Realistic Expectations for Cast Boolits

[Slow Elk 45/70]

Bass Ackward, I thought maybe you might be going down the road to maybe letting some of the newer folks know that cast boolits will never be J condoms and try to discourage some from ruining good lever action rifles trying to make them something they aren't.
Great thread and responses..

[209jones]

I was fascinated by articles on Schuetzen rifles as a kid, loved the lines of them. Got started casting because I wanted some Chicken plinkin' loads for hunting. I have a tough time letting Grouse go by me without being shot at. By the time I got a Schuetzen rifle, I had a few years of casting boolits for plinkin' gophers & chickens & coyotes. Then I got a Schuetzen rifle.
Now I want to build a singleshot cast boolit huntin' rifle, and go look for a Bullwinkle.
There is something good about creating your own stuff and having it accomplish what you wanted it to do. Casting boolits, building guns, tying flies, woodworking, "created that myself".
we all like that part.

[spurrit]

I hate to tell you this, but.......... Bullwinkle isn't real. Neither is Rocky.

[Bad Water Bill]

Party pooper Next you will TRY to tell us there is no Easter Bunny

[batman]

cost ,to much free time on my hands.But what I found is that it is fun .
I just want to be where I can do it all by my self,no having to go to town to
buy whatever I ran out of just to find they dont have it and cant get it.
I make my own beer, chew,smokes and have hogs which I have more free time and weird hours. It also relaxes me like reloading.
I know I just started but it is still fun.

[skeettx]

Hello All

I just got to this one

I have been loading 308 with 311465 bullets of wheelweights Hornady Gas Check, Javalina lube, 4227 powder and CCI LR primer.

I was getting so so accuracy, insuring the powder was positioned at the base next to the primer hole.

Just so so accuracy, so I thought I would shoot them up quickly. Took them out of the 20 cartridge box , bullet facing DOWN, seated them in the gun (Remington 700 BDL Varmint Special) and low and behold, less than one inch five shot groups at 100 yards





Been doing this for 5 years now and still works, do not ask me how, but it works.
The powder is positioned behind the bullet.

Mike

[skeettx]

to the top

[kennisondan]

I have always shot lot of cast boolits for the 44 mag cause there was no need to use jacketed for my uses.. I shot some factory loads for a few years then learned about cast for my 44.. since then I have bought cast bullets for all my pistols .. straight walled since I wanted easy and loved revolvers.. I have a uberti sharps now and it is the next step.. in the meantime I have accmulated some lead melting pot but not much more except what is needed with factory components. I expect to learn to cast properly and safely; I expect to learn about black powder cartridge reloading behind cast bullets for some competition and hope to learn well enough to find a place to shoot and practice all the way out there to a thous. yds. ~~I expect to drop a deer with the sharps and open sights bp cartridge reloaded about a million times at really respectable range.. I would settle for 200 yards but would wet myself with an ethical kill at longer than that.. I also want to start casting for the 44 mag 45 colt and the 50 cal revolver all straight wall cases again.. then I expect to be brave enough and experienced enough to reload bottleneck cartidges like my 308 and 358 winchester for my encore SS .. I expect to get that down to accurate enough reloads to graduate to the 270 ruger 1 that is my fave modern rifle and cartidge .. but for now.. simple reloading of the 45 70 with a few store bought and member donated bullets is my starting point. I expect to love it like I enjoy shooting everything else.. I have never been disappointed in shooting anything as long as it was quality, it rendered surprising results, whther it was a blowgun, slingshot, pistol rifle shotgun air gun bow or crossbow.. I even like to throw knives and hatchets... and you can get better faster than you think doing even that..with practice..
so I expect to practice, hunt, plink, compete, save money, expand to more in depth knowlege and experience and all the whle get the charge of doing it with what i made or assmbled my self.. and I expect to feel more self sufficient as I can gather scrap and turn it to bullets, one day.. lol.. however there is already competition for wheel weights so to continue to add to my store bought stash I expect to learn most of the sources of lead that is fit for casting from easiest to not so easiest..lol
dk

I don't expect to be disappointed, either.
dk

[David2011]

A man who became a lifelong friend started me out in casting. I was mesmerized watching the silver stream become boolits. Mac had molds, metals, furnaces, sizers and seemed to know everything there was to know about casting. Nearly 30 years later my opinion of his knowledge is unchanged. He passed on to me his great knowledge and made it a very economical start. We cast thousands of Saeco 148 grain wadcutters and powered them with 2.3 grains of Bullseye back when primers were $0.69/C. You could shoot for half a day on $4 or $5. I discovered how incredibly accurate the wadcutters were. We began to shoot at the numbers on the targets instead of the whole target and spent endless hours coming up with new challenges for each other. Later we cast boolits for our Ruger Blackhawks in .45 Colt and tried every new .45 Colt load published for the Contender and Ruger back in the early 1980s. Some of them, in retrospect, were not that much fun to shoot.

Today I cast for a variety of reasons depending on the caliber. Three years ago I decided it was more time/money economical to buy commercial cast boolits for IPSC. They were $36/thousand and it was easier to work a little overtime than to spend the time to cast and size the number of boolits I was consuming. When they soared from $36 to $80/K, I re-evaluated the effort to cost relationship and decided I could in fact cast that many boolits. I could still get wheelweights for free so casting was very cost effective. I paid for the 4 cavity mold the first month I had it, consuming about 2500 boolits every month. There is less action shooting where I now live so it’s easier to supply the demand.

When Mac’s health failed I bought his entire gunsmith shop complete with all of his casting and reloading equipment. When I cast the old wadcutter it’s nostalgic. I think of the times when we were both much younger and life was good everywhere we looked and of the endless hours we spent together in the shop and at the range. I still enjoy the powder puff, laser accurate loads, too. When I cast for .44 and .45 Colt it’s in the pursuit of the best projectiles possible for the big bore handguns and the hope of bagging a big hog or other predators and varmints. I cast the big boolits at a more leisurely pace. While the .40s I cast are very good, they are also very easy to cast. The bigger boolits require more care to get a really good product. I enjoy slowing down and working at making them as good as I can. I will start casting for the .375 H&H when I finish building it. The goal there is to shoot it at a power level that keeps it fun, since even at reduced velocities it will take anything in North America short of an armored vehicle.

Mostly, I think I cast because I can.

David

[white eagle]

I cast for the satisfaction of knowing its me who is the ceo of the company that made the boolit,primed the case then put the powder charge in and lastly the one who after all that pulled the trigger only to do it all again
Satisfaction is good

[atom73]

My expectations are to understand firearms better. I enjoy shooting and casting/loading teaches me each time I do it. If it was classic cars that I was into I would probably build my own hotrod. I just enjoy the discovery process. I also have three little girls that like to help and its fun spending time with them and teaching them (they each have their own set of lead handling gloves)

[a.squibload]

The H&R 22 revolver and Marlin 22 rifle were losing my interest.
A friend found a 44mag SBH for me in the paper so I bought it.
Started reloading and casting shortly after.
I knew little about 44s, was impressed by the destructive force a large slow boolit had.
Powderizing bricks was my favorite target shooting, or jugs of water.
And felt good to knock over IHMSA large-dog-size steel targets at 200m with an "old style" single action.
Started buying 44s and reloading equipment, don't think I've ever bought more than half a dozen boxes of factory 44.
No need.

My expectations of cast boolits: cheapness, accuracy, power.

My expectations of CastBoolits site:

I was dragged over here by jeep45238,
he posted info on the Kahr site about BT's swaged boolits.
I expected to learn about some weird guys making jackets out of spent cases,
and MAYBE how to feed my new Kahr without going broke buying j-word ammo
(as the PM40 has a polygon barrel and I didn't want to blow it up).

Expectations met and exceeded!

Dang, it's like an encyclopedia only you get to ask questions too.
Tons of experience related here. Thank you all.

I knew I was gonna make this too long...

[Ravenhawk57]

I stumbled onto this site a couple years ago while I was searching for something else. Read all I could for 4 or 5 months, finally realized what a gold mine it was in terms of knowledge and experience. Joined the forum and have been reading from that day forth. Have gained enough insight to begin casting my own and have bought 4 molds of my own since. This place is awsome in knowledge and I thank you for allowing me to be a part of it. Thanks.

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
I started out just reloading. Because reloading w/ j-bullets cost less than 1/2 factory loaded ammo in the 1960's. And I like to shoot.
I started out casting because it would be cheaper.
It was & still is cheaper. I like to shoot.
My 1st pot, dipper, 4 cav. Lyman 158 gr 38 mold & 450 lube sizer paid for themselves in the 1st 1-2 yrs. You see like to shoot.
Then I bought my Lyman 4 cav. 168gr. 7MM mold. New top punch & sizing die. & 10,000 gc. they paid for themselves in a yr. or 3. You see I like to shoot.
Then I bought my Lyman mod.61 bottom pour furnace. It payed for itself in a yr. or 2.
YOU SEE I LIKE TO SHOOT.
Do we see a trend here?
I would have been shooting j-bullets. They were then & are now even more expensive.
Then I searched for the 2" group at 25yds. w/ the 357, and the 2" group w/ the 7MM at 100yds. It was not that easy a goal, but I didn't mind . You see I like to shoot.
Then the 44 mag & 444 Marlin came along & I just had to have one of each. So I could hunt bear & elk in close timber. So I had to buy a 4 cav. Lyman 250 gr gc mold & 10,000 gc. They paid for themselves in 1-2yrs. Never shot an elk or bear w/ ether gun. But I got the tightest group I ever shot w/ cast w/ the 444. 11 boolits all touching in 1 big hole. That was an eye opener. And you see I like to shoot.
I would have got the guns anyway, I would have shot them anyway. It was & still is cheaper, and guess what it"s FUN.
NOW I KNOW A 1" GROUP IS POSSIBLE AT 100 YDS. W/ PISTOL AND RIFLE. I"M FRUSTRATED BUT THE CHASE IS ON.
NOW I KNOW OF FOLKS WHO GET JACKED VEL. OUT OF CAST RIFLE BOOLITS I'M FRUSTRATED, BUT THE CHASE IS ON.
I have done it w/ the 444 marlin, NOW I WANT TO DO IT WITH THE 7mm/06.
So I can deer hunt w/ it.
BUT ALL THAT ASIDE, YOU SEE I LIKE TO SHOOT.

[garbear]

I was gently pushed into this by a member here. I know him on another board as well. He sent me here when I had posted on our other site an interest for boolet casting for my muzzle loader and hand gun. I cast for the challenge and ease of getting my guns to shoot. I started with a lee rf nose for my 357 and moved to molds for my inline, round ball for the side locks and am slowly looking into the rifle. I enjoyn casting and reloading my own boolits. I don't know who will admit this but I have cast boolits and even though they were good I melted them down again on another session just to cast them agian. My demands for accuracy depends on what I am shooting the cast boolit in.
Garbear

[reloader28]

BOOM BOOM, you really should try shooting once in a while instead of just buying guns and molds. Its really fun and I bet you'll like it.

I bought 200 cast boolits from a store when I started reloading for pistols. I loved shooting, just didnt do much of it. A couple years later, I had those boolits shot up and a friend of mine had a pot, 2 molds, a lube/sizer and enough to get us making a few wrinkled, under sized boolits. They shot decent and were cheap tho.

I raced stock cars for a few years and melted down 400-500 lbs of lead into bread loafs to make legal weight limit. That actually got me going. We fired up the boolit molds my friend had and started figuring it out. The boolits and accuracy got better and I started buying molds and got a pot and lube/sizer of my own.

That was about 12 years ago when we started playing a little. It has only actually been the last 3 years that I started into it heavy. I've been a member of this site for the last year and have learned a ton.

I would have never shot cast rifle boolits until I got here. Now 99% of my rifle shooting is cast boolits. 100% pistol shooting is cast. Has been since I started casting. I shoot around 8000 rounds a year and 1/4 of them is rifle. Got my first cast killed deer this year and I have never had a better feeling than that.

I would rather spend 2 days building something myself than go to town (40 miles away) and spend $20 on it. Its the satisfaction of my own work. Cast boolits fit into that very nice.


There is NOTHING better than having friends over to my man cave. Reloading boolits I made, in a house I built, then going outside to my own shooting range and hitting the bullseye. Sitting down in my personal saloon that I made, eating some homemade deer jerky, homemade pickles, and wash it down with a homebrew. Then go back in the reloading room and do it all again.

[Fire_stick]

I am looking for one or more "go to" loads for each gun. Depending on the gun, I want different things in a go to load. But mostly for hunting purposes.

I want to learn to shoot a pistol better, and that is going to take a lot of shooting, since I am a slow learner. But I will have fun, because I love to shoot.

Bottom line, I want the best load for the least amount of $'s invested. I will invest the time, but it will take time to find the time.

[Bulltipper]

Besides the obvious cost and fun reasons, I cast in the winter to keep the shed warm, and I cast in the summer to keep the bugs out! Also helps keep me from having to watch Bachelor or Dancing with the Buffoons with the better half...

[Jech]

Also helps keep me from having to watch Bachelor or Dancing with the Buffoons with the better half...

SWMBO didn't jump for that one but we've found a happy middle ground. I cast up a big batch the night before Dancing is on then "watch" the show sorting out the culls and spending time with her. Works like a charm!

~ Jech

[*Paladin*]

Casting was something I've been fascinated by since I was a kid and first got into shooting. I remember when I thought reloading was some great mystery. Once I got into reloading, I started thinking of casting my own, but that too was some ancient, dark art form. After years of loading my own, shooting became j-bullets progressively more expensive, so I started reading here about casting.

To me, casting is a peaceful, quiet way to pass time in support of my life's passion. Casting was a natural evolution for me, and I'm enjoying the heck out of it. And honestly, most of what I have learned in regards to casting is courtesy of all of your contributions to this site. I've learned a lot and I know I'm only beginning to scratch the surface. So, I'll be here a long time, picking your brains for more knowledge!