Full auto cast bullets?

[Avery Arms]

Has anyone had hands-on experience with cast bullets in a full-auto gun?

Does the rough, open-bolt handling and hot barrel cause any issues? Do you need special lube or harder bullets?

Someday I want to buy an open-bolt such as a vector Uzi or powder springs mac 45, of course it would be on a form 4 and all taxes paid. With cheap 9mm costing about $10/50 and .45's $15/50 a range trip could get expensive real fast:???:

My Uzi carbines shoot just peachy with a cast bullet over a little bullseye but they are closed bolt semi-auto.


PP

[beagle]

I sent about 3,000 cast Lyman 356402s up north for a friend with a Swedish K and he said they shot pretty good.

I used GAR's Half and Half lube on the bullets and he did say that it produced a lot of smoke so that may be a problem in full autos./beagle

[HeavyMetal]

Had a freind with an Ingram Mac-10 it would eat anything I fed it including a copy of the H&G 68 I got from NEI.

I really don't think that gun ever saw a lot of Jacketed just cast. Lube and shoot was what we did with it.

[BruceB]

Had a STEN MkII which gobbled-up Lyman 356402 loads without problems. This gun fires from the open bolt, meaning that its action is open until the trigger is pulled, at which time the bolt moves forward and picks up a cartridge en route. The design is a bit more sophisticated than its appearance suggests, as it uses "advanced primer ignition". This means that the primer is fired before the bolt comes to a stop against the barrel face, and the pressure build-up in turn cushions the slamming of the action.

With standard small pistol primers, I had a number of occasions where the side of the case blew out, scattering bits of brass out the ejection port at high velocity. I found that small RIFLE primers worked much better in this gun, likely because their tougher construction delayed the ignition by a few milliseconds. The delay allowed the cartridge to move deeper into the chamber before the pressure rose to the case-rupturing level....or so I surmised.

I once made the "misteak" of firing about 100 cast bullets through my .303 BREN LMG on full auto (three magazines in about two minutes, if that long). The gun got nice and hot, and the gas system was thoroughly lead-plated. It took several hours of intense effort to get it all cleaned up, and I never repeated that particular trial.

[Larry Gibson]

I've fired thousands of cast bullets through a lot of dfferent sub machine guns (I was the full time Operations NCO for an SF company with a large assortment of foreign wepons in our vault and an indoor range rated up through the .44 magnum) over the years and never had any problems with cast bullets what so ever. Lots of 9mms and several .45 ACPs (thompsons and grease guns). Also had several friends with MAC 10s/11s. I've shot Lord knows how many cast bullets through M2 Carbines with 30 round bursts. Even ran a few cast bullets through our BARs and M60 MG (311299s over 4831). Lots of fun.....those were the days.......

Larry Gibson

[Japlmg]

My son and I shoot pistol caliber full auto all the time with cast lead bullets.
We shoot 45 ACP using 230 grain round nose in a Rising, a Thompson and a MAC 10.
We shoot 9mm Luger using 147 grain truncated cone in a MAC, a Sten, a MP-40 and a AR15.
I recoment using heavy bullets while shooting cast lead bullets, as you can not push cast lead as fast as you can with jacketed bullets, and the heavier mass of the bullet keeps recoil impulse up to ensure reliable cycling at full auto.
As long as the bore is in good condition, with nothing more than frosted pitting, lead bullets work fine with minimal leading.
Now if the bore is rough or pitted, jacketed bullets is the only way to go.
Gregg

[smkummer]

That is all I shoot out of my .45's (Reising, Grease gun and Stemple 76/45). The M16/9 only needs low power ammo to work and light 9mms have very little leading at all. For the MP40, which likes hot ammo unless I relieve the recoil spring, I am running 50/50 cast and jacketed. Generally shooting 3 jacketed than 3 cast. The Uzi likes hot ammo also and I yet working up a combo that will work for match shooting. I am dropping my Lee 6 cavity 125 TL RN bullets into water to help also. One does get alot of smoke with cast and tumble lube.

[JeffinNZ]

I once made the "misteak" of firing about 100 cast bullets through my .303 BREN LMG on full auto (three magazines in about two minutes, if that long). The gun got nice and hot, and the gas system was thoroughly lead-plated. It took several hours of intense effort to get it all cleaned up, and I never repeated that particular trial.

Ed Harris over on The CBA site reports he once 'soldered' up an AK47 shooting full auto cast.