There is a poll for the age of bullet casters but do you think the number of individual casters is increasing or decreasing? Are there more commercial casters now than say 20 years ago?
Are more shooters buying their cast bullets as opposed casting themselves?
How does powder coating affect the individual versus commercial?
Here at White Label Lube, we have been crazy busy for the past couple of months. We occasionally get new commercial casters as clients, but I don't know if they are new or just switching brands. I get all kinds of calls from new casters just getting started.
So my opinion is that the sport is growing.
Well - I’m new. Here’s today’s output. 3rd casting session ever. Did 219 gr SWC, 240 gr SWC w/ gc and 255 grain .452 for the muzzle loader. So the sport fee at least by 1 this year! 😆
Will final sort later. These are the ones that passed first sort for obvious fills and wrinkles and cracks.
Will PC the 44 boolits later.
ML projectiles will be saboted in my 50 cal ML.
I feel casting is gaining ground. It started with the Sandy Hook shortage and has received a boost with every event since. The reality that they could be essentially disarmed by lack of ammunition shook a lot of people. This led to reloading, which leads to casting. The exploding market of military surplus has also influenced things. Lots of guys are getting into older guns chambered in near obsolete calibers.
An interesting question! With all this CV-19 and changes to 'danderous goods' shipping laws, the cost of powder, primers and "J" boolits have just gone stupid. I see Barnes boolits sold in packets of 50 for around $AU70, 1lb of rifle powder $AU65, and primers arouind $70/1000.
Casting boolits makes a lot of sense as 100 cast bullets cost $3 (no gas check), or $9 with a GC. I sent boolit samples all around the country for folks to try and almost all agree that the savings are justified.
Rifle, pistol, muzzleloader, there is very little that I shoot with store bought boolits!
Hold Still Varmint; while I plugs Yer!
I think it might be several reasons, one being reloaders looking to save on higher priced J-words. Second, worries of ammo shortages/stockpiling. Third, which is the reason I joined here, laws in my state get swept through in the middle of the night. They keep talking about limiting the amount of ammo allowed to purchase to silly numbers like 12 rounds every 3-4 months & background checks on ammo purchases. The newest one I see is they are trying to pass a bill were you are limited to 20 rounds of assault weapon ammunition every 120 days. BTW, what is assault weapon ammo? By NY standards it's not the caliber it's the physical characteristics of the gun so in reality it's most calibers. In NYC and other big cities in NY you can't buy pistol ammo without a pistol permit. Stores within the state sometimes abide by the NYC law. Making it harder to feed pistol caliber rifles. If they get the state background check system running they will record every ammo purchase & keep the records for one year & also notify local law agencies of purchases in excess. What is an ammo purchase in excess? Is it 500 22lr, maybe it's a case of skeet loads, it could be 200 rounds of .308 is it 100 rounds of 5.56? It's any purchase is in excess in NY they don't want you having guns or ammunition! If I bought a brick of 500 .22lr, 5 boxes of some cheap 5.56 & some 30-06 ammo to sight in my new scope I might just find myself at the local police station. I haven't really done much casting but I have the materials needed to keep my family protected! Boy I can't wait to leave this state, I may have to leave before retirement if this keeps up!
Ammunition Regulation in New York
Last updated October 23, 2018.
"Record Retention Requirement for Ammunition Sales
Ammunition sellers and firearms dealers must, at the time of a transaction, record the transaction details (date, name, age, occupation, and residences of anyone transferring or receiving ammunition and also the amount, caliber, manufacturer’s name and serial number or other distinguishing information) in a record book to be maintained on the premises and made available for inspection by any law enforcement officer. This information is not considered a public record.3
Background Checks Before Transfer of Ammunition
An ammunition seller or firearms dealer may not transfer any ammunition to anyone other than a licensed dealer unless he or she conducts a check against records maintained in the state’s electronic database and receives a number identifying the transaction and signifying that the transferee is not prohibited by state or federal law from possessing the firearm or ammunition.4 The ammunition seller or gun dealer must also check a valid driver’s license or other photo identification of the prospective purchaser prior to transfer.
After the transfer, the transferee must indicate to the database that the transaction was completed at which time a record of the transaction, to be maintained for no longer than one year, will be made available to law enforcement but will not be made a part of the new firearms database for licenses and records or the new firearms registry. A record of the transaction may be shared with local law enforcement but will not be a public record. This requirement will not apply if the background check system is not operational or if a dealer or seller was issued a waiver from conducting a background check by the state police.5
(The law that New York enacted in 2013 also imposes a sales record-keeping requirement regarding all ammunition, and requires that records of ammunition sales be transmitted to the State Police, which may maintain these records for up to one year.38 The law goes in effect 30 days after the state background system is certified)"
https://lawcenter.giffords.org/gun-l...on-regulation/
This is the liberal agenda!
"Ammunition Regulation
The ammunition used in guns is what renders firearms truly lethal—yet ammunition sales are not subject to the same federal regulations as the firearms themselves, and in most states can be bought online or in person with zero oversight. Ammunition background checks and other commonsense policies regulating the sale and transfer of ammunition are important ways to keep deadly power away from those who threaten the safety of others.
Background
Without ammunition, firearms are no more dangerous than any blunt object, causing some scholars to refer to ammunition as the “actual agent of harm” in gun violence.1
Ammunition Largely Unregulated
While firearm sales are subject to various federal restrictions, however, ammunition sales are not. For example, the following federal firearms laws do not apply to ammunition:
Firearms sellers must generally be licensed as dealers;2
People purchasing guns from licensed dealers must present ID and pass a background check;
Licensed dealers must retain records of gun sales;
Handgun sales across state lines must be processed by a local seller;3 and
High volume handgun sales are regulated.4
Mass Shootings
The absence of federal ammunition regulations drew national attention in the wake of the 2012 mass shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, which left 12 people dead and 58 injured. While the shooter purchased his firearms at local gun stores, he ordered his ammunition cache—3,000 rounds each of handgun and rifle ammunition and 350 shotgun shells, as well as a 100-round magazine—from online retailers over the course of several months prior to the shooting.5
Local Laws
Laws regulating the purchase and possession of ammunition help limit access by dangerous individuals. Law enforcement agencies in Sacramento and Los Angeles, California, for example, successfully used local ammunition recordkeeping ordinances to identify and prosecute criminals by comparing records of ammunition sales against records from California’s database identifying convicted felons and other prohibited people.
Between January 16 and December 31, 2008, the Sacramento ordinance led to the identification of 156 prohibited persons who had purchased ammunition (124 of whom had prior felony convictions), 48 search warrants, and 26 additional probation or parole searches. In addition, the ordinance led to 109 felony charges, 10 federal court indictments, 37 felony convictions, and 17 misdemeanor convictions. The law allowed law enforcement to seize a total of 84 firearms, including seven assault weapons, and thousands of rounds of ammunition.6
Similarly, the Los Angeles ordinance led to 30 investigations, 15 search warrants, nine arrests, and the confiscation of 24 handguns, 12 shotguns, and nine rifles that were illegally possessed between 2004 and the first half of 2006. It also resulted in 39 investigations in 2007, and at least 24 investigations in 2008. Id. at 10-11. A two-month study of Los Angeles’ ordinance found that prohibited purchasers accounted for nearly 3% of all ammunition purchasers over this period, acquiring roughly 10,000 rounds of ammunition. The study noted that a background check at the time of the transaction would have largely eliminated sales at retail outlets to these individuals.7 For further details, see the description of Sacramento’s ordinance below."
https://lawcenter.giffords.org/gun-l...ulation/#state
Last edited by NyFirefighter357; 05-31-2020 at 12:36 AM.
I feel the number of casters is increasing. I personally know of 3 fellas who started casting in the past 5 years and one old timer that passed. I enjoy new challenges, researching, learning while teaching my sons and ultimately gaining knowledge so casting is very enjoyable and fulfilling. I get equal enjoyment out of learning and load development vs shooting as I grow older. I could just purchase ammo or load more copper but that removes over half the enjoyment I get from shooting as a whole.
There may be plenty of reasons for starting to cast your own. For me the main reason is I enjoy it so much.
The question has always been how many will stick w/ it. Every time there is a scare people flock to reloading and to a smaller extent casting. As soon as availability comes back most of these new reloaders/casters sell off what they just bought. Usually at a discount which is good for people that are in it for the long haul. I’ve bought a lot of tooling for little money because of this cycle. The smart ones put it in a closet for the next scare instead of selling it off.
From personal observation, the number of casters in this area has decreased as more of the 'old guys' have passed away or given up shooting sports because of health/vision issues without replacements rising from the ranks of younger shooters. (In the last couple of years, I've done more than a few demo/teaching sessions for some who expressed an interest in casting but none have actually taken it up.) On the other hand...at least, among our club's handgunners...the number of people shooting commercial cast has definitely increased. Notice that I specified 'handgunners' because I've encountered less than a dozen who load cast for their long-guns...and that number includes a pair of NMLA guys, a fairly serious cowboy-action shooter, and a fellow member of this forum.
Bill
"I'm not often right but I've never been wrong."
Jimmy Buffett
"Scarlet Begonias"
I think that it is decreasing.
Casting your own has always been an answer to availability and price. Ammo has never been cheaper and it is probably more plentiful and available than ever. So fewer people are considering getting into it. I started as a response to no 22lr available back a few years ago. There was quite a bit of interest in 22lr back then even with the difficulty in priming etc.
Now with 22lr selling for $0.04 per round, even the guys that learned how to do it have stopped. It's hard to load up a box of cartridges when you can buy them for $2. The same is taking place for all ammo. Not nearly THAT cheap but compared to prices say 40-50 years ago it is WAY cheap.
Last edited by Traffer; 05-31-2020 at 06:46 PM.
I know a lot of shooters but I think I am the only one who casts. There have been some threads on here about folks having trouble casting in their apartments or neighborhoods. I blame population shifts to tighter places (cities, burbs).
I am concerned about the sport overall...
https://www.outdoorlife.com/why-we-a...how-to-fix-it/
I think I am going to go with "arrested development" as a factor. In my reading on various forums, I am seeing a lot of active individuals working with people exposing them to the shooting sports, reloading and bullet casting as hobbies. I read about parents and grand parents taking young people shooting and giving them the experience of shooting. Usually this is followed with cleaning the guns and sometimes reloading. And less often, the youngsters have the opportunity to cast bullets under supervision.
Then they have to stop all that, go do homework, household chores, part time jobs, eventually graduate from school or college and somewhere discover cars and girls and never get back into the shooting until after marriage, kids and success in the workforce. Then they find time to return to the shooting sports, reloading and sometimes bullet casting. And it is no wonder that those we find casting are older than the usual shooter at a range. It is expected to be unusual to find young bullet casters these days. They just do not have the time to rediscover how much fun it used to be.
We should continue to encourage the young people to give it a try and at least have an idea how it works. You usually do not plant a tree and harvest the fruit the next year. I never did see any bullets cast growing up. I did see a friends dad and his uncle melting lead with one of those white gas torches and a skillet to make sinkers though. I was probably about 10 years old. It was fascinating. I cast my first bullet when I was about 30 years old. There is hope.
The answers reflects my experiences. I am a member of a small gun club centered around USPSA competition.
They break down in the following groups.
- Those people who are financially able and do not have time due to careers. These buy factory ammo(mostly 9mm which is cheap in bulk) and not concerned about reloading or casting.
Those that shoot a speciality caliber where factory is expensive and not readily available. They mostly buy bullets (jacketed and cast with a lot using PC) and reload for their requirements.
Those that are somewhat financially strapped and must reload to enjoy their sport. These include reloaders and casters. Larger calibers(.45acp) makes it more likely to have a caster involved.
Other casters are usually retired where casting and shooting are a hobby.
Here anyway, it's going way down.
Even reloaders are going down.
Mostly yahoos that watch to much TV and play way to much video games.
All they know is black guns.
Their shooting shows they don't know anything.
It sad.
Not sure how to answer. But people are just ?? I feel this way. Better to have then have not.
I set every evening cleaning brass, old odd stuff I have found or had in storage, any thing else. I do this setting on my front steps in town, we are in PA. I lived here in this area my whole life. Went school with police chief. I have had many, many people pass by and not one has asked what are you doing. I try to use chemicals that are user friendly. But I have also learned over the years if you can smell it, there's a good chance it can make it into your body. So outside I go, cleaning supplies all in air tight containers. Front porch looks like a work bench, but better outside then in. They gave me too much free time, was working about 50 plus hours a week and covid came long. Parents are older so I stay my distance.
Buddies are all ?? on casting. One new person that I just got into it. He's wanting to go feet first, I'm trying to teach him slow, slow.
I'm the odd ball shooter. I can normally pick up a gun if it feels okay use it. I don't have to shoot it more then sight in. I don't like to make noise just to make noise. Last new pistol 3 shots at 25 yards 2" high 2" to left, shooting at 2" circle group two were .25 apart and other was with in a inch. I was done. Why shoot any more. This was a higher end factory ammo. I had very little ammo growing up and never learned to shoot just to shoot. That said I sure can spread iron in Lake Erie, darn ducks are shot proof, some type of body armor
Last edited by Teddy (punchie); 06-01-2020 at 06:52 AM.
When I was a kid many years ago...and pretty poor...Ammo was NOT WASTED. Even the 22. I used to take my brothers Remington 514 (single shot 22) to the range on my bicycle. It was about 4 miles out of town. Nobody was ever there...All new place, Very nice. I would make a big "X" on a piece of cardboard with a thumbtack in the middle of the x. Sit at the 50 yd bench and shoot at the thumb tack. (Couldn't actually see the thumb tack but it was in the middle of the X.) Then I would put the gun down and walk to the target to see where I hit. Most days wouldn't even use more than a half box (50 rounds) of ammo.Originally Posted by Teddy (punchie)
Not sure how to answer. But people are just ?? I feel this way. Better to have then have not.
I set every evening cleaning brass, old odd stuff I have found or had in storage, any thing else. I do this setting on my front steps in town, we are in PA. I lived here in this area my whole life. Went school with police chief. I have had many, many people pass by and not one has asked what are you doing. I try to use chemicals that are user friendly. But I have also learned over the years if you can smell it, there's a good chance it can make it into your body. So outside I go, cleaning supplies all in air tight containers. Front porch looks like a work bench, but better outside then in. They gave me too much free time, was working about 50 plus hours a week and covid came long. Parents are older so I stay my distance.
Buddies are all ?? on casting. One new person that I just got into it. He's wanting to go feet first, I'm trying to teach him slow, slow.
I'm the odd ball shooter. I can normally pick up a gun if it feels okay use it. I don't have to shoot it more then sight in. I don't like to make noise just to make noise. Last new pistol 3 shots at 25 yards 2" high 2" to left, shooting at 2" circle group two were .25 apart and other was with in a inch. I was done. Why shoot any more. This was a higher end factory ammo. I had very little ammo growing up and never learned to shoot just to shoot. That said I sure can spread iron in Lake Erie, darn ducks are shot proof, some type of body armor
Rifles were stingier yet. I hunted with the same M1917 30-06 From the time I was 12 yrs old till I was in well in my 20's. Never used up the original box of ammo even though I got 3 deer with it. Take it out before season shoot it at the 100 yard target (it had those wonderful peep sights) Hit where I was aiming and put it away and went home. So I shot it maybe once a year. But probably never more than 4 times including deer season. Now I go to the range and people try to see how many times they can pull the trigger. Different times, that's for sure.
I started because I was broke, couldn't continue because I had more kids and stayed broke.... back into it now but everyone I mention it to thinks I'm crazy. I'm the only one around that I know of that casts. Maybe I am a little crazy, I keep buying guns for the sole purpose of pushing lead instead of copper down The barrel. But i started in my early twenties, no one I knew casts but it was intriguing and here I am.
The only thing we are afraid of is our own abilities once you get to the point where you don't care about your abilities they become limitless
casters are a very small minority over here. but then again so are reloaders .
In our area of the Pacific Northwest, cast boolit shooting in rifles is really diminishing. Ten years ago, at our registered CBA matches, we would draw about 15 to 20 guys, and a few "wimmen". We had to run two relays to enable everyone to compete. At our most recent match, we had 5 or 6. That was in January of this year. However, last year, we ran with less than 10 shooters every match. Now we have been stopped by Covid 19. Two matches already cancelled, and we don't know about June's match yet.
It's all chicken, even the beak!
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