Quote Originally Posted by Wineman View Post
There is a reason why the World's military powers went from 45-70, 11 Mauser, 41 Verletti, 450-500 Snider to 7.92 Mauser, 7.62 Mosin, 30-06, 8mm Lebel, 303 Britishicon. Smokeless powder and jackets equaled performance. You could use a cast from wheelweights Lyman 311299 with a gas check at 0.310-312. Load it over 45 grains of H4350 with any standard primer in the 30-06 and get 2,200 fps. Still not 2,700 fps but it would be a hunting load, it will recoil stoutly and for several shots (maybe more) you should have minute of deer accuracy.

These are only $0.40 Remington Bulk Bullets .308 (7.62mm) 150 grain PSPCL: Reloading Components
but by the time you get casting equipment etc. you may find them a good value. Get 500 and you are $0.34 plus shipping.

On the other hand, the targets at my 100 yard local range do not seem to care that the lead is only going 1,600 fps, my shoulder is happier, and I have the satisfaction of having rolled my own. Was there a learning curve, sure but that was part of the fun. If I stay under 200 yards home cast lead is fine and relatively inexpensive: primer same $0.05; powder less at $0.07; bullet with Gas Check $0.10 (lead was free, GC, lube and equipment amortized are the other costs). If I want to reach out and touch the 200-500 Meter silhouette animals and get something close to 40 then it is Sierra Match King 168's and plenty of H4350 in my 1903A3.

Have fun,

Dave
Hmm... well, that pretty much confirms my feelings that if you're going to shoot cast in a .30 cal rifle, there's not much point to having more case capacity than say a 30-30.

On the one hand the idea was lower cost. But on the other it was to remove some dependence on "store bought" components. Granted you can't get away from brass, powder and primers anyway. Unless you want to go flintlock. LOL!

Having come primarily from the handgun side of the fence, plain base cast has always been fine before. Wasn't until I got into rifles that I started to realize the tradeoff of requiring jacketed for the smaller diameters.

Hmm... Have to admit, it's got me thinking about a Marlin Guide Gun for any thing under 200 yards.