Cast bullets for a 223 AR-15?

[parkerhale1200]

@patrick l, try to find what you're gun likes.
Some are searching for years......some are lucky.
But if you know how to cast and know the interior of your gun, you can find it quick.
Build up a ladder, several times, because the human factor is the most important one.
It is even important as you're casting "speed" with one, up to 3 molds.
Even if you are 1 second out,with drop or fill, you will have a flyer.
Make sure you got a steady pass and steady alloy and mold temp.
Wait three months to measure the final bhn and weight segregate them.

Set the depth of your boolit to the depth of you're chamber, so that the rifling just scratches the surface of you lead boolit.
This with the same weight and hardness will give you good results.
Dont make them to hard aka 30 bhn or to soft 13 bhn.
Can it be done....Yes up to 45bhn and as low as you dare, i would dare to go as low as 12, and i would not advise it.

Now make several times a ladder and shoot it the same way over and over.
From you're breathing to you're heartbeat and trigger discipline, up to you're last blink of you're eye before you pull the trigger.
Don't pull the trigger, tease it, feel it
This above will save you 10 years.
I mean this positive not negative!
For myself i have 21! checkpoints (or whatever you call them)before i release one single shot at 300 yards/330 meter or 660 yards/600 meters

One more thing, for semi auto, the boolit must not deform while loading.
Maybe you need a shorter or longer nose....****et, i forgot the translation...?ogive? or something?
The curve?

The twist is also an important factor, one likes more lighter boolits and the other one more heavier.

I hope this will clear up a bit in the fog, just my two cents

[parkerhale1200]

+1 on RU.
A older barrel is more easy to work with
Why?
They are more "polished" (or read worn out) then the new ones, the new ones are more like sandpaper on you're little bugger.
You must polish of you will a new barrel to make it convenient for lead.

[parkerhale1200]

ofcourse it FUN

@JBinMN, i am looking forward to see your results, progress and endeavors!

So enough for the rambling right now.......

[gnostic]

I agree, but won’t do it anymore. I load a NOE 22-55 gc with 19 grains of H335 for my AR. I tested my best looking 5 rounds against 5 rnds of Tulammo and the cast was about a 2“ bigger group at 100 yards from a lead sled.

They are too finicky and take too much time to deal with in an AR, IMO, unless it’s zombie time...


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I'm with you, the AR15 hates lead bullets, why bust your hump with a four cent primer, three cent gas check and twenty grains of H335 or Varget to shoot a 3 inch group? I bite the bullet and buy Hornady SP's for nine cents each and with a 12X scope, my AR shoots .75" groups. Nobody seems to be able to make the magic happen with the AR and cast bullets. Otto Von Bismarck said, 'Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others.'

[JBinMN]

I am trying to say the below, as civilly & politely as I am able and get my point across.

Consider this....

If no one experiments on their own to find a better way to do things, we would all be walking, riding horse, & using them to pull carts & such instead of using cars, trains, airplanes or even space flight.

We'd be cooking over open fires instead of on stoves or using microwave ovens.

You would be wearing furs or grass, instead of clothing made from cotton, polyester, etc.

As well, we would probably be talking in person, instead of the internet, and debating the difference between clubs, spears & bows/arrows, how to make them & improve them.

If medical folks had not tried to improve things we all would not be as healthy as many folks are. Many would be miserable in their lives, or dead early in life due to not having the knowledge gained by trying different things to solve problems.

Of course, we could have those who will say, "That will never happen!", or "It did not work for me, so it won't work for you.". There have been multitudes of those types over the history of man.

It was not different when men wanted to see what was on the other side of a mountain or an ocean. There were folks who tried to discourage those exploring folks too.

If inventors & folks who wanted to explore different things on their own, actually listened to the "nay sayers", we would be in a pretty bad way, IMO.

I , for one, would appreciate the "nay sayers" to keep their comments to themselves, since they have Nothing to add on how to use cast boolits in AR platform firearms. They are only about "Negativity", "Failure", and/or "Discouraging others", rather than supporting folks in their endeavors to accomplish goals.

Here we are, "trying to share recipes" on something, and folks are walking in and spitting in the mix.

Please go find something else to do here at CB.GL Forum, rather than try to discourage those of us in what we wish to do.

How about starting a topic yourselves & just talk about how you couldn't get your firearms to shoot to cast boolits to your satisfaction, so you gave up on it & leave those of us who wish to try it ourselves, to our own discussion.

Thanks! if you can actually do it..


P.S. - Bismark was a "politician" & not someone who was an inventor, nor explorer. I would think he was probably talking about politics & not other more scientific endeavors.
Think about the folks thruout human history who accomplished things no one else had done before, or gave up on as "impossible".
Do you think he would have said the same thing to DaVinci, Pasteur, C. Columbus, Leif Erickson, etc, or any other persons throughout history who have made improvements on human lives or their doings? Should Col. Harrison not done any experiments with firearms? How about Sam Colt? Where would we be without John Browning, or even Eugene Stoner, since this topic is about AR 15s?
( Those above questions are Rhetorical one, for folks to think about. )

[Conditor22]

Cast works fine and economical. No GC avg 1400 fps





Couldn't see the holes so changed point of aim

[sukivel]

I am trying to say the below, as civilly & politely as I am able and get my point across.

Consider this....

If no one experiments on their own to find a better way to do things, we would all be walking, riding horse, & using them to pull carts & such instead of using cars, trains, airplanes or even space flight.

We'd be cooking over open fires instead of on stoves or using microwave ovens.

You would be wearing furs or grass, instead of clothing made from cotton, polyester, etc.

As well, we would probably be talking in person, instead of the internet, and debating the difference between clubs, spears & bows/arrows, how to make them & improve them.

If medical folks had not tried to improve things we all would not be as healthy as many folks are. Many would be miserable in their lives, or dead early in life due to not having the knowledge gained by trying different things to solve problems.

Of course, we could have those who will say, "That will never happen!", or "It did not work for me, so it won't work for you.". There have been multitudes of those types over the history of man.

It was not different when men wanted to see what was on the other side of a mountain or an ocean. There were folks who tried to discourage those exploring folks too.

If inventors & folks who wanted to explore different things on their own, actually listened to the "nay sayers", we would be in a pretty bad way, IMO.

I , for one, would appreciate the "nay sayers" to keep their comments to themselves, since they have Nothing to add on how to use cast boolits in AR platform firearms. They are only about "Negativity", "Failure", and/or "Discouraging others", rather than supporting folks in their endeavors to accomplish goals.

Here we are, "trying to share recipes" on something, and folks are walking in and spitting in the mix.

Please go find something else to do here at CB.GL Forum, rather than try to discourage those of us in what we wish to do.

How about starting a topic yourselves & just talk about how you couldn't get your firearms to shoot to cast boolits to your satisfaction, so you gave up on it & leave those of us who wish to try it ourselves, to our own discussion.

Thanks! if you can actually do it..


P.S. - Bismark was a "politician" & not someone who was an inventor, nor explorer. I would think he was probably talking about politics & not other more scientific endeavors.
Think about the folks thruout human history who accomplished things no one else had done before, or gave up on as "impossible".
Do you think he would have said the same thing to DaVinci, Pasteur, C. Columbus, Leif Erickson, etc, or any other persons throughout history who have made improvements on human lives or their doings? Should Col. Harrison not done any experiments with firearms? How about Sam Colt? Where would we be without John Browning, or even Eugene Stoner, since this topic is about AR 15s?
( Those above questions are Rhetorical one, for folks to think about. )

Wise words to live by...


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[parkerhale1200]

JBinMN....+10

[PatriotReloader]

Well said! JBinMN

[Lloyd Smale]

want to shoot cast in your ar with a lot less headache. Buy a 300 bo barrel or upper.

[sureYnot]

300 BLK comes with it's own set of problems. I only have two guns that gave me no attitude when I started casting for them. An auto ordinance .45acp and a Glock 42. Think I got lucky with the Glock, from what I've read.
Nothing worth doing is ever easy. -Zed

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[Lloyd Smale]

Ive got two blackouts both cheap psa guns one a 16 and one an 8.5 and neither miss a beat with rcbs 130 spitzer gas checks and shoot that bullet into 2moa or less. cast them hard and pc them an they run like butter through my guns. I played for a whole summer with 22 cal bullets in the ars and if I got minute of paper at a 100 yards it was about a celebration and many groups wouldn't do minute of paper at 50.

[Old Coot]

Cast bullets have successfully been loaded and fired with 100% function in: M1 garand, M1Carbine, Remington 760, M!A. Why not in an AR? All of the above are gas operated mechanisms, and no lead fouls them; why should the AR be any different?

The people who keep chanting that it won't work remind me of a rather ignorant and loud mouthed LA county Deputy who stated that you could not shoot wood shafted arrows from a compound bow. When I told him that I had don so; he screamed at me that it could not be done. He was so adamant and obnoxious that I never got the chance to tell him how it had been successfully done.
Most of -if not all of- these folks have never tried anything themselves. They only slavishly and foolishly repeat the words of other loud mouthed opinionated fools. Good Luck Brodie

[3leggedturtle]

A gentleman over on the Cast Bullet Association has a write up on an AR he made to shoot 55gr boolits reliably and accurately. Look it up and enjoy his article. Forumn is:AR Platform, titled: Designated cast AR15

[Hamish]

There was a very large amount of work done on this subject, on THIS forum, 2011'ish-2015/6. It's not that hard. There are a whole BUNCH of CB members who are versed on this subject, but like me, they've gotten frustrated with "you can't do that", "what's the point", "smaller is too hard", and lack of research by "gimme now".

Use the Search function, spend an hour, get the basics on cast in a semi auto.

Again, it's not that hard.

[pacomdiver]

anyone try the noe 227-79-sp in an AR? i just bought this mold

[sigep1764]

Nope, but I have the MP 227-75 NATO mold. Seating to magazine length, the gas check sits below the case neck a bit. So far, I like it around 2000fps with W748.

[leadman]

High velocity and accuracy can be done in the AR-15. I did it a few years back when I was testing Hi-Tek coating shortly after it came out here.
I found linotype was the easiest alloy to cast good boolits without too many rejects. H4895 proved to be a good powder and the combo led to around 2,700 fps with less than 2" accuracy at 100 yards out of my Stag Arms 1-8.
I did heat treat some lino boolits and did a water quenching also between Hi-Tek coats. I pushed these boolits to over 3,600 fps (which I do not recommend). Accuracy fell off after about 5 rounds with debris left in the barrel that brushed out easily. Accuracy IIRC was around 2/1/2" to 3".
If I was going to start someone out shooting the AR-15 at close steel plates I think I might try the 22 cal. 40 0r 45gr jacketed bullets for the 22 Hornet. These would have to be reduced loads but are very soft so they might lessen the chance of a ricochet.
Casting, installing gas checks and lubing 22 cal. boolits to me is a maddening process. If you are going to try it use Hornady gas checks as they install much easier and accuracy in my testing was better.

[26Charlie]

I didn’t have an AR until this year but had bought a quantity of Vihta Vouhri NN-133 powder, which is supposed to be the cat’s meow for it. It worked nicely for jacketed bullets, so I tried a cast load today of the RCBS 22-055 FNGC with 16.0 gr. NN-133, CCI #41 primer. It would eject, but did not have enough juice to push the bolt back to pick up another round. I shot 5 with iron sights and 5 with green dot, and the groups overlaid each other at 25 yards, a 1.7” ten-shot group. Bore is shiny, a few unturned powder grains. Now to up the charge to get it to function properly.
I will say, it blasted a baked beans can full of water like a cherry bomb.
Once I get it working I can take it to 100 yards, rather than off the back porch.

[JBinMN]

High velocity and accuracy can be done in the AR-15. I did it a few years back when I was testing Hi-Tek coating shortly after it came out here.
I found linotype was the easiest alloy to cast good boolits without too many rejects. H4895 proved to be a good powder and the combo led to around 2,700 fps with less than 2" accuracy at 100 yards out of my Stag Arms 1-8.
I did heat treat some lino boolits and did a water quenching also between Hi-Tek coats. I pushed these boolits to over 3,600 fps (which I do not recommend). Accuracy fell off after about 5 rounds with debris left in the barrel that brushed out easily. Accuracy IIRC was around 2/1/2" to 3".
If I was going to start someone out shooting the AR-15 at close steel plates I think I might try the 22 cal. 40 0r 45gr jacketed bullets for the 22 Hornet. These would have to be reduced loads but are very soft so they might lessen the chance of a ricochet.
Casting, installing gas checks and lubing 22 cal. boolits to me is a maddening process. If you are going to try it use Hornady gas checks as they install much easier and accuracy in my testing was better.

I didn’t have an AR until this year but had bought a quantity of Vihta Vouhri NN-133 powder, which is supposed to be the cat’s meow for it. It worked nicely for jacketed bullets, so I tried a cast load today of the RCBS 22-055 FNGC with 16.0 gr. NN-133, CCI #41 primer. It would eject, but did not have enough juice to push the bolt back to pick up another round. I shot 5 with iron sights and 5 with green dot, and the groups overlaid each other at 25 yards, a 1.7” ten-shot group. Bore is shiny, a few unturned powder grains. Now to up the charge to get it to function properly.
I will say, it blasted a baked beans can full of water like a cherry bomb.
Once I get it working I can take it to 100 yards, rather than off the back porch.

Thanks! for sharing your data/info! ALL of ya! Not just the last 2 quoted...


I am one who likes to get as much detail about folks doings, to see & compare to how things work for me as well.

The more we share, the more we know.