beem casting for a 2 weeks

[Lloyd Smale]

havent casted in a while years  ive been trying to shoot up my lube sized bullets and go all pc. casting 9s, 40s and 45acps. 220lbs so far. have about a 100lbs more to go. used to easily do 40 lbs in a sitting but 20lbs is about it in one sitting now. especially running a 2 cav mold to do hps. works just starting though. i still have to pc and size them and theres a pile! should be good again for a couple years when im done

[Graybeard]

I used to run thru one pot, about 25 pounds in a session, rarely ever did more. Now I honestly don't think I could cast bullets. My left arm is pretty much useless to me. I need a full shoulder replacement but have decided to live with the pain and not have the surgery.

Even an empty coffee cup is more weight than I can handle with left hand. I can't imagine I could hold the molds full of lead.

No more than I shoot I have about 3 life times of loaded ammo now and all the components needed to load another life time or two worth should I ever run out.

[Lloyd Smale]

ya i do too but its a excessive compulsion thing. now all my brass is loaded so i need more!!

[ironglowz]

ya i do too but its a excessive compulsion thing. now all my brass is loaded so i need more!!

  Does plain lead work on the newer rounds such as 9mm and the 40s, or do you need gas checks?

[Graybeard]

If by plain lead you mean  pure lead then no it's not good for anything used in semiautos. You need a hard lead alloy for them. Gas checks mostly needed for higher velocity and fit only bullets made for them. If bullet is designed to have one you must use it for best results.

I use plain base bullets for most bullets unless shot at magnum velocity. Same bullets work in both .38 and .357 but at full velocity the bullets for the magnum I prefer to have gas checks. Same for .44 special and magnum. In my guns in .44 special I mostly use the Keith design 250 grain SWC 429421 I think it is. My old memory might be wrong on that number.

[ironglowz]

If by plain lead you mean  pure lead then no it's not good for anything used in semiautos. You need a hard lead alloy for them. Gas checks mostly needed for higher velocity and fit only bullets made for them. If bullet is designed to have one you must use it for best results.

I use plain base bullets for most bullets unless shot at magnum velocity. Same bullets work in both .38 and .357 but at full velocity the bullets for the magnum I prefer to have gas checks. Same for .44 special and magnum. In my guns in .44 special I mostly use the Keith design 250 grain SWC 429421 I think it is. My old memory might be wrong on that number.

  Is that why antimony is added?

[ulav8r]

Antimony adds hardness, tin makes the melt more fluid to give better fill out in the mold.

[Drilling Man]

If by plain lead you mean  pure lead then no it's not good for anything used in semiautos. You need a hard lead alloy for them. Gas checks mostly needed for higher velocity and fit only bullets made for them. If bullet is designed to have one you must use it for best results.

I use plain base bullets for most bullets unless shot at magnum velocity. Same bullets work in both .38 and .357 but at full velocity the bullets for the magnum I prefer to have gas checks. Same for .44 special and magnum. In my guns in .44 special I mostly use the Keith design 250 grain SWC 429421 I think it is. My old memory might be wrong on that number.

  I used to use the 429421 mold, but I like the RCBS 44-250KT bullet/mold MUCH better, and that's all I use now.

  I use wheel weight lead and add pure tin in with it, I have lots of it around.

  I've won a LOT of long-range Silhouette matches using that RCBS bullet.

  DM

[Lloyd Smale]

with pc you can run pure at any velocity with no leading or gas check but what it doesnt change is harder is almost always more accurate. when i shot comp i used linotype for matches and practiced with ww. problem is ww unless you short out the stick ons is much softer than it used to be and most ww you get these days are 2/3s stick on which is close to pure. i ran into about 3000lbs of pure for free and my ww stash is down to about 1500lbs. so what ive been doing for most of my casting is using 50/50 ww/pure+ 3% tin. pc coating and water dropping right out of the oven. that gets me back to about 11-12bhn which is what the old wws were. i dont shoot comp anymore so a 1/4 in or even an inch better group doest justify searching for more alloy. most of my shooting is combat traing and pounding steel plates. im down to 200lbs of lyno so im pretty frugal with it. adding antimony will work but its hard to melt it in so if you want to go that route rotometals has bars of lead/antimony already combined that mix in easily. sadly the days i used to run into 1000lb buys on lyno cheap are over. i havent found any for 5 years other than buying it on rotometals. one thing id never do again is lubesize bullets. pc is easy, doesnt lead and keeps you gun as clean as jacketed.

 i did a torture test of my psa dagger (glock 19 clone) 2 years ago took out a bit over a 1000 rounds loaded in mags not to test pc but to test the gun. took the wife along with my hopper mag loader and she refilled them as fast as she could . i caught up to her at about 1500 rounds. first day with pc coated bullets out of 4 different molds. what i did was shoot it all as fast as i could pull the trigger. gun was smoking hot but when i got it home and tore it down it could have stood a cleaning but truthfully i could have slapped some oil on it and done it again. 2 days later i went out with the same setup with lube sized bullets. toward the end it was so greasy it was getting tough to grip and started choaking on the cheap ets mags but ran all the rest. my hands were black. did i tell you picking up 3000 9mm cases is a pain in the a--. dont know why i didnt take a tarp and put it down. what i learned was the dagger is a great gun. i got it with 10 pmags for 300 bucks (little more today) so take away what the mags cost and i paid about 200 bucks for it which is a 1/3 the price of a glock. is it as good as a glock? probably not but then im a glock fan boy   would i trust my life to it? absolutely which is more than i can say for MANY under 300 dollar guns. if your on a tight budget buy one!! the other thing I already said. ill use up my lube sized bullets but my star sizer" only use is sizing pc bullets i dont have lee sizers for

[Lloyd Smale]

 

If by plain lead you mean  pure lead then no it's not good for anything used in semiautos. You need a hard lead alloy for them. Gas checks mostly needed for higher velocity and fit only bullets made for them. If bullet is designed to have one you must use it for best results.

I use plain base bullets for most bullets unless shot at magnum velocity. Same bullets work in both .38 and .357 but at full velocity the bullets for the magnum I prefer to have gas checks. Same for .44 special and magnum. In my guns in .44 special I mostly use the Keith design 250 grain SWC 429421 I think it is. My old memory might be wrong on that number.

  I used to use the 429421 mold, but I like the RCBS 44-250KT bullet/mold MUCH better, and that's all I use now.

  I use wheel weight lead and add pure tin in with it, I have lots of it around.

  I've won a LOT of long-range Silhouette matches using that RCBS bullet.

  DM

there are 2 versions of the 250kt and also a 245kt. theres also 3 versions of the 421429. so your lucky you found the one your gun likes. every 44 i have prefers a different one. only real dud in the bunch is the 421429 that hase the rounded lube grove. if you dont mind buying checks there are 2 bullets ive found that shoot great in any good 44. the lyman 421244 and my favorite the rcbs 240 swcgc. i tell people to take your 44 home and shoot that rcbs bullet anf if its not accurate bring it back and get your money back because youll throw alot of money away chasing a good load!!