No cast shooters?

[qajaq59]

It dawned on me the other day that in 4 years of shooting at the local county range I have never run into another guy shooting cast bullets. I wonder if you guys ever do?

[Lloyd Smale]

some shoot them but very few make there own.

[bishopgrandpa]

I make 'em and shoot 'em and dig 'em out and make 'em and shoot 'em and dig 'em out and make 'em and shoot 'em etc. etc. :-D etc.

[arkypete]

Most of the cast boolet shooters I see at the range went out there with me.
Casters are pretty rare birds.
Jim

[Poygan]

Judging from the boolits I see in the backstop at the range I use, very few people use cast. When spring finally arrives. I plan to screen the backstop to recycle whatever I can. Even though I cast using free wheelweights, I'm too frugal to use them once and forget about them!

[monadnock#5]

Public opinion has been swayed on a wide range of issues over the years. From guns in the hands of patriotic Americans is a good thing, to guys with guns can't be trusted. From (legal) chemicals are the salvation of mankind, to the chemical industry is out to kill us all. From unlocking the secrets of the atom will advance civilization, to nuclear fusion will destroy the world. Cigarette smoking "may" be hazardous to your health, to cigarette smokers aren't fit to be in the company of decent people.

Is it any wonder that so few people would knowingly bring lead into their homes? If you were to take a public opinion poll, I'd bet we boolit casters would be less welcome in most homes than persons with a communicable disease.

Ken

[corvette8n]

out of the 260 or so members of our gun club about 60 participate in the ongoing activities of the club the other 200 come in the fall to sight in their guns for hunting season.
Only a few of us cast and or reload.

[dragonrider]

Most of the people I know in our club cast their own. We are a very small minority of the membership however.

[RayinNH]

I don't run into many either. When I do it's usually the guys shooting single shots, Sharps, Rolling Blocks etc. The majority of lead shooters are shooting handguns with boolits they purchased. The spray and pray crowd that are happy if they can hit an 8" paper plate at 50 feet...Ray

[Kraschenbirn]

Ray...

Much the same here in my piece of the Midwest. Our club has the only organized 300m range within 100 miles in any direction. Go out there on a weekend, though, and they're waiting two-deep for a slot on the 25m pistol range (10 shooting points) with, maybe, two or three of us old farts up on the rifle line (3 shooting benches, and 10 points for position shooting). Most of the "bang & clang" handgunners who reload seem to be shooting commercial cast except for a few of the "cowboy action" types who really care about their sixgun accuracy.

Of the longgun shooters, very few are 'casters (it's only been recently that I've joined their number) and most of us shoot vintage BP or military stuff.

Bill

[Ed Barrett]

A few of the pistol shooters cast there own, I'd say about 15%. Rifle shooters who cast there own are pretty rare birds except for the black powder cartridge shooters. It's amazing talking to people about cast bullets, most think you can't shoot cast bullets very fast or that they ruin barrels. When I shoot high speed paper patched with smokeless powder and show them small groups you would think I was doing magic. I'm trying to make converts, but it's slow work.

[Buckshot]

...............There is a fair number at our club who shoot cast boolits as the club also sponsers the Silhuette club so many of those guys shoot cast. They also just sponsered a new SASS Posse, The Plunge Creek Cowboys. First started last Saturday and had 38 shooters.

Of all the lead shooters, we're a small part of the club's membership. Of those shooting lead, those who cast their own are a smaller part yet. There are the 4 gomers I shoot with on Tuesday, and a few other Tuesday regulars I know who cast their own.

People who actively cast their own are a breed apart. And within that bunch you can define it into 2 other parts. Those who cast merely to have a ready and sustainable supply of projectiles, and those who do that too but are fascinated by the process and are tinkerers. In this second group you'll fine the guys who 30 minutes after after opening their Christmas presents as kids, had them taken apart. Also those who have become dis-infatuated with the TV and no longer belong to the group who spend the national average of 42 hours a week in front of it, and a large encompassing group who just enjoy using their hands in manual creativity. We ARE the oddities of the shooting world.

................Buckshot

[Dale53]

There is a way to help increase the bullet casters in your area. If your club has a newsletter, write an article for it (or get permission for a reprint of someone else's article on cast bullet shooting). Take pictures of your set up and some of your better targets. There are no guarantees that this will help to increase your club's interest in cast bullet shooting. I DO guarantee that if you don't do anything the interest will not grow.

Another thing you can do is to set up a reloading and casting seminar at your gun club. After the meetings is generally a good time to do this. It doesn't have to be a big production, but a working display with a "lecture" can be very productive.
It is sometimes frustrating, but it can be quite rewarding to share your interest with other fellow club members. I have done this on several occasions and it has helped to increase interest.

Dale53

[Ranch Dog]

Also those who have become dis-infatuated with the TV and no longer belong to the group who spend the national average of 42 hours a week in front of it, and a large encompassing group who just enjoy using their hands in manual creativity. We ARE the oddities of the shooting world.

So that is my problem! I bet I don't spend 4.2 hours a week before the tube and then that is with a movie stuck in the DVD. I do spend about 42 hours a week just enjoying my land, watching deer, birds or simply the horizon. I sit on my front porch and ponder the empty rocking chair next to me, gently rocking in the South Texas breeze while I survey the majesty before me. I wonder which of the past inhabitants of my land are enjoying the view with me! I seem to like their company more than most... who ever they are!

[imashooter2]

Most of the "bang & clang" handgunners who reload seem to be shooting commercial cast except for a few of the "cowboy action" types who really care about their sixgun accuracy.

I've cast rifle for many years, but this is the first that I'll be casting my own handgun bullets for competition. The current prices for commercial cast have me at the point that I can no longer afford to trade money for time.

[DLCTEX]

I am the only bullet caster I know of in our county. I know a couple of sass guys who buy cast to reload, and I know a few guys who reload cast for handguns, but they are constantly removing lead from thier barrels. They just accept barrel leading as part of shooting cast. I tell them that cast can be fired without all the leading, but they've been doing it this way for years and just keep plodding along. No one I know in this county shoots cast in rifles, and there probably aren't twenty reloaders total. I use every opportunity to enlighten about the silver stream, but no converts so far. I did cast some round balls for a local cowboy recently. He gave me some black powder and about twenty pounds of lead some hunter left a few years ago, and wanted a few balls to use in his sling shot to move cattle out the brush with, and to take the fight out of some bulls. He said a good pop between the eyes with a lead ball makes them point the other end at you and move out. It was a good trade. DALE

[DLCTEX]

There must be a lot of casters out there though, every mold on Ebay sells, often for more than new price. I keep thinking I'll pick up a 54 cal maxi mold for cheap, but the TC ones bring more than I want to spend right now, and the Lee ones bring more than Midway price. Maybe when tax returns get spent. I can tell the economy has picked up in the past year, makes me wish I'd waited to sell some items. DALE:-D

[jhalcott]

In my club there's 360 members. Only about 20 shoot cast,except at the annual smokepole shoot. Even then some use a saboted round with synthetic black powder. I did get 2-3 interested in shooting cast in their rifles by letting them shoot a couple of my guns loaded with cast. They were more interested in buying the bullets than casting them though.

[1Shirt]

I occaisionaly run into a few at the range that cast their own pistol boolits. However thats very few! There are a fair number who shoot mail order cast in handguns, and a very few in 38-55, and 45-70, but that's about it. As far as I know, only my son in law and I cast and shoot rifle projectiles. I get a kick out of those who come up to me when I am shooting and see that I am shooting cast and don't believe that they shoot in rifles, don't lead the bbl. if they are the right size etc. Really get a kick out of those who are amazed at the bigger like 375 H&H with cast, and even more so by those who are amazed when they learn I shoot 22cals. in Hornet, and 222.
1Shirt!:coffee:

[pumpguy]

I personally do not know if I want anyone else shooting their own cast.
This just adds to the competition for wheel weights.:mrgreen:

[Freightman]

The rifle shooters at our club do not shoot much cast, but the pistol shooters (there are lots) shoot 75% cast. There are two commercial casters who are members of our range but they only cast the pistol and 44 and up boolits. I only cast for me and my sons, lead is, and getting lead is to much work for me to sell . If I am going to work for someone that hard they will not like the price.
I might add that the commercial casters boolits are sized to small as I have tried theirs and they almost discouraged me from shooting cast with the lead in my pistols. I was offered the sit up I have at a steal , I had bought it from an older man with the idea of selling it off piece by piece on Ebay, but I made the mistake in casting some for my Jap 7.7x58 and I was hooked.

[sundog]

I ran into a couple club members a few weeks ago who asked what I was shooting. Is howed them my cast .308 rounds and their faces sorta screwed up. They told me that they had bought some boolits for 30-30 and they were not at all accurate and leaded real bad and they up on that. They also told me they had bought some 'hard cast' for revolver and they leaded so bad they couldn't shoot them. They found it absolutely astonishing that I was getting such good groupd with the .308 and NO LEADING. Then I showed them the 03A3 and some targets I had just shot. Wow. Then, blew them away when I told them that I hardly ever clean it. Then it really awed them to know I was shooting center fire .22 with cast. When they left, they were talking to each other.

We've got a fair number of cast shooters at my club, single shot, cowboys, mil bolt, pistol, muzzle loaders, black powder cartridge, etc. So, I find it quite amazing when I run across folks that just don't know. I told them I would more than happy to share what I know.

[felix]

Corky, if you told them what you know, they still won't believe you. It takes time for these same folks to turn around and start thinking positive. The conflict is within themselves. It is too bad guns and ammo are more emotional than intellectual to most folks, if not all except for a percent or two who might be engineers or technical enough to appreciate what you are saying. ... felix

[Treeman]

Clubs? Who need a club when you have a gun? ;^)

There is a commercial caster locally . I find some cast stuff other than mine in the backstop area of our designated shooting area on public land but mostly I find bullets with a strange copper envelope surrounding them.

[johniv]

I dont know more than one or two casters in my area. It is amazing thaat all shooters I meet are SURE that cast boolits lead yer gun or that "reloads are dirty". When I tell them I can clean any of my guns after shooting , with no headaches and about three or four patches I get a look like I'm selling beach front property. One guy said "lead? aint that corrosive? (he was shooting surplus ammo from India or lower slobvia or something. Lots of ignorance out there.
John

[sundog]

Ya know what, Freightman? You hit the nail on the head. It's too much work for some folks. I share my cast boolits with one other guy, have for a long time, and he helps with mould and gas check costs. I enjoy casting and seeing him do very well with my boolits in the mil bolt matches. He's a good friend and we shoot mil bolt and high power together. If I were to do that for others, they would not be able to afford my price. Lot's of work.

Felix, you're right, too. This is a thinking game. For some, thinking hurts too much. Just too much for it to be a leisurely hobby for them. What we do borders on obsession - maybe more. sundog

[felix]

Yeah, Corky, pain for gain: entertainment. It surely cannot be anything more to a casual shooter, and perhaps even a detriment. ... felix

[44man]

A thinking game is goooood! A lot of guys that retired after I did are dead. All they had to do was to sit in front of the boob tube. Most never had a single hobby and it killed them.
Hey, we are in the middle of a snowstorm so I cast a pile of boolits. It is just beautiful out.

[eka]

I haven't run into anyone at the range that currently casts. A lot of them reload, but when I start mentioning cast bullets, I usually get some that will say they cast their own pistol bullets years ago etc. I haven't run into a single rifle bullet caster or shooter. When I start talking about that, they look at me like I am talking about a new invention. Most are interested in hearing the tall tales from the snake oil salesman, but I never seem to spark any real interest with one exception. I ran into a guy I've known for years and shot with on occasion when we would bump into each other at the range. We were in a restaurant and I started talking about cast bullets and I could see the interest in his eyes. He called me a couple of days later and wanted to swap some .357 Mag. brass for some .45 Colt cast bullets. I gladly traded with him. Heck, I would have just given him some, but he insisted. Now, he calls me yesterday, and says he has been dusting off some of his old casting equipment he hasn't seen in years and has rounded up some lead weights used in race cars. I was telling him about the 311291 group buy I just got in on that Chargar's doing, and he asked how he could get one of them. Now, all I have to do is get him over to the garage and set the hook real deep.

Keith

[Pathfinder1cav]

Hi,
New here, but just about all (95%) of what I & most of my shooting friends shoot is hand cast boolits. For Cowboy action, it is just more time expediant to buy commercial cast for the high volume shot (targets are big & close).:Fire:
However for LONG RANGE BPCR ( out to 1538 yds.), you would be hard pressed to be able to buy a commercial boolit that would be as competitive as your own. All of the matches that I shoot require cast boolits with the exception of some service rifle matches- even then, I use a cast load to 200 yds. (Finn M-39, 1Moa stock).
Just about the biggest shooting match today is the Quigley in Forsythe, MT (517 shooters last year!)- all cast boolits!
Most of my rifles shoot cast more accurately & with much less wear & tear than hot jacketed loads. Also a proper alloy cast & well placed hunting boolit works quite well.
For the experienced casters/ shooters....Thanks for sharing your info- that's what gets new guys started. ....Dennis

[Bent Ramrod]

Very few people around here cast their own, and, as others have mentioned, they are mostly blackpowder cartridge and muzzleloading enthusiasts.

The guys who shoot military calibers (pistol and rifle) cite the low cost of commercial or remanufactured ammunition and say that casting (or even reloading) for such calibers "isn't worth their time."

The guys who shoot competitively, in rifle or pistol, generally demand something consistent in the way of bullets, so they buy their choice of Matchkings or commercial cast designs rather than introduce "variables" by casting their own. They have no thought that they might improve on the commercial offerings, or, if they could, they figure the practice time they'd lose experimenting around would more than offset any gains.

And the few I've tried to lure into the effort will say, "Hey, OK; I'll be over Saturday afternoon and we can cast up a few thousand then." When they see the output after an hour's tiring labor is somewhat less than "a few thousand," they lose interest in it because it isn't "cost-effective."

Let's face it; we who cast our own are totally holistic shooting cranks. The entire process fascinates us; not just the bang or the hole in the target or the memorable shot. We'd draw our own cases and extrude our own powder if we could figure out how to do it safely on the individual-hobbyist scale.

[Ricochet]

I had somebody tell me at the range a while back that cast bullets had to be shot at low velocities, were inaccurate and leaded barrels badly. I thanked him and promptly shot a 2" 100 yard group with 2000+ FPS cast boolits over my Chrony in my K-31. I can't do any better than that with open sights. Couldn't find any lead in that bore, either.

[454PB]

It seems it boils down to a lot of misinformation about cast boolits. Those that don't cast have heard all the stories about leading and inaccuracy, the dangers of lead, the expense of the equipment, the amount of time it consumes, etc. In the other camp are those that may use cast bullets, but they are commercial cast, and misapplied for the job. Many of these types think they are only good for "plinking". All you have to do is look at the advertising for commercial cast bullets, they all brag about being "hard cast". Sadly, many of the commercial cast bullets are very well made, then they lube them with a very hard, waxy lube meant to prevent shipping damage. I find these laying in the berm at my range all the time, and the lube is intact, other than some rifling and skid marks they look like they could be used again. The shooter that used them had a bad experience, and thinks all cast boolits are the same.

I too have had people sitting next to me marvel at what can be done with cast boolits, if they are properly cast, sized, and lubed.

[schutzen]

It is not just bullet casters. Think about the number of shooters you know. Now think, how many of them are reloaders? In my small circle, I know about 100 active shooters. Twenty-six of those reload, but only 3 of us cast bullets. I'm sure there are other reloaders out there that are not regular shooters but do reload for one or two calibers, but in my area, reloading seems to be a dying art.

[Freightman]

Leaves more lead for us.

[lovedogs]

It's a cultural thing. We shooters are gradually phasing out. Our youth, for the most part, are students of their own culture. Parenting is a lost art. It used to be that young 'uns, especially the boys went along with their father, uncle, or grandfather to participate in outdoor activities. People lived closer to the land then. Now it's TV and electronic junk, drugs and rebellion, kids raised by their peers and the street. How many do you know that sit down for three meals a day with their family and eat a real home-cooked meal? Or get to go out and do things with their menfolk?

Even our educational systems are anti-gun, for the most part. I remember living in a rural community in Okla. for a while when I was a squirt. We walked a mile through the woods to attend a little two-room country school. It had a water pump out front if you got thirsty and boy's and girl's outhouses to take care of your natural needs. At age seven I carried my single-shot .22 to school every morning. I'd lean it in the corner in the cloak room. Remember those? No one gave it a thought. Another kid brought his .410 shotgun. After school I'd stalk my way home and hunt squirrels. When I got home they'd get skinned and Mom fried them up for supper. More often than not we had fried squirrel, garden potatoes and corn, home-made baking powder biscuits covered with squirrel gravy. How the world has changed!

Fortunately, now that I'm retired and poor, I again live in a rural community with a "depressed" economy. Our Medicine Rocks Blackpowder Assoc. is all cast lead shooting. We aren't limited to black powder but we must shoot cast lead bullets. A local rancher generously donates the use of his land for our silhouette range where we can shoot out to a half-mile. We've only got 50-some members but that's a pretty good percentage of our community. The town's population is only 400. Guns aren't allowed in school anymore but they do give the kids days off during hunting season so they can go hunting. So, though we are becoming a minority in modern society I count myself very fortunate. I mean no insult to those of you who are shooters and live in Calif., but one of our favorite sayings locally is, "Keep Montana beautiful... put a Californian on a bus!"

[Char-Gar]

Like others, I know folks who buy these super hard handgun cast bullets. They shoot them, lead up their barrels and go around telling folks how back cast bullets are.

I am the only rifle cast bullet shooter I know. I have never seen another at the range.

Methinks we are a pretty small nitch group of shooters. I would truly like to know just how many folks there are who cast and shoot their own bullets in this great country.

When I was young, bullet casters and shooters were far more common than now.

[Bigjohn]

At my club, I would be the only one of three members who cast who regularly shoots his own products.

Most of the pistol shooters use Hard cast Moly lubed commercial cast Bullets (I refuse to call them boolits).

The upside of all this is the amount of material available just by picking it up; again , hardly touched and almost reusable as is. Great for smelting and mixing down to something more usable; by me. Same could be cast and lubed as is for higher velocity rifle boolits.

Even the 'J' word bullets can be smelted out of their jackets and the jackets sold off while the alloy is recast.
:castmine:

John

[twotrees]

I was asked , a few years ago to give a demo and talk about casting and shooting cast by my then gun club " CrowFoot" in Murrysville,Pa. Of the 50 or so folks that heard me that night I think 3-4 actualy tried it. of them none of them still belong and neither do I. (Kinda hard when your 12.5 hours away, by car).

One of the folks that heard me talk borrowed a pistol to shoot a short range course of fire. He gave me back my 357 Blackhawk that looked , for all the world like a 25 cal. he had asked for my standard 357 load ( This gun has NEVER seen a j-word bullet down it. he then loaded 50 rounds with Swaged Lead Speer bullets over 15 grains of 2400. He said" you can't hit spit with load. I tried to explain that CAST and swaged are 2 diffrent bullets, but he wouldn't get it. Oh well 3 hours a night for 3 nights and I fianly got it clean, but never did convince him that real cast (Gas Checked) 357's had Never leaded that barrel ( in excess of 8000 rounds).

Sigh, what are you going to do??

TwoTrees:castmine:

[cabezaverde]

out of the 260 or so members of our gun club about 60 participate in the ongoing activities of the club the other 200 come in the fall to sight in their guns for hunting season.
Only a few of us cast and or reload.

I didn't know we belong to the same club.

[Uncle Grinch]

Our club ( www.marionroad.com (http://www.marionroad.com) ) currently has 181 members and we usually end up with around 275 by year end. Of that, only 30 or so participate with any regularity in our various shoots and of these I would venture that 12-15 cast or at least shoot cast boolits. Most of these shooters are in the military or lever action matches.

Quite a few expressed a desire to reload, so two years ago we held a reloading clinic. Hodgdon, Sierra and Lee donated materials to help us out. The turn out was somewhat disappointing, considering how many promised to attend.

Those of us that do reload and cast, share a lot of information and equipment. Our bull sessions after the meetings and matches quite often last longer than the venue.

They just don't know what they are missing!!

[**oneshot**]

I just started casting my own with the addition of a muzzleloader to my gun list. I am now beginning to cast my own for my other new addition(41mag revolver). I have reloaded for some time but always with factory bullets, but at the price of 100 bullets I can buy 30-40lbs of lead or enough powder and primers to load 100's more.

[fatnhappy]

I was at a gunshow about 2 years ago, chewing the fat with my local mould source. Another patron wandered up, the long and short is that none of us had ever met another caster at the range. Not once.
I've personally gotten about half a dozen guy interested in handloading, but only 2 made the leap to casting. A third made the leap because NY outlawed lead for fishing lures. He wanted to cast splitshot.

[Ed Barrett]

A third made the leap because NY outlawed lead for fishing lures. He wanted to cast splitshot.

When lead is outlawed only outlaws will have lead.