.458
01-02-2011, 11:24 PM
Been lurking here for sometime but now I have a question.
I've never cast a single boolit that wasn't meant for one of my muzzleloaders so I'm a prospective novice at this game. I like nostalgic firearms and have handloaded for years. I think lead boolits just seem to belong in old style guns. Other than for 38-Special I've never found a lead boolit that I liked shooting from any of my other guns, although I've tried many times. I load for 45-70, 357 Maximum, 44 Special, 44 Magnum and the Casull. All straight-sided, easy to load cartridges.
My first 45-70 was a Marlin 1895SS with Micro-groove rifling. Everything I bought just skipped over the rifling and wouldn't pattern better than a shotgun so I wore it out with thousands of jacketed bullets. I replaced it with a Ruger #1 in the same caliber, knowing that its rifling had deeper and wider lands. By this time "hardcast" boolits were showing up on store shelves from companies I'd never heard of and their claims were phenomenal so I tried a bunch of them. They lied.
I tried all of the major company off-the-shelf lead bullets I could for the 44 Magnum. Some would shoot OK at middle velocities but wouldn't group as well as jackets so I soon abandoned the lead idea, again.
Two days ago I took out the 44 Special and a box of Cast Performance 240g WFNPBs loaded to about 800-850 fps. They shot well enough that I figured I'd order another couple hundred and see if I could fine tune the load for accuracy. When I started cleaning the little 696 I changed my mind about that order. It was a 3-hour chore. The forcing cone was gray and the barrel lands were streaked half way to the muzzle! The cylinder throats were leaded and there was even lead smeared against a couple cylinder chambers half way to the cartridge head. I'm getting tired of this. I doubt they had these problems back before jacketed bullets were invented.
I've wanted a model 83 since one of the 3 big gun magazines did a write-up on it shortly after it hit the market, probably in 1984. Well, I just got one and it sparked that "no copper" desire I just can't seem to shake. I want a boolit I can develop a moose/elk/bear load around. This boolit must be accurate enough to print 6" or better groups at 100 yards when launched at 1200 to 1400fps. I shoot this well and I need to be the weakest link in the equation. I want this boolit to weigh about 300g and have a big sharp-edged meplat. I want penetration, not expansion and I don't want to spend more time at the cleaning bench than I spend at the shooting bench. So before I gear up for another hobby…
Is it reasonable to assume that this bullet can be cast or should I start turning brass on a lathe?
I've never cast a single boolit that wasn't meant for one of my muzzleloaders so I'm a prospective novice at this game. I like nostalgic firearms and have handloaded for years. I think lead boolits just seem to belong in old style guns. Other than for 38-Special I've never found a lead boolit that I liked shooting from any of my other guns, although I've tried many times. I load for 45-70, 357 Maximum, 44 Special, 44 Magnum and the Casull. All straight-sided, easy to load cartridges.
My first 45-70 was a Marlin 1895SS with Micro-groove rifling. Everything I bought just skipped over the rifling and wouldn't pattern better than a shotgun so I wore it out with thousands of jacketed bullets. I replaced it with a Ruger #1 in the same caliber, knowing that its rifling had deeper and wider lands. By this time "hardcast" boolits were showing up on store shelves from companies I'd never heard of and their claims were phenomenal so I tried a bunch of them. They lied.
I tried all of the major company off-the-shelf lead bullets I could for the 44 Magnum. Some would shoot OK at middle velocities but wouldn't group as well as jackets so I soon abandoned the lead idea, again.
Two days ago I took out the 44 Special and a box of Cast Performance 240g WFNPBs loaded to about 800-850 fps. They shot well enough that I figured I'd order another couple hundred and see if I could fine tune the load for accuracy. When I started cleaning the little 696 I changed my mind about that order. It was a 3-hour chore. The forcing cone was gray and the barrel lands were streaked half way to the muzzle! The cylinder throats were leaded and there was even lead smeared against a couple cylinder chambers half way to the cartridge head. I'm getting tired of this. I doubt they had these problems back before jacketed bullets were invented.
I've wanted a model 83 since one of the 3 big gun magazines did a write-up on it shortly after it hit the market, probably in 1984. Well, I just got one and it sparked that "no copper" desire I just can't seem to shake. I want a boolit I can develop a moose/elk/bear load around. This boolit must be accurate enough to print 6" or better groups at 100 yards when launched at 1200 to 1400fps. I shoot this well and I need to be the weakest link in the equation. I want this boolit to weigh about 300g and have a big sharp-edged meplat. I want penetration, not expansion and I don't want to spend more time at the cleaning bench than I spend at the shooting bench. So before I gear up for another hobby…
Is it reasonable to assume that this bullet can be cast or should I start turning brass on a lathe?