Cast rifle bullets

I've been shooting some cast bullets out of my 257 Roberts AI recently. They aren't as consistent as jacketed bullets, but they shoot pretty tight for the most part with the right load. I am doing 2000fps with straight clip-on wheel weights dropped into water.

I've had a couple groups inside a minute. Cheap shooting, low recoil, and very little wear and tear on the rifle. What's not to like?
 
Littlephil if you look at the castboolits site I posted you will see there are vendors that offer hollow point bullet molds that will make the smaller bored rifles more effective for hunting. There is a downside to them. They have to be cast soft enough for the cavity to expand but not so hard that they shatter when bone is hit. Plus being softer they can't be driven as fast.

But there is a solution to this. And that is to use a regular bullet mold but make the bullet with two different types of lead. You cast the nose of the bullet with dead soft lead like used in muzzleloader bullets and the main body of the bullet with wheel weight lead.

This will let you drop the bullet in a bucket of cold water to harden the wheel weight portion of the bullet but the soft lead nose portion will not harden when dropped in water. That lets you have a bullet that can be driven as fast as lead bullets can be shot and still have a soft expandable nose section.

Ross Seyfried wrote an article on doing this in one of the Handloader Magazines several years ago but I don't remember the issue. I have it in my attic. I have never tried it but if I cast some with the one rifle bullet mold I have I plan on giving it a shot.
 
30cal, sounds like a great load to me. I bet it'd be interesting to place one in the upper third of an unsuspecting ground hog too.

Ratshooter, I didn't realize they sold molds from their site. Course, I haven't had much time the past couple days to thoroughly check it out either. That sight usually comes up when I search for something on Google, but it's always discussions.
That's a real interesting idea, using two different lead sections in a mold. Something I never thought of, although I have thought about hollowing the nose of the bullets out, I just don't like the loss of mass (even though it's sometimes minimal). The main reason i was considering hard cast in a rifle, is because that's a lot of what I was finding for sale. If I start casting, I'll definitely play around with different hardness levels till I get something that's a good mix of some speed, and decent expansion.
 
Thanks

I size to .311. Since this is the same bullet I use in my .32 H&R and 7.62X38R Russian Negant revolver. Since I use a lot of them I tumble the bullets in the Lee Alloy Mold.

I don't have any problem with this cast bullet leading the barrel or gas system. I also use 2400 and push this bullet about 1900 fps.

I've found that LEE LIQUID ALOX works quite well in preventing leading. Not to mention its fast and easy to use if you're lubing a lot of bullets. I just pour a bit of lube over the bullets in a tupper ware container and shake them tell a light coating in on all the bullets. Let them set over night and they are ready for loading.
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Great. Thank you. I have a lot of that bullet already cast and lubed.
 
Thanks

I size to .311. Since this is the same bullet I use in my .32 H&R and 7.62X38R Russian Negant revolver. Since I use a lot of them I tumble the bullets in the Lee Alloy Mold.

I don't have any problem with this cast bullet leading the barrel or gas system. I also use 2400 and push this bullet about 1900 fps.

I've found that LEE LIQUID ALOX works quite well in preventing leading. Not to mention its fast and easy to use if you're lubing a lot of bullets. I just pour a bit of lube over the bullets in a tupper ware container and shake them tell a light coating in on all the bullets. Let them set over night and they are ready for loading.
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Great. Thank you. I have a lot of the Lee 309 - 120R already cast and lubed.
 
Not much to say that hasn't already been said by the fine folks above but I will add that if you can source lead casting can be very rewarding. I use bmostly lee products which have treated me well, I have casted and shot thousands of pistols bullets with great success, I have yet to shoot some of my cast rifle bullets though, other things keep taking my time.

http://leeprecision.com/bullet-casting/

If you were to venture into casting a bottom pour pot is highly suggested if you didnt already know that.

Good luck in your venture, let us know how it turns out.

https://rotometals.com/bullet-casting-alloys/
 
Cast bullets is a great way to waste a lot of time.
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Yes, time I might waste surfing the internet, playing video games, bar hopping or other activities. :cool::D Since I enjoy the relaxing and fun hobby of casting and reloading, I'm good with it. BTW, powdercoating is easy, and also quite cheap. I shoot powder coated bullets in my 7.62x39mm CZ 527M/CSR and used to use them in a vz-58 without issue.



Yes, they are loaded to the right COAL. :D

 
armoredman if you could add a little information on the powder coating I would be interested to here it. It also may benefit the OP as well. I gotta say that green bullet looks plum toxic.:eek:

I like Lee Alox but I did make the lube suggested on the castboolits site by adding Johnson's floor wax in a can. I cannot remeber the exact mix but it works and is less tacky than just liquid alox. After I run my bullets through the Lee sizer die I recoat with Rooster jacket. Its now available again at Midway. That stuff works fine by itself with lower velocity handgun bullets.
 
I cast bullets from 1987 to 2006. My best acomplishment is a 300 yard target with 14 shots in 5 inch group. 55 grain lyman bullet of pure lynotype with a gas check, WW 296 powder, 2700 fps from a Remington 700 VL in 22-250.

Now I buy Powder coated bullets. I shoot them from handguns and my bolt action 308 at mild velocities.

Its an adventure in its self. My carry 38 is loaded with 138 gr powder coated button nose wadcutters or powder coated SWC both loaded to the max. The only non powder coated bullet I shoot are HBWC.

I shot thousands of home cast bullets from my 1917 Enfield, 7.65 argentine mauser and the 308. They work, it takes some time, but figuring them out is rewarding. I also shoot a 45 gr gas check bullet out of my 222/20 gauge at rimfire velocities. I get good accuracy up to 50 yards, then it goes south. `

Sent from my SM-T900 using Tapatalk
 
Thanks for the links chainsaw. I've heard that a bottom pour is very good investment, even for a first furnace.

Armoredman, that's pretty much exactly how I feel about casting, reloading, etc. At least I'm doing something constructive with my time. I like the look you get with powder coating bullets. You can get anything from an antique loaded ammo look, to something that looks like it belongs in a sci-fi flick.

Ratshooter, I've watched a few videos on powder coating bullets, but since I don't yet cast, I didn't put much stock in it. It would be appreciated if armored man wanted to give some info on his process.

David, the 22-250 and 222 loads sound extremely useful. The 38 loads also sound interesting, thanks for the info.
 
When I started reloading I said I was drawing the line at casting bullets. I thought it might not be that safe and was way too much work.

Then my dad gave me about 100 pounds of lead. I had just started shooting falling plate matches and decided I might give casting a shot. So i orded one bullet mould from Lee. You know what? It was easy. And fun. And you don't cast bullets while wearing shorts and going bare footed. I will let you find out why for yourself.

Now I own 28 bullet moulds for round balls, conicals and regular bullets. I went on a lead buying spree for a while and have 1400 pounds of linotype, wheel weight and dead soft lead for each type of bullet I want to make. I love the idea that if bullets are unavailable like they have been over the last few years I can still shoot and hunt.

Casting bullets is a blast. And I ain't kiddin'.
 
I gotta say that green bullet looks plum toxic.
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Do tell...



It is so easy it's pathetic. I add some powder to a plastic container, a bunch of high density polyurethane airsoft BBs to build up the static electricity, and swirl, in air and on the carpet. I juggle these things for about 5 minutes while the cheap $5 toaster oven heats up.

Older pictures, first starting - this is too much powder and not nearly enough BBs for 50 bullets.



On the hand made metal tray my buddy made, covered in non stick aluminum foil,(actually an "after photo"),



In the oven, timed to 20 minutes on "toast".



Cool down and then size, all done.
 
Well crap, I think I might have to buy some casting stuff now. Thanks a lot guys, as if I didn't have enough "bad" habits! :rolleyes:
At any rate, it'll be nice having the equipment already once I come into some lead. At first I thought the gun bug was bad, then I started reloading. Now I think I've been bitten by the casting bug as well. Oh, and those zombie bullets look pretty sick armoredman! Did you sprinkle the red on while they were still hot or what?

And ratshooter, that's probably how I'll end up, I'll need just one more mold, till I get a new gun or want to try something new. :D
 
I made a pair of wire racks out of 1/4" steel mesh for baking PC cast bullets and just dump the dusted bullets out onto the mesh. I don't bother standing them up before popping them into the oven.

I PC my pistol bullets but haven't bothered with the rifle bullets since I have to take the time to seat a GC and may as well just lube them at that point. Not trying to win any speed races either.
 
30cal, that works for you? I tried laying them down with my 7.62x39mm bullets but they came out weird, so I have to be VERY careful moving the loaded tray into the toaster oven with them standing on thier bases. Can't count how many times I've had to reach in with the curved forceps to stand a bullet back up! Oh, yeah, curved forceps, GREAT accessory with powder coating, use them to put the coated bullets on the tray, and to knock the hot ones off onto your cooling tray - burner cover in my case. I use needle nose pliers to lift the tray in and out, too.

No, with the zombie bullets I powder coated them the John Deere Green and then dipped them after cooling into Smokes Flame Red, and re cooked them. Came out pretty freaky, didn't it? :) BTW, Harbor Freight powder doesn't coat as well as Smokes, which is a guy on castboolets.gunloads.com. I will use HF powder when I can't get anything else, and it works, but if you want PRETTY, Smokes is the better way to go. I do cute when I feel like being artistic - one of these days I'm gonna do Minion bullets...just because I'm old and bored. :D
 
Hmm, I'm kinda surprised the red sticks that well just from dipping the cooled bullets armoredman. Minion bullets would just be the icing on the cake though! I think when I finally get around to casting, I'll probably powder coat as well. It seems like it's really simple, especially after watching the video in ratshooters link. The few I've seen before were longer and made it seem more complicated. Though I'll probably take the time to stand mine up, I have just a touch of ocd when it comes to this sort of thing.
Oh, and thanks for the tip about curved forceps, just something else that'll cut down on frustration. Is it necessary to still run gas checks on powder coated bullets if you want to push them on the faster side?
 
Yes, powder coating won't change the need for a gas check on a faster bullet. Note that all of my 7.62x39mm powder coated bullets are proudly sporting gas checks. ;) It IS a little more difficult to get them on over the powder coat, (but not that much), and there are two schools on that, before and after. I prefer after.

Lousy fast cell phone photo, sorry.

 
Those look pretty neat, too bad you don't see the contrast in color like that when they're loaded. Then again I guess they contrast the brass or nickel when loaded. This thread started out with me asking about buying bullets, and now I think I'm gonna end up with casting equipment. You guys are such enablers. :rolleyes:
 
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