The Los Angeles Handgun, Rifle, Air Pistol, Hunter/Field Pistol Silhouette Club

Return to the index to LASC

A wide range of bullet casting information
 

The complete book also available at: http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/CB-BOOK

The entire book is available in WORD and Adobe Acrobat PDF on CD including the EXCEL workbooks and ERRATA and is available for delivery to any country. Everything in the print copy is in the CD, BUT! The CD has a lot of material added (the ERRATA files) since the print copy went to press. I recommend getting the CD if you get the print copy, Joe.
Contact: Joe Brennan joeb33050@yahoo.com

Reprinted on lasc.us by permission of Joe Brennan
 

Important: This copy on lasc.us is a READ only file. Referenced EXCEL workbooks are here:

EXCEL SPREADSHEETSWORKBOOKS

Additions - Corrections To the printed book are here: ERRATA
 

Cast Bullets For Beginner And Expert
Written by over 180 cast bullet shooters - Joe Brennan

Appendix

 Table of Contents
0.0 The Beginning

  • INTRODUCTION

  • ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  • DEDICATION

  • TABLE OF CONTENTS

  • RECORD KEEPING

1.0 Safety (Chapter 1.0 including all three sub-chapters)

  • BULLET CASTING SAFETY

  • RELOADING SAFETY

  • SHOOTING SAFETY

2.0 Bullet Mold Selection And Design

2.1 Measuring Gun Dimensions (Chapter 2.1 including all Four sub-chapters)

  • HOW TO SLUG A BARREL

  • How To Slug A Rifle THROAT

  • HOW TO MAKE SULFUR BARREL AND CHAMBER CASTINGS

  • HOW TO MAKE CERROSAFE BARREL AND CHAMBER CASTINGS -- David Kaiser

2.2 Bullet Design And Fit (Chapter 2.2 including all five sub-chapters)

  • How To Scale Bullets Up Or Down

  • BALLISTIC COEFFICIENTS (BC)

  • Thoughts on Throats, Leades, Ball Seats and Bullet fit -- Ric Bowman

  • Fitting a Cast Bullet to the Chamber of a Firearm -- Bill McGraw, Ken Mollohan and Ric Bowman

  • How to use the measured bore, groove, and throat diameters to select a cast bullet that is likely to do well in your gun -- Ken Mollohan

2.3 Twist (Chapter 2.3 including all four sub-chapters)

  • ABOUT TWIST

  • HOW TO MEASURE THE RATE OF TWIST OF A BARREL

  • THE GREENHILL FORMULA

  • TWIST AND BLACK POWDER CARTRIDGE RIFLES -- Dan Theodore

Bottom of Page

3.0 Bullet Casting

Top of page

3.1 Bullet Casting Tools

3.2 Bullet Casting Metals (Chapter 3.2 including all seven sub-chapters)

  • ACQUIRING AND PREPARING LEAD FOR CAST BULLETS

  • LEAD ALLOYS AND BULLET HARDNESS

  • A CHEAP WAY TO TEST LEAD ALLOY HARDNESS -- James Carter

  • A SIMPLE METHOD OF DETERMINING THE HARDNESS OF LEAD ALLOYS--David Berry

  • IDENTIFYING TIN

  • THE PENCIL TEST FOR LEAD ALLOY HARDNESS -- Ken Mollohan

  • How And Why To Measure The Specific Gravity Of Alloys

3.3 Cast Bullet Hardness Requirements (Chapter 3.3 including all four sub-chapters)

  • Bullet Hardness, Chamber Pressure And Accuracy

  • anOther Opinion -- John Bischoff

  • BULLET HARDNESS-STRENGTH-PRESSURE -- John Alexander

  • Bullet Hardness Requirements -- Bill McGraw, John Robinson, Ric Bowman

3.4 How To Cast Bullets (Chapter 3.4 including one sub-chapters)

  • How To Adjust And Maintain Bullet Molds

3.5 Damaged Bullets

4.0 How To Modify Cast Bullets (Chapter 4.0 including all six sub-chapters)

  • How To Beagle Bullet Molds -- John Goins

  • How To Lap Bullet Molds

  • LAPPING BULLET MOLDS -- Ric Bowman

  • Three Reasons to Lap a Mold -- John Wagner

  • Getting the mold ready to lap and preparing a new mold--Joe Weist

  • Lapping The Mold -- Joe Weist

4.1 Bullet Sizing And Bumping (Chapter 4.1 including two sub-chapters)

  • How To Hone A Sizing Die -- Richard Tunnell

  • How To Bump Bullets In The Lubricator/Sizer

4.2 Gas Checks (Chapter 4.2 including all three sub-chapters)

  • GAS CHECKS ON PISTOL BULLETS

  • HORNADY GAS CHECK SPECS

  • SHOOTING THE INVERTED GAS CHECK -- Forrest Asmus

4.3 Swaging Cast Bullets (Chapter 4.3 and one sub-chapter)

  • Swaging AND BumpING CAST Bullets -- Norm Johnson

4.4 Paper-Patched Bullets (Chapter 4.4 including all four sub-chapters)

  • Why Paper Patch Cast Bullets? -- Ken Mollohan

  • How to Paper Patch Bullets -- Ken Mollohan

  • Paper Patching -- William Iorg

  • How to make a paper patched bullet mold--Ken Mollohan

4.5 Heat Treating Lead Bullets (Chapter 4.5 including all four sub-chapters)

  • HEAT TREATING CAST LEAD BULLETS -- Tom Gray

  • Bullet Quenching -- By Dave Goodrich

  • Heat Treating Lead Alloys and the Effects on BHN -- Dave Goodrich

  • WHEEL WEIGHTS AND HEAT TREATING CAST BULLETS -- Bill McGraw

5.0 Bullet Lubricants (Chapter 4.5 including all twelve sub-chapters)

  • Bullet lubricants and accuracy

  • Why lubricate cast bullets?

  • HOW TO LUBRICATE CAST BULLETS

  • Hand lubricating

  • Liquid alox tumble lubricating

  • Lubricating in a lubrisizer

  • How To Pan-Lube Bullets

  • Pan lubricating, tweezers method

  • How to make sheets of lube

  • THE KAKE KUTTER LUBRICATING METHOD -- Ken Mollohan

  • BULLET LUBRICANTS AND THEIR RECIPES

  • SHOOTING CAST BULLETS WITHOUT LUBRICATION

Appendix

6.0 Reloading

Top of page

6.1 Cast Bullet Reloading (Chapter 6.1 including all seven sub-chapters)

  • How to assemble a cartridge

  • BELLING CASE MOUTHS

  • How to measure maximum cartridge LENGTH

  • COOKBOOK LOADS THAT WORK IN ANY GUN

  • CHAMBER PRESSURE

  • CONCENTRICITY -- Ric Bowman

  • Target and Hunting Ammo, the Way I do it--Bill McGraw

6.2 Cartridge Cases (Chapter 6.2 including all nine sub-chapters)

  • How to care for cartridge cases

  • How to trim cases to length and why

  • WHEN TO TRIM CASES -- Ken Mollohan

  • CASE LENGTH VS. ACCURACY

  • How to anneal cartridge cases

  • How to turn case necks, and why

  • THE STEP NECKED CASE

  • nickel plated cases

  • CARTRIDGE CASE TUMBLERS AND CLEANING CASES

6.3 Primers And Priming Tools (Chapter 6.3 including two sub-chapters)

  • PRIMER TESTS -- Charlie Dell

  • BERDAN PRIMERS -- Pete Schroeder

6.4 Powders And Powder Measures (Chapter 6.4 including one sub-chapter)

  • THE ASTOUNDING POWDER MEASURE TEST!

6.5 Wads And Fillers (Chapter 6.5 including two sub-chapters)

  • PVC WADS

  • DACRON WADS AND CHAMBER RINGING

6.6 How To Work Up An Accurate Rifle Load (Chapter 6.6 including all seven sub-chapters)

  • WORKING UP A CAST BULLET LOAD -- Jesse Miller

  • CHRONOGRAPHS AND LOAD DEVELOPMENT

  • CHRONOGRAPHS AND STATISTICS

6.6.1 Reloading For The Single Shot Rifle (Chapter 6.6.1 including all three sub-chapters)

  • HOW TO BREECH SEAT BULLETS -- Bill McGraw

  • HOW TO MAKE A PLUGGED CASE

  • BREECH MUZZLE LOADING

6.6.2 How To Reload For The M1 Rifle -- Bob Steinberg

6.6.3 Reloading Cast Lead Bullets For Handguns (Chapter 6.6.3 including all six sub-chapters)

  • SHOOTING LEAD BULLETS IN HANDGUNS -- Norm Johnson

  • MORE ABOUT SHOOTING LEAD BULLETS IN HANDGUNS -- Adrian Pitfield

  • CAST BULLETS IN REVOLVERS -- Adrian Pitfield

  • A Revolver and cast bullets

  • CAST BULLETS IN SEMI-AUTOMATIC PISTOLS -- Adrian Pitfield

  • 1911 head-spacing method -- Norm Johnson

6.6.4 Loading And Reloading With Black Powder (Chapter 6.6.4 including all eight sub-chapters)

  • ABOUT BLACK POWDER

  • Black Powder Charges, Weight vs. Volume

  • How to reload black powder cartridges

  • Water-Proofing Black Powder -- Ken Mollohan

  • MAKING AND LUBING PATCHES -- R. Dale McGee, Spotted Pony on Cast Boolits

  • HOW TO MAKE COMBUSTIBLE PAPER CARTRIDGES -- Harry Eales

  • CARTRIDGES FOR MUZZLE LOADING RIFLES -- Ned Roberts

  • HOW TO MAKE BLACK POWDER PAPER CARTRIDGES FOR REVOLVERS -- timuchin on THR

6.6.5 Cast Bullets For The Twenty-Two -- John Alexander

6.7 On Headspace (Chapter 6.7 including one sub-chapter)

  • SHOULDER SETBACK WITH REDUCED CAST BULLET LOADS

6.8 On Moly Coated Bullets -- Jesse Miller

6.9 The Lee Collet Dies -- John Alexander

Appendix

7.0 shooting

Top of page

7.1 How To Shoot Offhand -- Harry Pope

7.2 How To Shoot From The Bench (Chapter 7.2 including all three sub-chapters)

  • HANDLING HEAVY RECOILING RIFLES FROM THE BENCH -- Ken Mollohan

  • BENCH RESTS

  • HANDGUN RESTS

7.3 Sights (Chapter 7.3 including all eight sub-chapters)

  • IRON SIGHTS

  • How to set click-adjustable rear sights

  • How to set vernier sights

  • How to adjust a wind-gauge front sight

  • HOW TO ADJUST OTHER IRON SIGHTS -- Ken Mollohan

  • Telescopic sights

  • How to focus a telescopic sight

  • FACTORS OF SIGHTING ERROR

7.4 On Accuracy (Chapter 7.4 including all four sub-chapters)

  • How to Determine “first shot hit” accuracy of your rifle.

  • How to EVALUATE rifle bench rest group accuracy

  • How to test for accuracy differences

  • GROUP SIZES AND STATISTICS

7.5 Spotting Scopes

7.6 Shooting In Mirage and Wind

7.7 Cant

7.8 How To Clean A Cast Bullet Gun (Chapter 7.8 including one sub-chapter)

  • CLEANING GUNS WITH PAPER TOWELS

8.0  The Shooting Sports

8.1 Cast Bullet Association Matches (Chapter 8.1 including all seven sub-chapters)

  • INTRODUCTION TO CAST BULLET ASSOCIATION MATCHES -- John Alexander

  • CBA Production Class  -- John Alexander

  • CBA Heavy Class

  • CBA Unrestricted CLASS

  • CBA Plain Base Bullet (PBB) CLASS

  • CBA LONG RANGE HANDGUN COMPETITION -- Jesse Miller

  • CBA MILITARY RIFLE COMPETITION -- Claris Hyett

8.2 Introduction To Schuetzen Rifle Shooting

8.3 Buffalo Rifle -- Forrest Asmus

8.4 Black Powder Shooting (Chapter 8.4 including both sub-chapters)

  • BLACK POWDER Schuetzen

  • The Black Powder Cartridge Rifle -- Paul Matthews

8.5 Hunting With Cast Bullets (Chapter 8.4 including all five sub-chapters)

  • Hunting with Cast Bullets -- Todd A. Wolf

  • HOW TO DUPLICATE 32 RF HUNTING LOADS IN CF RIFLES -- Ken Mollohan

  • Field Report-Soft Nose Cast Hunting Bullets -- Bill McGraw

  • How To Make Soft Nose Cast Hunting Bullets -- Bill McGraw

  • HOW TO MAKE CAST HUNTING BULLETS--Ken Mollohan

9.0 About The Guns (Chapter 9.0 including all twenty three sub-chapters)

  • AN ASIDE ON RIMFIRES

  • BLACK POWDER RIFLES AND PISTOLS

  • MUZZLE LOADING RIFLES AND PISTOLS

  • CAP LOCK TARGET RIFLES AND SLUG GUNS

  • LONG RANGE MUZZLE LOADERS

  • THE PEDERSOLI GIBBS MUZZLE LOADING TARGET RIFLE -- Dick Trenk

  • BLACK POWDER Semi-cartridge guns

  • BLACK POWDER CARTRIDGE RIFLES

  • INTRODUCTION TO IN LINE MUZZLE LOADERS (In Chapter Nine including all fifteen sub chapters) -- Todd A. Wolf

  • BLACK POWDER Revolvers

  • BLACK POWDER CARTRIDGE Military guns

  • RIFLE-LIKE SINGLE SHOT PISTOLS

  • SINGLE SHOT RIFLES

  • ORIGINAL SINGLE SHOT RIFLES

    •

  • REPRODUCTION SINGLE SHOT RIFLES

  • NEWLY DESIGNED SINGLE SHOT RIFLES

  • GERMAN SCHUETZEN RIFLES

  • ON BUILDING A SINGLE SHOT TARGET RIFLE

    •

  • BOLT-ACTION RIFLES

  • MILITARY SURPLUS RIFLES

  • PRODUCTION BOLT-ACTION RIFLES

  • PURPOSE BUILT BOLT-ACTION RIFLES--Pat Iffland

  • SEMI AUTOMATIC RIFLES

  • LEVER ACTION RIFLES

APPENDIX

A Table Of Lyman "M" dies

The Poor Man's Case Tumbler -- Jeff Brown

Lead Balls - Gauge, Diameter. Weight

 HOW I MADE A TUBE SIGHT
ANTI‑CORROSION METHOD FOR STORED GUNS -- Ken Mollohan Wilcoxon Rank Sum Work Sheet
AN ARGUMENT FOR HARD CASES HOW TO CROWN A RIFLE BARREL

Removing Rust

 How To Reload With A Lee Loader
Casting "Jacketed" Bullets -- Ken Mollohan How To RELOAD WITH A Lyman 310 Tool
CONTENDER ASSEMBLY NOTES MAKING AN APERTURE FRONT (OR REAR) SIGHT
DAVE PATTERSON ON THE 32 MS AND 32 RKS Managing The Redding Micrometer Measure -- Ken Mollohan

Fire Lapping BARRELS -- By Ken Mollohan, J. Robinson, J. Cox

 SAECO TO BRINELL HARDNESS CONVERSION TABLE

On Eyes  -- Jesse Miller, O.D.

Scope sight adapter for German Schuetzen rifle
The 30 BR (Bench Rest) SCREWS FOR THE CLEANING ROD

Shooting Under Water -- Ken Mollohan

SIGMA AS A FRACTION OF X BAR

The.32 Miller Short -- R. Dale McGee

 THE LYMAN STS SHIFT

SUPER Cavitating  Bullets -- John Bischoff

  

 

  

Note from the lasc.us Webmaster:

     The book "Cast Bullets For Beginner And Expert" is compilation of articles and comments on casting, loading and shooting by various bullet casters from around the world of varying degrees of experience. Much can be learned from what does and not does not work for others, everyone has "their way" for every aspect of bullet casting and loading. Here you can learn many of the different methods used in casting techniques, lubes, bullet styles, the difference between cast bullets for low velocity 25 yard shots, hunting bullets and long range rifle accuracy, and much more. No experienced caster will agree with everything written here but even the most experienced caster can pick up valuable tips and the new caster will gain a solid basis to get started.
 
Warning: All technical data mentioned, especially handloading and bullet casting, reflect the limited experience of individuals using specific tools, products, equipment and components under specific conditions and circumstances not necessarily reported in the article or on this web site and over which The Los Angeles Silhouette Club (LASC), this web site or the author has no control. The above has no control over the condition of your firearms or your methods, components, tools, techniques or circumstances and disclaims all and any responsibility for any person using any data mentioned.

Always consult recognized reloading manuals.