Why do you cast?

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  • Last Post 31 October 2017
M3 Mitch posted this 25 October 2017

Sort of a philosophical question.  Why do you cast?  To get more bullets for less money?  To have bullets for an oddball bore diameter gun where "store bought" are not easily available?  Just to make some part of the ammo yourself?  "Easier on the barrel" for older guns, black powder era? To compete on accuracy with other CBA people? 

I guess I should plead "guilty" to all of the above, except for formal competition, which I seem to never get around to trying (but I should, and promise myself "someday" I will...)

What about you?

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Ken T posted this 25 October 2017

I started casting to save money when I was in my early teens.Now I do it because of the variety of loads I can make that are not available for purchase and because I have accumulated several thousand dollars worth of casting and reloading tools.

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M3 Mitch posted this 25 October 2017

There is that aspect, that, "I have spent all this money over the years on molds, lube-sizers, etc. so might as well use them".

Another reason, at least for me, is to make up "near full power" loads for 30-06 and similar, to do "what they say can't be done".  Maybe that is just a form of cussedness.

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David Reiss posted this 25 October 2017

Started out as an economical issue in high school & college. Then it was to give more variety to bullet choices. Over the years it has certainly given me the opportunity to shoot more and to be able to load ammo for odd calibers. However self satisfaction of making the bullets has been high on my list, plus I love passing on this hobby to others and educating them on the benefits of cast bullets. 

David Reiss - NRA Life Member & PSC Range Member Retired Police Firearms Instructor/Armorer
-Services: Wars Fought, Uprisings Quelled, Bars Emptied, Revolutions Started, Tigers Tamed, Assassinations Plotted, Women Seduced, Governments Run, Gun Appraisals, Lost Treasure Found.
- Also deal in: Land, Banjos, Nails, Firearms, Manure, Fly Swatters, Used Cars, Whisky, Racing Forms, Rare Antiquities, Lead, Used Keyboard Keys, Good Dogs, Pith Helmets & Zulu Headdresses. .

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Muskrat Mike posted this 25 October 2017

Sort of a philosophical question.  Why do you cast?  To get more bullets for less money?  To have bullets for an oddball bore diameter gun where "store bought" are not easily available?  Just to make some part of the ammo yourself?  "Easier on the barrel" for older guns, black powder era? To compete on accuracy with other CBA people? 

I guess I should plead "guilty" to all of the above, except for formal competition, which I seem to never get around to trying (but I should, and promise myself "someday" I will...)

What about you?

I agree 100% and would only add that to me it's just plain old fashion fun to make something you can use to have even more fun with!

Muskrat Mike

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Bud Hyett posted this 26 October 2017

In the summer of 1983, I had a severe concussion; severe enough that I had to learn to walk again and occasionally had severely slurred speech. Recoil also caused headaches from anything over a .22 LR or very light loads. At that time, Ed Doonan had just  joined the CBA and suggested shooting cast bullets as a way to keep shooting. This offered less recoil with postal matches to compete.

I tried it and enjoyed the challenge. Bought the RCBS 30-180-SP mold, both .310 and .311 sizers, RCBS Pro-Melt, RCBS lubrisizer, NRA ALOX-Beeswax lube, and 500 pounds of linotype. I was hooked, Ed and I were testing loads and comparing notes each weekend at the Windhill Range. Then I bought a Marlin 1895 in .45-70 and molds for it. I was now fully hooked on the challenge.

Today, I still shoot cast, except for prairie dogs and coyotes, for the challenge and fun, moving to the breech-seated plain-base class. There is a great group of people who shoot in all classes and I first enjoy the camaraderie.

Today, I have a bone marrow cancer that again restricts my ability to take recoil. The doctors and I worked out the level of recoil I can take and I keep shooting. The Springfield loads are the limit and I will be working on lighter loads for these rifles..

Below is the table generated by QuickLoad which we used. This is for information only, the 1874 Sharps load is definitely off-limits and for comparison only.

Gun                                 Caliber        Total Weight      Recoil (ft/lb)    Load

BSA Martini Mk I          .22 LR                   12.2            0.11                Fiocchi Pistol Match

BSA Martini Mk II         .22 LR                  12.2             0.11                Fiocchi Pistol Match

BSA Martini Mk III        .22 LR                  12.2             0.11                Fiocchi Pistol Match

BSA Martini 12/15         .22 LR                  10.2             0.13                Fiocchi Pistol Match

Ruger #1B                       .22 Hornet            10.3             0.71                12.8 680 / 35 SPT

Stevens 44 ½ BR            .25-20 WCF          15.9            0.75                 8.0 4100 / 120 25-120-MOS

Stevens 44 ½ Sil             .25-20 WC            15.6            0.75                 8.0 4100 / 120 25-120-MOS

Ruger #1B                       .218 Bee               14.4            0.81                 18.0 680 / 52 SPT

Remington XP-100         .17-.221 Fireball   6.9              0.96                 15.0 4227 / 25 SPBT

FN 400 BR                      .220 Swift            20.9             1.09                  38.0 4064 / 55 SPBT

Remington XP-100         .221 Fireball         5.7               1.20                 16.5 4198 / 45 SP

Stevens 44 ½ BR            .32-20 CPA            15.9            2.15                  9.4 #9 / 205 321-205-TPR

Stevens 44 ½ SIL           .32-20 CPA             15.6           2.15                  9.4 #9 / 205 321-205-TPR

SAKO L461                  .222 Magnum          11.6           2.20                  24.4 H322 / 55 SPBT

Ruger #1V                      .22-.250                  11.4           3.58                   38.0 H380 / 55 SPBT

Ruger #1V                     .220 Swift                11.7           3.84                   38.0 4064 / 55 SPBT

Ruger #1B                     6mm Rem                10.5           4.36                    47 4831 / 100 SPBT

Springfield 1903 – SA  .30-‘06                      8.3             4.61                    21.0 RL7 / 188 30-180-SP

Winchester 1876            .45-60                      11.3           6.90                    16.7 Trail Boss / 315 45-30-FNU

Springfield 03A3 – SC  .30-‘06                     8.3             7.39                    30.0 RL7 / 205 311335

Springfield 1924 - SA   .30-‘06                      8.4             7.55                    21.5 4759 / 215 30-215-SP

Springfield 1903 – RIA .30-‘06                     8.5              9.37                    27.0 RL7 / 205 311284

Sharps 1874                   .45-70                      12.8            15.16                   68 Swiss 1 ½ FFg / 500 RN

Farm boy from Illinois, living in the magical Pacific Northwest

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RicinYakima posted this 26 October 2017

I always loved to read history and mostly biography. So Elmer Keith, Townsend Whelen, Al Barr and Al Miller were always writing something interesting. I started casting in 1961 for the War of Northern Aggression centennial. Never stopped as I like casting and loading, sometimes shooting just to get the brass to reload.

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oldblinddog posted this 26 October 2017

Because it is interesting. 

USMC (ret.), CBA, NRA, TSRA, ARPC

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BigMan54 posted this 26 October 2017

Don't know any better. Grew up watching my family cast & had to join in.  No work, no shoot. I never shot a jacketed handgun bullet until I went into the service. Starting building up my own casting setup before I even got out. But after 1974/5 in California you had to use jacketed/expanding bullets for Handgun hunting.  But while I'd use jacketed for deer & pig, I still blew jackrabbits apart with good cast bullet  loads.   

I guess I just like shooting my own better.  It was a whole lot cheaper back when I started with my own setup. It may still be cheaper other places than CA, where the is no free lead. But I still like doing my own. 

Long time Caster/Reloader, Getting back into it after almost 10yrs. Life Member NRA 40+yrs, Life S.A.S.S. #375. Does this mean a description of me as a fumble-fingered knuckle-draggin' baboon. I also drool in my sleep. I firmly believe that true happiness is a warm gun. Did I mention how much I HATE auto-correct on this blasted tablet.

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gunarea posted this 26 October 2017

For me, casting is the finishing touch to my competitive shooting. No manufacturer produces a projectile tuned for optimal performance in my firearm, in the particular discipline at hand. Just as there is no commercial ammunition of the quality or consistency I produce.   Every X and every miss is all me!

                                                                                                                                                     Roy

Shoot often, Shoot well

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R. Dupraz posted this 26 October 2017

 Simple, if I didn't, I couldn't hear em go bang nearly as often!

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joeb33050 posted this 26 October 2017

I started casting to learn how to shoot offhand. Cast bullets advantages were/are cost, recoil, noise, barrel wear and brass life.

(Today I'd shoot jacketed to learn to shoot offhand.)

Later, in the single shot and long range black powder games, cast bullets were/are the only choice.

Later yet, I cast and shot to try to find out what makes cast bullets shoot accurately. Still searching.

joe b.

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OU812 posted this 26 October 2017

I purchased a Browning BPCR chambered in 45/70, so I had to learn to cast.

Now it is just the challenge to shoot consistent 1/2" groups @100 yards using cast with rifle.

My 357 Magnum is also fun to shoot cast in.

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M3 Mitch posted this 26 October 2017

Yeah, for me, shooting the old 3118 bullet in my M70 1948 year, with a light charge of 2400 usually, is a great offhand practice load.  I do figure it wears the barrel less, and definitely costs a lot less than any jacketed load I know of.  I guess a guy might find some old mil-surp '06 ammo that could come close in price, but it would probably be corrosive primed, and I just don't want to go there.  That and the barrel wear issue.

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Westhoff posted this 31 October 2017

Started out a bunch of years ago shooting Bullseye Pistol indoors, 22 rf.  When Spring came, they moved outdoors and went to 3 gun competition but by then I was kind of hooked - but soon realized that buying buying centerfire ammo for the .38 and .45 stages was going to require something like career robbing banks or casting and loading my own ammo.  Robbing banks didn't really sound too appealing, so I started casting.

As long as I was casting for my pistols, I figured I might as cast a few bullets for my rifles, too, so I picked up some rifle molds.

Time passed, and I got old enough to start shaking a little too much to win any matches shooting a pistol standing there on two feet, holding that pistol out there one handed, so I tried shooting bench rest rifle.  By then, I was far enough into casting my own that it was only natural that I joined the Cast Bullet Association.  Also by then,  I was really hooked!  If I can't make my own bullets and load my own ammo, I'm not really interested in shooting it!

So beware - it's habit forming!

Wes

Wes

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