I love shooting my own boolits...

[44Blam]

Went to a steel match tonight and I shot my cast 357 sigs. Man they bang the hell out of the steel plates. I love it!
At the match, there was 24 people. 22 shooting 9mm, one guy shooting 40 S&W and then there's me. Shooting nice hot .357 sig...

My wife thinks I'm obnoxious... Pretty sure 22 out of 24 agree - but... I'm having some fun! ;)

[Peregrine]

Not the first cartridge that I would think to use cast in, haha.
How heavy of a boolit are you using and how fast do you push it?
How many loads do you find you get out of your brass?

[Winger Ed.]

After scrounging Lead, making & shooting your own boolits, it sort of feels like you're beating the system.

[Walks]

Shooting your own Ammo, that you created with your own hands. Using Bullets that you Cast, Sized and Lubed( or PC'ed ) with your own hands, that gives you a very Superior Feeling. Especially when you look around at the other poor folks at the Range shooting factory ammo. Poor Slobs.

[cwlongshot]

Im one with a 40s&w! I also load and cast my own for it and these matches. Its a task keeping supplies up!! I shoot 7 steel matches, 8-9 3Gun matches (I stay mostly local) then a couple pin and fun matches thrown in between. Then there is week night shoots in summer Months. Lastly practice on Sundays when no matches to shoot. With 50-400 rounds per match. Things add up!

I would love to shoot my lil 357 or my 10! But one one range allows me
To get brass back and I need to stay and clean up/put away steel to get my share. Then, I get a portion of ALL brass. Not specifically my 357/10mm I dont beed 9mm brass I dont own one...:)

But I agree 100% much pride in being self sufficient! Guys always comment when they see my bullets as I also powder coat. Bringing the color bullets for the event I shoot gets attention!

Enjoy!

CW

[Went2kck]

I shoot a ruger precision in 308. I shoot cast out of it. A guy next to me asked why do you shoot cast out of that rifle. Told him cause I made them and I am cheep. He was in awe that you could actually do that and get good accuracy. He then got to 100 questions. Didn't shoot much once we got to talking. But did enjoy the conversation.

[pworley1]

Trying to explain to your friends who do not hand load or cast what it feels like to shoot loads that you have worked up to be just what you want them to be is like trying to describe a rainbow to a dog.

[FISH4BUGS]

I hate to admit it but sometimes before bed I might go into the closet and take out some of my cast reloads and just admire them. I have them stored in Dillon boxes, typically 500 per ammo can. I DO make nice reloads if I may say so myself. :)
The process of producing your own ammunition is a very relaxing hobby. My other half calls it "man knitting".....she DOES have a point.
It is a good feeling to be able to go to the closet and say "...I wonder what I want to shoot today" and grab a couple of hundred rounds.....kind of like going to the grocery store and picking your vegetables to eat.
That's why I cast and reload and have a garden.
Shoot from the closet, eat from the freezer.

[GhostHawk]

I'm going to go out on a limb here.

I was recently putting some rounds with a new to me Beretta 81 in .32acp. Now the pistol was mostly wanting to shoot to right of center a couple of inches, and an inch low. I loaded 6 magtech factory FMJ's in the mag and started.

2 of those ended up dead center in the 2" stick on bullseye. The other 4 made a nice tight vertical string off to the side.

Now I have been accused of "Useing the Force" to walk those bullets to where I want them. But 4 of those factory loads just ignored me. I'll be going back today with 50 rounds that I cast and loaded. Any takers on if they go where I want them?

I cast and lubed those boolits, charged the cases. They know who the boss is. I'm guessing I'm going to put 6 in the bull at somepoint today. Maybe I'm crazy. Maybe I'm right. But I much prefer shooting ammo I have crafted. I know the powder charges are all going to be with 0.10 of a grain. I know they were all slipped into the right spot and crimped into place.

The most dramatic example I have I was shooting with a Ex army ranger, 14 years service, 3 tours in the sandbox.
I was letting him work his way through some of my collection. He'd put 6 rounds through a H&R 732 which is a 2.5" snubbie I call blackie. His were all over that target. I walked over, shoot my head. Put up a fresh target. Slipped in 6 .32SW longs with 2 grains of Red Dot and a .314 90 gr truncated cone bullet.

Picked up the gun, took a classic one handed dueling stance, emptied gun. Pulled the target back.

6 shots dead center in the 2" stick on bullseye in the form of 2 triangles, bases together in the middle.
I don't think side to side or top to bottom it was much if any bigger than an inch at 20 feet.

His eyes got big, mouth dropped. He was flicking between target and me.
Finally he stammered "How the !@#$#$% did you do that?

Looked at him, total deadpan, "used the Force of course" and I don't think I was kidding. But I think it works better on bullets I've made from scratch. Or it could just be an old man's ramblings. Have yourself a great day. God Bless you all.

[LenH]

I love the guys that look at you like you are crazy and ask, 'Why do you go to all that trouble?' I tell them that it is no trouble at all. And like one of you guys said
here comes the 100 questions.

I shoot Bullseye matches twice a month during the summer months and out of the 10 or 15 people that shoot all but 2 or 3 reload their own ammo. Most all the guys have
a brass catcher and it is just what you do to keep shooting. out of all the others I am the only one shooting bullets that I cast myself.

It is funny when you hear a guy on the other range blasting away and seeing how fast they can empty a magazine and there will be a comment to the effect,
'That person must not reload.'

[cwlongshot]

Reloading as a whole is my central being. I mean everything I do and Im all over doing most everything. Its my ME time. My relaxation. Alone in my room radio on low I can sort brass. Prep cases completely load cartridges. Mount scopes clean guns adjust broken malfunctioning items. Lately its been building racks and buying jars for bullets and getting labels printed identifying bullets. This winter I WILL complete My expansion of my loading room. I have 1/2 the basement of my 1200 sf ranch. This will get me another 12-10 room. A dedicated cleaning repair bench and a third loading bench.

Its better than the bar stool.

CW

[EMC45]

After scrounging Lead, making & shooting your own boolits, it sort of feels like you're beating the system.


Agreed.

I can't beat the accuracy (or price) shooting some of the oddball stuff I shoot.

[FISH4BUGS]

It is funny when you hear a guy on the other range blasting away and seeing how fast they can empty a magazine and there will be a comment to the effect,
'That person must not reload.'
The comment I make is "...hey....can I have your brass?" :)

[LenH]

That is on a different range and there are brass rats already over there.

[fredj338]

I like making things with my own hands. Casting was an easy choice. I shoot a lot of IDPA, used to do CAS, I enjoy a win with my own bullets. Reloading is a pita, but casting is sort of a zen thing.

[mdi]

There's not a lot more satisfying than scrounging some lead, smelting/cleaning and testing your alloy. Then melting your clean alloy and casting some bullets, watching those perfect bullets fall out of your mold. Then you lube and size for a perfect fit to the gun the bullets are for. Then loading (after finding the perfect load) then shooting and marveling at the target. Don't get much better than that...

I shot this target with my booits... :bigsmyl2:

[44Blam]

Not the first cartridge that I would think to use cast in, haha.
How heavy of a boolit are you using and how fast do you push it?
How many loads do you find you get out of your brass?

For me,. 357 sig is relatively new. So, I'm not sure how many reloads I'm going to get in my brass... But I'm pushing a 125 gc pc'd boolit right around 1300fps. It's the accurate 35-125yg. I'm shooting it out of a glock 35 with a kkm barrel. It's super accurate - I've been able to pop clays at 100 yards with fair consistency.

[white eagle]

Went to a steel match tonight and I shot my cast 357 sigs. Man they bang the hell out of the steel plates. I love it!
At the match, there was 24 people. 22 shooting 9mm, one guy shooting 40 S&W and then there's me. Shooting nice hot .357 sig...

My wife thinks I'm obnoxious... Pretty sure 22 out of 24 agree - but... I'm having some fun! ;)

excellent have fun

[gwpercle]

Trying to explain to your friends who do not hand load or cast what it feels like to shoot loads that you have worked up to be just what you want them to be is like trying to describe a rainbow to a dog.
LIKE! LIKE! LIKE!......hitting like button

Being the master of your own boolit supply is empowering .
Being the master of your own ammunition supply puts you in total control .
Feels good !
Gary

[cwlongshot]

Re enforcing my bullet supply as we speak here!!

CW

[Valornor]

For me,. 357 sig is relatively new. So, I'm not sure how many reloads I'm going to get in my brass... But I'm pushing a 125 gc pc'd boolit right around 1300fps. It's the accurate 35-125yg. I'm shooting it out of a glock 35 with a kkm barrel. It's super accurate - I've been able to pop clays at 100 yards with fair consistency.

I’d be curious to know how often you have to trim you 357 Sig Brass.


Check out my website www.theballisticassistant.com

[Taterhead]

Went to a steel match tonight and I shot my cast 357 sigs. Man they bang the hell out of the steel plates. I love it!
At the match, there was 24 people. 22 shooting 9mm, one guy shooting 40 S&W and then there's me. Shooting nice hot .357 sig...

My wife thinks I'm obnoxious... Pretty sure 22 out of 24 agree - but... I'm having some fun! ;)

Agreed! The last couple Steel Challeng matches I shot with 10mm Auto and my own cast/coated boolits. Some fun, even if my times would be quicker with several cartridges.

[415m3]

I started reloading because I needed to find a cheaper way to feed my Mil-surps, but now that 3 of my kids shoot I cast and reload for about 15 or 20 different calibers. Everything but .22lr and shotgun I guess. It truly does save me money. Try taking 3 kids between the ages of 11-16 to the range for the day with store bought ammo! I’d be in the poorhouse. Cost aside, it has become a favorite hobby of mine. I even buy components for guns I don’t have yet if the caliber is on our “future gun” list.

[Loudy13]

I shoot 3 gun matches with 100% reloads, cast 9mm 147gr, cast 300 BO 150gr, and I reload my shotgun shells. Never had an issue with any of them and its nice knowing I am shooting cheaper than anyone else at the match.

[44Blam]

I’d be curious to know how often you have to trim you 357 Sig Brass.


Check out my website www.theballisticassistant.com

I use the lee trim dies with the little cutter and a Harbor Freight small drill. I trim all high pressure cases. With 357 sig, I've trimmed very little. Once shot is maybe a couple thousanths... Almost nothing. I'm still running my 357 sig through the trimmer, but only because my tolerances are very tight.
Also, I am shooting them 'hot' but not really near the maximum. I'm getting a complete burn but not high pressure... I just went with the load that had the lowest SD and was hitting in the tightest groups on paper...

[Shopdog]

I shoot and varmint hunt with some pretty high intensity,very high velocity CB's.

Have gotten.... and getting moreso everyday of developing a "glazed" eye look when well intentioned as they may be folks,start flappin their gums about what they,"don't" know to be true shooting HV cast. "Oh look,there goes a butterfly".....

I shoot almost every day.... and go varmint hunting at least a cpl times a week. So listening to armchair QB's gets a little old.

[WRideout]

Now that my stepson and his family are living with us, the house is run by two strong women; his wife and my wife. Going to therapy, $80.00 an hour. Retreat to man cave, priceless.

I finally managed to get to the "Just for Fun" pistol league at the club I belong to. They shoot a variety of moving targets, and you compete against yourself. I had recently received a Lyman 356402 mold as a gift from another member, and had been working up loads for my Hi Point C9 (don't judge me). It was great fun to shoot up four magazines of my homebrew 9mm. I even scored four out of five on the Texas Star target on the second attempt. Still working on building a lifetime supply of 9mm boolits.
Wayne

[McFred]

For me,. 357 sig is relatively new. So, I'm not sure how many reloads I'm going to get in my brass...

I've got a set of 1000 Speer 357SIG brass I bought in 2004 that has burned through 8lb of AA#7 so far (that's about 7 reloads so far) and seems to keep going. Lasts even longer if you're not shooting real hot loads which seems to be appropriate for cast bullets. I lose more to not finding all the cases on the ground than I do split necks and case head separations. And yes, I've trimmed the necks a couple times.

[scotner]

Agreed! The last couple Steel Challeng matches I shot with 10mm Auto and my own cast/coated boolits. Some fun, even if my times would be quicker with several cartridges.

What bullet/powder combination are you using in the 10? I have the Lee 401-175-TC mold and it looks like AA#5 is going to be the ticket. Side note: I was trolling one of the local gun shops this week and spotted an ammo can marked 10mm brass. I opened it and found 200 once fired (?) Norma cases pin tumbled and shiny as new. They followed me home.

[scotner]

For me,. 357 sig is relatively new. So, I'm not sure how many reloads I'm going to get in my brass... But I'm pushing a 125 gc pc'd boolit right around 1300fps. It's the accurate 35-125yg. I'm shooting it out of a glock 35 with a kkm barrel. It's super accurate - I've been able to pop clays at 100 yards with fair consistency.

I have the same mold but no GC. I have rat holed several thousand cases. I have a G32, two M&P's and a P229 that shoot that round and all of them are accurate. I don't keep up with how many times I have loaded the cases I am currently using but they last a long time. The ones I have discarded have been due to case neck splits from flaring them slightly to seat the cast boolits.

[GhostHawk]

Well I was right, the cast shot much better than the factory FMJ's.

I put a target sideways, placed 2 2" stick on shoot and see bulls on the target.
Left target got the Lee 93 gr right target got the Lee .314 90 gr truncated cone TL. As cast.

The .314 was the clear winner. And the more I shot that little Beretta 81 in .32acp the better it got.
No faults, no failures, everything cycled perfectly.

In full honesty I was sitting down, with my right elbow sitting on a small sandbag.
And I did add a small white dot at the tip of the front sight. Typewriter correction fluid works great.249329

[Three44s]

Looking good GhostHawk!


cwlongshot,

Well except for semis rather than wheelguns I thought I was reading a post from me!

I quit steel however after I found a flat lead disc on the ground right in front of me with serrated edges. Been doing golf balls instead.

I am a certified lead, powder, primer, brass, handloading tool and golf ball scrounger!

What am I celebrating? Liberty!

Best regards

Three44s