Any real difference in cast bullets?

[briarpatch]

 I have been looking at a 45 cal mold. They are made by a lot of people with generally the only differents being material.
All are loaded with grease groves with the various shapes.
My questions are, Is the only differences in customer service, between manufactures? Does one cast standout from the rest? Does the cast of one manufacture out shoot the cast of another when they are the same weight and style.
I am not so sure the manufactures of molds or cast bullets don’t just start milling and say. I think I will add a little grease grove here or change the shape of this and offer it as the (beastkiller) and hope the whole world comes running.
No study, no trial, no sound engineering as to why it will do it.
The only people I have seen that was dissatisfied were the ones that had a problem with the material the mold was made from. Nothing wrong with the bullet just the mold material.
To stop this rant, a question. Is there any difference in a 500grain .459 round nose gas checked cast bullet with grease groves, from 5 manufactures.
 

[jhalcott]

 IF (big IF), they all use the same molds and alloy there wouldn't be any difference. BUT they all use a secret alloy or custom cut molds, then they lube them with a special product that stays in the grooves while the baggage apes toss the boxes around. MY question is ,WHY do you NEED that heavy bullet??? Why NOT cast your own and lube them with a great product that works better than the  bought stuff? This can be a RELAXING hobby or a chore, that is a personal decision. Those guys that start milling with little or no idea what makes a bullet fly correctly DO NOT stay around long! Those that pay attention to what wins matches and brings down the game are around a lot longer! What YOUR plans are for a bullet may not be mine or any one else's. Do I hunt big game or strictly target shoot or plink . Have fun and try a few of each makers product to find a difference.

[SHOOTALL]

I order a few/couple thousand bullets a year . Not alot by some standards . Yep there can be differences. Some are hard some soft. Lube and as mentiones how it stays in place. Also some have better quality control. Some look good some look poor . By poor there may be rounded eadges on the base or grooves, wrinkles etc. I have recived some with several different bullets in the box

[hornady]

The simple answer would be it all boils down to personnel preference, and the amount of money you want to part with, some guys swear by the Lee aluminum molds, others not so much.
I have had Lees and they drop good bullets, but like all things Lee you will not get the quality of a steel mold.
Personally I like the steel molds,  I have one Saeco and the rest are Lyman and RCBS, not what I would call high end, but they drop great bullets.
There are much more expensive molds on the market, but expect to dig deep.
One advantage Lee dose have over the competition, other than the price, they make a very cheap push threw bullet sizer, as well as a bullet design made for Tumble lubing which is also very cheap to start out with.
 
As to what Bullet lube dose and dose not do, you will get several opinions, my best advise here would be, buy the Lyman cast bullet manual, if thinking about casting it is invaluable.

[luckydawg13]

The simple answer would be it all boils down to personnel preference, and the amount of money you want to part with, some guys swear by the Lee aluminum molds, others not so much.

 
As to what Bullet lube dose and dose not do, you will get several opinions, my best advise here would be, buy the Lyman cast bullet manual, if thinking about casting it is invaluable.

in a nut shell one more thing join the CAST BOOLITS forum
casting can be as hard or easy as yo make it i try not to over think it
#1 melt WW
#2 use spur plate lube
#3 pre heat your mold
 #4 cast and have fun

[anachronism]

If there wasn't a difference, there would only be one company to deal with, probably LEE, because they are the cheapest, or perhaps some Chinese company. There are major differences between the quality of different manufacturers, just as there are major differences between different bullet designs. Most of the people I normally deal with don't cast to be cheap, although that can be done. They cast because if offers them complete control over all aspects of bullet manufacturing. They can control almost every aspect of bullet manufacturing. Want a bullet that expands? Juggle the alloys, or perhaps select a hollowpoint design. You could also make your own 2 alloy bullets, which perform much like Nosler partitions. What sort of terminal performance do you want? Select the bullet design that does what you want it to do when it reaches the target. Want to go faster? Want to shoot at extended distances? The options are nearly unlimited. You asl about the performance difference between 45 caliber rifle bullet. I'm assuming you just plan on punching paper at relatively modest distances, since you didn't mention a specific need. There is a great difference in quality between mould manufacturers too. All bullet design of the same weight do not perform the same. The "minor" differences you speak of often make a big difference in performance. I suggest you do your research, and learn more about the "minor" changes you are trivializing. Buy a couple of moulds and get to it. As far as mould material goes, different materials offer different performance characteristics. Most people buy specific moulds because of past experience. I have some seriously elderly aluminum moulds (not LEE) that perform as well now or perhaps even better than they did when new. I am careful with my toys, and see no reason to manhandle them.

[SHOOTALL]

One way to ansewer the OP is guns are different and casting or even buying different bullets allows a reloader to match bullet to gun to get max out of the gun.

[Bob J]

I second Luckydawg13's recommendation to join the Cast boolits forum....  Awesome amount of great information there on all aspects of bullet design and the casting art....

[mdi]

Are you talking about buying 5 molds from 5 different manufacturers or cast bullets from 5 commercial casters?
Mold manufacturers employ engineers that design/test/refine bullet mold designs so I doubt if any hap-hazard milling goes on. "New and Improved" design sells a lot of molds, and that's one reaon the "same" bullet mold from different manufacturers produce different bullets (I have two molds by the same manufacturer, with the same part number that cast slightly different bullets). What the bullet does after it leaves the gun is a huge consideration when designing a bullet (exterior ballistics). Bullet length, lube groove (number, shape, position and size), bearing surface, nose shape (even round nose shapes vary in ogive radius), and base shape/configuration. And I'm sure all manufacturers think their design is the best.
 
As for commercial cast bullets, there isn't a big difference; alloy, lube, and quality control. That's if all used the same mold...
 

[anachronism]

As for commercial cast bullets, there isn't a big difference; alloy, lube, and quality control. That's if all used the same mold...

A lot of them seem to. Most commercial cast bullets I see appear to be from Magma Engineering moulds.

[BBF]

Those Magma bullets appear to be all bevel based. I've tried one so far in my Handi and the results were dismal.

[anachronism]

Store bought cast bullets are often too hard for my tastes. Plus, I'm a control freak, with bullets at least. I put a lot of thought into my work.