MDI has posted some good advice. For someone who's never gotten into loading or casting before, the Lyman and Lee books he mentioned are IMO a must. Casting and shooting cast bullets (Boolits as they are called by some) is addictive. I've casted bullets for most of my rifles for years, and learn something new just about every time I load up a box to take to the range. I'm not much of a handgun shooter (I've got two 357's but mostly shoot rifles), but I do load 357 and 44 magnum ammo. You can buy pre-cast bullets, but I find that I get far better accuracy when I cast my own, at least for what I put through my rifles. How accurate are they? I'm not a great handgun shooter so I'll limit my opinion to what comes out of my rifles (including 357 and 44 mag). Cast bullets can be just as, or more accurate than store-bought jacketed rounds. It's all in how you control the variables when you make up your bullets and load them. If you take up casting, you'll shoot more, dig more lead out of backstops, spend more on molds, powders, bullet metals, lubes, sizing equipment, etc. However, you'll shoot more, and get some real satisfaction the first time you cut a cloverleaf group at 100 yards with bullets you've made yourself. Once you've tooled up and gotten the hang of it, though, you won't care any more if there's a shortage of component jacketed bullets at gunshops or sales outfits or not. You'll do very nicely making your own.