Sizing already cast bullets

[redhog]

Harder is not better necessarily. The size may change after fully cured, the amount of time is up for discussion by many. I listen to a good friend of mine that is a Professor, and go with that.
I have left a lot of marks on bullets with a “thumb nail”. That falls into about the same are as primers for judging pressure, it’s just a guesstimate at best.

Barrel length has absolutely zero to do with bullet. Size is king period. If you want generic bullets, you get generic results. There is absolutely no sense in sizing the projectiles till you measure. 45 Colt don’t even get me started on size, I have seen and witnessed .450-.459 on cylinders. Darn near the same on barrels too.
FYI, if the cylinder slugs smaller than the barrel, it will never shoot well until that is addressed.
If the cast bullet does not look exactly like the inside of the mold it is a cull. Why accept sub standard when it is so easy to recycle.
I strive for the same accuracy as my jacketed. Do I get it, not all the time but usually very close.

I won’t point out, but there is still a lot of misinformation still out there on casting and using cast bullets. Even a lot of the old early holy grail books have been proved differently today.

Good information. Thank you. The common thread in all the replies to my question is-What do my barrels slug to- Haven't done that yet. Still working on what to push thru barrel, what kind of slug.I believe a ramrod from a black powder rifle will work to drive slug thru 20" barrel.I think I prefer that opposed to a aluminum cleaning rod. Appreciate all replies. Learning a lot.

 

[JSH]

Do NOT use a wood rod!! Don’t ask how I know this.
A brass rod or steel wrapped in electrical tape is a good way.
An over size BP round ball or a lead fishing sinker will tell you what you need.
If you can find a source with pin gauges to measure the cylinder would be great.
I would not drive the slug from one end to the other. Do one at the breach and one at the muzzle if possible. Tapped or pushed in an inch or two, the tapped back out.
What is preferable is a taper or choke all the way to the muzzle.
If the forcing cone and muzzle are larger than the cylinder it will cause grief with cast.
Powder coating will keep leading down in that situation, but accuracy will suffer.

One other thing. Shooting out lead fouling is a joke. Worst mess to clean up I EVER had with cast. Imho another myth from well intentioned folks with bad information.

 

[Webster]

Harder is not better necessarily. The size may change after fully cured, the amount of time is up for discussion by many. I listen to a good friend of mine that is a Professor, and go with that.
I have left a lot of marks on bullets with a “thumb nail”. That falls into about the same are as primers for judging pressure, it’s just a guesstimate at best.

Barrel length has absolutely zero to do with bullet. Size is king period. If you want generic bullets, you get generic results. There is absolutely no sense in sizing the projectiles till you measure. 45 Colt don’t even get me started on size, I have seen and witnessed .450-.459 on cylinders. Darn near the same on barrels too.
FYI, if the cylinder slugs smaller than the barrel, it will never shoot well until that is addressed.
If the cast bullet does not look exactly like the inside of the mold it is a cull. Why accept sub standard when it is so easy to recycle.
I strive for the same accuracy as my jacketed. Do I get it, not all the time but usually very close.

I won’t point out, but there is still a lot of misinformation still out there on casting and using cast bullets. Even a lot of the old early holy grail books have been proved differently today.

About 1970 the NRA published a book on casting bulets. It's been out of print for many years. I saw one for sale on Amazon for $55. When the NRA said they were going to publish a book on casting I wrote them and sent an article on heat treating lead alloys at somewhere around 450F? The heat treat makes them harder. They delayed publishing the book and did there own heat treating aand hardness testing and they included it in the book. I never got any credit.

Heat treating bullets

Just looked at a few video's this link leads to. At least one guy that promotes himself as being knowlegible has many major errors in his statements. He says if the neck turns red when annealing the neck is way over heated and the case is junk. Actually you want red. To many people that have no real documented data saying I know everything about annealing. I think their ego convinces them their opinions are always correct.