Today the new truism in cast bullet reloading, is that heavy cast bullets can usually be loaded to the same deadly velocities, that heavy jacketed bullets can be loaded for the caliber in question. All of the game taken, all of the wars fought, all of the people killed with guns before 1860...were done with cast bullets. The jacketed bullet started to be used as early as the time of the civil war, but it would be the German ballisticians that would make more than popular sporting use of them...With the advent of the repeating bolt action rifle, the Mauser...Europe began the scramble to modern arms, smokeless powder, and repeating arms, with high velocity bullets...they had to be jacketed with the fast powders of the times....

When the Turks stopped the Russian 150,000 man war machine cold at Plevna in July of 1877 with Winchester leveractions chambered in 44 Henry...Europe was stunned. Twenty thousand Turkish troops with 30,000 plus leveraction rifles, and one reloader for every two shooters...each man had about six hundred rounds of ammo. With these puny caliber rifles they killed over 50,000 of the Russian troops. Mass wave warfare died then in Plevna, in that 10 day battle, along with the single shot rifle as a military arm....and Europe began a race for the best repeater, but they went with bolt action designs, and high velocity, longer range chamberings. Though it was the Russian Army that at the turn of the century was the largest purchaser of Winchester’s famed 1895 leveraction. They were used on the Russian front lines during the First World War.

Germany brought forth more than just a fine repeating bolt action rifle in 1888...they brought forth a new cartridge...the 8mm Mauser. The cartridge that spawned an extensive family of cartridges over the next 110 years all over the world....a cartridge case that was necked up to 11mm by the Turks and necked down to 6.5mm by the Scandinavians and .224 caliber by Americans. Shortened and lengthened, opened and narrowed but still the same .473 case head size...the last one so far on this case, is the necked down 308 case, to the Remington 260....In 1903 the U.S. lengthened the case from 57 mm to 64.52mm or 2.5 inches and opened it to the famous 308 caliber and the 30-03 was developed. Three years later in 1906, it was shortened slightly, and the great 30-06 was born. Also we copied the Mauser rifle...but a little too closely in the great Springfield bolt action, and the World Court made the U.S. pay Germany 1 million dollars in patent infringement fees. A million in those days, 1915...15 months before we entered the war against Germany, is worth today about 100,000,000 dollars.

Also along in 1913 or so, the big push to African calibers was on the way....the great rifle houses were trying to be the producers of the African caliber...and Holland and Holland produced a cartridge with a belt just in front of the head called the .375H&H...they said it was to strengthen the case from the awesome power and pressure of the loading. Also it was to help bolt lock up and in line chambering....what ever the truth that was the advertising. It caught the attention of the sportsmen, and the belted magnum case was born and like the 8mm Mauser, became the launching bed for a plethora of cartridges and calibers....and so jacketed bullets were a must because of the soft lead of the times.

But today things have changed in the world of cast bullets and lead and it’s strength. Over the last twenty years, cast bullets have been awakened and found a new place...that of the jacketed bullet’s role. Because of heat treating, the use of tin and antimony, lead has found a new strength...add to this the excellent and extremely close tolerance molds and the use of synthetic lubes, and we now can reach velocities with heavy cast bullets that were once the province of only jacketed bullets.

The most causal shooter can now load a cast 180 grain bullet of say .308 caliber to 2800 fps in a 30- 06, and get as good accuracy as with jacketed bullets. Our advance in powders also has contributed greatly to this new ability. The question that screams at us is...now that the jacketed bullet is so advanced, why bother with cast bullets? Well the cost of the jacketed bullet has also advanced a great deal. I paid $36 dollars for fifty 378 caliber 300 grain jacketed RNSP bullets a while back, and they were not really premium bullets. So if we want to shoot a lot...for practice, accuracy, familiarization, etc....then cast bullets are a real gift to the shooter. Many shoot cast all year’round but use jacketed bullets for game hunting...and that’s fine. Some of us use the cast bullet for both, fun and hunting. I have killed 90% of the game animals I’ve harvested in my life with cast and swaged bullets.....some of that was in forested and heavy brush areas with handguns, carbines and leverguns...

But in the open areas of Arizona and states like it, rifles with long range potential are certainly needed. And cast bullets still can do the job nicely......when you know how......The first elk I took in Arizona with a rifle was with a Model 64 Winchester leveraction 30-30 with a 24 inch barrel...the load was Lyman’s 311407 that dropped at 190 grains in my 1 in 20 ‘tempered’ mix....25 grains of Reloader #7 gave 1875 fps. The shot was on a small spike at about 125 yards. I hit him right behind the left ribs angling toward the right shoulder. That cast bullet crossed thru the elk’s body, ruining both lungs...was low for the shoulder but broke the leg below it. He didn’t go 20 yards and folded up. The very next year I shot an old horse that needed to be put down....in almost the exact same spot on his body that I shot the elk....with a RCBS 30-180-FN but it was with a higher tin mix and much harder...obviously too hard...fired from a 308 Remington model 600 at 2500 fps or so. Even so I still had to shoot that animal twice more over 250 yards of running.....the difference...?

The autopsies showed a pattern and a difference. The softer bullet from the 30-30 opened a two and half to three inch radial wound channel all the way thru the elk. And still had enough bullet left to brake the leg. That’s right, enough bullet left. As a cast bullet is traveling thru heavy game it is mushrooming just like a jacketed bullet...BUT...it doesn’t have the jacket to hold the mushroom together and the lead is being shed, the particles are secondary missiles...and the wound channel is in relationship to the shedding, remember rotational speed is high and casts off the particles. Even at a higher velocity, the cast bullet from the 308 was too hard...it didn’t shed as much and drove right thru giving less then a inch wound channel.....all the way thru....I also didn’t hit a leg or shoulder, so the horse had all four legs, the elk didn’t.

Let me reiterate, remember the bullet is spinning at an rpm in the tens of thousands....which really accentuates the shedding process sending out secondary missiles...small particles of lead, IF the hardness is right for the velocity. So velocity isn’t always the answer with cast bullets....lesson number one I learned.

I turned to larger caliber cast bullets....not because the 308/311 class didn’t kill large game, they did...but I realized the larger caliber with a blunt nose would start with a larger wound channel from the beginning....meaning the animals would experience greater shock, and with less of a chase needed on my part. And to where I could match heavy bullets to velocity and cast hardness, so that fouling in the barrel wasn’t at all a problem and yet neither was taking down large game animals......the two medium calibers I found the most excellent, were the 358 and the 375 class. They seem to give me the best of both worlds...the velocity of the 30 calibers yet the frontal blunt nose of the 40s and above with the right designs.....

Loading any .375/.378 caliber rifle to 1800 to 2600 fps with a 250 grain or heavier cast bullet gives you a deadly caliber with the power to drive deep into heavy game. The Winchester 375 BB Leveraction or the Marlin 38/55 leveraction will push some very nice game bullets...cast bullets designed for big game hunting....to excellent power levels......to 2000 fps.

I find several powders are especially suitable for the 30-30 base case....that is any cartridge case using the basic 30-30 case no matter the caliber. From the 22 Imp to the 40 Paco Straight (40 caliber on the 38/55 case blown out) these powders seem to give top accuracy and velocity in this medium/small case size. ReL#7, H335, 4198, 3031, in some loadings 2400, there are many others but I like these best.

RCBS makes a premier cast bullet mold for the 375 class...it dropped from my mold at .376 which was a little small for the .378 bore of the 38/55 Marlin. So I open the mold by casting a bullet in it, drilling a hole into the bullet base, screwing a screw into the hole, cutting the head off the screw, chucking it in a drill and putting cutting compound in the cavity of the mold.....close the mold around the bullet and spin the bullet slowly with the drill till you open it to the size you want....use a very fine polishing compound when you reach that size, that polishes the cavity much better than how it was left after it’s initial cutting by the manufacturer.

Now my mold drops the RCBS 250 at .379. In my lead and tin mix....that’s 20 pounds of magnum shot (6% antimony) one pound of 95% tin....it drops at 255 grains. My test load for any 375 class rifle no matter the cartridge case...is 22 grains of 2400. In the 38/55 case and a 20 to 24 inch barrel the shooter can expect around 1800 to 1900 fps. 27 grains of ReL#7 will give around the same velocity. I have gone to 34 grains in the Winchester Big Bore 375 and 2100 fps. In my gun only, I have gone to 42.5 grains and hit 2256 fps.....which gives almost 2900 pounds of muzzle energy. Likewise the 35 Remington or the 356 Winchester both in leveractions will push the Lyman 35818/ 250 grain bullet to the same velocities with ease...I use 40 grains of 3031 in the 356 and 37 grains in the 35 Remington.....the Lyman 3589 blunt 280/290 grain cast bullet at 2000 fps out of the 35 Remington Marlin is also possible. 2400 fps in the 356 and 358 Winchesters and 2600 to 2650 fps in the 35 Whelen. It’s not killing power that is the limiting factor in these fine calibers at these velocities...it is the balance of lead hardness and velocity.

With these bullets at 2000 fps velocities with ballistic coefficients from .220 to .240 or so and a three inch high at 100 yards...your drop at 250 yards is going to be around 11 to 16 inches. With practice, and in heavy brush or timber hunting that’s very good range. But where the terrain is open you need higher velocity....at velocities over 2350 fps or so that extends the drop of 11 inches or so to 300 yards...over 2600 fps were are getting the same as powerful jacket bullets. But lets deal with velocity and bullet mix first.....

For real large animals....in the 358 caliber my choice is either the 35 Whelen or the Rem 350 Magnum. Basically these two have the same powder space....and in strong bolt actions can be loaded to the same pressures. I have used the 3589 (Lyman) 280/290 grain round nose so much in the 35 Whelen it has become my mainstay bullet....over everything else even jacketed bullets.....

With a dead soft cast bullet from this mold at 296 grains, gas check and ApacheBlu lube five grains of Bullseye with a wad of pillow stuffing holding the powder, against the primer...I get 875 fps and one hole groups at 25 yards....and over 500 ft.lbs of energy. What a rabbit load....way above any hot loaded 38 special....out to 50 yards it will kill a lot bigger animals than rabbits......

The same bullet cast one in fifteen....actually that’s 14 lbs of magnum shot and one pound of 95% tin.....drops at a little over 286 grains, with the pot as hot as it will get I drop the cast bullets right into a large pail of water...they sizzle then they are tempered....a gas check...crimp on kind...and a good synthetic lube.....46 grains of IMR4198 under them and out of my 23 inch barreled Whelen I get 2625 fps and over 4000 lbs of muzzle energy. At this level in large game....and I have shot a number of large cattle with this load in the 1970s...the bullet acts just like the softer one at 1800 fps at short range. Three plus inch radial wound channels ALL the way thru.....this bullet has plenty of length and weight for the deepest penetration on the largest of thin skin game.

And the drop figures are not what you would at first expect.....the B.C. for this bullet is around .270.....At 2500 fps with a three inch high at 100 yards its down only a measured 12 inches at 300 yards, and a little less then 36 inches at 400 yards. A 300 grain jacketed bullet from a 375 H&H at 3000 fps is down 26 to 27 inches at 400 yards......these are fired and measure figures not computer generated tables.....

With the 375 H&H cartridge case the RCBS cast bullet at 250/260 grains over 64 grains of 3031 will give around 2600 fps and the same drop figures as the 280 grain/358. Ballistically the same power and killing ability on large game. The old African hunters hunted with what they called ‘full patch bullets’ for years and years. They were roundnose heavy for the caliber fully jacketed bullets. And a 300 grain .375 ‘full patch’ bullet from the 375 H&H at 2300 to 2600 fps from 1913 thru the late 1960s, killed the very large plains game all over Africa. And I’m also sure it most likely killed a lot of the heavy skinned game in the hands of many professional hunters also. Certainly a 250 to 300 grain cast bullet so loaded will have no trouble with anything the Americas has to offer. The Lyman/Ideal company put out a lot of 375 molds that were running from 275 grains to 330 grains. Numbers like the 37579, 375166 (my favorite, short cut at around 310 grains) even the old 375272.....these were ordered at a weight you wanted up to and around 330 to 340 grains. So you can usually find them at gun shows and the like.....

So by altering the too hard 180 grain 308 cast bullet down a little softer and pushing it at around 2500 to 2600 fps in the 308 or 30-06 we are back in the big game business. Cast bullets at 200 to 220 grains can be pushed from the 308 class cartridges at the same velocities....With a 1 in 16 mix and heat tempered they will keep barrel fouling to a minimum and yet open a good wound channel. Bullets of the same weight and caliber but at the 1800 to 2000 fps use a good flat or round blunt nose and a mix of 1 in 19 or 20....remember it’s not only tin...but the antimony. Magnum shot in any size can usually be bought during bird season at very reasonable prices....especially if the seller is stuck with a shot size he can’t get rid of.....last bag of 25 lbs of number 6s I purchased was 16 dollars....that’s around sixty cents a pound for excellent lead.....use the wheel weights and such for practice. Make a slew of good bullets for game killing.....magnum shot has twice the antimony in it 6%...regular shot is only 3%. Antimony and tin bind together with the lead to make heat treating work very well. A bullet made hard with hard lead but not heat treated may not expand....But a softer bullet, heat treated hard will expand....

If you are going to shoot varmints and you really want high velocities...then just the opposite of this. Go for a light for the caliber bullet and a 1 in 10 mix heat treated....as I said in part one...you can push well made and cast Lyman or RCBS gas checked .224 caliber bullets at 3000 fps plus without a lot of fouling. That goes for other calibers also....243/6mm...250-3000...264....7mm to 308 and get excellent range and accuracy. Light for the caliber cast hard and heat treated, good high velocity lube like ApacheBlu and gas checks or FreeChecs. But these hard bullets killing power even with well placed hits, isn’t going to startle you or any good sized animal...because the bullets are going to pretty much punch thru. On small game and varmints, vermin and such they will work....but not like expanding jacketed bullets.

Exceptions to every rule.....very flat nosed bullets....311440 in 308 it’s about 150 grain gas checked design, that is very flat nosed....in essence it’s a flying flat nosed cylinder. 49 grains of ReL#15 under this bullet in a 308 or 307 Winchester will push this bullet at around 2900 fps...you have to see the damage it can cause when it hits substantial resistance like a deer sized animal. In a 30-06 54 grains of ReL#15 will give the same.....in some good rifles ReL #7 will give the same velocities....my 307 Winchester Levergun for example with 39 to 40 grains will give 2800 to 2900 fps....all with good accuracy.

The 7mm Mauser in a good strong bolt action is one of my favorites....my 98 Mauser is one of the most accurate rifles I have ever owned.....I have an old Lyman/Ideal 285228 that drops a 112 grain bullet...it used to be a hollow point mold block but I drop a BB in it and cast over it. The 7MM and the 7 Waters will push this bullet all around the 3000 fps level....I use "P" checks with it. I like ReL22 with 55 grains, the Mauser gets 2900 fps plus....in the 7 Waters 38 grains of 335 also will push this bullet to 2800 fps.

Using 36 grains of A2460 under the RCBS 140 grain bullet in the 7 Waters I can get 2600 fps.....with a three inch high at 100 yards the bullet drop is 10 inches at 300 yards and only 27 inches at 400 yards.....but I’ll tell you a secret...the very best load for hunting I ever had for the 7 Waters is the 130 grain Speer jacketed soft pointed boat tail bullet over 38 grains of ReL#15 for close to 2800 fps from the 24 inch levergun....with a 3 inch 100 yard high it drops to a 6 inch low at 300 yards and only 22 inches at 400 yards.....and this is one fine bullet even for small elk sized game....like I said this is one of those exceptions, if you have a Waters you should try it. Start low and work up but that 130 boat tailed bullet by Speer is a 7mm phenomenon...

When you get the hardness balance down correctly, then any magnum rifle cartridges like the 338 Winchester magnum or the 7mm Remington magnum can use the powder charges designated for the same weight level in jacketed bullets....loading 405 and 500 grain bullets in the 458 Winchester magnum to 2000/2100 fps gives the same power as the factory jacketed loads.. The 450 Black Powder British rifle cartridge of the turn of the century killed thousands and thousands of elephants and rhinos...with cast bullets and a lot less power.....so we learn from the old and add the new...and we can get fantastic ammo at a fraction of the cost with excellent accuracy, sometimes better then factory, and plenty of need power.

So cast can do it all...we just need to learn the right hardness and temper level for the bullet design and weight...velocity...caliber and game being hunted.....if it’s just targets or garbage vermin we can make them hard as hades and push them as fast as we want.........if for game animals to harvest then we need to temper the right mix of tin/antimony/lead, balanced with the right bullet weight and velocity...it’s that simple. Testing is the way to find what is right for your needs.

And if you go to my articles on the 444 and the 45-70s at earp.com you will find loads that will kill anything on earth including as I like to say....up to Bradley Armored Vehicles... And if the Turks at Plevna had the leveraction rifles we have today back in 1877, there wouldn’t have been any Russian Army left to retreat.........

(I am doing an article on cast bullet making....explaining how to get to the best for rifles and velocity look for it soon...Paco)

WRITE PACO