Editing Handloading (section)

=== Casting ===
[[File:3CastBullets.png|thumb|right|[[Cast bullet]]s as cast (left), with gas check (center) and lubricated (right).]]
{{main|Cast bullet}}
For the truly frugal, the cheapest method of obtaining bullets, [[Shotgun shell#Buckshot|buckshot]], and [[Shotgun slug|slug]]s intended for reloading use at low to moderate velocities is [[casting]] them.

This requires a set of bullet, buckshot, or slug molds, which are available from a number of sources, and a source of known quality lead. [[Linotype (alloy)|Linotype]] and automotive wheelweights are often used as sources of lead that are blended together in a molten state to achieve the desired [[Brinell hardness test|Brinell hardness]]. Other sources of scrap lead, such as recovered bullets, lead cable sheathing, lead pipe, or even [[lead–acid battery]] plates (EXTREME caution should be used as modern battery components, when melted, can yield hazardous, even deadly gases), can yield usable lead with some degree of effort, including purification and measuring of hardness.<ref name=nonte_8>Nonte, chapter 8, "Casting and Swaging Bullets"</ref>

Cast bullets are also the cheapest bullets to buy, though generally only handgun bullets are available in this form. Some firearms manufacturers, such as those using polygonal rifling like [[Glock]] and [[Heckler & Koch|H&K]], advise against the use of cast bullets. For shooters who would like to shoot cast bullets, aftermarket barrels are generally available for these models with conventional rifling, and the cost of the barrel can generally be recouped in ammunition savings after a few thousand rounds.

Soft lead bullets are generally used in handguns with velocities of 1000&nbsp;ft/s (300&nbsp;m/s) or lower, while harder cast bullets may be used, with careful powder selection, in rifles with velocities of 2000&nbsp;ft/s (600&nbsp;m/s) or slightly more. A modern solution to velocity limitations of cast projectiles is to powder coat the projectile, encasing it in a protective skin allowing higher velocities to be achieved with softer lead alloys with no lead build up in the firearm.<ref>[http://www.jesseshunting.com/articles/guns/category16/9.html Low Pressure & High Velocity with Cast Bullets] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060220090210/http://www.jesseshunting.com/articles/guns/category16/9.html |date=2006-02-20 }}, from Jesse's Hunting and Outdoors</ref>  The limit is the point at which the powder gas temperature and pressure starts to melt the base of the bullet, and leave a thin coating of molten and re-solidified lead in the bore of the gun&mdash;a process called leading the bore. Cast lead bullets may also be fired in full power magnum handgun rounds like the [[44 Magnum]] with the addition of a gas check, which is a thin aluminum, [[zinc]] or [[copper]] washer or cup that is crimped over a tiny heel on the base of appropriate cast bullets. This provides protection for the base of the bullet, and allows velocities of over 1500&nbsp;ft/s (450&nbsp;m/s) in handguns, with little or no leading of the bore.<ref name=nonte_8 /><ref name=nonte_10>Nonte, chapter 10, "Lead Bullet Loads for Rifles"</ref>

Such cast lead bullets, intended for use with a gas check, will have a reduced diameter at the rear of the cast lead bullet, onto which the gas check can be swaged using a lubricating/resizing press.  All cast lead bullets, whether with or without a gas check, must still be lubricated, to prevent leading of the rifling of the barrel.  A lubricating/resizing press, which is a special purpose bullet processing press, can be either a standalone press dedicated to lubricating and resizing bullets, or can be an add-on to a reloading press, at the option of the handloader.  Not all handloaders resize cast lead bullets, although all handloaders do lubricate cast lead bullets.  An option to using a lubricating press is simply to coat the bullets with bullet lube, which can be done either with a spray, in a tumbler, in a plastic bowel with a liquid lube, in a tray with melted bullet lube, or even with a manual lubricating process.

Slugs for shotgun shells are also commonly cast from pure lead by handloaders, for subsequent reloading into shotgun shells.  Although roll crimps of shotgun hull cases are commonly used for handloading these cast lead slugs, in place of the fold crimps that are used when reloading shot into shotgun shells, some published recipes specifically do include fold crimps.   For published recipes using fold crimps and shot wads used as sabots, slugs can be easily reloaded using standard shotshell presses and techniques, without requiring any roll crimp tools.  Whether roll crimps or fold crimps are used, cast lead slugs are commonly used in jurisdictions where rifles are banned for hunting, under the reasoning that fired slugs will not travel but over short distances, unlike rifle bullets which can travel up to several miles when fired.  Use of cast lead slugs is therefore very common when hunting large game near populated areas.

Similarly, cast lead buckshot is often cast by handloaders, for reloading into shotgun shells for hunting larger game animals. Such buckshot is then placed by hand into shotgun shells when handloaded, due to the necessity of having to stack the buckshot balls into specific configurations depending on the gauge of shotgun shell being reloaded, the choice of wad, the volume of powder, and the size of the buckshot (e.g., 00, 000, 0000 buckshot).  Such cast lead buckshot is never simply dropped from a shotshell press charge bar into a shotgun shell when reloading.