Posted: 2/14/2009 4:36:44 AM EDT
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As more people move into reloading and ammunition self-sufficiency, I tossed a quick bullet casting tutorial together and stashed it in the WA HomeTownForum. It is not 100% complete yet, but it should answer a lot of questions about how to get started and what is involved.
WAHTF Bullet Casting Feel free to ask questions! |
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this is a great summary - we might want to tag it.
Note that if one is willing to keep velosities under say 850fps and are willing to accept 2" at 25 yard accuracy and if you find a mold that throws wheel weights to a size that works in your gun, you can manage without sizing. You can also manage with a pot on a stove and a spoon and a wax candle or some grease for lube. Thus the only essential item is the mold if it throws wheel weights to a usable size. Having said that, sizing really helps. does anyone have a pointer to a URL on paper patching? |
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A subject I want to study and master myself as I also have a growing collection of 45 Colt Bisleys (pair of 45 Acusports as well as 45 Bisley Hunter and many ther 45 Colts as well as 454 Casull SRH) and I even have about 100-pounds of hardened led ingets and 255-gr Keith Style molds.
I need to get the rest of the gear I need as 45 Colt ammo is darned expensive, not to mention 454 Casull ammo is not cheap either. I would later like to cast 38/357 too but the 45s are the ones I am most interested in getting started with. |
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Quoted:
Note that if one is willing to keep velosities under say 850fps and are willing to accept 2" at 25 yard accuracy and if you find a mold that throws wheel weights to a size that works in your gun, you can manage without sizing. You can also manage with a pot on a stove and a spoon and a wax candle or some grease for lube. Why limit yourself to such poor performance? If you measure your gun, know what diameter is needed to work, and find a mold that drops that diameter, there is no need to size. Pan lube the bullets with a good lube (candle wax works better as a flux than a bullet lubricant) and shoot away. 
FWIW, my 'hot' load puts a 255gr cast lead bullet out there at 1285fps (measured) with zero leading and accuracy that is limited my my eyesight and the open sights on my revolver (read this as minute-of-ground squirrel). No, we don't hit them all and there are no 400 yard shots, but it is a lot of fun and it does help the farmer out. Quoted:
Thus the only essential item is the mold if it throws wheel weights to a usable size. If by usable size you mean correct size, you are 100% correct. If the bullets are too small in diameter, expect a lot of leading and patterns instead of groups. meltap308 is correct in that you really don't need a lot of fancy equipment to cast good bullets. An understanding of the variables does help though.... ETA: formatting change to make easier to read |
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YES, do not discount RIFLE boolit casting...
MOST of what I shoot is cast rifle boolits- mostly Black Powder Cartridge Rifle (Sharps, RB) out to 1500 yds.! However, I shoot a lot of cast in Mil-surps too.... about 1600 fps un-checked & around 2,000 fps checked. By dropping your W/W cast boolits out of the mould into a 1/2 full 5 gal. bucket of water (cover the surface with foam packing peanuts so it does not splash), you will temper them to about BHN 18 for the higher speeds. |
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Note that if one is willing to keep velosities under say 850fps ... Why limit yourself to such poor performance? ... 45ColtBisley has some great points here. Sizing is always a good idea, and if you have the time and space in your BOL, BOV, or BOB then adding sizing gear is indicated, either the expensive RCBS/Lyman or the $12 Lee. However, I assume under survival conditions you will be using scrounged lead, most likely wheel weights or whatever is in car batteries. No fancy alloys or linotype. Many of you know far more than I do about casting bullets, so perhaps there is a way to harden random scrounged lead post SHTF/TEOTWAWKE with stuff you can find lying around. i had always assumed this would not be possible. There are ways of hardening such bullets using an oven and very exact temps, but I don't think we can count on controling oven temps under SHTF. This is way I think you should assume your cast bullets will be soft. And from everything I have read, soft bullets should be limited in vel. This is why I assumed I would be limited to about 850fps with cast bullets. Critical Question: do we have to assume only scrounged soft lead for our SHTF cast bullets? Are there SHTF ways to harden cast bullets? Paper patching is an alternative that works with unsized bullets and soft lead. And paper patched bullets can be driven to over 2000fps. |
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Note that if one is willing to keep velosities under say 850fps ... Why limit yourself to such poor performance? ... However, I assume under survival conditions you will be using scrounged lead, most likely wheel weights or whatever is in car batteries. No fancy alloys or linotype. Many of you know far more than I do about casting bullets, so perhaps there is a way to harden random scrounged lead post SHTF/TEOTWAWKE with stuff you can find lying around. i had always assumed this would not be possible. There are ways of hardening such bullets using an oven and very exact temps, but I don't think we can count on controling oven temps under SHTF. This is way I think you should assume your cast bullets will be soft. And from everything I have read, soft bullets should be limited in vel. This is why I assumed I would be limited to about 850fps with cast bullets. Critical Question: do we have to assume only scrounged soft lead for our SHTF cast bullets? Are there SHTF ways to harden cast bullets? More than 95% of my cast lead bullets are from wheelweight alloy. Most of the other 5% are pure lead for other applications. The numbers I quoted earlier are using cast wheelweights. Wheelweight alloy can be hardened by "quenching" the hot lead into a 5 gallon bucket of water. Should more hardness be desired, adding arsenic (from the magnum shot) helps a lot with hardness when quenched. Diameter has a LOT more to do with performance than hardness does. The entire purpose of documenting the project was to help dispel some of the misconceptions that continue to be spread through magazine articles and word of mouth and to get more people into casting! It does not take a lot of fancy or expensive equipment to get started, but it does take an understanding of which X's control which Y's. ETA: spelling and removed a couple of comments |
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However, I assume under survival conditions you will be using scrounged lead, most likely wheel weights or whatever is in car batteries. I wouldn't go near the plates in batteries for casting. Lead is dangerous enough without worrying about all the extra stuff in batteries. What's the terminal ballistics on solid lead bullets like? Do they generally punch straight through, expand a bit, fragment or just stop in there? |
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...What's the terminal ballistics on solid lead bullets like? Do they generally punch straight through, expand a bit, fragment or just stop in there? Lots of old articles by Elmer Keith and others on shooting elk and the like with hardcast LSWC .429 and .452 255g bullets driven from 950 up to 1400fps. Very impressive penetration and effectiveness. 45/70 bullets in the 450g range are even better. the range (with a flat traj. like a 30-06) is limited given the vel. and small BC, but they do the job. |
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[...More than 95% of my cast lead bullets are from wheelweight alloy. Most of the other 5% are pure lead for other applications. The numbers I quoted earlier are using cast wheelweights. Wheelweight alloy can be hardened by "quenching" the hot lead into a 5 gallon bucket of water. Should more hardness be desired, adding arsenic (from the magnum shot) helps a lot with hardness when quenched. Diameter has a LOT more to do with performance than hardness does.... COOL! I stand correct.ed I will pull out my sizer and try some "Quenched" in my 44mag rifle at 1200. |
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Meltap308,
If you size quenched boolits, you need to size them as soon as possible- at least within an hr. or two... The reason is that they get their hardness over hrs. and days- full hardness in about two weeks. A lot of the hardness is obtained in the first few hrs though and sizing will soften the surface- thus losing some of the benefit. Wheel weights have enough arsenic & antimony in them to work fine quenched- oven tempering has to be done just right to get up to BNH 22 or so & does not buy that much more hardening from a practical matter. From a survival stand point, casting over an open fire, water quenching will work fine. The problem with paper patching is that it requires a special undersize boolit - a mould will probably be custom & expensive. The Lee moulds are a great buy & I find theat the 180 gr .308 and 185 gr. 312 (.303) work great in the 30 cal. rifles and likewise the Mosin Nagant's, .303's. They also make a 160 gr. bullet mould just for the 7.62X39. and I have shot cast .224 boolits in my AR. Although I have not done it, some have made gaschecks out of alum. soda cans...... A good portable survival hand loading kit ...... that I''d recomend: Lee hand press #90179 Dies for cal. Lee auto prime bullet mould dipper Lee push through size die gas checks Get some primers & powder & get some experience rolling your own NOW.... someday components & ammo in general may be among the missing....... |
sometimes casting is the only way to get the bullet you want to shoot, the below pic is of sized .460 425tlgclfp bullet cast from a ranchdog designed lee mould for my marlin 1895 45/70.
no pic, but I use a lee .459 405gr hollowbase mould for bullets loaded as cast and shot around 1100fps. now if I could find an affordable mould for a 265gr gclfp in .411. |