Bullet Casting & Coating MegaThread

BFDX7 said:
View attachment 483633
17.5 and the 19 grouped well. The two flyers in the 19 target were my fault. Some days you shoot good and others you don’t and today was not my best day. I still have to review the chrono but these were clocking below 1700 FPS. How much higher should I push these. Maybe ladder them up into the low 20’s with 2400? Oh and no leading and it did clean and check a couple of times at the range. That was from the 100 yard. And yes I spring for the fancy targets.
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how fast you can push will depend on twist rate and alloy. For me in the 1:10 twist rifles for me really loosen up right around 2000fps.
 
Thanks I appreciate it. I’m going to pour some more and bake a few more lots. I still have to load up some of those nine I coated last weekend. Like most of us I need more hours in a day. That oven did seem to sit right on the 400 degree mark during my last coating session. I’ll keep you posted but I really appreciate it.
 
I started to send mine throw the .356 sizer and started to strip off the coating. I measured a few and they were coming in around .363 ish so something is wrong. I poured three pounds from the same mold last night and they were coming in the .358 range. First coat is done and I’m getting ready to bake the second in a few.
 
BFDX7 said:
I started to send mine throw the .356 sizer and started to strip off the coating. I measured a few and they were coming in around .363 ish so something is wrong. I poured three pounds from the same mold last night and they were coming in the .358 range. First coat is done and I’m getting ready to bake the second in a few.
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You should be able to size down that far. Did they pass the smash test? Maybe try sizing down to .358 then .356
 
36159316-0946-4AAF-A7D5-DCB0124BFFCA.jpeg
I cooked these up yesterday morning and sized to .356 and loaded up with 3.0 and 3.5 gr of HP-38. The 3.0 didn’t cycle the gun and the 3.5 clocked at about 915 so I wasn’t pushing them to hard. These leaded the glock G17 barrel but not my shield. So I was thinking of taking these Zombie Green running them through my replacement barrel I picked up for casts the slugs out at .354. Here is my biggest question... what if I size a handful of those black to .358 and run them through the original glock barrel that slugged at .355-.356? Could that help with the leading and is there any issue if they could be .003 bigger then the bore? And the good news is all of my coatings have been passing the two tests.
 
BFDX7 said:
View attachment 485559
I cooked these up yesterday morning and sized to .356 and loaded up with 3.0 and 3.5 gr of HP-38. The 3.0 didn’t cycle the gun and the 3.5 clocked at about 915 so I wasn’t pushing them to hard. These leaded the glock G17 barrel but not my shield. So I was thinking of taking these Zombie Green running them through my replacement barrel I picked up for casts the slugs out at .354. Here is my biggest question... what if I size a handful of those black to .358 and run them through the original glock barrel that slugged at .355-.356? Could that help with the leading and is there any issue if they could be .003 bigger then the bore? And the good news is all of my coatings have been passing the two tests.
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Only one way to find out. I have been sizing all my 9mm to .357” and they run through anything I’ve tried them in without leading.
I would think it would help
 
BFDX7 said:
So If they chamber let em rip? I’ll load up a few and give it a whirl... thanks.
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That’s what I would do. Oversized isn’t a huge issue with cast. The stuff is soft and should conform fine. You will probably have a little higher pressure so don’t start at the top end.
 
Looks like I may be able to salvage those black coated bullets. I sized them to .358 and ran them through my glock barrel and no traces is leading after ten rounds. Going to load up a few more mags and see if I get any leading. I did hand sort out any that had any exposed lead or thin spots.
 
BFDX7 said:
Looks like I may be able to salvage those black coated bullets. I sized them to .358 and ran them through my glock barrel and no traces is leading after ten rounds. Going to load up a few more mags and see if I get any leading. I did hand sort out any that had any exposed lead or thin spots.
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Sweet. Yeah .356” sounded small
 
I know .001-.002 over the bore size is the general practice but could you go .003-.004. I’m getting ready to load up some 303 Brit and the bore slugged at .311 but I only have a .314 sizer. The alloy is WW and the bullets are GC with hi-tek and tossed in Alox. Going to go with 16gr of 2400 to start.
 
BFDX7 said:
I know .001-.002 over the bore size is the general practice but could you go .003-.004. I’m getting ready to load up some 303 Brit and the bore slugged at .311 but I only have a .314 sizer. The alloy is WW and the bullets are GC with hi-tek and tossed in Alox. Going to go with 16gr of 2400 to start.
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Good advice. Bigger is usually better than smaller with cast.
Think of how easy it is to pop a lead squib out of a bore vs. a jacketed.
Those suckers swage down easy.

I have read of a lot of guys that will size to max chamber diameter in old rifles and let the throat do the sizing.
 
New mould arrived today. 170 solid down to 160 with the penta pin.
Also cup point, large round hollow and small round hollow.

So you can tweak the bullet cavity design based on velocity, alloy and intended target to yield a proper result.

Penta pins with dead soft alloy make impressive flowers. You might want a cup point if you’re pushing it full house 357 out of a rifle though. 1AC62407-12A9-4016-946E-D4071730736C.jpeg 663DBF71-F822-4749-873F-41A7F0DFAB41.jpeg
 
BFDX7 said:
I know .001-.002 over the bore size is the general practice but could you go .003-.004. I’m getting ready to load up some 303 Brit and the bore slugged at .311 but I only have a .314 sizer. The alloy is WW and the bullets are GC with hi-tek and tossed in Alox. Going to go with 16gr of 2400 to start.
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Some casters size to the throat which can be pretty darn big vs bore size
 
Michael J. Spangler said:
New mould arrived today. 170 solid down to 160 with the penta pin.
Also cup point, large round hollow and small round hollow.

So you can tweak the bullet cavity design based on velocity, alloy and intended target to yield a proper result.

Penta pins with dead soft alloy make impressive flowers. You might want a cup point if you’re pushing it full house 357 out of a rifle though. View attachment 486168View attachment 486169
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Those molds are so nice.
 
Michael J. Spangler said:
New mould arrived today. 170 solid down to 160 with the penta pin.
Also cup point, large round hollow and small round hollow.

So you can tweak the bullet cavity design based on velocity, alloy and intended target to yield a proper result.

Penta pins with dead soft alloy make impressive flowers. You might want a cup point if you’re pushing it full house 357 out of a rifle though. View attachment 486168View attachment 486169
Click to expand...
Who makes those molds. They are really slick
 
BFDX7 said:
View attachment 485559
I cooked these up yesterday morning and sized to .356 and loaded up with 3.0 and 3.5 gr of HP-38. The 3.0 didn’t cycle the gun and the 3.5 clocked at about 915 so I wasn’t pushing them to hard. These leaded the glock G17 barrel but not my shield. So I was thinking of taking these Zombie Green running them through my replacement barrel I picked up for casts the slugs out at .354. Here is my biggest question... what if I size a handful of those black to .358 and run them through the original glock barrel that slugged at .355-.356? Could that help with the leading and is there any issue if they could be .003 bigger then the bore? And the good news is all of my coatings have been passing the two tests.
Click to expand...
Another way is to go with a slower powder - I had issues with 231/hp-38 that went away with autocomp and silhouette
 
BFDX7 said:
Anyone try the groove less molds from MP? Seeing your new mold has me thinking of grabbing something new. Just have to think what I need the most and compare with what they have in stock.
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I have one of the 130 grain RN 9mm moulds. Super nice to cast with. Without the lube groove they fall out of the mould even easier.
 
BFDX7 said:
Anyone try the groove less molds from MP? Seeing your new mold has me thinking of grabbing something new. Just have to think what I need the most and compare with what they have in stock.
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I removed the lube grooves from my Lee 356-120-TC
Works great - don't have any grooveless mold from Miha but his regular molds are awesome. I would assume that the grooveless are even better.
 
Demoman said:
Still waiting on a package from 4/3 from midway
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Ipswich post office returned my package after waiting 2 months for 55 grain projectiles. Due to a open package with scary regulated illegal to ship in ma. I recieved a informative email from them. I replied with a email not trying to poke the bear seeing that I like receiving my mail. Telling them that it is an unregulated component so for any issues that it may have caused thank you for your service so on hopefully this doesn't become a recurring thing with someone without proper understanding of there rules or even laws they say were broken.
 

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