Seller of 45-70 cast bullets?

1
I'm slowly putting together my kit and I've run into some surprises. I've been looking for 45-70 400gr cast bullets and they cost about as much as a 5.56 loaded round. I thought lead cast bullets were supposed to be cheap! I may have to start casting my own. Jeesh! Am I missing something?

I've seen .28 cents (out of stock, of course). If you add the case, the primer and powder then yes, it's still cheaper than a factory round, but not by a whole lot.

How about 5 cents. That sounds more like it.

End rant.

Re: Seller of 45-70 cast bullets?

2
JamesRiley wrote:I'm slowly putting together my kit and I've run into some surprises. I've been looking for 45-70 400gr cast bullets and they cost about as much as a 5.56 loaded round. I thought lead cast bullets were supposed to be cheap! I may have to start casting my own. Jeesh! Am I missing something?

I've seen .28 cents (out of stock, of course). If you add the case, the primer and powder then yes, it's still cheaper than a factory round, but not by a whole lot.

How about 5 cents. That sounds more like it.

End rant.
I doubt you'll find .45-70 reloads to be down to $0.05 per round unless you get free lead, powder, and brass. Casting your own is really the cheapest for those big bullets. If you take care of your brass, it can last many reloads. But lead will always eat up cash.

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Re: Seller of 45-70 cast bullets?

3
Ammoseek lists .458" 405 grain at $0.20 a bullet. With the cast lead stuff as soon you get away from the stuff that is mass produced its going to get expensive because they're probably hand cast. I started casting my own because it was the only way to get exactly what I was looking for.

But yeah, loading for something big like a .45-70 is never going to be cheap, just cheaper than buying whatever load the ammo manufacturers decided to make for you.

Re: Seller of 45-70 cast bullets?

4
Yeah, I was hyperbolic on the 5 cents. I'm just a little disappointed that single lead bullet is around 25 cents. I was looking at Lyman's molds and they are max at two bullets per pour. However, since my whole goal with this new hobby was to slow down and zen, I think that is the way I will go. I'll have to try and stay up wind. I was never a big fan of lead.

Re: Seller of 45-70 cast bullets?

6
Just some math to illustrate the cost of those .45-70 bullets.

1 pound of lead alloy from Buffalo Arms is $2.29
1 pound is 7000 grains
You can get 17 405 grain bullets out of 7000 grains of lead.
That gives you a raw material cost of $0.13 per bullet, not counting lube and definitely not counting time, I think the last time I cast .45-70 bullets I only got maybe 30 keepers, probably threw back at least 3 or 4 for every bullet I kept.

Re: Seller of 45-70 cast bullets?

11
JamesRiley wrote:Yeah, I was hyperbolic on the 5 cents. I'm just a little disappointed that single lead bullet is around 25 cents. I was looking at Lyman's molds and they are max at two bullets per pour. However, since my whole goal with this new hobby was to slow down and zen, I think that is the way I will go. I'll have to try and stay up wind. I was never a big fan of lead.
Yeah, casting is definitely an art form. One I have yet to master.

It's not as slow as it seems once you get a rhythm going, but the first few times are definitely slower. Casting round balls for muzzleloaders and short conicals for pistol rounds is a good deal faster than casting big rifle slugs.

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