Are you shooting more lead?

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LiveLife

LiveLife

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With the current economic situation, I am finding myself shooting less jacketed/plated bullets and more lead bullets.

How about you?
 
Yes and no. I'm just shooting less.

I'm working more for less, so it's hard to find time to shoot more or less :confused:

And I don't see things improving anytime soon :(
 
Indeed I am.

If only I could find some combos the wife enjoys as much as I, i'd be doing a lot more.

She's more persnickety than I am when it comes to MOA, and I still haven't found that divine sweetspot in lead rifle yet.


Pistol, oh you betcha !

As it is, looks like swagging is in the works....big upfront, small down the line, ya know?
 
bds, I've always shot a lot more lead than jacketed because lead has always been a lot cheaper. Most of my pistol shooting is USPSA matches or practice for matches and lead bullets work just as well. I only shoot .45 ACP and have shot some matches where I went through 300 rounds in a day (two pistols) so lead is the most affordable choice. Thank goodness for MBC and their reasonable prices. I've ordered 10,000 or so bullets over the last few months.
 
Been shooting lead in revolver ammo for quite a few years now , as I cast also .

But I have curbed my amount of shooting due to primer supply/cost !

Hoarding a bit, shooting less just ain`t no fun , but I have to get a "fix" every onceinawhile !!!
 
Have been casting and shooting lead handgun loads for years. Just getting into casting HP's, which requires you to look at more than just the BHN to get bullets that mushroom.

Don
 
Currently only shoot lead for 45ACP, but will be ordering a 9mm shortly. I may be doing plated/FMJ on that weapon as the cost differential isn't great enough to warrant lead.

Rifle (270 Win): no lead as I've not actually found a commercial caster with that round. Maybe when/if I start casting, I may shoot lead in my rifle, but that takes time I don't really have. Starting a new job on Monday and my "free" time is likely to go way down.
 
I only shoot 200 to 300 .38 and .357 rounds a week, off my back porch usually, but those are 95% MBC 158s. I have a few thousand jacketed/plated lying around but find it hard to shoot them anymore based on replacement cost. Also I have not gotten into lead for rifles, but guess I will have to soon.
 
Question should read "are you shooting ONLY lead" That's pretty much it. If I buy a new caliber, I order a mold or 3 right away.;) I may shoot some jacketed to help burnish the bore so the lead works better.

Shooting lead boolits in a rifle takes a lot of time to get it just right. I didn't have that kind of time, but now that I'm retired, I'm going to do that in several rifles.
 
No, I just order larger quantities of jacketed to get the lowest price. Also, since the price of metals isn't going down anytime soon, I get somewhat of a hedge on increasing prices. Whenever I see a sale I stock up with as many as the "wallet" will allow.
 
recently made the switch...

I switched to MBC 158g 357 for my 6" GP100 to save $$$.

My load is 7 grains of SR4756 with WSP primer. Medium power.

After 100 rounds no loss of accuracy observed. A little lead in the barrel that takes an extra 60 seconds to remove during cleaning. No biggy. My chamber throats are a bit tight which is probably contributing to the leading. Don't really care since the leading is quick and easy to remove and is not currently affecting accuracy.
 
Question for the bullet casters...
I starting to scrounge for wheel weights and wanted to figure out a fair price to offer if the tire shop wants to sell them.

How much are you giving for a five gallon bucket of wheel weights?
With all of the Zi, Fe and stick-on weights, lug nuts, valve stems, cigarette buts, etc mixed in how much bullet casting lead do you normally end up with out of a 5 gallon bucket?

Thanks,
J
 
Not yet. I cast my own bullets for 45 so I have never shot anything but lead in that caliber. I have a pretty good stash of jacketed bullets for 9mm and 38. When they get low I will buy a couple of moulds and will be shooting lead in all handgun calibers.
 
I shoot lead in everything but 223. I shoot lead exclusively in 45 colt, and only load a small amount of JHP for 45acp for self defense purposes(lets leave that debate to the legal forum). Same thing for 357/38. Lead only for everything but a few hundred JHPs I keep around. I shoot them slowly and buy only once a year for jacketed.

Since I discovered Missouri Bullet I cant bring myself to pay for jakceted bullets. I can load everything from target loads to full bore magnum loadings.
 
The indoor range that I use has tightened up their policy. It is and has been lead only and 1000 FPS max on centerfire pistol. We used to be able to use plated boolits but some thought we were using FMJ and started to use those themselves. They DESTROYED the backstop and had a lot of ricochets. Now it HAS to look like lead and be lead as seen from a distance. Sorry Berrys.:(

On a brighter note Missouri Bullets gains and we can still use anything we want outside short of 50 BMG.
 
As some have already said, I shoot lead bullets most of the time. It does help that I shoot Cowboy Action, where lead is the only type of bullets allowed too. LM
 
I used to shoot a lot of hard cast (Bear Creek Bullets) in 9mm, .38 special, .45 ACP and .45 Colt.

I'm moving away from lead bullets because I want to minimize exposure to lead while reloading or shooting. I have switched to plated bullets (Berry's).

Dan
 
No, I only shoot jacketed and still find it quite affordable. Buying in bulk and searching for sales makes it a lot less expensive than what most might think. Loading .357 mag. as an example is only costiing $5 - $10 per 50 rounds. Golden Saber, Hornady, Sierra, Speer, and Winchester are the primary bullets I buy. But Hornady and Remington seem to have the best bulk prices.
 
Yes more lead....and more reloading supplies piling up!

Ordering New Lead pots and casting supplies as well...been a while since I did this...:cool:

Also plinking with .22's more now to satisfy the urge!

Also ordering a .22 conversion Slide/Magazine for my 9mm and 1911 45 Auto!

Agree with gamestalker....Reloading will let you economically shoot Jacketed bullets.
I Got bulk packs of .38 / .357 JHP...only way to go!

Gamestalker...Have You Tried Making your own jacketed bullets? I am thinking about trying it....
This Place has all the equipment: Corbin http://www.corbins.com/index.htm
 
Last edited:
Yes more lead. I cast for all but for the 380. I just bought 1000 from Berry's for that one.

How much are you giving for a five gallon bucket of wheel weights?
Click to expand...

Anywhere from 0 to $20. It seems to depend on who has them. Some would rather just give them to you than have someone take them to the salvage.
 
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