Bullet Casting & Coating MegaThread

I’ve never had an issue cleaning up after shooting the coated bullets that were made correctly… couple patches and good to go. Now it’s a little bit of work if the coating fails and you have to clean up a leaded barrel. Chore boy or bronze wool does the trick.
 
I have an odd question. In the 50th Lyman reloading book if you go to the 45 ACP page and look they list two different 200gr cast bullets with similar profiles just different lube grooves. They have different loads for bullseye. One has a starting charge of 3.5 and the other has 4.9 and they look similar with very small difference in COAL. Just curious why they are so different.
 
BFDX7 said:
I’ve never had an issue cleaning up after shooting the coated bullets that were made correctly… couple patches and good to go. Now it’s a little bit of work if the coating fails and you have to clean up a leaded barrel. Chore boy or bronze wool does the trick.
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i am still torn on the idea to begin reloading of 9mm.
i shoot plenty of it, but, the costs still seem to be prohibitive - compared to the available steel tula ammo, if i would be buying fmj 124gr projectiles - 20c for a primer and bullet only, plus powder.
casting may be a solution here, but it is a next step to take.
 
If you picked up primers pre-shortage and got cheap or free lead the price per round is 4-6 cents. You can make what you need when you need it and you are not at the mercy of what is available. Some cast bullets are extremely accurate… the best bullet through my 1911 has been a 200gr cast bullet by far and I’ve put a ton of different rounds through that gun. Plus casting is a great hobby in itself.
 
paul73 said:
i am still torn on the idea to begin reloading of 9mm.
i shoot plenty of it, but, the costs still seem to be prohibitive - compared to the available steel tula ammo, if i would be buying fmj 124gr projectiles - 20c for a primer and bullet only, plus powder.
casting may be a solution here, but it is a next step to take.
Click to expand...
Powder selection is key for 9mm, at least for me.
Fast powders gave me fits with leading
Slowing down the powder lets me hit 1100+ fps on a 125gn without leading and leaving a clean case and gun (silhouette).
If you get mold that drops easily the casting 1k/hr is not a lot of work.
If you cast and coat then the down time while cooking bullets is productive by casting.
125gn = ~18 lbs/k or <$25/k($1.25/lb for range lead)
Coating adds another couple of dollars per k and electricy is under a dollar per k
The only question is your time
You can probably cast/coat 500 per hour once up and running
RMR has 124g in stock at $99/k so casting is likely saving $30/hr

Ymmv but I enjoy casting
 
BFDX7 said:
I have an odd question. In the 50th Lyman reloading book if you go to the 45 ACP page and look they list two different 200gr cast bullets with similar profiles just different lube grooves. They have different loads for bullseye. One has a starting charge of 3.5 and the other has 4.9 and they look similar with very small difference in COAL. Just curious why they are so different.
Click to expand...

Strange.
Usually the reasons are
Deeper seated
Gas check vs no gas check
Some are just considered target bullets and therefore have “target” velocity.

Kind of like 45 AR I don’t think there is a SAAMI spec and the figure it’s for target loads in old guns so they give you mouse farts only.
Not much to do with what the gun can handle just what they think it’s going to be used for.

Do they list the pressure for those loads?
 
BFDX7 said:
Getting ready to load some up now.
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Are these the bullets in the manual?

They are pretty different once you see a real picture of them.

Lyman 452460 vs 452630 - 45 acp moulds?

Looking for an accurate plinker for 1911s.
castboolits.gunloads.com

The 460 has more bearing surface and seats deeper in the case so powder charges will be a bit less?

IDK but I just feel 45acp especially for paper punching has no real need to push them to hard?
 
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I got out yesterday to test those new HP 45’s and my FPS are coming in higher then what is in the publish data and usually for me it’s the other way around. My 4.9 gr were coming in about 820 and the 5.9 was coming in the high 900’s. I’m going to load up some more starting in the low 4 gr range and see how it goes. From an accuracy perspective 5.3 and 5.9 grouped well but nothing really jumped out.

I had my oldest kid out shooting his 1911 and he is a rookie shooter and my cast 200 gr coming out of the Lee mold out performed the white box Winchester he was shooting. Groups tightened and he was nailing the bullseye.
 
BFDX7 said:
I got out yesterday to test those new HP 45’s and my FPS are coming in higher then what is in the publish data and usually for me it’s the other way around. My 4.9 gr were coming in about 820 and the 5.9 was coming in the high 900’s. I’m going to load up some more starting in the low 4 gr range and see how it goes. From an accuracy perspective 5.3 and 5.9 grouped well but nothing really jumped out.

I had my oldest kid out shooting his 1911 and he is a rookie shooter and my cast 200 gr coming out of the Lee mold out performed the white box Winchester he was shooting. Groups tightened and he was nailing the bullseye.
Click to expand...
Nice.
There has been talk about the coated bullets giving higher velocity than book loads.
 
Artie said:
Day off, took a ride out to @shootingsupply . Grabbed a 6 cavity Lee C312-155-2R for 7.62x39. Rcvd a tour of the back rooms too, place is bigger than you think. Real good friendly knowledgeable people. Talked a bit on casting and even name dropped @Michael J. Spangler .

Lee pot controlled with PID at 675 degrees. WW, cast 250, dropped at .313 diameter / 157gr., fricken perfect. Will hitek and plan to use IMR-4198, for the Norinco SKS. Shouldn't have to size as the barrel slugged at .312. Gonna try without GC

View attachment 580378
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Finally got these coated. 3 coats of black but it isn't black, possible contamination from my swirl bucket and syring that has had red and bronze. Water quenched on 3rd coat. Now to work up a load with IMR4198
20220404_102946.jpg 20220404_111121.jpg 20220404_111942.jpg 20220404_133544.jpg 20220404_133655.jpg
 
Did 3 batches with 3 coats, all passed the smear and smash tests. I think I have the hi-tek figured out with my setup. I use about 120ml of acetone to 20grams of powder and do batches of ~2lbs with a 2ml squirt of solvent. Let air-dry for 10mins, then place on top of the oven for 5 mins, and then toss it in my non-convection oven when temp reaches 400 degrees. Temp will drop so i watch the oven thermometer till it reaches 375 and then start my timer for 12 minutes. I do reach about 405 on the thermometer but unsure what internal temp is. This has worked for everything i cast: 9mm, 45LC, 308, and 7.62. Takes longer as the batches are smaller but until i find a convection oven, this is working. Less than 2 hours which was enough time to enjoy a cigar too.
 
BFDX7 said:
I’m waiting for the range testing. I’m might load up some more of the 45 HP’s and jump back on X39 for a bit. Time has become pretty tight lately.
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Hit the range this morning to see what works well for my Norinco SKS and the Lee C312-155-2R using IMR-4198.
Seated Hi-Tek coated .3135 diameter / 157gr cast bullet to 2.156". Barrel slugged out to .312.
Loaded up 7 clips with 4 or 5 rounds, starting at 17gr of IMR-4198 up to 20gr in increments of .5gr.

The SKS is not a precision rifle, accuracy is purported to be ~3-4" or "can hit a man-sized target anywhere between 0 and 300 meters, somewhere from neck to nuts"

Tested at 50 yards, all rounds cycled perfectly and went bang. My best group was with 18.5gr.. Going to load up some more starting at 18.0 and work up to 20gr in smaller increments. Hate going through the primers. Others showed up to the range after i started, didn't have enough targets setup, couldn't mark the shots, and didn't want to keep asking to go cold, no target pics, they would have been ugly anyways. Supposed to rain tomorrow so hopefully i will be there by myself.

**ETA**
No leading in the rifle.

20220405_102644.jpg 20220405_143207.jpg 20220405_151416.jpg
 
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