So what is a good reloading manuals for lead boolits?

[tayous1]

So bought a mold a 275 gr .452 for my 45 LC and have been having trouble finding load date for this boolits in lead or even if it is coated. I have asked around and have had no one say anything about it.

So I'm looking for a manual or online site that might help me out or give me even an idea where to start. I have even looked at doing a 260 or 255 gr load data and working it up 10%. I also read to go the next higher 300 gr use the max then go 10%. I thought average the two try that out then add 10%?

Not sure but anything would help out!

[Der Gebirgsjager]

The Lyman Cast Bullet Manual is where many begin.

DG

[Tyguy95]

By far the lyman cast boolit handbook

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[tayous1]

Thanks I'll have to check what's left of mine and see if it has what I need and should buy another one.

[Larry Gibson]

The Lyman Cast Bullet Manual is where many begin.

DG

The CBH #3 is considered by many, myself included, to be the best especially for beginners learning how to cast. CBH #4 has a lot more current data. Best to have both.

[Roy Acuffff]

+1 on What Larry said ..........

Roy

[Rcmaveric]

As many Lyman Cast Bullet books you can find. I have the newest one and two older

The Wolfe publishing site loaddata.com was pretty extensive also.

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[rockshooter]

just a thought- when you load for a heavier bullet than you have data for, you don't go up in powder amount!
Loren

[Bazoo]

Lyman 3 and 4 are mighty helpful when data is needed. I also find the loadbooksusa manuals to have benefit as they have the Lyman 3rd data and the RCBS data. Course the RCBS manual has data too, but it isn't as useful.

http://marvinstuart.com/firearm/Manuals/Bullet%20Casting/Lyman%20Cast%20Bullet%20Handbook%20-%203rd%20Edition%20-%201980%20-%20Reduce.pdf

[winelover]

Don't over look Accurate's Powder Data, online or their red soft cover manual. Lot's of lead bullet data.

Winelover

[tayous1]

So casted tonight and I'm getting 295+ gr to the lowest 275gr.

[Bazoo]

That's a heck of a dispersion.

[dale2242]

What Larry said in #5.^^^^

[Dusty Bannister]

Sounds like you are not getting the mold blocks fully closed when pouring. Are you using a Lee 6 cavity mold and squeezing all three handles, which will cam the blocks apart?

[stubert]

I would be hoping to be within 1%. Something is way off.

[alfadan]

What kind of scale are you using?

[Golfswithwolves]

The Lyman Cast Bullet Manuals 3 and 4 provide pressure testing of most of the loads they list (why not all who knows) and this alone puts them ahead of other manuals. They also have a very wide range of calibers and cartridges that they give their load info for, including some new stuff and even provide some loads for bullets of other manufacturers (there is load data for the RCBS 270 grain bullet in #4). They do not tend to provide any loads above SAAMI standards, so this means there is no data above target/small game levels for .44 Special or .38/44 for instance; you have to find scarce older manuals with less fully tested data for cartridges such as these. But overall the Lyman Cast Bullet manuals are in my opinion among the best.

[GregLaROCHE]

Today you can find a lot on line, but to start a hard copy manual is where you should begin. Lyman’s is probably the most popular. Maybe followed by Lee’s, especially if you are using their moulds.

[45DUDE]

Another vote for Lyman. I have at least 12 manuals and a lot of magazines. To me Lyman gives the most info for accuracy but a lot of powders aren't there.<Maybe I need a newer book> For different lengths and plated bullets and especially for heavy lead boolits I use Lee a lot on the starting loads. For example I bought a Lyman 200 grain 38 mold and Lee had the info I was looking for with 2400 powder in a 38 special and it was dead on at 25 yards the first try. A 300 grain 44 mag load with lead is in it also. Slower powders work good with heavy boolits and fill the case.

[Point452]

The Lyman Cast Bullet Manual is where many begin.

DG
Yep, I’ve been using them since 1990, they are great!

[Krag 1901]

Lee just pi- er makes me mad. The #2 book has very few Cast loads and none of them are listed by Lee#s. His .30-40 loads are all jacketed, despite the Krag being perfect for cast boolets. You would think He'd have included his own bullets?:killingpc

[bimus]

I have the Lee manual and I look at it but it is not much help . If you can track down a copy of Rifle Sporting Firearms Journal fall of 2010 volume 42 by Wolfe publishing the whole magazine is about 30 caliber ammo and shooting cast in the old military rifles . like you said cast is perfect in a Krag .

[charlie b]

Lee did not do any testing of any of his designs. The Lee load data is a compilation of data from everyone else. That is why there is no data on Lee bullets. I cannot fault him for that as producing load data with pressure information costs a lot in time and money. Heck, Lyman does not even list loads for all of their bullets in all of the calibers they can be fired in.

Part of the 'experimentation' with cast is that you are doing your own load data development. You can start with cast data for similar weight bullets, but, after that you are on your own.

FWIW, I think the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook is the best place to start for anyone. After that then go to the powder company load data as they frequently have some cast bullet data.

[dakota]

When starting out with a new to me cartridge, I do the following:
I have a RCBS cast manual and several Lyman manuals. I look at Lyman first, then maybe RCBS. Then I look at Ken Waters "Pet Loads" and at Loaddata.com. Sometimes there's articles in older Handloader magazines too.

[Rcmaveric]

My favorites are the Lee reloaded and Lyman cast bullets hand book. I also like a few of the older Lyman Manuals as they have pistol powders.

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[Tripper]

Lyman data is great. Look at Hodgdon’s web site. They have data for both cast and jacketed bullets, with their powder of course. And it’s current data for common calibers.

[gumbo333]

On e-bay you can find new reprints of the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook #3 and many more for bout $20. Well worth it.

[MOA]

These manuals are a good foundation for cast reloading and should be in your reloading library.

https://i.postimg.cc/QtVT0RJn/Lyman_casting_books_1-4.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

[Epidote]

I found a surprising amount of lead boolit information in the Lyman 47th Edition So much that I've referred to it so often that it came apart and is now in a 3 ring binder.
(I'm a newbie here to casting, but not to lead boolits.)