l was looking on MidwayUSA at bullets for my 657 and noticed that most of the cast w/gc bullets are 50% more per hund than Jacketed bullets...Cast Performance is $37-$38 and Nosler, Hornady, and Sierra are $25-$28 for the same quantity...lt didn't used to be this way.. Jktd have always been more expensive than Cast...So, What gives?? More accuracy with cast?? l don't think so..l have been doing long range revolvers in IHMSA silh almost forty years...Never shot a cast that could out shoot a jacketed bullet... None of the other guys in IHMSA either...

btw. l am a caster and that's mostly what l shoot for practice.. When a match comes up, lts always jacketed

Probably looking at a specialty product with limited market. Lower production levels just about always result in higher per-unit costs.

By the way, there are quite a few cast bullets that will outperform jacketed for specific purposes. Those who have specific requirements will pay for what they need.

It certainly doesn't help that the last lead smelter in the US was forced to close its doors because of govt regulations making it unprofitable. I don't know the name of the company, but there was a blurb on the news a couple months ago.

That's a year old and it involved only new lead. We get most of our lead from recycling. That plus only about 3% of that virgin lead went to ammo

The current price of lead is $0.86 per pound and has been roughly between $0.80 and $1.20 during the past year. The closing of the lead smelting plant had no significant impact on lead prices since most US lead consumption is from recycled lead. We were certainly not dependent on a single plant for our lead supply.

I could be remembering wrong but, I think I read that the gas check alone cost 1 cent now. If the boolit maker places them for you that would increase the price even more. I don't shoot gas checked. Try the prices at Missouri Bullets, I've always been pleased with their product and prices.

Cast Performance is a premium bullet, and doesn't reflect the general price of cast bullets. Your comparison is a bit like looking at a CTS-V wagon and a Camaro SS and saying "Yikes, I remember when station wagons were cheaper than sports cars". Also, Midway's prices on jacketed bullets seem in the ballpark with other places, but their prices on cast bullets generally sucks in my experience.

As a caster that has played the game since 1980, I can tell you for certain that a gas check will run somewhere around $.035, or 3-1/2 cents. Most commercially alloyed handgun metals run somewhere around $3/lb. Since a pound of alloy will only generate 33 of the 41-caliber 220-grain SWCs, you are talking about another ten cents per projectile in just costs (not taking into consideration the dross lost during a casting session). You are at $13.50/C before you ever take into consideration equipment costs, the time to attach the gas checks, the lubing and sizing step, packaging, electricity, or anything else.

In short, I am not surprised. The demise of wheel weights as we knew them pretty much signaled the end of cheap hobby casting, and most of us cannot afford to buy commercial alloy in enough bulk to get any substantial savings...

I have been a Midway Customer for a long time. I don't buy ammo, bullets or powder/primers from them. To expensive.

Gas Check is what ups the price.

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Still Running Against the Wind

The GC is in trouble since the advent of coatings anyhow.
Theres nothing a GC can do for you that powder coating can't, at a much lower price point.

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it just needs more voltage

I just spent an hour on the net looking up a lead 40gr 22 bullet.

Prices went from $4 at Walmart to over $10 for 50 online.

Comes down to how long you can wait or dumb luck.

It was not that many years ago that there two brands of Gas Checks, Hornady & Lyman. Lyman sells checks made by Hornady now. So there went competition! Over the years I bought a few boxes of checks of each brand and found they had unique applications. Most of my checks came from buying a pile of used reloading supplies and there would be a pill bottle or two of about 700 checks in it. Ivan

I am skeptical about that. My coated bullets will still melt, so for serious magnum pressures and velocities I have provisioned gas check bullets and gas checks for any I cast myself (for which I am equipped for emergencies but have never tried).

Well, CP has always been the most expensive cast bullet option. For the cost of about 1k bullets, you can get a custom mold & Lee bottom pour pot & cast your own. No pesky gc needed unless you plan on going over 1500fps. Coating instead of lubes may even get you a bit higher w/o leading.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

Actually 3-4c per now. Still, 35-40c each for cast lead is ridiculous. Buying commercial alloy & a gc, you can cast them for about 15c each.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

Skepticism, is an issue you will ultimately have to buff out on your own.
I gave powder coating a baptism in fire in a 30-06 .... I am healed.

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it just needs more voltage

I haven't had need for gas checked cast lead boolits for nearly 40 years. Maybe missing something, but seem otherwise too busy & too satisfied to even consider whatever the advantages may have been. Long ago they actually proved in my use at the time, to be expensive & of no advantage then either.

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Dum vivimus Vivamas

There is an advantage or two to a gc. If your bullet isn't sized properly, it will help with leading. If you want to run a softer alloy @ higher vel, it will help with leading & accuracy, or any alloy at higher vel, it will help with leading.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

Powder coat can provide all of this.
I've driven some to 2700 fps.
While accuracy was non existent, it didn't lead up.
The only remaining trick is to get the bullet hard enough to hold form after heat curing the coat.

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it just needs more voltage

l found a 2008 MidwayUSA master catalog laying around.... Some of the prices are a bit surprising to say the least....
Cast vs Jacketed was more extreme then than NOW!!!
example...Hornady 44 300gr XTP--$12.99 for 50...
Cast Performance 300gr WFN/gc--$40.49 for 100...


2008 Midway price..8 pound jug of Unique---$104.00

While this is currently true it does not give an accurate picture of the future of lead in this country.

The closing of the Doe Run smelting operation will be felt down the road by everyone involved in the industry. That plant was responsible for 1/12 of the worlds production. About 600,000 tons annually. They are maintaing a secondaries recycling plant at about 125,000 tons annually.

While supplies are good now as it were and theres a lot in the "pipeline" eventually the prices will rise as stocks of those supplies diminish. Yes lead will come from other countries to fill that need but at an increased cost that will affect all lead prices.

Many feel that since the vast majority of the lead used in ammunition is from the secondaries market that we will be unaffected. Not true.

Without a primary source of domestic new lead being fed into the system that eventually becomes used lead on the secondaries market the secondaries market will feel the effects of the rising prices that will happen on the primaries market from the loss in the supply chain.
The effect may take a couple of years or less but it will happen.

Batteries are the number one users of the material and fortunatly lead is one of the most heavily recycled products running at about 98-99%. So the change shouldn't be sudden, at least I am hoping that it won't.

Right now demand is low and supplies are good but over time that dynamic will change and it won't be good.
Food for thought.

That explains it. While the cup itself costs a bit it's the extra operation it takes to assemble it that is the reason for the higher cost. Gas checked bullets have always been more expensive. I looked into them before and said, "I'll use cast for most shooting and jacketed for specialty purposes." and I saw no need to even fool with gas checked bullets in handguns.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

That is where the gc will help, accuracy. I think some alloy tinkering, pc can be both accurate & relatively high vel. I'm going to try water dropping clip ww alloy & pc for my 6.8, no gc. I am only looking for 2000-2100fps.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

I ultimately settled in right around 2200 with it.
The 2200 mark seems to negate need for uber alloys or any other special treatment.
2k + is no joke and will do most anything one would ask of a particular cartridge.
So, I'll take it.
You have to bear in mind that a lot of my pc stuff went off into useless territory for the sake of finding failure points.
It's good stuff Maynard

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it just needs more voltage