cast vs swaged
- Thread starter Jeff H
- Start date
Casting is melting lead or a lead alloy and pouring it into a mold to form a bullet.
Swaging is using a pressure ram to force a slug of lead wire into a forming die hard enough to force it to assume the shape of the die.
Swaging alloy has to be malleable enough to be formed in a die at practical pressures. There is a limit to how hard it can be, therefore. Cast bullets are not quite as dimensionally uniform as swaged bullets, but the mold lets you pour alloys without regard for their solidified hardness. Typically, cast bullet are therefore harder. Also, you can mold recessed rings into them for accepting larger quantities of lubricant than you can get the surface of a swaged bullet to accept. Taken together, these two things mean they can usually be driven to higher velocities. Swaging is more suited to high speed mass production than molding, so most lead bullets from large volume bullet makers are swaged, while cast bullets are more common among smaller volume and independent lead bullet makers.
Swaging is using a pressure ram to force a slug of lead wire into a forming die hard enough to force it to assume the shape of the die.
Swaging alloy has to be malleable enough to be formed in a die at practical pressures. There is a limit to how hard it can be, therefore. Cast bullets are not quite as dimensionally uniform as swaged bullets, but the mold lets you pour alloys without regard for their solidified hardness. Typically, cast bullet are therefore harder. Also, you can mold recessed rings into them for accepting larger quantities of lubricant than you can get the surface of a swaged bullet to accept. Taken together, these two things mean they can usually be driven to higher velocities. Swaging is more suited to high speed mass production than molding, so most lead bullets from large volume bullet makers are swaged, while cast bullets are more common among smaller volume and independent lead bullet makers.
Unclenick nailed it.
Swaging by design will produce very soft bullets. This is fine and in many cases desirable in lower pressure rounds, but this limits how hard they can be driven. No metal is melted.
Casting is where you physically melt metal and pour it into a mold. As mentioned before, this means you can use a wide variety of alloys that are MUCH harder than swaged.
It used to be the general rule that swaged bullets would be cheaper and more available than cast, but over the last decade or so it seems, commercially cast bullets like Oregon Trail and others have come on the scene and sell quality cast bullets at a very competitive price vs swaged bullets
Swaging by design will produce very soft bullets. This is fine and in many cases desirable in lower pressure rounds, but this limits how hard they can be driven. No metal is melted.
Casting is where you physically melt metal and pour it into a mold. As mentioned before, this means you can use a wide variety of alloys that are MUCH harder than swaged.
It used to be the general rule that swaged bullets would be cheaper and more available than cast, but over the last decade or so it seems, commercially cast bullets like Oregon Trail and others have come on the scene and sell quality cast bullets at a very competitive price vs swaged bullets
Although I agree with jmorris on the production rate,,,, the equipment for casting bullets is much simpler and cheaper.
Since I use lead bullets in every case that I load for handguns (7 total) and two of them are mag I have never used Swaged due to the hardness issue. Cast on the other hand I purchase from Penn bullets and I have pushed his hard cast in a 44 mag rifle up to 1400 fps and had little leading.
My recommendation is and always will be cast.
http://www.pennbullets.com/calibers.html
Unclenick nailed it. +1
Since I use lead bullets in every case that I load for handguns (7 total) and two of them are mag I have never used Swaged due to the hardness issue. Cast on the other hand I purchase from Penn bullets and I have pushed his hard cast in a 44 mag rifle up to 1400 fps and had little leading.
My recommendation is and always will be cast.
http://www.pennbullets.com/calibers.html
Unclenick nailed it. +1
Despite the above, there are occasions where the swaged bullets seem preferable. My old 3" Charter Bulldog will keep groups under 2" at 25 yards shooting the 240 grain Hornady swaged SWC over 2.9 to 3.9 grains of Bullseye powder. This is target and even sub-target velocity, but for that application the uniformity of the bullets outweighs the disadvantage of their softness. Also, with the pressures as low as those loads produce, a soft bullet obturates the bore more easily to help avoid leading due to gas bypass.
Mike Irwin
Staff
I've never had any success in using swaged bullets at anything other than the lowest velocities.
I simply quit using them because they didn't allow me to get where I wanted and if I tried, would lead the hell out of my bore.
I simply quit using them because they didn't allow me to get where I wanted and if I tried, would lead the hell out of my bore.
Edward429451
Moderator
What they said is true for swaged lead bullets but soft lead can be swaged into jackets also for some very premium bullets. I swage 451 cal only and because of the precise weight control the bullets shoot as match bullets.
Very cool stuff.
Very cool stuff.