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[ingwenya]

I hope this post is one that many reloaders can respond to.

Until this Christmas I had been reloading primarily for my 44 Mag on my cousin's Hornady Lock and Load (bless you Mark). I normally used Starline and XTPs. I didn't mind payin the premium for the XTPs because I didn't get to shoot as often. This Christmas my reloading situation changed drastically. To start, a very generous uncle of mine gave me a Lee Anniversary Kit as a gift. When I returned home, my wife let me turn the extra bedroom into a reloading room. I built my reloading bench and got set. Then, as an additional Christmas present, my wife gave me a Dillon RL550. After this she informed me that she would like me to be able to shoot more often.

By the way, my wife is really cool. You are probably wondering what my problem is.

Here's the deal: I need to find cheaper bullets without sacrificing quality. I would primarily be reloading .38 Special, .357 Mag and of course the .44 Mag. I recently got some good advice on another post with regard to cast bullets. A couple of questions:
   
*What would I be sacrificing or gaining by using hard cast bullets?
*Are there any particular characteristics I should look for in a cast bullet?

Secondly, I have come across some deals on "swaged" bullets from the likes of Rainier and Berry's. These are much cheaper than Speer or XTPs. I considered using them for maybe the .38 Spec and .357 Mag. I contacted Berry's and they wrote back that they should probably not be fired at high velocities; I respect them being upfront. They sound like good practice/plinking loads. If anyone has an opinion on either bullet or a cheap alternate suggestion, please speak.

Another factor to throw in is the guns are a SBH 7.5" barrel and a Taurus Model 66, with a 6" barrel.

If anyone has any suggestions, lemme know. I have been collecting my data from the previous load in an attempt to find the perfect load for each of the guns.

I am particularly psyched as reloading has become an almost daily ritual. I'll try and get some pics of my setup posted.

I appreciate your knowledge;

Ingwenya

[ButlerFord45]

Cast bullets can be expected to not expand to any appreciable degree, but that's ok, because they will make up for it with a big wide meplat if you use a Keith style bullet, a lyman 429421 for example, or other semi-wadcutter.   A sound investment would be a lyman reloading manual, lots of cast bullet information and loads, or a lyman cast bullet hand book, even more information and loads.  I guess my answer would be that you don't have to sacrifice anything, except expense, to use lead bullets.  You may just have to approach it a little differently.
Sounds like you've got a good one, congratulations!  Don't forget that Valentines Day is this week, otherwise somebody might try and take that one away from you!   :eek:

[.45 COLT]

As to the Rainier and Berry's bullets, I shoot a lot of them in .38 Special, .357 and .45 Colt for plinkin' loads. Like Berry's told you, probably not a HV bullet. When I pushed some above 1000 fps, I got a lot of copper fouling. Kept at lower velocity, they perform fine. The Rainier hollow points also have good expansion and excellent weight retention. I also like cast, both Keith and LBT style.