Just curious...

[hungryhuntergirl]

How accurate are cast rifle bullets for target shooting? I am new to casting and was tossing the idea around in my head. I know that it all depends on the loads and I would imagine chamber pressures, of course it would have to be gas checked, but how accurate are they?

[GrizzLeeBear]

HHG, that would depend on what kind of target shooting you are doing. Cast boolits can in many cases shoot MORE accurately than jacketed, especially in handuns. Gas checks may or may not be needed. For example, in Bullseye pistol the most well known and most used accuracy load is a soft lead hollow base wadcutter in 38 special.

[hungryhuntergirl]

I have a .308 with a heavy barrel and we are shooting speer 180 grain, we have tried a few different grains and different powders and we dont load it hot so the pressures arent too high, but would cast be cost effective or would it foul the barrel and throw off the accuracy?

[Bass Ackward]

Cost effective? Oh yea.

Accurate? As good as your jacketed or better. Depends on a lot of variables and maybe a little learning curve on your part if you got the patience. Pretty easy if you hold down the velocity.

[Leftoverdj]

In a decent bolt gun, 2 moa is easy at velocities in the 1800-2000 fps range. It takes more work and experience to get down to 1.5 moa. I haven't been able to get consistent 1 moa yet, but others do.

[45nut]

At the Annual Nevada Cast Boolit Shoot if you aren't under 1" for a five shot { sometimes six }
group I would venture you won't be bringing home any hardware. Both times I won that class it was with borrowed guns and ammo, one 308 and one -06. 11/16ths or better will probably get you a Golden Wheel Weight as the sunday nite awards.

[floodgate]

Hungry Hunter Girl:

Google up "Cast Bullet Association" and order a sample of their bi-monthly magazine "The Fouling Shot"; look at the scores for their various competitions and you will get an idea what can be accomplished at various levels of sophistication, from "as-issued" military rifles to full-house "rail guns". I believe the absolute smallest groups ever recorded are with j******d bullets, but only by a couple of thousandths of an inch at 100 & 200 yds., and only because there are so many more bench-rest shooters using them.

By the way, we are VERY glad to have you with us, and I thoroughly enjoy your posts. Bring along some of your friends, too. The ladies compete VERY effectively, especially in the Cast Bullet and Muzzle-Loading shooting communities. I've never made it to the Nevada shoots, but if at all possible, you should try for it this year.

floodgate

[TxGunfighter]

Hi hungryhuntergirl.
I recommend you pickup the book written by the LBT fellow, Veral Smith.
The name of the boof is Jacketed Performance With Cast Bullets.. If your serious this is a must read.
TxGunfighter

[NVcurmudgeon]

I have a .308 with a heavy barrel and we are shooting speer 180 grain, we have tried a few different grains and different powders and we dont load it hot so the pressures arent too high, but would cast be cost effective or would it foul the barrel and throw off the accuracy?

I have a .308 Hart stainless medium weight barrel on a very early Ruger 77 short action. The throat of the barrel is pretty well washed out after 5000+ full power jacketed loads. I can't get my favorite 200 gr. Lyman 314299 cast boolit to engrave no matter how long I load it. Yet I shot four groups of five in an average of 1.48" at 100 yd. Four groups with the Lyman Loverin 311467 shot a little worse, but not much. This is early days for cast load development with this rifle. I used the universal load of 16.0 X 2400. Next up, orienting, tinkering with loads and trying at least one more powder.

You can get into casting by spending under $100, which would buy maybe 400 of those 180 gr. Speers. Cast boolits that fit the rifle, and are not driven faster than the alloy and lube can stand, do not lead.

[carpetman]

hungryhuntergirl----I'd first off say get a Lyman Reloading Manual as it gives both information about casting as well as data which you need for loading them. The other mentioned book by Veral Smith contains no data and frankly if it makes it out of pamphlet catagory,it's just barely. One of the things I read 40 or so years ago in the Lyman manual that got me interested in casting was about a test they conducted with two identical rifles,one using cast and the other jacketed. When the jacketed barrel was worn out there was no measurable wear on the cast barrel---same amount of rounds. Have you seen any .22 rimfires with shot out barrels---all they use is cast. I dont know---the .308 for big game hunting with cast might be small? I hunt with jacketed and can tell you a .243 is too small with cast.

[andrew375]

Hell yes!

I really only do target shooting. Out of the thousands of rounds per year I use paper punching I only use a hundred or so jacketed. And that is when I'm using the .223 at more than 300 yds. Here is a thread of my own I started on the subject.

[Wicky]

Definately nothing wrong with cast boolits, I get 2" with my 303 brit and am working to get them a little tighter and 1 1/4" from my 310 martini. Still working on the rest. Some loads just happen others take a bit of time - pretty much the same as with full length gas check designs really! As mentioned by Carpetman get lymans cast bullet handbook, it really covers heaps.
Good luck!

[cbr]

Im getting about 2 inches at 100 yards with a yugo 8mm mauser and lee bullet cast from straight wheel weights, gas checked and lubed with LLA. Im using 27 grains of 3031. Killed 2 deer with them this year!

[hungryhuntergirl]

Thanks for all the response!! Here is my situation so all will know...I hunt with my 7/08 and 140 gr nosler balistic tips, they do the trick ( I had tried a solid bullet but am much more satisfied with the performance of the balistic tip with 40.5 gr 4350 IMR), I am interested in doing some hunting with my .257 for some long range shots but that may end up being a couple of years just because getting the dies seems to be difficult. My 308 is going to strictly be a target gun, it is just too heavy for hunting...1 1/2" barrel, the guns total weight is almost 16#!! I am interested in trying some long range shooting...if there is anything closer than Hawks Ridge in North Carolina...any ideas on a certain mould for .308 for target>?

[9.3X62AL]

HHG--

Welcome to the hobby/addiction. Can cast boolits match the accuracy of jacketed bullets in rifles? They can certainly get close, and sometimes match or exceed jacketed accuracy. As someone noted above, the Cast Bullet Association's bi-monthly news letter shows match results with a wide range of rifle types, and from these results you can get an idea of what is possible and the components used to get there.

I'm not a pure target shooter, a description usually borne out by the results of the weekly Burrito Shoot I participate in with a couple of the posters here. I came into shotgun and rifle reloading as a hunter first, and a LEO career strongly influenced my early handgun hull stuffing. Boolit casting started with handgun calibers (c. 1980) to obtain components for 32 caliber revolvers, expanding into other pistol and revolver calibers soon thereafter. I didn't seriously pursue casting for rifles for quite some time, and Buckshot will likely chime in with commentary that I'm still not real serious--and give details of my 30-06 work yesterday to back that judgement. He's a real wit, that scandalous scoundrel--but he makes a great sizing die.

My 3 best rifles/calibers using cast boolits are about as unlike as can be. All are "hunting guns"--a Remington 788 in 243 Winchester, a CZ-550 in 9.3 x 62 Mauser, and a Ruger #1 in 45-70.

Since the 243 with castings is a varmint gun, I assess its work in that context via 10-shot groups. These reliably stay within 1.25" at 100 yards using unscaled RCBS 95 grain spitzers, and often get very close to 1". In contrast, its best rat bullet (Sierra 85 grain HPs) will hold 1"/10 shots @ 100 yards. Deer bullets (95 grain Ballistic Tip) will do 3/4" 3-shot groups @ 100 yards, and most importantly those three shots cluster right in with the rifle's "cold shot". Mostly, it's a rat gun--but it gets some use by kids for deer hunting. The coyote-sized deer around here are a decent match to the 243, but I wouldn't try a cast boolit under 30 caliber on deer of any size.

The 9.3 x 62 has been an utter delight with both castings and J-words since I bought it in 2002. A 270 grain gas-check flatnose casting--250 grain Ballistic Tips--and 286 grain Partitions can all do 1.25" at 100 yards, and do the "cluster around cold shot" bit as well. A GREAT game rifle, but not really a long range caliber. I bought it for stopping nasty critters, and its accuracy at longer ranges was a welcome bonus.

The 45-70 will do fine work--1.25" @ 100 yards/5 shots--if I do the gymnastics required to get boolits fat enough for its throat and grooves (.459")--most mainstream moulds cast .457" boolits, which are largely useless in many 45-70s. The Lee 405 grain plain-base has been its best boolit so far, and I would take it afield with confidence for deer or elk to 150 yards. Even run fast enough to make your shoulder blades collide from recoil, the 45-70 still has a basketball trajectory--and wouldn't trust my skills past 150 yards on game. It will clang a 200 meter gong at my club range with authority, but that is a no-risk stunt. A fine game animal deserves a humane harvesting shot.

Take a look at the "soft point casting" bit started by Bruce B. That is the direction I'm taking with the 9.3mm and the 45-70. Rats cartwheel decisively with the homogenous-alloy 243 castings, no need for that bit to spread small varmints out.

[hungryhuntergirl]

Yeah, I would have to agree on the 45/70, they were made legal to use here in the primative weapon season here (handi rifle) which for my frame will knock your socks (or at least my hat) off every time you pull the trigger!! I have thought about casting for that and may do so soon but we have a good supply of jacketed bullets we got at a gun show and it will take a long time to shoot those up!!

[hungryhuntergirl]

Here is my .308 up next to my hubby's weatherby vanguard 7mm magnum with a richards microfit thumbhole wildcat stock..

Here is the barrel difference...

Here is a pic of 2 eleven points taken this year, one by me and one by my uncle..

[jhalcott]

I don't shoot many targets OR deer these days. I have used both Jword and cast bullets to do both in years past. I still can get 1 1/2" groups with a 30-06 and 45-70 with cast bullets IF I DO MY PART. That fat .308 should settle in the bags very nicely. A couple different molds and powders will tell you what to concentrate on. A 311291 mold (169 gr) or a heavy mold since you're having good luck with a 180 Jword. That is a nice deer and the gun looks good also. Welcome to the club!

[hungryhuntergirl]

Thanks again for the kind words and encouragement!!