Great video! Just started casting and its more of the process of casting my own bullets and reloading than anything else. I'm at the point I love the process of loading my own rounds more than shooting them.
As lead is getting scarcer i am looking at diving into the Zinc bullet game. Hopefully a manufacturer will publish something on that on the future. Have you looked into a shot-maker? I bought one a few years ago off of Craigslist for like $150. I thpught it would be fun to tinker with and the self reliance is a thought in my head as well. They can't take it away if i can make it myself.....
Yeah, I've been thinking about a shotmaker... Wallet too empty right now. Zinc wise, I am trying to collaborate with zinc casters to consolidate info into a spreadsheet
@@FullLeadTaco Where is the info being consolidated? I'd like to view whats out there so far - I have some zinc load data for 45acp, 35 Remington and 35 Whelen. I plan to cast up a bunch of zinc as soon as the weather gets a little nicer and start testing zinc again. This time I think I'm going exclusively ball powders for more room. I do want to find a good 30 caliber steel mold for 308 testing. Any ideas on a good mold for 308 that will still clear an LR/AR10 style mag?
Taco, you are about 90% responsible for me getting into casting bullets. I had zero interest in it until i found out about powder coating. Mostly from channels like fortunecookie45lc and Elvis Ammo. Then, the almighty algorithm showed me your videos, and I knew I had to do it. So, thanks for all your videos and the work you put into sharing knowledge.
Mike, been a while since I touched bases with ya, Man,, I remember when you first got started in casting and now look at what you have built in the years sense moving out of Washington. If anyone wants to learn about casting I always say "Check out Full Lead Taco and you will be in the right place". Just like "Johnny's Reloading bench" for people just starting to hand craft their own ammunition, again Great place go go for the Info. there are a lot of good channels out there, but you are in the top percentages for quality information. Keep up the great Videos dude, Peace out.. - Dave
I really enjoy your videos. I 100% agree with your top ten, as well. I'm the only guy out of all of my range-buddies that cast. The only two cartridges I don't cast for (and use commercial) is 223/5.56 and 6.5 creed. I find my AR's are a little picky with powder charges and cast/powder coated bullets. The 6.5 I use for long range and the BC on some of the commercial bullets are hard to beat. Everything else, including pistols I cast my own. I hope you go over more of your bullet designs and/or molds you own, in future videos. Thx
My Marlin M1895 has never had a jacketed bullet fired in it. If you want to talk bambi into taking a long nap, Lyman #457122 cast 20 to 1, powder coated and driven to 1400 fps will do the job every time. For bigger, tougher critters #457643 cast 10 to 1 and PC'ed will rivet slightly but not break apart, and drive all the way through elk sized critters when propelled at 1600 fps. They're not for the Look At Me, I'm A Sniper! folks, they're for heavy cover, which I have an abundance of here in the Pacific Northwest. For a fun plinking round, the #457130 collar button bullet cast soft and driven by a few grains of Red Dot is perfect and is cheap to shoot.
another way it can save you money is when you are casting/reloading you are not on the internet thinking about buying the latest shiny casting /reloading gizmo
For me originally in the 70's it was all about saving money. cast over a camp stove single cavity for 44 mag. I might have 40? molds now? my lead has always been free or relatively so.. People give it to me. The thing that has changed it all is the HT coating. I use pure or near pure lead for my black powder guns. Everything else? I no longer worry about alloy. Coated bullets don't care. they don't care about sizing much either. use cheap and simple Lee caliber specific sizers. No smoke. coated bullets don't have lube and they also don't send out lead particles. in the old days if we sized cast and lubed bullets perfectly and of hard alloy? We might get 1300 fps before leading reared its ugly head. Not a spec of leading with coated bullets. Presure is way lower with lead. all else being equal lead will be faster with less pressure than jacketed. You can use jacketed bullet loading data for cast but not the other way round. Penetration. if you run into a dangerous critter the cast bullet will penetrate better
With casting lead, are you limited by velocity? How fast is the maximum velocity? I’ve seen cast load data for 30/30 but never 300 win mag. I’m definitely interested.
He has talked about it on the podcast and it sounds like his is pretty low and his buddy Jason who doesn't cast and shoots significantly less has much higher levels despite having seemingly lower risk levels. If I remember correctly they thought it might be from indoor range use as Taco mostly shoots outdoors.
Yeah, I get a test every year--mine is around 2. something, so it is pretty low for how much lead I load and shoot. I think it's better to do long casting sessions less often than daily exposure--but I could be wrong.
I had some gallant hitek coated 45 bullets that produced TONS of smoke on firing. Your cast bullets with powder coat don't nearly create as much smoke that I see from competitors and my own experience. I also recently told someone that people don't shoot .223 cast projectiles because of leading but your channel seems to be an outlier. Do you see any leading in your barrels?
You won't shoot lead if you have polygonal barrels unless you shoot powder coat or polymer coat. Plain hard cast lead won't shoot properly in polygonal barrels. They build up lead and keyhole because polygonal rifling works by squeezing the bullet instead of cutting into it like traditional rifling. Traditional rifling cuts the bullet with sharp edged ridges/lands and grooves while polygonal rifling uses hills and valleys to squeeze the bullet. Excess squeezed lead gets pushed into the valleys. My Bersa TPR9C with its polygonal barrel hates hard cast lead bullets and will keyhole but will shoot powder/polymer coated lead bullets or jacketed/plated just fine. I wish it had traditional rifling like all my other guns.
@@onkelmicke9670 "The reasons polygonal barrels and lead bullets don’t work well together stem from the sizing and hardness of the bullets, as well as the manner in which polygonal barrels impart spin on the bullet to ensure stability and accuracy. For lead bullets to work satisfactorily in a polygonal barrel, they have to be on the higher end of the hardness scale and loaded to moderate pressures. There is a fairly fine line between success and failure in this arena. Unlike conventionally rifled barrels with lands and grooves that engrave their twist pattern into the bullet, polygonal rifling is relatively smooth and imparts its spin to the bullet by swaging its twist pattern onto the projectile. This leaves less of a mark than conventional rifling and minimizes deformation to the exterior of the bullet. All but the hardest and properly sized lead bullets tend to skid on polygonal rifling, leaving unwanted deposits that build up over a relatively small number of shots. This degrades accuracy and increases pressures, making frequent inspection and cleaning a necessity." --- Shooting Illustrated; Should You Shoot Lead Bullets in Glock Barrels? by Shooting Illustrated Staff posted on December 21, 2021 To say I hate polygonal rifling is putting it mildly. It may be easier on manufacturers to make the barrels than traditional rifling but it sucks for the customer that is stuck with a barrel that won't shoot lead. My TPR9C is my favorite sub compact but I hate that polygonal barrel.
Patriot Defense armory supposedly has 2lb and 9oz in stock? 150dollar minimum purchase tho? Maybe it’s a scam site? I remember hearing it was going to be released Q1 of 2024?
