Cast 300 blackout bullets?

Travis81

Travis81

New member
I found some people mentioning cast bullets in their subsonic 300 blackouts and am just looking for more information on them. I will be shooting an AR with 16” barrel suppressed with the goal of under 100 yards around the farm mostly for coyotes. Where are you guys getting the bullets from or are some of you casting them yourselves? Also any load data would be great. Thanks
 
Unless you are pretty "anal" getting great accuracy out of casting your own is quite a challenge. I was a member of the Cast Bullet Association for several years. Learned a lot. You will find that you need to hone your casting skills, sort the bullets by weight, orient the bullets, brass and powder while loading and before shooting. You need to come up with a source of casting lead. The faster you want to send it the harder it must be. You will likely be using different powders or a very limited number of the usual powders you are used to now. I found shotgun/pistol powders worked well enough. You will need to get a bullet sizer/lubricator and sizing dies and appropriate top punch. You will need to decide if you want a plain based bullet or a gas checked bullet. The GC bullets can be driven faster but it is one more step to a finished bullet. A softer bullet will mushroom better whereas a harder bullet can be shot faster/flatter. If you really want expansion then a hollowpoint bullet opens up better but needs a softer alloy to mushroom and most HP molds are single cavity and harder to cast without getting voids. You had better be planning on a lot of shooting before all the equipment pays for itself. If you cast up a bunch of bullets, size, lube, and load them you might get 2-3" groups at 100 yds. By doing a lot of culling, sorting, weighting and orienting you can get 1.5" groups. If you are doing exceptionally well you may even get to 1 MOA. It would be good to read the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook or other cast bullet reloading manuals to get an overview. The problem you are going to find is a dearth of info on a new caliber like the 300 Blackout.
 
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Originally Posted By: HellgateUnless you are pretty "anal" getting great accuracy out of casting your own is quite a challenge. I was a member of the Cast Bullet Association for several years. Learned a lot. You will find that you need to hone your casting skills, sort the bullets by weight, orient the bullets, brass and powder while loading and before shooting. You need to come up with a source of casting lead. The faster you want to send it the harder it must be. You will likely be using different powders or a very limited number of the usual powders you are used to now. I found shotgun/pistol powders worked well enough. You will need to get a bullet sizer/lubricator and sizing dies and appropriate top punch. You will need to decide if you want a plain based bullet or a gas checked bullet. The GC bullets can be driven faster but it is one more step to a finished bullet. A softer bullet will mushroom better whereas a harder bullet can be shot faster/flatter. If you really want expansion then a hollowpoint bullet opens up better but needs a softer alloy to mushroom and most HP molds are single cavity and harder to cast without getting voids. You had better be planning on a lot of shooting before all the equipment pays for itself. If you cast up a bunch of bullets, size, lube, and load them you might get 2-3" groups at 100 yds. By doing a lot of culling, sorting, weighting and orienting you can get 1.5" groups. If you are doing exceptionally well you may even get to 1 MOA. It would be good to read the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook or other cast bullet reloading manuals to get an overview. The problem you are going to find is a dearth of info on a new caliber like the 300 Blackout.
Just to be clear I don’t plan on casting my own, I was just curious if that’s what others were doing to get their cast bullets. I don’t have the time or knowledge to do that right now. I know there is a lot more to it than just pouring some random melted lead in a mold lol. Thanks for the info though, it’s good to know incase I ever do think about doing my own.
 
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