New Member and New to Cast Boolits

[NITRO]

Hi Y'all,

This is my first post and I just wanted to introduce myself. My user name is "NITRO" and I use the same name at shootersforum.com, marlinowners.com, reloadbench.com, and leverguns.com. I don't post very much but read all of the posts on these forums. I am happy to have found this forum. Many thanks to "Rrusse11" for it is he who posted a link on shootersforum.com that got me here.

I am all set to start shooting cast bullets with a Winchester/USRAC Miruko 1886 EL in 45-70, a Marlin 336CB in 38-55, a Winchester BB94 in .375, a Marlin 1894S in .44 Mag and a pair of Ruger Vaqueros in .44 Mag. I have 2 pounds of AA XMR-5744 powder and an assortment of cast bullets for these firearms. The cast bullets are store-bought from Beartooth Bullets and Cast Performance. I am not into "rolling my own" yet but that's next. Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated.

I am a native of the Mississippi Gulf Coast and prowdly fly the flag of the Great State of Mississippi as my avatar.

[44man]

WHAT!!!!, your not rolling your own!!! boy are we gonna get our teeth in you. All kidding aside, welcome. There is the greatest bunch of guys here and I never see a cross word spoken even though I have fun pulling chains once in a while. An old codger like me just has to do it!
I think the most intelligent shooters have moved to this site and you will learn a lot and maybe teach us a lot. Enjoy.

[waksupi]

Give those commercial bullets a test run, and see if they will shoot. Most store bought cast bullets are undersize, and too hard. But you may get lucky out of the gate. Give them a try, and we'll help you out.

[Beau Cassidy]

From a fellow Mississipian- now former- welcome. Originally from Jackson, I spent a lot of time on the coast. Went to Horn Island a lot to. Sank our boat right out from Ocean Springs when we hit a broken off pole. Bummer. I just started hitching rides out to Ship Island from Gulfport. Most recently was in the Air Force Reserve at Keesler before moving up here.

Beau

[swheeler]

Welcome Earthling!
Scooter

[NITRO]

WHAT!!!!, your not rolling your own!!! boy are we gonna get our teeth in you. All kidding aside, welcome. There is the greatest bunch of guys here and I never see a cross word spoken even though I have fun pulling chains once in a while. An old codger like me just has to do it!
I think the most intelligent shooters have moved to this site and you will learn a lot and maybe teach us a lot. Enjoy.

.

44man,

Thanks for the welcome. I am certain that I will learn much. About the only thing that I know about loading cast boolits is how to drive 'um too fast and strip 'um thru the rifling. Good to be amoung the most intelligent shooters.

[NITRO]

Give those commercial bullets a test run, and see if they will shoot. Most store bought cast bullets are undersize, and too hard. But you may get lucky out of the gate. Give them a try, and we'll help you out.

.


waksupi,

I have Beartooth Bullets hard cast BHN 21 GC bullets in .432", .379 &.380" and .459", and Cast Performance .460" GC in 405gr, 420gr & 460gr. That's a start and shouldn't be any different that loading jacketed bullets. I have been handloading for many years but I am technically bankrupt in the knowledge of casting and loading softer bullets.

Thanks for the welcome

[NITRO]

From a fellow Mississipian- now former- welcome. Originally from Jackson, I spent a lot of time on the coast. Went to Horn Island a lot to. Sank our boat right out from Ocean Springs when we hit a broken off pole. Bummer. I just started hitching rides out to Ship Island from Gulfport. Most recently was in the Air Force Reserve at Keesler before moving up here.

Beau

.


Hello Beau,

If you never sunk a boat in the Mississippi Sound, then you haven't been fishing out there long enough. One day in 1980 I barely made it back from fishing in the Louisiana marsh to the Long Beach harbor just in time for my boat to sink in it's slip. It was an old wooden 47' Matthews made in 1949 and had seen better days. I had it raised and called the Boy Scouts of America to donate it to them, but there was a little problem. They weren't very excited about the gift and said that in a case like this they required that the donor become a Gold Patron Member and they would take my boat and issue a "fill-in-the-blank" receipt (for tax purposes).

To become a Gold Patron Member I would be required to donate $2000 to the BSA. I really needed the tax deduction that year but objected and said that I would pass. They came back at me with an exception in that if I would become a Silver Patron Member, they would take my boat and issue the receipt. I asked, "what is the price (bribe) to become a Silver Patron Member?". "$500.00" was the reply. My response was "excuse me while I go to my truck and get my check book". I took it easy on Uncle Sam and only took a modest deduction for the boat plus the $500.00 bribe. True story.

Thanks for the welcome.

[NITRO]

Welcome Earthling!
Scooter

.


Earthling to Scooter,

I didn't know that Montana had an "Area 51".

Thanks for the welcome.

[Leadlum]

Welcome Nitro; I read, and reply to some of those web sites you mentioned also. I need to find reloadbench.com for myself, thanks for that one nitro. You are gonna love reloading your own bullets. I didn`t know what to expect; but after I reloaded my first box I was surprised with the results. Now there`s no going back for me. Those cast bullets shoot just as good as those funny little yellow store bought bullets. I have started casting my own bullets; and making my own lube also, because I was having problems with the cast bullets I was buying. They were leading my barrels. I was gonna give up on cast bullets until I found all I needed to do was change, or use a good lube [50/50 beeswax, alox] or [felix lube] after that never had a problem. I shoot a marlin 1895 45-70, smith 629 classic 44 mag, mod 14 .38 spl, and a S&W 1911 45 acp. all with cast. Welcome to the board, and good luck "rolling some up". Now I`ll go find reloadbench, thanks .
Ray

[beagle]

Welcome Nitro. Glad that you've seen the light and want to roll your own cast.

As has been pointed out, we'll soon have you casting and hounding E-Bay for moulds. Kind of runds with the territory.

But, there's advantages. There's probably several thousand years of casting experience here and good people that will give you help, try to head off your bad ideas and maybe even fill your mailbox with cast bullets if you want to try something.

It's a hard bunch but friendly if you are.

BSA...I worked 27 years with them as a leader and was a scout as a boy. When I saw them turning from an organization whose aim was to help boys into a business to make money, I respecfully dropped out./beagle

[David R]

Nitro,

Most everyone will tell you, we started reloading to save money. Then we (at least I) tried to cast my own. Saved more money

OK, Ok, I really didn't save anything, I just shot a whole bunch more and became a much better shot. Now almost 20 years later, I am a pretty good off hand shot and can load what I want. You will also find after a while driving the boolits lead melting fast isn't as much fun as it used to be and accuracy takes over.

I shot out a barrel in a 7mm mag in no time. Now I have a new 22-250 I want to last a long time so I shoot lots of cast boolits. Good for practice, easy on the shoulder and wallet.