I melted down some range scrap lead and mixed it with a little wheelweights and linotype to make some 175 grain .30 cal bullets today.
About 30 pounds of range scrap yielded 25 pounds of lead, the remainder being dirt and bullet jackets. This amount of lead will make a thousand 175 gr. bullets.
About 2 hours to make the mix and cast 300+ bullets.
Another half hour to lube and size 50 of them.
A couple of hours to handload 50 rounds with 20 grs of 2400.
Velocity should be a little more than 1700 fps.
This is a nice mild target load that has shot well in several guns.
Even at today's outrageous component prices, the cost was just under $6 for 50 rounds. Half of the cost was for the powder. Maybe it is time to look for a source of surplus powder.
I'm looking into getting a simple tool to make gas checks from aluminum beverage cans.
Beats watching TV.
Jack
About 30 pounds of range scrap yielded 25 pounds of lead, the remainder being dirt and bullet jackets. This amount of lead will make a thousand 175 gr. bullets.
About 2 hours to make the mix and cast 300+ bullets.
Another half hour to lube and size 50 of them.
A couple of hours to handload 50 rounds with 20 grs of 2400.
Velocity should be a little more than 1700 fps.
This is a nice mild target load that has shot well in several guns.
Even at today's outrageous component prices, the cost was just under $6 for 50 rounds. Half of the cost was for the powder. Maybe it is time to look for a source of surplus powder.
I'm looking into getting a simple tool to make gas checks from aluminum beverage cans.
Beats watching TV.
Jack