my 40 S&W, I use a 6 cavity mold, fill all the cavities, and don't really try for a high degree of consistency. But I've been able to improve those results as well just my applying a little additional attention to technique.

So long story short, consistent techniques, attention to details, and knowing what your mold really likes. It's really the same at the loading bench too.

I personally know a "Pistolero", such as yourself (and neither of you, to my knowledge, is a member of a roving band of mounted bandits as the online dictionary defines). At much closer range, he has a tremendously steady hand and the eyes of an Eagle. I am constantly amazed at his handgun skills.

I know that I have a slight internal shake, more than controlled breathing or heart beat, a very slight (but noticeable to me) tremor. My Music Director (partner for life and wife) can hear it in my voice when I sing. That alone makes hand gunning (at long range anyway) less attractive to me - but I STILL practice, practice, practice (isn't that what casting and reloading is all about? Oh yeah, and to save money... ;-). Like "Quigley Down Under", in no way am I unfamiliar or unskilled in handgun use (not quick draw).

Your level of enjoyment in making cast boolits for shooting through handguns is in a distant universe from mine (where I use the "belly gun"). I applaud your tenacity in experimentation and venture that you too have a tremendously steady hand and an Eagle's eyes. You would have been a good surgeon...

I have known many very good shooters, handgun and rifle, and I used to train at 1250 rounds a week, 500 from a 38 revolver, 500 from a 1911 45 ACP, and 250 from my 41 magnum. The first two were for speed, the last for distance. The main thing was there is no substitute for practice.

30 some years ago, I was shooting with my dad and brothers at dad's range. That range had 6" steel targets on a hillside ranging from 30 to 65 yards and everyone took turns trying to hit each plate. I hit them all, no misses, with a J-frame snubby. Only dad cleared them all clean, with his 41 magnum.

The last time I did any distance shooting was about 8 years ago when I tried my first PC boolits from a Glock 23. Groups were noticeably tighter at 50 than my lubed cast rounds. I saw a 4" block of wood on a 200 yard berm. It took 3 or 4 rounds to get the hold over and then consistent hits. Several guys were trying to hit the same block with scoped rifles. They came over to see what I was shooting and were shocked it was a Glock with 'painted' boolits.

Today, I don't shoot as much as I did back when, I'm not training, my agency no longer augmenting some of my 'shooting habit' (retired) and I now need bifocals. My next new glasses will be readers, bifocals, and shooting bifocals where the upper left portion of my right lens will include magnification. I always shoot with both eyes open, and don't like scopes. I did find that long eye relief scopes, 4X fixed allow me to shoot with both eyes open and not be concerned with scope bite.

Come spring, I plan on working on increasing my training regimen, but I seriously doubt I will get back to where I was. My current standard is 'minute of soda can' off hand at 100, and am still doing at least that. I could never light matches, believe me, but I do no that lack of consistent training makes you realize that precision is a perishable skill. Lack of training decreases your 'muscle memory' as well.

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Originally Posted by Land Owner

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Your level of enjoyment in making cast boolits for shooting through handguns is in a distant universe from mine (where I use the "belly gun"). I applaud your tenacity in experimentation and venture that you too have a tremendously steady hand and an Eagle's eyes. You would have been a good surgeon...

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Thanks for the kind words. I used to be fairly steady and have been blessed with good eyesight. Now at the age of 70, not so steady. About 5 years ago I started to develop a tremor in my right hand. It gets worse every year. My doctor calls it an "Essential Tremor" I can't shoot very well offhand. I now am forced to shoot from a supported position if I want to have any hope of hitting what I'm shooting at.

Did you use a PID with the RCBS pot? How did it make it better? More sensitive?

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Originally Posted by GregLaROCHE

Did you use a PID with the RCBS pot? How did it make it better? More sensitive?

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I now use my PID with both my pots, the RCBS and the Lee.

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Originally Posted by high standard 40

I now use my PID with both my pots, the RCBS and the Lee.

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I have been using a Lee 20# bottom pour pot. I’m thinking about getting a RCBS Pro Melt. One of the reasons is to have temperature control. Is the temperature control not good enough and I still need a PID?

I just realized now that the RCBS Pro Melt did not have the built in temperature control like the Pro Melt 2. That’s why a PID was needed for it.

A separate pid control will work on most any thing that can benefit from the control they offer and is also the most likely thing to fail on any thing it is built into. There are advantages to having it separate in my limited experience.

Added a PID to my lee 20# bottom pour - amazing how much better you can monitor temperature & see changes in pot temp. Hot plate & garage for mold pre heat is a huge advantage also speeds up the process immensely . The age, vision & shaking changes alter our ability to perform at the highest levels BUT it does not keep us from enjoying all the aspects of casting & shooting!!

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Originally Posted by 1eyedjack

. The age, vision & shaking changes alter our ability to perform at the highest levels BUT it does not keep us from enjoying all the aspects of casting & shooting!!

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My tremor has advanced to the point that I had to apply for a "Physically Challenged" classification for IHMSA, the sanctioning body for our silhouette game. All regular categories of IHMSA are shot without any supports: just your body. No sandbags, no slings, no rests. With my new PC classification I can use a prop to lean back against as I sit on the ground and I can rest the handgun on my upraised knees. It keeps me in the game. At least for now. I don't give up easily and I will continue competition as long as I can do so safely. I use sandbags from a ground blind to hunt deer. I can't hold the gun steady enough to my satisfaction without them.

I never caught the competition shooting "bug". Owning land, I have my own range, so there isn't any competition (haha). Situational immunity I guess.