Challenging calibers to cast for

[Super Sneaky Steve]

As others have said, casting is easy, but finding accurate loads can be hard. I find 12ga slugs difficult. There are so many components and factors to battle with and the platform itself doesn't make it easy. I've gone through many different ball sizes and slug designs, many different shells and parts, many different propellents and nothing has me really pleased yet.

[44Blam]

As others have said, casting is easy, but finding accurate loads can be hard. I find 12ga slugs difficult. There are so many components and factors to battle with and the platform itself doesn't make it easy. I've gone through many different ball sizes and slug designs, many different shells and parts, many different propellents and nothing has me really pleased yet.

On thing that can set you free with slugs is the roll crimp and a shotgun that isn't too picky on OAL. If you already have crimped hulls, just use (buy a new one, don't use the wife's -- trust me on this) a hair curler to smooth out the walls and get rid of the creases.

[barnetmill]

.177 pellets! Veral made me a mold years ago and it drives me batty!

That is where swaging become important. To cast skirted 177 pellet seems to be quite a chore and likely is not doable.

[scottyp99]

I have a Lee 6-cavity mold that casts 18 pellets of 00 buckshot, each of the 6 cavities casts 3 pellets in a single casting, 3 pellets joined by a tiny little sprue that you have to separate after casting. There are 2 tiny little holes that the molten lead has to flow through to fill the bottom pellet, and as you can imagine, it was quite a chore to get all 18 pellets to come out fully formed. Turns out the trick is to get the mold and the melted lead VERY hot, hotter than normal, and even then I still get some rejects. Anyway, it's been the most challenging mold to cast with for me.

Scotty

[poppy42]

The smaller the caliber, the harder it is to cast. I would rather cast .45 than .22! Well that’s my story and I’m sticking to it! Lol

[Bigslug]

I'm not sure I'd regard them as challenging NOW, but Dad and I learned how to cast with a single cavity RCBS .455 Webley hollow base and a hexagonal .451 Whitworth.

I would NOT recommend those as your "starter" options.

[beagle]

From my experiences, all calibers are about the same. The challenge is in getting the dies, sizers, moulds, gas checks and brass in one place to do it. After that, it's the same game.
In this respect, the most difficult caliber has been the .351 Winchester SL. Dies are available but the rest you have to really scrape for or dig deep in your pockets./beagle