From Ingot to Target: a Cast Bullet Guide for Handgunners a Joint Effort by Glen E
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From Ingot to Target: A Cast Bullet Guide for Handgunners A joint effort by Glen E. Fryxell and Robert L. Applegate About the authors Acknowledgements A Few Words About Safety Foreword by John Taffin Chapters 1. Introduction: A Brief History of Bullet Casting 2. Bullet Casting 101 3. Alloy Selection and Metallurgy 4. Fluxing the Melt 5. Cast Bullet Lubrication 6. Throat and Groove Dimensions 7. Leading 8. Idle Musings of a Greybeard Caster 9. Moulds and Mould Design 10. Gas-checked vs. Plain-based Bullets 11. The Wadcutter 12. The Keith SWC 13. Casting Hollow Point Bullets 14. Making Cast HP moulds 15. Hunting with Cast Bullets 16. A Few of Our Favorites 16. A Few of Our Favorites Appendix: How old is your mould? Foreword: by John Taffin In many ways it seemed like only yesterday I began casting bullets. In fact it has been nearly one-half century since I started pouring that first batch of molten alloy into a single cavity mould, or mold if you prefer. It was in my mother's kitchen, at my mother's stove, next to my mother's refrigerator. It wasn't long before the whole top half of the side of her refrigerator was covered with speckles of lead. Now my mother was the most fastidious of housekeepers, however she never complained. Looking back I can only assume she thought it better to have me making a mess in her kitchen rather than running around doing something of which she didn't improve. At the time I was working for a large wholesale warehouse catering to plumbing and building contractors. This gave me access to both 100# bars of lead and one pound bars of tin. There was also a reciprocal agreement with a few other businesses allowing employees from one place to purchase from the other at wholesale prices. From the now long gone Buckeye Cycle I was able to order two Lyman single cavity molds, #454190 for the .45 Colt and #358311 for the .38 Special; a Lyman #310 “Nutcracker” Reloading tools with the dies for both .45 Colt and .357 Magnum, and I was ready to cast bullets. Those two molds are gone as it wasn’t long before I graduated to multiple cavity moulds, however, I still use that #310 tool to pop primers from cartridges cases fired with black powder. Living as we do in the Instant Information Age, it is sometimes difficult to believe how little information was available or how difficult it was to find in the middle of the 20th century. I had read Elmer Keith’s “Sixgun Cartridges and Loads” which gave me the very basics. Much of the rest I learned over the next four decades by trial and error and casting and shooting thousands upon thousands of cast bullets in hundreds of sixguns. Casting bullets opened all kinds of doors for me. Most importantly, casting allowed the shooting of vast amounts that would never have been had I found it necessary to buy my bullets from other sources. The only way to become even reasonably adequate with a sixgun is by shooting a lot, and only casting my own bullets allowed this. All of my shooting experiences, the vast majority of which has been with home cast bullets eventually led to my position as Field Editor with “American Handgunner” and Senior Field Editor with “Guns” magazines. Along the way, I not only managed to acquire a pretty good knowledge of cast bullets but also a working collection of approximately 250 bullet moulds from virtually every manufacturer. With this background in mind I now turn to the volume you hold in your hands. Glen Fryxell is a chemist by trade and a bullet caster by choice. He knows more about casting bullets than anyone else I know. Rob Applegate is both an excellent gunsmith as well as a maker of custom bullet moulds. Put the two of them together, and virtually every aspect of cast bullets is covered in what comes the closest to ever being called “The Complete Book of Cast Bullets.” Only their modesty prevents them from using this title and instead of going with “From Ingot to Target: A Cast Bullet Guide for Handgunners.” I found two things of major importance as I read this book. 1) The things I've learned about cast bullets and casting bullets are true. 2) There was still much I needed to learn. Both what I know and what I needed to know are found in this book. Any well-informed sixgunner, even if they never intend to cast their own bullets, will find information here that simply make shooting more enjoyable. Which is better, plain-based or gas checked bullets? Why do soft bullets shoot well while hard bullets lead the barrel, and vice versa? How does bullet lube work? What is this mysterious thing called flux? How important are cylinder throat and barrel dimensions? Do cast hollow point bullets really work? Can one hunt with cast bullets, and if so which ones work the best? As important to me as the how-to information is the historical background. Over the years many men have contributed to our knowledge of bullets in general and cast bullets in particular. In these pages you will find such cast bullet pioneers as Elmer Keith, Phil Sharpe, Jim Harvey, Ray Thompson, Veral Smith, and my dear friend, J.D. Jones. Understanding their contributions simply makes shooting sixguns all that more enjoyable. If you have never cast a bullet but are planning to start, read this book first. Keep it at hand, and refer to it often. If you are an experienced bullet caster, stop, do not cast another bullet until you have read this book. You might be surprised at how much you have to learn. Rob and Glen have done an admirable job of gathering and presenting valuable information on what many think is a somewhat mystical or magical art. The doors are open, the lights are on, and the magic and mystery have been dispelled. This volume is a most valuable addition to both my loading room and my library. I expect all other dedicated sixgunners to also find this to be true. John Taffin Boise, Idaho Acknowledgements: I am a student of the gun; or perhaps more accurately, I am a student of the bullet. I learn something every time I cast, load or shoot. Such an education clearly did not take place in a vacuum. I have the unwavering support of my lovely wife (who is still the nicest person I have ever met), a couple of great kids, and the most wonderful grandkids in the world (OK, so I’m a little biased!). My parents have always been loving and supportive teachers, who valued education (and paid for much of mine), ensuring that I would have the ability to be a good provider. The resulting career has provided me with the wherewithal (and occasionally enough free time) to pursue those things that have fascinated me since early childhood; guns, hunting, bullet casting and handloading ammunition. Building upon that foundation are the contributions of a multitude of teachers, who have taught me these things, as well as gunsmithing, metallurgy, machine work and the art of integrating all of these disciplines in the pursuit of my own personal vision of ballistic perfection. The list of such teachers is far too long for any sophomoric attempt at completeness, but there are several men that I have been privileged to call friend whose guidance and insights must be acknowledged; Colonel Loveless of Pleasant Acres (College Station, Texas), who taught me marksmanship and ethics as a part of the NRA Junior Marksmanship Program when I was growing up back in central Texas; Dale Harber, who adopted me as a “kid brother” and took me hunting and nurtured my fascination with guns and handloading; Reo Rake, who got me started handloading and taught me the joys of the lead pot; Lyle Eckman, who taught me much, including how to shoot, listen and teach (once again, as a part of the NRA Junior Marksmanship Program); Dave Ewer, who is patiently teaching me the art of gunsmithing, and has helped me rediscover the joy of plinking; and John Taffin, for his guidance, advice and encouragement, for contributing to this book and for being a shining example of what a gentleman and gun-writer should be. Each one of these men is a crack shot, seasoned competitor, knowledgeable handloader and darned fine man. Thank you gentlemen. Lastly, I would like to thank Rob Applegate for being the ideal partner to write this book with. Rob is the kind of man that is met all too rarely these days, unfortunately. He is a hard-working, good Christian man. He is honest and industrious not just because he was taught that was the right way for a man to handle himself, but because he simply cannot operate any other way. It is his fundamental nature. He is a quiet gentleman, usually of few words, but when he speaks I listen, because Rob is a goldmine of knowledge on all things ballistic (among other things). Rob is the kind of friend that you can walk for miles through the mountains with and never say a word, because nothing needs to be said -- the mountains, wildlife, wind and clouds speak volumes, and he hasn’t the rudeness to interrupt. He’s the kind of man that can be caught a mile and a half from the truck in his shirt sleeves in a surprise rainstorm and in conversation during the soggy walk back never once complain about the weather.