Lead Bullets Source?

[the86d]

Just google Powder Coated 9mm. You are welcome...

Keep them under 1200FPS for sure, MAYBE MEDIUM-charge loads are best for lead, even if PC'd.

[golfish]

I like Missouri Bullet Co and CheyCast.

Heard good things about Oregon Trail, never tried them.

Thanks for the links. Chey has a good selection of .38 bullets.

[NapalmCheese]

Thanks for the links. Chey has a good selection of .38 bullets.

CheyCast is great, at least if you're just putting lead down range on targets. My only experience is with their .30 cal 165 grain RNFP. It's the same Magma Engineering bullet mold Missouri (and a bunch of other places) use except Chey drops at 16 BHN instead of 18 like Missouri. That bullet works just fine on targets, but I don't think I'd hunt with it as I feel it doesn't have enough meplat for hunting in those hardnesses. At least not for big game. I mostly load with a small charge of Red Dot and shoot them subsonic, would be fine on bunnies. The last batch I bought I actually picked up as I was driving from Laramie to Cody, that was cool.

[rdtompki]

Acme and Bayou are fine, but long waits for the bullets. Same for Missouri. Black Bullets International (BBI) is still shipping quickly.

[ysr_racer]

Xtreme always has bullets in stock, and they make a great product

https://www.xtremebullets.com/In-Stock-Now-s/48075.htm

[TKM]

Cowboy T is right. Easy to do and oddly satisfying.

Look into berm mining as well. (digging old lead out of a shooting spot) If you are gonna be cheap be really cheap.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/forum.php is a great resource as well.

[Cowboy T]

I would've agreed with berm mining about 10 or so years ago. However, berm owners apparently have figured out that lead is valuable now and won't let you mine their berms anymore. Sort of like the restaurants that used to pay to get rid of their used cooking oil; now they sell it 'cause it's valuable due to ultra-low-sulfur Diesel fuel.

Even buying the lead at, say, $1.50/lb, you're saving a lot of money. I ran the numbers a few years ago with .38 Special. For 9mm, here's what you're looking at.

There are 7,000 gr per lb. Thus, 7000gr/124gr = 56 bullets/lb of lead. At a price of $1.50/lb, each bullet costs you about 2.7 cents. Given that a bottle of Liquid Alox will cover well in excess of 10,000 bullets (I've done it), the cost of bullet lube here is negligible. Liquid Alox works very well, BTW; I use it exclusively now.

So, to make a complete cartridge, assuming that you pick up range brass:

Cast 124gr bullet: 2.7 cents
Powder charge (4.5gr W231): 2.0 cents (really 1.93 cents, but we'll round up)
Primer: 10 cents at current prices, 3.5 cents normally

You're looking at 14.7 cents/round even at today's inflated primer prices, and 8.2 cents/round at normal prices. So, what's a box of 50 cost you?

Normal: $4.10/box. Currently inflated: $7.35.

Now, if you swap the 124gr pill for the same 105gr cast bullet that I use for .38 Special--it also works surprisingly well in 9mm--each bullet is 2.3 cents, your cost/round goes to 14.3 or 7.8 cents/round. This is because you now get 66 bullets/lb of lead. That bullet mould is Lee's 358-105-SWC, 6-cavity. Thus your box of 50 goes to the following.

Normal: $3.90. Currently inflated: $7.15

You will also note that the primer is now the major expense. Before it was the bullet. You just cut your cost/round way down by going cast.

Let's put it another way. Compare either of those numbers even to pre-panic prices. Now compare them to current panic prices. See how much money you're saving by not just reloading, but also casting your own?

Oh, by the way, these numbers also accurately reflect what it costs to reload .38 Special, for those like me who also like wheelguns. :-) Fortunately, .38 Special brass is nearly as plentiful as 9mm brass and uses the same cast bullets.

[Bastard]

Acme and Bayou are fine, but long waits for the bullets. Same for Missouri. Black Bullets International (BBI) is still shipping quickly.

I just got a shipment of 1k 158gr .38s in from ACME yesterday... I ordered it on Monday

[Squ1dward]

DG Bullets from Wisconsin..great bullets, great price
DGbullets.com

[capo602002]

You can purchase bullet casting alloys from places like Roto metals and ZIp - used to be reasonable but now #2 is around $3 per pound.

[bohoki]

I would've agreed with berm mining about 10 or so years ago. However, berm owners apparently have figured out that lead is valuable now and won't let you mine their berms anymore. Sort of like the restaurants that used to pay to get rid of their used cooking oil; now they sell it 'cause it's valuable due to ultra-low-sulfur Diesel fuel.

Even buying the lead at, say, $1.50/lb, you're saving a lot of money. I ran the numbers a few years ago with .38 Special. For 9mm, here's what you're looking at.

There are 7,000 gr per lb. Thus, 7000gr/124gr = 56 bullets/lb of lead. At a price of $1.50/lb, each bullet costs you about 2.7 cents. Given that a bottle of Liquid Alox will cover well in excess of 10,000 bullets (I've done it), the cost of bullet lube here is negligible. Liquid Alox works very well, BTW; I use it exclusively now.
.

i used lee liquid alox for years not any more because i'm sick of people telling me i'm shooting black powder loads in my glock

[Sandspider500]

^^^^ mule snot is obsolete

[jwb28]

i used lee liquid alox for years not any more because i'm sick of people telling me i'm shooting black powder loads in my glock

The blue lubed commercial cast all smoke for me. Fire six at an nice even not slow, not fast pace and the bay is pretty smokey for 10 sec. or so.

[Cowboy T]

i used lee liquid alox for years not any more because i'm sick of people telling me i'm shooting black powder loads in my glock

Yeah, there's some smoke, but I just think of Clint Eastwood in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. That famous whistle at the very end of the movie often comes to mind when at an indoor range.

Funny that you mention your Glock. One of the ways that I tested out my .45 ACP cast bullet (using liquid Alox) loads was in our rental Glock 21 pistol. It was cool seeing that little trail of smoke coming out the barrel of a modern pistol. The barrel was not lead-fouled, either; a few runs with some Hoppe's #9 and the barrel was sparkly-clean again.

^^^^ mule snot is obsolete

So is the lever gun. So is the 1911 pistol. So is the M1 Garand. So is the revolver. But they all still work, and I still love 'em.

I'll keep using the mule snot as long as it keeps working for me. And it does. Yay mule snot!

The blue lubed commercial cast all smoke for me. Fire six at an nice even not slow, not fast pace and the bay is pretty smokey for 10 sec. or so.

That's generally going to be true for cast bullets, and especially so if the bullet has proper lube. If the bullet lube is too hard, then it won't spread around the barrel and actually lubricate the bore. The old NRA 50/50 formula smokes, too. I actually count that as a good thing; it tells me the lube's doing its job.

[M1NM]

Roll your own. 1 lb of lead = $1.20 These would be $2.57 of lead per 100. About $7 per 100 savings to put toward Lee furnace & molds - under 100 bucks. And no shortage or price gouging.

https://www.gtbullets.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=57