I'm looking at loading cast bullets for my handguns, since I haven't ever loaded cast I was wondering if anyone and tips, tricks or advise for me. I have found some cast bullets that will be pretty economical to use for plinking. I will be loading for .45 ACP, .380 Auto, 47-70, and .450 Marlin.

I’ll wait for Bushy to weigh in on the subject........then I’ll inject my 2 cents worth!!!

Are you sure you can afford it????

No!!!

I don’t think that there are any major tricks to using cast bullets in the cartridges you’ve named, except maybe making sure that you bell the case mouth enough to allow easy entry when seating. I think most commercially cast bullets lean toward the hard side, meaning that they can cause leading at the breach end of the bore for low pressure loads, like the .45 Auto and .380. I’ve seen that in Cowboy loads for the .45 Colt.

For the rifle loads you'll want to keep the velocities down a bit. I load a cast bullet for my .45-70; a 400 grain bullet over 27.0 grains of Accurate Arms 5744 for a velocity of about 1400 ft/sec. I’ve seen 1.5" groups at 100 yards from my Marlins. I'm betting the same load would work well in the .450 for practice/plinking. For that matter the load will obviously take a deer.

I would love to get 1.5" groups at 100 yards I'm just not sure I can hold the BFR that steady.

I have been pushing 405's at about 1600 fps and 350's up to 2000 fps. Both are jacketed bullets. I tried slowing the 350's down around 1400 fps but at 50 yards but the pattern opened up.

If you try those velocities with the cast bullets you'll probably be cleaning a lot of lead out of the bore...

Leading occurs two ways. If the pressure isn't high enough to make the bullet deform and obturate the bore (or the bullet is too hard to obturate at the operating pressure) you'll get leading at the breech ( I spelled it right this time) end of the bore. If you are pushing the bullet too fast (or the bullet is too soft for the velocity) you'll get leading at the muzzle end of the bore. Oh, and don't forget the lube!

Shooting low pressure/velocity loads in handguns has given me leading at the breech. Shooting a soft bullet too fast has given me both leading at the muzzle and poor accuracy, since the soft lead stripped out of the rifling.

Gidday Wiersay old mate...what Punkin said mate...nothing difficult about loading cast boolits.

I have loaded more thousands of cast boolits for pistol (.357 Mag) than I can remember and have never had a problem that wasn't of my own doing. As Punkin said, bell the mouth out slightly...only enough the start the boolit on its way in...and keep your velocities sensible.

Only other thing I can add is, choose your lube carefully...it is surprising what difference the lube can make to accuracy and leading in your barrel. There is a thread on boolit lube in here somewhere, hm, have to have a quick squizz...brb

Too much to bring across...do a search for Bullet Lube mate. Also, check out this website...lots of good stuff there:

Cast Boolits

Cheers, Vince

wiersy111 wrote:

. I will be loading for . 47-70

Did you get a new gun and not tell me? Aint yer BFR gonna get bore-envy?




Last thing I'd wanna be around is a pissed off jealous BFR.



Most hard-cast stuff is a BNH of around 18. Yer good to about 25000 psi with that w/o GC's (from what I'm told). Use the START load in the data for non-GC.

Quicker/too quick powders/excessive pressure can shock the base and cause leading.

A little slower powder can/will bump the base up to a nice seal if the pressure curve is correct for the bbl lentgth and bullet weight etc. Ya want some pressure but not too much and not too fast. GC is the only way to go for full-power stuff. I load lead w/o GC's and on the lighter side and use a mid speed powder. (EG- Unique for the .44 240gr and 231 for the .38 158 gr.) Load a few, shoot a few, find the magic combo.

Are ya prelubed or adding lube? (that didnt sound right )

And with that I'm off to Montana- see ya in 10 days.

Whoa- I SMELL FRENCH FRIES!

My son has a bore envy thing going on so he bought the .450 Marlin in a BFR. Were hoping they mate and have some nice little .444's.

Then he had to have the Springfield 1911. dang kids.

I take my sweetheart out every night spin the cylindar wipe her down and make sure she don't get jealous.

The cast bullets I ordered are prelubes. It is going to be fun to find that perfect combo.

Don't look like your getting my 2 cents on this one!!!

Dang it!!! I figure you keep adding 2 cents youlle go broke pretty fast.

Wher ya at Bushy Chambered is waiting for you to chime in....

Me think Bushy has heard enough of me 2 cents lately!!!

Besides Pumpkin did a pretty good job !!!

I should mention that a fast twist can cause lead bullets to do poorly also. I really wanted to try hunting with some lead bullets in my Encore muzzle loader (1 in 28" twist) but they gave me groups measured in feet... It was a combination of twist and velocity because the bullets were designed for use in rifles.

This is good stuff. I don't know if I would have thought of some of this stuff until I pulled my hair out.