What is your "Dumpster" Gun/Caliber

[depoloni]

I figured the Lead/Lead-Alloys forum was as or more appropriate as anywhere for the topic...

I'm curious. We all seem to have a passion for casting, and many of us "scrap for lead" wherever possible. Despite our best efforts at due diligence on lead alloy content, undoubtedly many of us (like me) run across batches out of the smelter that are sketchy at best in terms of alloy and composition.

So I'll cut to the chase - what's your "cast it and shoot it" gun of choice? For me it's the 45acp. Far and away vs. most of my other CB-spitters, it really doesn't seem to give a hoot what I cast/size/lube/load as long as it's between about 10-20 BHN. Handguns in general are less picky about CB alloy composition, I admit, but compared to other calibers I cast for (9mm, 380, 357, 44mag, rifles in general) it REALLY doesn't give a hoot.

And you?

[Yodogsandman]

38 Special

[jsizemore]

12 gauge

[Gar]

Yup, slugs and buckshot

[websterz]

.40 S&W since the only gun I have in that caliber is my HiPoint carbine. That gun would fire rocks l lubed with snot and not know the difference.

[jabo52521]

44 mag. My SBH shoots all 44s that will fit the cylinders.

[depoloni]

Hmmm... interesting. I hadn't considered slugs/buckshot initially. Can't say I use a lot of slugs, and had horrible luck so far in limited play-time with the (cough?) Lee 1oz 12ga keybase slug. Do shoot some buckshot, but not for game purposes - wife seems to occasionally like blowing up pumpkins and shredding paper with it since that's what I keep loaded behind the doors in several places.

38 Special makes sense - another low-pressure round like 45acp.
40SW, like 9mm and 357, I would guess is pickier in the absence of gaschecks - but glad to hear it works!
44mag - I use gaschecks nearly exclusively there for CB loads, honestly - but haven't tried many alloys. Just shoot what's worked for me. Might have to re-consider that!

[RogerDat]

.38 special seems to work with just about whatever I cast & shoot through it. Sized by the mold and tumble lubed with two coats of 45/45/10

.357 mild loads take the same cast boolit without complaint when shooting for minute of someplace on 8" target.

[GhostHawk]

It used to be .45acp. Partially because I am not loading mine hot.
Speeds are reasonable, so it will take what I give it and throw it down range.

I recently bought a used Hi-point carbine in .40sw here for 200$ and that thing is just a hoot to shoot.
Threw a medium priced Red Dot on it and it rocks just fine. Does not seem to be too fussy.
30 rounds, and not a single failure of any kind yet. Soft on the shoulder, I am shooting fairly mid range loads of red dot under 180 gr truncated cone, tumble lube boolit. (Lee)

Does it get any more fun than that?

I won't lie and say it is winning any accuracy prizes. But it hits what I'm aiming at so far.

[Vann]

45 colt

[shoot-n-lead]

44 special is my hands-down favorite...but 357 is a close, second..

[rbuck351]

45 acp or 38spl depending on whether I want to shoot a wheel gun or an auto loader. Either will shoot whatever lead with whatcha got lube and do just fine. I shoot the Lee 12ga 1oz slug but I have over 800lbs of pure lead which works very well with the Lee slug. I also built a lead relative hardness tester so I don't have to guess as much. Anything that doesn't test hard enough goes into 38s or 45s unless it's pure which goes into slugs or muzzle loader balls. A simple system for my simple mind.

[preparehandbook]

12 gauge.

I do a lot of 1oz Lee Key slugs.

I've been trying to refine my buckshot. I cast it, clean up the sprues, rock tumbler it until it's smooth, then run it another three hours with a couple carpenter pencil's worth of graphite.

I use wheel weights for everything.

[toallmy]

All my handguns , I am approaching my first birthday as a caster , so being new to the art all my alloys are questionable. Heck so is my lube. And my shooting. But it's a blast. I like to think the ones with the little wrinkle is a smilleface going down range.

[iraiam]

9mm,357,44mag

I have definitely put some questionable alloys downrange with all 3 of these calibers. I also have quality alloys for them, but the "junk" alloys will generally shoot good in these handguns.

[avogunner]

I've been casting for over 25 years and I don't think I've ever used a pure, 100% known alloy of any composition. All my casting has been with what I've scrounged; wheel weights, scrap lead, mined range lead, lino, solder, etc. I do try to have some idea of what's in the pot of course, but there's always variables that I can't account for. Anyway.....for the intent of this thread, I have full confidence in just about any alloy shooting well in: .38 spl, .45ACP, and my standard .45 Colt loads. I'm a bit more picky for my .30 cal rifles and the .357 Mag and hotter .45 Colt loads.

[Kraschenbirn]

.44 Specials for my S&W M24 and also shot as 'plinkers' from my Ruger .44 Mags.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I figured the Lead/Lead-Alloys forum was as or more appropriate as anywhere for the topic...

I'm curious. We all seem to have a passion for casting, and many of us "scrap for lead" wherever possible. Despite our best efforts at due diligence on lead alloy content, undoubtedly many of us (like me) run across batches out of the smelter that are sketchy at best in terms of alloy and composition.

So I'll cut to the chase - what's your "cast it and shoot it" gun of choice? For me it's the 45acp. Far and away vs. most of my other CB-spitters, it really doesn't seem to give a hoot what I cast/size/lube/load as long as it's between about 10-20 BHN. Handguns in general are less picky about CB alloy composition, I admit, but compared to other calibers I cast for (9mm, 380, 357, 44mag, rifles in general) it REALLY doesn't give a hoot.

And you?
That'd be my neighbors gun :shock:

[tmag97]

45acp

[digger44]

44 mag SBH load mine unsized..

[lightman]

I guess any one of my S&W revolvers would qualify. I have .357, 41, 44 and 45's. The cases look good with that Keith Type swc sticking out of it.

[Markbo]

.45 Colt & .45 ACP. I don't hot rod 'em and anything not 100% certain is for target practice anyway.

[youngmman]

357/45acp

[Uncle R.]

It would be something with a bore of .35 or larger and with a gas check.

In my admittedly limited experience the bigger the bore the less critical the details of the boolit are. As for gas checks, those copper shoes make up for a huge multitude of errors. Boolit too hard, too soft, maybe even too small? Use a gas check and success is easier to achieve. I've almost never had really bad results from a gas-checked bullet.

The actual cartridge would likely be .357 or .44 mag, but I might do .38 Special too if I had to really slow 'em down. Even the .45-70s might get in on the fun.

Uncle R.