Thanks for the speed casting article!

[dmftoy1]

Just wanted to say thanks to BruceB for his hints on "speedcasting". I used them on my last batch of .45-70 and I'm tickled as my boolits are now all nice and shiney like all the pictures I see on here. I definately was running my molds too hot before and now using the same speed with those techniques they come out looking like they're made of silver. :)

What's considered a good variation on a 405 grain mold for "as cast" using wheel weights? All of the boolits seem to be between 384.7 and 386 grains with most of them falling within one grain (384.7-385.6).

I did notice that I got a bit cheap with my tin on this last batch and the driving bands aren't as "perfect" as the frosted bullets I made with the last batch (with a much bigger chunk of tin)

Anyway, just wanted to say thanks.

Love this website . .just have to wait for my damn magma luber-sizer to arrive. :)

[Buckshot]

Just wanted to say thanks to BruceB for his hints on "speedcasting". What's considered a good variation on a 405 grain mold for "as cast" using wheel weights? All of the boolits seem to be between 384.7 and 386 grains with most of them falling within one grain (384.7-385.6).
Love this website . .just have to wait for my damn magma luber-sizer to arrive. :)

.............Guys shooting competition using 45 cal lead rifle boolits will generally toss anything back that is a half grain outside the norm. Some go tighter and some a bit more lenient but I'd bet most do the half grain.

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

[3sixbits]

FROSTED bullets= cold pot metal, cure get the melt temp up. wrinkled bullets out of the mold= cold mold, cure get the temp of the mold up. Some people get a big slug of rejects and sprues, dump them in the pot and with there now hot mold, cast and get frosted bullets. Kind of like chasing your tail, ain't it!

[dmftoy1]

How about people just shooting for fun? What range do they find acceptable?

I'm mainly shooting steel targets at 100 yards or less with my 1895 CB.

[dubber123]

I don't think I'd bother to sort by weight, especially for steel plates at 100 yds. I may be very lucky, but I sort my 45-70's by appearance as I size them, and the FUGLY ones go back to the pot, the others get shot. My Pedersoli Sharps shoots in an inch or less at 100, rarely to 1-1/2". Maybe the occasional extra half inch is the unweighed bullets, or maybe it's me. I can't tell, and I'd rather be shooting than weighing. A serious competitor needs all the advantages they can get. For fun shooting, don't freak out over a grain or two. Try weighing some known accurate jacketed bullets sometime, very interesting.....

[Buckshot]

How about people just shooting for fun? What range do they find acceptable?

I'm mainly shooting steel targets at 100 yards or less with my 1895 CB.

...........Before beginning this night/weekend work shift I used to shoot our clubs 200 meter silhuette. There would usually be 3-4 of us who'd shoot through as a group. We didn't shoot as rated shooters but just shot in the club's non-rated 'Cowboy' listing. This was before SASS and they just called it Cowboy as a descriptor.

I'd usually shoot 4 different rifles and had a range card with sight settings for each one. Maybe it was cheating as I'd wait till I'd shot them all then I'd turn in the highest score :-) He said I couldn't do that that I had to say up front which one was for score, Ha! You couldn't winn any prises in Cowboy but your name and score was listed in the clubs newsletter.

I didn't wiegh any of these boolits. They were all loaded by appearance only. Just in case anyone is curious, the 4 I used to shoot and the loads were:

1903A1 Springfield, 23.0 H4198 + dacron, Ly 311284 @ .309"
1893 Marlin, 30-30, 21.0 H4198 + dacron, Lee 160gr @ .309"
M1908 Braz Mauser 7x57, 21.0 H4198 + dacron, RCBS 7mm-168 @ .285"
Mk IV Martini 577-450, 38.0 IMR3031 + dacron, Lee 458-405 PP'd to .472"

Velocities ranged from 1250 fps for the Martini to 1775 fps for the 30-30 & 7x57.

Generally now it's 50 yard offhand and the 200 meter plate offhand, iron sights.

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

[dmftoy1]

FWIW I weighed one batch last night and got almost a perfect bell curve with 95% falling in a 1 grain range and the extreme distribution being about 3 1/2 grains. I'm going to weigh my second batch the next time it's raining to see how consistent I've been batch to batch. I figure I don't have my luber yet so it's a way I can play with my boolits. :) I doubt if I'm a good enough shot to really know the difference but maybe I eliminate a few flyers. I need to try the same exercise with the box of 405 grain bullets I"ve got from a commercial caster. I figure if I'm better than those then I'm ahead of the game.

Have a good one,
Dave

[1Shirt]

For what ever it is worth, using Bruce B's speed method, it is even smoother, and just a bit faster (if you wish it so) utilizing "Bullplate" in my opinion.
1Shirt!