Question for those who roll their own.

Been a LOOOOOOONG time since I've been on here. Good to see the old familiar names, as well as some new ones. Glad the board is still alive and doing well. Life has been going 1000 miles an hour for me. Bought the local gun store last September, and barely have time to breath. I now have three business, but about to whittle that down to 2 by getting rid of the electrical business. Been doing that for 22 years, and my body is done. The sporting good store is starting to run itself now, and things are leveling out. May even get rid of the third online falconry business so I can focus on the store. It has grown quicker than I expected, which is great! Hopefully it continues, but we are just now getting into what is supposed to be our "slow season". We haven't really slowed down though!! But getting rid of the electrical business buys me more time that I can be doing the things I want to do. Handgun hunting is one of those things.

I miss Fezzik, my last 45 Colt I had built, then sold. So I bought another Ruger Super Blackhawk to do my third build on, and am going to try to roll my own for this one. Well, kind of... I absolutely loved the results I got with the 335gr LFNGC that I used from Cast Performance with Fezzik, so I'm going to run those through this revolver as well. However, I want to send that bullet off and have a custom mold made for it so I can dive into casting my own bullets. Can't be THAT hard, can it???

For those who have been there and done that, who do you recommend for having custom molds made? I'm not interested in any other bullet, so please don't suggest any. I have about 600 of these from Cast Performance already, so want to use those up, then be able to jump right in to the ones I make. I don't like changing things once I find something I like, so really do want to stay with this one.

Also, a question about gas checks. That 335gr LFNGC I referred to up top obviously uses a gas check. But what if I fire one of those through my revolver, and don't have a gas check on it? Does it create leading issues? I have two loads that I ran with Fezzik - one was a light load that ran 850fps, and the other was a hot load that was 1175fps. If I take the gas check off the bullet at those velocities, what happens?

Welcome back!
Planning any time to come up and shoot?

Good to see you back. Unfortunately Everyone doesn't know it's back yet. Casting isn't hard. It is very rewarding. For the last few years I have been too busy to even set my casting stuff back up. Give Mountain Molds a buzz. Here is a link: https://mountainmolds.com/
As far as shooting bullets without a gas check on low end loads it works OK. I tried to push some .44 bullets that was a gas check design fast and it didn't work well. Individual guns vary and I have heard of some guns shooting pretty stiff loads without a gas check OK. One thing with having a mold cut is you can get a two cavity with one gas check and the other plain base. Lyman has a really good book to get you started.

It is interesting that the 335gr works well for you. We have tried it in numerous guns and it was always mediocre. From the 4 5/8" guns I can drive the 360gr Oregon trail 1250fps using the 300MP data with no problems. Once again different guns have different likes.

What part of Colorado is your shot located?

Good to see you back. I'm probably wrong, but I was of the belief that Cast Performance used Veral Smith's LBT bullet designs. Whether you go down that path or not, it's worth reading the material on the LBT website. https://lbtmolds.com/Home/tabid/5805/Default.aspx

Thanks guys. Okay- from the top...

Ernie- Man, I'd love to come do Wyshot again, but I doubt it will be this year. I need to get your address though as I would like to donate some stuff from the store for the prizes you give out.

Reflex- I was one of those that didn't even know there was an issue with the website. I logged back in and thought, "Well this looks different." Did a little reading on the threads and figured out what happened. Glad it's back up and running. Thanks for the link, I will give them a call and get this rolling. I don't think I'm going to pursue the "not using a gas check" option. Was just curious, but sounds like it is more trouble than it's worth. Was just thinking that if I ever ran out of gas checks, is shooting without them an option. I'll stock up, and shouldn't have to worry about it. I know each gun is different, and I am really hoping that this one likes the 335gr bullets that I have on hand. Won't be the end of the world if it doesn't. Just means more "testing", and I'm okay with that! :-)

Mup- Thanks for the link. I will check it out for sure. Always enjoy the history of bullets, handguns, etc.

I think I saw on another forum that Mountain Molds closed down. I would try Accurate Molds and possibly MP Molds if he makes that design. I prefer the MP molds since they come with pins that will allow you to cast FN, Deep HP or shallow HP in the same molds. Accurate Molds makes a solid product as well. Good luck!

Shoot me a email ernieemily@yahoo.com