Hunting Washington Forum
Other Hunting => Waterfowl => Topic started by: tank on December 06, 2007, 08:52:17 PM
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I know I know WTF :rolleyes:
But heard there might me some bullet casters here. I use to but the kids were small and had to be in the house when the wife was at work now that I'm getting the time I would like to get started again. I like my 44spl then the 38spl
I know I'm special lanshrk I seen it on the side of the bus.
tank
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:hello:
I cast for .357 , 30 cal. , also My muzzleloaders.
Slenk
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Sorry about getting back to you so late, I didn't see the post :rolleyes:
Slenk do you use the same mix for both? I have used a lot of wheel weights for the 38 and 44 spl. That was almost 10 years ago what are casters using now to keep the leading down?
tank
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ON the topic of casting, do any of you cast fancy weight for decoys? I cast some Fred Flintstone ones with conduit, lead and some wire turned into a loop for the cording. After this I took an 8 inch piece of copper 12 and /or 14 ga. wire to use as a keeper when the cord is wrapped up so it does not undo.
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I used to cast for .30 cal., .357-.38, 9MM, .41, .44, .45, & .54. Various bullet styles in these calibers. I did a lot of experimenting with lead alloy mixtures. I used plumbers bar solder, (it has a lot of tin), pure lead, wheel weights (some tin), car battery's (not much lead here). I settled for as near as I could get to #2 alloy for a all around mix. For the hotter loads more tin (more penetration, less leading). If I recall leading will start around 1300 fps., from that and under, after several rounds run a few factory jacketed bullets, helps wipe the lead out. Over 1300 fps. use a gas check, and more tin you can get into the low 2000 fps. with proper lube and sizing, and still get some mushroom on the bullets.
This is a lot of fun and lowers the shooting cost way way down. It's been a lot of years since I've done much, I have well over a 100 lbs. in 1 lbs. bars of various mixes. Just give it the old scratch test, pour a 1 lbs. bar and scratch it with a knife point to see how hard it is. Pour a bullet, shoot it into a rotten stump, dig it out and see the results.
I used the LYMAN RELOADING HANDBOOK for a reference.