Hard cast lead bullets

You know what a bullet is, but what is a hard cast bullet?

A hard cast bullet is simply a cast bullet that is made of a lead alloy that is harder than pure lead.  When metals like antimony are added to lead, the resulting alloy becomes harder.  Depending on the amount of antimony, tin, etc, it can be quite a bit harder than lead.

A pure lead bullet is really not suitable for most purposes.  It's just too soft. One solution is to cover the lead in a copper jacket.  Hence the jacketed bullets we all know.  The other solution is to harden the alloy by adding antimony and other metals.

If you take a hammer to a hard cast bullet, it will deform, but not much.  Take a hammer to a soft lead bullet, even a jacketed one, and it will deform quite a bit.  So, if you are looking for a bullet to mushroom, hard cast is not for you.  Hard cast bullets tend to shear off rather than mushroom when they hit a hard object or dry ground.

The bullet on the left was fired from my Makarov into moist dirt.  As you can see, it has not mushroomed, but instead has sheared off.


It did not hit a rock that I know of.  It simply stopped in he ground.









So, why use a hard cast bullet?  Usually, it's cost.  Hard cast bullets typically cost less than a jacketed bullet.  The bullet maker simply casts the bullet, sizes it, and lubricates it.  End of story.  In fact, many people cast their own bullets.  Jim Green does a good job demonstrating it on youtube

When bullets are cast, they are not the proper size to be shot. Most molds produce a bullet that is slightly larger than desired.  So cast bullets are passed thru a swaging die that brings them down to the desired size.

One example of a polymer coated bullet

Here is another

At that time, the bullets are also lubricated with a waxy lube.  This cuts down on or even eliminates leading of the barrel.  The blue lube you see in the grease grooves on the first picture was likely applied by a tool such as a Lyman 450 lubrisizer.  The other option is to tumble lube in a liquid alox lube.  It achieves the same purpose, but tumble lubing can be done quickly, in a pie plate. For those who don't want to invest in a sizing and lubing tool, Lee makes some nice kits with a sizing die and some alox lube that are reasonable.  Bullets are designed for a particular type of lube.  Those designed for tumble lube will have more grooves than one designed for traditional lube methods.

Lee liquid alox kit

There are also coated bullets.  This is a relatively new option.  The bullet is coated in a polymer that acts as a lubricant.  I have personally used some coated cci .22 lr.  The coating can be scraped off with your fingernail, but it must do its job.  We haven't noticed any odd fouling in the barrels.

Raw bullet on the left - liquid alox tumble lubed on the right

I do not cast my own bullets at this time because the state of Illinois has changed wheel weights from lead to zinc and I have been afraid to get into it, just to find myself without a steady source of metal.

I have been buying my hard cast bullets mostly from rim rock bullets. http://rimrockbullets.net/
 They are of good quality and consistent. They are almost always in stock too.  Some of the other manufacturers are out of stock on this or that and it gets frustrating.

For target shooting in pistols and slower speed rifle cartridges, hard cast is a great alternative to jacketed bullets.  Hunters also use hard cast bullets in situations where bullet expansion is not desired.