Anyone try Z Cast Bullets ?

[skeettx]

Has anyone here tried Z Cast bullets?

https://www.jacobeagle.com/bullets

Thank you
Mike

[scattershot]

Got 500 today to try. They are the ugliest commercial cast bullets I have seen. Lube grooves are not filled, base flashing “fins”,and just basically poorly cast. I’m not sure I’ll even shoot these.

If you’re looking for premium quality boolits, look at Dardas. They are some of the nicest I have seen.

[skeettx]

If you shoot them, let me know how they shoot
Mike

[scattershot]

Will do.

[clum553946]

I bought several different calibers about 4 years ago & like scattershot, found them to be of poor quality. Looks like they were cast fast & cold. They shot out of the barrel, but accuracy was non existent! I forgot about them and recently re-found them. Since I started casting a few years ago, I remelted them!

[scattershot]

Well, after digging further in the box, I won’t be using these at all. They range in weight from 201 to 210 grains, and in diameter from .453 to .456. (They were supposed to be .452 200 grain SWC) This in addition to the poor castings and haphazard lube. They’re going back.

212885

[dondiego]

I can attest to Dardas quality. It looks like the Z bullets used Dardas products in their promotional catalog.

[scattershot]

Could be. Dardas for me from now on.

[lwknight]

Apparently, the founder passed away in 2016 and someone else took it over.
He said in another forum: "The prices will remain very low as this was James's way of doing business. He had a recipe for quality bullets cheap. He showed me how and that's what we are doing."
I'm guessing that the "cheap" part recipe is the problem and lack of experience might be the other part.

[clintsfolly]

Looking at the picture on their link I see rounded bases ,wrinkles,poor lube job and many many dents form not letting the feeder empty more before refilling. Thanks but no thinks.

[skeettx]

OK, has ANYONE actually shot Z cast bullets?

[scattershot]

Clum 553946 said he did, with poor results. The ones I got were so poor that I didn’t even want to try them.

[RocknRoll]

Well I'm glad I checked this thread out. I'd like to update some of you with a bit of new information. I am the new owner of Z-Cast bullets. James passed away. First I would like to say to Scattershot. I'm not sure where you acquired those bullets in that picture, but I'm pretty sure you didn't get them from me. You said you got them just recently. I know exactly where every order of 45 ACP 200 SWC went to in January and none of them looked like that. If those came from me, instead of posting pictures and calling me out here, maybe you should call and tell me you're not happy with them and I'll fix the problem. You can count on that. Is it possible that you have an OLD box of Z cast bullets from the James administration ? I have heard (And noticed a bit myself) That the quality dropped off some towards the end. I'm not sure why, but he did take on some help about that time and I get the impression that some of them were less particular than James was. Keeping up with 8 kids may have slowed him down a bit. As well, there are around 7-10 extra bullets in each box to make up for the occasional bad round. But looking at Scattershots pictures, I'm pretty sure that those bullets with no lube didn't get past me. OK. Next, I have read a great deal online lately of old reviews for Z-Cast bullets. A few years ago, they were doing very well, but towards the end I see a great many folks talking about long order times and about bullets with little or no lube. I noticed some pretty rough bases myself in some of my orders that I got from him. When I received the machines from James family, I could see that a good many of the molds had been abused. Obviously someone didn't care as much about the equipment as he had in the past. I'm not sure if it was bad health, or other reasons that caused his bullet quality to head South, but today that aint happening. So here is the deal today. If you get any bullets from me and they are NOT up to standards CALL ME. I'll make it right. There may be as much as 5 grains difference between bullets in extreme cases, but these are commercially cast budget bullets not individually cast competition bullets. They will have LUBE and will be shaped reasonably well for plinker bullets. As for Clum my new friend, Any of you that are telling people about Z-Cast bullets that you bought before 2016 are talking about the old Z-cast. Perhaps I should have changed the name but they seemed to have a good reputation when I was involved with them so I kept the old name. Z-Cast Bullets are all about budget for reasonable quality. If you would like to try the new Z-cast just send me a PM and I'll set you up with a sample at dealers cost so you can try them out for yourself. CLINTSFOLLY ? There's a few pictures on the new website that were pulled from the old website. I just took a close look at em, I guess they do appear a little messy in the lube dept. I should have examined them closer. I'll get on that as soon as I can. DONDIEGO ? I didn't use any pictures from Dardas website. Now I've just recently got this rig up and rolling and I don't need all this bad press before anyone even gets to try em. So I would appreciate a fair chance to not be compared with the old product before you try em. OH ! I wanna say thanx to Mike AKA SkeeTTx for posting about me...........even though it looks like it went a little South here, I would have never known peoples thoughts if I didn't get to see this. Any more comments ya'll please post it on here. I'd like to know what I can do to improve relations. Thanx for all the info so far. I'll see what I can do to straighten things up. Till then, keep shootin.

[scattershot]

Well, to begin with, I never said I got those bullets from you. I took pains to avoid saying where I got them, but it was from an individual. All I have to go by is the 500 bullets I bought, and they were substandard. I wish you well in your endeavor, and hope you can get the quality back up where it should be.

[lwknight]

RochnRoll, you just took a giant step in relations by making an appearance here. If you keep people posted on what is going on, some will want to try the products again.

[clum553946]

RocknRoll:
I was just answering skeettx’s inquiry. I had no knowledge of the change in ownership, but I did give a timeline on when I bought Zcast bullets. I also haven’t openly aired or offered any negatives
about the product, I just pretty much kept it to myself until someone asked. The fact that you are the new owner was unknown to me. I agree that you probably have much better quality than the previous owner & I wish you the best in your new endeavor. You have quite a few desirable castings offered.

[2011redrider]

Had same problems about a year ago, ended up melting them down. Would not buy them again.
Found summersenterprisesllc.com and got much better bullets for much cheaper price. Summers is doing Hitek now too.

[RocknRoll]

Scattershot, Not sure if we're talkin bout the same fellow, but I just spoke to a very recent customer who said he sold some he got from me to someone on a forum. Might be you. He said he could see your point that the lube looked as though some had fallen OFF. This is something I need to know about. If it is "falling" off then perhaps this is why I am not catching it upon shipping. Could have something to do with application temperature. Possibly falling off during shipping. Either way, if you will tell me about how many you have that are sub standard, and you are willing to send them to me I will send you replacements. This will help me since I would very much like to see the faulty bullets.
IWKnight and Clum, Thanx for the kind words. Up until now I have only had good reviews. So I'm wanting to fix whatever this is. Hoping it is just an isolated incident. Towards the end James had some quality problems but I never got to get with him about why. He knew a LOT about casting bullets. I heard at one point he was 55,000 bullets behind on orders. Maybe it was just growing faster than he could keep up. He was about 400 lbs of really nice guy. Anyway, If ya'll will bear with me I'll figure this out and fix it. Scattershot, thanx for the info. Let me know if you want an exchange. I'll be back on here in a few weeks when I can give some solid answers. See ya'll soon and thanx again.

[scattershot]

Thanks for the offer, rocknroll, but I already sent them back. Seems like you are a standup guy, and want to fix your product. I wish you well, and hope you can get things straightened out.

[skeettx]

UPDATE
Well I got some, they load well, no issues
and the shoot well, very accurate in 38, 9, and 45.
These are all I have tried so far.
I am using 231 for the 38, 800-x for the 9mm and Bullseye for the 45.
Anyone else actually shot any of these lately?

Thanks
Mike

[RocknRoll]

I'm sure I'll figure out what's happening Scattershot. Let me know if you want a sample anyway. I'll send you some just for your trouble. I made the same offer to the customer I spoke to. I'll be back in a while to let ya'll know what happens. Till then, thanx for all the input.

[clintsfolly]

RocknRoll Glad you saw the comments and are doing the changes that needed to be addressed and hope you get things going your way! I hope that you didn’t feel that I or we as a group where personally attacking you. I for one hope you do well and have fun doing the job I had once and after a time don’t miss. Good Luck and Have Fun! Clint

[RocknRoll]

RocknRoll Glad you saw the comments and are doing the changes that needed to be addressed and hope you get things going your way! I hope that you didn’t feel that I or we as a group where personally attacking you. I for one hope you do well and have fun doing the job I had once and after a time don’t miss. Good Luck and Have Fun! Clint

Hey Ya'LL !!! After some research and questions, I have a little light for the subject. I noticed that the lube in Scattershots pics appeared a bit light in color. I noticed this again in a recent lubing session. No help looking online, so after calling Magma Engineering, they said that the light color was due to AIR in the lube line. Talked me thru it and took about 10 minutes to cure the problem. My thought was that the air was compromising the lube integrity and it was falling out. But the Magma gurus say that departing lube is most usually caused by cold temperatures. We've had some cold stuff here recently, as well I am not sure what these bullets were subject to during shipping. I have a GREAT deal of stock that has been stored in a cold warehouse. So it looks like for awhile I will be re-opening each box, inspecting and re-packing before shipping them to customers. I had a feeling that the faulty lube might be temperature related. As far as the fins that scattershot mentioned, I'd like to know if you found very many of them, because that is something that should not get passed me on a large scale. The way I am producing, I am sure that a select few sneak past, but then that is why I always add a few extras in each box. Fins are caused by molds that don't close correctly while casting. Most usually noticed while lube feeding but occasionally missed. These are budget bullets for budget shooters, (Next year we will have another brand for the quality junkies as well). I'm going to do some random diameter checks soon and will get back here with my findings since someone here mentioned the diameters. But each one of these goes thru the same harder than H3ll sizing dies and I've never had a diameter problem before. I'm not expecting any variance there. Till then, I thank everyone for calling this to my attention. Anything else that anyone sees of some concern please let me know.

[RocknRoll]

Hey Ya'LL !!! After some research and questions, I have a little light for the subject. I noticed that the lube in Scattershots pics appeared a bit light in color. I noticed this again in a recent lubing session. No help looking online, so after calling Magma Engineering, they said that the light color was due to AIR in the lube line. Talked me thru it and took about 10 minutes to cure the problem. My thought was that the air was compromising the lube integrity and it was falling out. But the Magma gurus say that departing lube is most usually caused by cold temperatures. We've had some cold stuff here recently, as well I am not sure what these bullets were subject to during shipping. I have a GREAT deal of stock that has been stored in a cold warehouse. So it looks like for awhile I will be re-opening each box, inspecting and re-packing before shipping them to customers. I had a feeling that the faulty lube might be temperature related. As far as the fins that scattershot mentioned, I'd like to know if you found very many of them, because that is something that should not get passed me on a large scale. The way I am producing, I am sure that a select few sneak past, but then that is why I always add a few extras in each box. Fins are caused by molds that don't close correctly while casting. Most usually noticed while lube feeding but occasionally missed. These are budget bullets for budget shooters, (Next year we will have another brand for the quality junkies as well). I'm going to do some random diameter checks soon and will get back here with my findings since someone here mentioned the diameters. But each one of these goes thru the same harder than H3ll sizing dies and I've never had a diameter problem before. I'm not expecting any variance there. Till then, I thank everyone for calling this to my attention. Anything else that anyone sees of some concern please let me know.

[RocknRoll]

P.S. Clintsfolly, If that's actually YOU in that picture........that is one cool SANTA BEARD !!!

[kipk49]

Rocknroll, what bullet alloy are you casting from, and about what BHN do you reckon your bullets are ending up at?

Also not trying cast any doubts here however I can't help but notice some of your thumbnail pictures appear to be taken directly from MBC's site.

Example being the 158gr RNFP in .357:

http://missouribullet.com/details.php?prodId=108&category=5&secondary=9&keywords=

https://www.jacobeagle.com/product-page/38-357-158gr-rnfp

[RocknRoll]

Thanx Kipk49. Apparently that IS in fact a pic from MBS. (Probably more than one) It was not intentional, but it is something I'll have to repair. Some of the pics on my website are from the old website under the James Zeigler administration. I made a few of my own pics with limited results. Whenever I added a new caliber to the list, or when some of the old pics I was not able to use, I just went to the internet and lifted stock photos from there. I can see that might have been a mistake. My first thought was that MBC must have got their pics from the internet too, but after looking at their website I am certain that these are in fact MBC's pics and someone has peeled from them and put their pics on the internet, I just happened to get theirs. I am guessing now that any pics I find on the internet may have been ripped from someone else. SO, I guess I will be making new pictures. I'm learning all this tech stuff on the fly. I was computer stupid when I started this gig. Anyway, thanx for calling this to my attention, and if anyone has communications with MBS please apologize for me. I'll fix this as soon as I can.
The BHN at Z-Cast bullets is around 16. They get aged a bit before they go on the shelf to be sure.

I'll be back in a couple weeks or so with an update on falling off lube, and pictures, and various other stuff that needs updating. Kipk49, I'm glad you noticed this. If anyone else sees anything that needs fixin I hope you'll tell me. I don't know whats wrong after shipping unless someone contacts me about it. Thanx for all the input.

[guntechholsters]

Those prices are awesome, but seems some quality issues??.. I have no exp with them but if there are good reports, it may be worth it?

[RocknRoll]

Thanx Guntechholsters, The prices ARE good and this thread has been my first quality concern. I am glad someone called my attention to it. I hope you'll give us a try. Now, Bout the pictures. I just got the one in question changed, thanx for calling that to my attention kipk49. There's a new pic in place for the 38 158gr. RNFP. The wood in the picture looked very nice and rustic in the shop but in the picture came out kinda vomit color. So I am getting a crash course in photography till I can make em look better. As well, now I am concerned that probably several of the internet stock pictures I pulled may be from someone else website, so I will be changing several of them in the next couple weeks as I get to them. If anyone else sees any concerns I hope you will let me know. 216859216859216859216859 HHMMM, tried to add a picture here but it aint workin.

[RocknRoll]

Well here I am again, new pictures as promised. Hope you'll pay the website a visit to check em out. I'll have more new pics soon. Anyone on this forum is welcome to order a box of bullets with free shipping. I wanna make sure you get to see em. Might take a couple weeks, but you'll get em with no shipping charges. 218812