Cast bullets for fireforming cases ?

[Wolfdog91]

So been playing with converting range pick up .223 to . 7mmTCU , .308 to .243 and thinking about trying some 7.62x39 to 6.5 Grendel. And just so happens that I'm doing all this because I'm shooting powder coated cast bullets in all these and just don't wanna mess up the "good stuff " I have for my jacketed loads... And I have bucket or two of range pickup..Got to thinking if I ever wanted to fire form cases I converted I should just use these cast bullets. cheap , easy on the barrel ( good powder coat leaves 0 lead and there was softer then copper jackets) and if I'm not worried about them shooting good I can crank out a crap load in no time. Don't use too much powder either. If anything I can just making them shoot half decent enough for banging steel.
Anyone tried this ?

 

[Gabe22BR]

Use Hornady bullets, At’s why they so cheap & available !!!

Save those Sierra, Berger, Nosler, and home rolled for the right time..

 

[hoz53]

Use Hornady bullets, At’s why they so cheap & available !!!

Save those Sierra, Berger, Nosler, and home rolled for the right time..

har- ha ha- thats a good one gabe!! i know some people luv their hornadys but to me fire forming is about all they are good for. at least the ones ive shot soo far mabie i could hit a BIG varmint with one though mabie not. lol. oh and to the OP— good idea- do those loads fully form the case?

 

[DiffEQ]

Yes, for 6.5 Swede AI using 12gr of Unique. I would do it for 6mm Rem AI, but don't have a 244 bullet mold.
First I used old Hornady bullets, but that was wasteful. Then tried with COW, and there are a lot of negatives to that. Realized I had a 265 mold, so I cast a bunch and powder coated.
The only nice thing about COW is that I can do it out back in my shed, but I need to get a better seal on the case mouth because the COW can get between the case and chamber wall, leaving dimples in the case.

 

[Oso]

I don't see why not... use the lead bullets. The fired .223 range brass has a neck ID close to 6mm. After annealing and resizing/bumping should if needed, you could go straight to using a 7mm expander mandrel.

I did a bunch of COW (80% fire-forming). I used a 3" drop tube to make certain the cornmeal settled. I used a .22 cal square patch and pressed it down tight into neck /shoulder of case to keep the corn meal from spilling out. A round chopstick with a flat butt and a tapered tip was great tool for tucking in the patch and pressing it in tight. It really isn't hat difficult.

As far as debris during shooting, just keep a watch on the case necks / shoulders for excess burnt debris or burnt cloth. I brought along a can of keyboard cleaner (compressed air) and used it to blow any debris out of the chamber. After each shot I would insert the long straw into the chamber swirl it around for a couple of seconds. Every 25 shots I would run/spin an oversized nylon brush in the chamber to ensure do buildup of debris. Sounds like a lot of work, but it is simple and straightforward.

 

[hoz53]

So been playing with converting range pick up .223 to . 7mmTCU , .308 to .243 and thinking about trying some 7.62x39 to 6.5 Grendel. And just so happens that I'm doing all this because I'm shooting powder coated cast bullets in all these and just don't wanna mess up the "good stuff " I have for my jacketed loads... And I have bucket or two of range pickup..Got to thinking if I ever wanted to fire form cases I converted I should just use these cast bullets. cheap , easy on the barrel ( good powder coat leaves 0 lead and there was softer then copper jackets) and if I'm not worried about them shooting good I can crank out a crap load in no time. Don't use too much powder either. If anything I can just making them shoot half decent enough for banging steel.
Anyone tried this ?

View attachment 1617758
View attachment 1617759

did you buy these powder coated bullets? sounds like a good idea you are doing.

 

[Fuj]

I tried this route many years ago. You just don't get enough pressure
built to do a good fire form. I then went on to using half jackets on my
cast bullets and worked really good.....Nowadays, The cheapest bullet
available from anybody is Speer varmint bullets in bulk. It's what I mainly
use now, with cheap pull down powders.

 

[brokeasajoke]

Geez @Wolfdog91 you're just showing off your casting and powder coat skills again. I'm threatening getting a mold to do 300BO. All this requires me doing something besides working though.

 

[243winxb]

.223 to . 7mmTCU , .308 to .243

I used basic loads & jacketed bullets, for both. Cast bullets will need reduced loads or pistol powders.

The 7mm had lots of split necks. I did not anneal brass then. Should have i think? The die set contained a form/fl die. Could not let the shell holder touch bottom of fl die.

The 243 using Military 308 brass never allowed easy chambering. Neck turning was required. Not worth the trouble.

At times, the head to datum may get shorter on firing reduced loads. As the case body expands to the chamber, trim length & H to D gets shorter. This was in 30-06 using reduced loads, 4895. I used cast for a 1903 rifle a lot. Just keep brass for that rifle separate.

Pistol powders can be dangerous . Bullseye powder can detonate.

Your friends @ Castboolets.gunload , may be more helpful.

 

[10XSHOOTER]

Put a dribble of Candle wax over the COW. NO spills

 

[Webster]

So been playing with converting range pick up .223 to . 7mmTCU , .308 to .243 and thinking about trying some 7.62x39 to 6.5 Grendel. And just so happens that I'm doing all this because I'm shooting powder coated cast bullets in all these and just don't wanna mess up the "good stuff " I have for my jacketed loads... And I have bucket or two of range pickup..Got to thinking if I ever wanted to fire form cases I converted I should just use these cast bullets. cheap , easy on the barrel ( good powder coat leaves 0 lead and there was softer then copper jackets) and if I'm not worried about them shooting good I can crank out a crap load in no time. Don't use too much powder either. If anything I can just making them shoot half decent enough for banging steel.
Anyone tried this ?

View attachment 1617758
View attachment 1617759

I assume you have to shoot lead bullets at lower speed and pressure. Would the cases form well at low pressure?

 

[Wolfdog91]

I assume you have to shoot lead bullets at lower speed and pressure. Would the cases form well at low pressure?

That's what I was wondering, no clue on pressure but most of my loads are just lower velocity, I tend to try away from the pistol powder loads and the like most are using accurate 2015

And if I'm not worried about accuracy I can push these to 2300-2500 with no real problems

 

[Wolfdog91]

Geez @Wolfdog91 you're just showing off your casting and powder coat skills again. I'm threatening getting a mold to do 300BO. All this requires me doing something besides working though.

Just finished up plowing with .243 and 6.5grendal. .243 was a cake walk....well as far as cast goes

The 6.5 Grendel however.....egghhh needs some work

 

[Wolfdog91]

I used basic loads & jacketed bullets, for both. Cast bullets will need reduced loads or pistol powders.

The 7mm had lots of split necks. I did not anneal brass then. Should have i think? The die set contained a form/fl die. Could not let the shell holder touch bottom of fl die.

The 243 using Military 308 brass never allowed easy chambering. Neck turning was required. Not worth the trouble.

At times, the head to datum may get shorter on firing reduced loads. As the case body expands to the chamber, trim length & H to D gets shorter. This was in 30-06 using reduced loads, 4895. I used cast for a 1903 rifle a lot. Just keep brass for that rifle separate.

Pistol powders can be dangerous . Bullseye powder can detonate.

Your friends @ Castboolets.gunload , may be more helpful.

Yeah I just avoid most pistol powders . Never had much luck with the ones I could get accuracy wise and the ones eveyone reccomendeds ( unique, unique unique) I almost never see.

IMR 4227 ain't bad but accurate 2015 and IMR 3031 do most of the heavy lifting for me

 

[linebaugh]

I have not had any success running powder coated cast yet. I bet running a traditional 50/50 lube in the groves would help with accuracy if thats what you are after.

 

[BarnDweller]

So been playing with converting range pick up .223 to . 7mmTCU , .308 to .243 and thinking about trying some 7.62x39 to 6.5 Grendel. And just so happens that I'm doing all this because I'm shooting powder coated cast bullets in all these and just don't wanna mess up the "good stuff " I have for my jacketed loads... And I have bucket or two of range pickup..Got to thinking if I ever wanted to fire form cases I converted I should just use these cast bullets. cheap , easy on the barrel ( good powder coat leaves 0 lead and there was softer then copper jackets) and if I'm not worried about them shooting good I can crank out a crap load in no time. Don't use too much powder either. If anything I can just making them shoot half decent enough for banging steel.
Anyone tried this ?

View attachment 1617758
View attachment 1617759

First of all I am not raging I am asking.

I picked up a Ruger Precision in 6.5 Creedmoor and first thing I did was order a mold for it from NOE. Casted them up and powdercoated them and created subs with it. They shot pretty good and were accurate up to 200 yards subsonic. I then read somewhere that running lead in my barrel would harm my precision barrel because of the copper in the barrel from shooting factory bullets. So I stopped loading them, in fact I have about 100 that I loaded that I have not fired because I did not want to damage the gun.

So my question is how long have you been doing it and have you had any problems with it? I have shot cast bullets almost exclusive for years. I have a 300 blackout with over 2000 case bullets down the barrel and it more accurate than I am. With cast I shoot mostly subs because I put a suppressor on it and just swing steel for fun. I worked up a 400 grain bullet load for the 44 mag lever gun and its quiet, I even worked up a load for the 45-70 with the normal 405 grain bullet that is a sub.

It would be great to be able to fire form my new brass for the 6.5 Creedmoor shooting subs, would that be enough pressure to fire form the brass?

 

[tommeboy]

If the bullets are PC'ed, run a mid range jacketed bullet load and jam the bullet to fireform. If the load is not 45K or higher the cases may need to be done several times. I use jacketed bullet data for all of my PC bullets. The PC bullets are very slippery. They will act like HBN or moly coated bullets and will take a higher load to get to equal speeds of a non coated jacketed bullet.

The most important thing is to jam the bullet into the leade so the case has no movement in the chamber. The only time you will get shortened cases like was mentioned above is by using a low pressure load. Or straight walled cases. These tend to get shorter as the more times they are reloaded with lite loads.