do cast bullets shoot good for you?

[jeff223]

do cast bullets shoot good for you out of your TC barrel?all the jacketed bullets i have tried shoot good out of my TC 357max but when i shoot cast the groups arnt worth a hoot.there isnt any compairson between the two.maybe these factory TC barrels dont shoot cast good.how do they shoot for you?

[buckeye509]

I have shot cast bullets out of my 357 and 44 mag. I got them form a fellow from Canton, Oh who sells them on ebay named "shootingamigo".
They are gas checked (he sells plain base too), and have been very accurate for my taste. They appear to be uniform in size, weight, etc. I like them. I also am trying a variety of jacketed, Remington, Speer, Magtech, Hornady, to see what my barrels like best. That's half the fun!!

[skb2706]

Yep - I shot 100 hard cast GC Beartooth 185 gr. .358" bullets out of my .357 max yesterday. They shoot excellent....slightly different point of aim from jacketed bullets but very nice. They are not benchrest groups but certainly under 2 1/2" at 100yds. Part of the trick is to get the correct size bullets for your barrel and stick with those. The Beartooth website has a great section on how to use/shoot cast bullets that will make them perform to your expectations.

[Sixgun]

A couple of weeks ago I took my super 14 in 30-30 out to a silhouette practice.  I was going to test some ammo that I was having misfires on, after we held the practice match.  

I didn't set up a target but decided to shoot at a divider that we have between the ram stations on the ram line, which was 100 meters away.  It was a piece of rebar with a piece of pipe insulation over it.  The insulation was bright orange and about 1.5 in in diameter and stood up about 4 feet.  

I just pulled up and shot offhand.  The rebar vibrated and I made a comment that it was luck and all of the guys standing around watching agreed.  I commented that if I could do it again, it wasn't luck.  They all agreed.  I shot it 4 more times, offhand.  5 out of 5 is hard to argue with but deep down I don't think I want to try again, at least with witnesses standing there.

The load was 31 gr of IMR 4831 with a Lee 170gr bullet lubed with RCBS Rifle lube and checked.  I used a CCI Std Rifle Primer.  I do have a good deer hunting load for this year.

Sixgun

[Lone Star]

Almost any T/C can shoot cast bullets well, but there is more to shooting CB than just substituting them for jacketed bullets.  In other words, is the load and loading technique appropriate for CBs?  A few things to check are:

* Bullet diameter - sized to fit the throat, not the bore
* Loading technique - not damaged during seating
* Velocity - not too high for bullet design
* Lubricant - some work better than others
* Bullet design - not all shoot well at certain velocities
* Powder type - some cause too much gas cutting
* Bullet hardness - too hard is as bad as too soft
* Bore condition - if it is copper fouled, it will not shoot cast well
* Leading - if the bore has become leadded due to improper cast loads, it must be cleaned before accuracy returns.

I used CBs in my .30 Carbine Contender barrel for IHMSA Silhouettes and shot many 38s and 39s.  Accuracy was outstanding with the correct bullet, load and technique.  I'm confident that you can get acceptable accuracy with CBs in your T/C with the right combo.

[rickyp]

I use a lee mold in 158 gr FNGC for my 357 mag. and it shoots better then I can even think of.

[jeff223]

THANKS FOR THE INFO EVERYONE

i think i am making a mistake with these cast boolits.i shoot jacketed boolits and cast boolits at the range on the same day.i must clean all the fouling out of the barrel and then stick to one or the other?am i right in thinking this?just shoot cast or jacketed?

[Lone Star]

That is usually the case.  The rare barrel will tolerate switching, but most do not.  The jacketed fouling will cause pieces of lead to cling to the bore which will snowball into lumps of lead in the barrel.  Shooting jacketed bullets after cast  bullets will remove the lead as it adheres to the tough jackets, but if you have a lot of lead buildup the chamber pressures of the jacketed loads may get pretty high....

Many cast bullet loasd need a few fouling shots to condition the clean bore before they settle down and shoot well.

[jh45gun]

I shot a 5 point buck and a doe last year using my encore an cast bullets just because that is what I had loaded and what the gun was sighted in for. This year I will probably reload some jacketed in case I get some longer range shooting. Yep cast works even in a 30 cal in the Encore. I made up these loads to get rid of a flinch I developed. I loaded a 150 grain cast bullet over 19 grains of 2400. It was a nice mild load to shoot and accurate enough for hunting. The jacketed loads I loaded before that gave me the flinch evidently was stouter than factory as I can shoot factory ammo all day long. Shooting the cast got rid of the flinch so that made me happy. I know I will tone down the jacketed loads from what I had loaded  thats for sure.  Any one know offhand what factory vel is in a 150 grain bullet for 308 Remington ammo? Jim

[HL]

I have used only cast bullets in my 44mag for over17 years now, mainly because they are more accurate than any of the jacketed bullets I tried.

A plus, also, is if you cast them right, they will get much higher velocity, without leading than jacketed bullets of the same weight.

Example: my 300gr LBT LFN heat treated bullets give me a muzzle velocity of 1875fps, which is greater than I can get, with the same pressures as the 265 gr jacketed, not to mention the 300gr jacketed bullets.

Mostly, it is just fun using something you made.