Anatomy of a Pistol Bullet (Cartridge) One of the things that’s always surprised me as a shooting sports enthusiast, is just how many knowledgeable and experienced gun-owners don’t seem to know how a standard cartridge actually works.  In this article, we’ll take a brief look at the various components that make up a modern metallic […]

Does Cast Bullet Hardness Change after Powder Coating? The practice of powder coating ammunition is quickly gaining momentum among the cast bullet community, and it’s not hard to see why.  Although tedious at times, powder coating bullets can reduce or even eliminate the need for conventional bullet lubes as well as further reduce barrel leading. […]

Does Cast Bullet Hardness Change over 1 Month? It’s been a month now since we cast up a batch of water-quenched, and air-cooled bullets as part of our ongoing lead hardness testing project.  Have they changed since they were first cast, and if so, how?  Lets go ahead and test five bullets from each group […]

Does Cast Bullet Hardness Change over 1 Week? It’s been a week now since we cast up a batch of water-quenched and air-cooled bullets as part of our ongoing lead hardness testing project. Have they changed since they were first cast, and if so, how? Method As with the previous experiment, five bullets each were […]

Does Cast Bullet Hardness change over 24 Hours? In my last article, we took a look at some tests comparing air-cooled and water-quenched bullets, and reviewed the data from both.  During the preparation for that post, I took it upon myself to cast enough ‘spare’ bullets of both varieties to perform additional testing in the […]

Taco buys more stuff, Mark gets in trouble, and we do another giveaway!

This video is an account of my experiences with the .350 Legend cartridge, from first picking up a Stoner upper chambered for it to the point of finally getting handloads to run reliably, which proved to be a more difficult undertaking than I expected. That said, I still think this cartridge has a lot of […]

In my last article, I wrote about the age-old process of pan-lubing cast bullets to improve accuracy, and reduce barrel leading.  Many folks who pan-lube opt to purchase their lubricants– and there’s nothing wrong with that.  Many companies like Lyman, RCBS, White Label and Dragon Lubes produce excellent quality products that do a fantastic job; […]

Mistakes while reloading can happen to the best of us; whether it's an incorrect (or forgotten) powder charge, over-zealous bullet seating or a mixup with powder types, accidents happen.  While most folks wouldn't lose sleep over a couple discarded 9mm or .40S&W's, more expensive cartridges like .44 Magnum, .50AE or .338 Lapua can be frustrating to waste.  Whatever you reload, a bullet puller is one of those tools you probably never thought about owning, until you needed it...

How much does Quenching increase Cast Bullet Hardness? If you’ve been following my articles for any length of time, chances are you already know I water-quench virtually all my cast bullets.  While the fact that quenching increases hardness is fairly well known and agreed upon, I’ve always wondered just how effective it really is.  Over […]

JT Bullet Moulds’ .670 Round Ball Mould Today I’d like to discuss a round ball mold I purchased from a small, independent manufacturer called JT Bullet Moulds.  The owner, Jeff Tanner, is located in England and produces these from solid brass.  What makes Jeff’s molds unique though, is that they’re essentially made to order in […]

RCBS Bullet Puller vs Hornady Bullet Puller In a previous video we took a look at Hornady’s cam lock bullet puller.  While it worked well enough in conjunction with small caliber bullets, it struggled with larger diameters like 45ACP due to it’s poorly designed collet system.  In this article, I thought we could discuss a […]

Resizing Bullets with Lee Precision’s Lube & Size Kit In several previous articles, I detailed the process used to formulate your own home-made bullet lubricant, and apply it to bullets cast from wheel-weight alloy.  In this article we’ll build on those achievements by moving to the last step in preparing cast lead bullets; sizing. Although […]

Smelting Wheel Weights into Lead Ingots While it’s true that bullet casters can purchase lead alloys from a number of different reputable manufacturers, the fact remains that the majority of us still rely on tried, tested and true wheel weights as our primary material source.  Wheel weights have been around for many, many years, and […]