Thanks for the info Joe.

Dennis

Dennis,

I have shot The Cast Bullet Shops bullets four years now. Between Elaine and I we have put 1000 + of his gas check 200’s down range cast from his MA alloy. I have shot through an entire Western National CLA Match with no cleaning and no lead when I did. Plenty of heavy black fouling from my 5744 loads though. I have them sized .359 which seems a happy diameter in our Uberti barrels. I’m not a very knowledgeable cast bullet person and Tony has been very helpful and patient talk me through my ignorance. If you do place an order typically you go on a list and your bullets get cast when your name comes up. Best to plan ahead. I order about now for what I want in the spring. Tell him you started this current trend and we stole the whole idea from you. He has been pleasantly surprised to learn his bullets are performing well at 200 yards from lever action rifles. I’ll give VV 3n38 a try.

6.5 gr is a good starting point

My current load data shows 7.2 grain of VV 3N38 behind a Matt's 205 grain bullet, so a subsonic load.

I like to use Remington 6 1/2 primers, they usually give me single digit or very low two digit SD's

Never tried supersonic, but maybe one day.

Also a new favorite powder is IMR-4227, better than I remember from 20 years ago, cuts very clean in my Redding powder measures.

Works great in my 44-40, sad I'm selling both for my rifles soon, trying to raise money and cut down on my shooting gear.

I just recommended to a friend to also try the Sierra 180gr FPJ bullets, he was having trouble with some rams in Florida and didn't want to hassle with the difficult seating of the 200 gr 35 Remington bullets or buying a new 30-30 rifle. The 180 FPJ bullets were made specifically for the handgun silhouette version of our sport for the rams. Of course supersonic for these, but less recoil than a 30-30 for sure.

As always, be careful with any reloading data some yahoo, like me, starts telling people on the net.

Dennis Ostler