Cast Bullets

[Opinated]

To begin, I have never done any reloading. Was talking with a fellow who claims many years of reloading experience. Says he casts his own bullets. He tells me that his bullets do vary in weight because some of the lead he uses may be of different alloys-- from different sources.
Sounds plausible to me. How much variation from lightest to heaviest is to be expected from nominal 158 grain 38 caliber self-cast bullets?
And this variation surely will affect point of target impact from shot-to-shot. For most consistent performance, would one weigh each bullet and match them by weight before inserting them into the casings?

 

[Nick_C_S]

I don't cast, but I don't see where it can make much difference.

Lead has a higher density (specific gravity) than anything with which it's alloyed. Therefore, the more it's alloyed, the less dense it will be.

Be that as it may, I doubt they shoot much different in terms of point of impact.

 

[kerreckt]

I have cast my own bullets for about 10 years. I have reloaded for about 35 years. My cast bullets do vary in weight even when I am casting from the same pot of alloyed lead. Usually, not more than 1-2.5 grains when casting .358/158gr. bullets for .38 special loads. This is not out of the range of factory made bullets. It does not affect accuracy. What I am saying is that they are as accurate as I am. FYI, I usually cast using about 92% lead 5% tin and 3% antimony. It varies but this is what I shoot for (no pun intended) when I am making my mix. I hope you find this helpful...best wishes

 

[David Bachelder]

+ on kerreckt says. My results are very similar.

 

[PawPaw]

Kerreckt is right. If your casting process is uniform, the bullets will be uniform. I've been casting for a long time, for both BP and smokeless, and for both pistol and rifle. Casting puts a whole 'nuther wrinkle in your loading process, and you have to do your own quality control. Loading cast bullets isn't harder than loading jacketed, but it is different, especially in rifles.

For handgun bullets, I normally sort my bullets into two piles. The 'keepers' and the 'culls'. The culls go back into the bucket to be melted and re-cast, the keepers get lubed and loaded. My reject bullets normally account for 5-10% of the lot. For rifle bullets, I do the same "keepers and culls" business, but then I add gas checks. After gas checks, I sort by weight. My bullets normally follow a standard bell-curve distribution, with a lot of them in the middle of the first standard deviation, and others of them on the lesser ends of the curve.

My old friend Junior has a good article here, about sorting bullets by standard deviation. It's a great read.

The basic thing to remember about cast bullets is that fit is king. The fit of the bullet to the bore is the most important part of the equation.

 

[myfriendis410]

For pistol I typically cast and sort by appearance then load and shoot. For rifle I weigh every bullet and sort on a bell curve--too heavy or too light go back in. What you DO need to worry about are inclusions off the center axis of the cast bullet. This will indeed affect accuracy.

 

[Mike / Tx]

When I first really got into pouring my own I found that I had some wide variations in weight. This said most of that came from starting with the mold and or alloy cooler and progressing as everything heated up.

So I got to wondering about the same as you how much difference would it make.

I got into a couple of discussions listed below,
Analysis-of-cast-boolit-weight-variences

Boolit-weight-variation

After which I found that I needed to control my alloy temp much more than anything else. It was easier to keep things in a much tighter control if I did this. I added a PID controller to my pot which allows me to set the temp for the alloy I am casting with. This in turn results in a MUCH more consistent weight for my bullets.

As for on target differences. From a solid rest sitting atop of my bench, I can't really see much differences between around 3-4grs out to 75-100yds. This is however also a part of my shooting as well. Out to 50yds I can usually keep things within about 2-3" with most of my revolvers pretty easily from the rest and most times around that while shooting from a standing two hand hold. I do admit I have better days and worse days though.

Since I hunt a lot with my revolvers I try and keep things as consistent as possible from trimming the cases to the weights of the bullets I use. I have however, after a month or so of shooting varied weights with my bullets some weighed out and some randomly loaded and shot, decided that with my practice of pouring they are plenty close enough, and usually will shoot much better than I can. I haven't jumped into the rifle bullets yet, but as mentioned above I will probably tighten things up when I get there.

 

[jmorris]

Out of a 230 grain mold I can cast bullets from 214 grains (pure silver solder and very hard) to 240 grains with pure lead (to soft unless I coat them).

Most WW drop at 232 g so I drop in a little hunk of Linotype with each ingot.

 

[Moiecol]

Noob question - can you use cast or jacketed bullet with the same diameter size for reloading ?

 

[fatman73]

Cast bullets are sized oversized to fill your bore better.

 

[243winxb]

Different Alloys

I blem 40 lbs at a time & make ingots. This makes many bullets that are very close in weight and size. Both get a lot number. From Redding Reloading. See Link. http://www.redding-reloading.com/online-catalog/88-bullet-moulds-charts

Bullet diameters and weights will vary considerably depending on the lead casting alloy used. This variation can be as much as 1/2% on the diameter, and 8% on the weight among the most commonly used casting alloys. For example, a .358-158 grain bullet might show a diameter variation of .002", and a 13 grain difference in weight.

The OP Last Activity: January 2, 2014 07:22 PM He never read what i wrote, what a waste of my time.

 

[bedbugbilly]

I think kerreckt pretty well summed it up. I cast four different bullets for 39 special and my variance are pretty much in line with his. I have cast round ball and minnie balls for muzzleloaders for probably 50 years and those vary as well.

In order to keep things consistent,, I size all of my bullets for 38 spl. through a .358 sizer - but they still barry in grain weight. I'm sure thee are shooters who worry about a little variance in grain wt. but I've never seen it as a big factor in the type of shooting I do. . . . and if I'm shooting at varmints . . . . . they don't either.

 

[trapper9260]

I cast my own in different cals. and like was stated that if it is with in about 3 grs or 4 i would not worry about it, it all shot the the same.if you look at the hornady manuel and look at what they have for there data on any cal they have for the carts. they have listed that some will have different weights but the same data to load them.

 

[243winxb]

Opinated's
Last Activity: January 2, 2014 07:22 PM He never read what i wrote, what a waste of my time.

 

[jmorris]

As many of the same questions that are asked and answered every month, week and day, there is a lot of time waisted on forums. The good thing is that the Government doesn't require you to waist it, yet.

 

[histed]

No worries, 243. I read it and appreciated both your link and Mike's. So, not a total waste. Thanks

 

[sfwusc]

Not a waste of time. It helps a lot of people that don't ask the question.

How many hunt with their rifle cast bullets?