What You Need to Know About Cast Lead Bullets - News

Lead bullets are by far the most widely used bullets ever created. Types of lead bullets include:

Hard Cast Bullets - Made from lead alloys, and have additives like Antimony, silver, or tin, which make them a lot harder.

Full Metal Jacket Bullets - Most common form of lead bullets in use today, which are lead bullets with a copper jacket.

Solid Lead Bullets - Made purely from lead.

From hunting and self-defense, to target shooting at the range, cast lead bullets can fit a variety of roles.

Why are lead bullets so popular?

Lead is a very soft and easily pliable metal, which doesn’t seem like a property that would be good for making bullets, but in fact, it makes a lot of sense. Lead can be easily formed into any shape and is also easily bound with other materials. This makes lead easy to work with.

Though Jacketed lead bullets are a lot more common for pistols and rifles these days, cast lead bullets also have their place, especially hard cast bullets, which are a lot better at penetrating than a jacketed lead bullet.

Another factor that contributes to the popularity of lead bullets is that they are very affordable, especially in the case of pistol rounds, where most of the cost of a cartridge is made up of the bullet. 

Solid Lead bullets are also inherently quite accurate because of their even weight distribution and large mass. Moreover, since the bullets are softer, they don't splinter as easily and are deformed, causing more damage and improved terminal effects when hunting. In a self-defense situation, lead bullets are less likely to over-penetrate.

What are the common types of lead bullets?

The biggest advantage of lead bullets is their versatility. They are like a blank slate and can be changed into different forms and designs with minimum effort. Some of the most common types of lead bullets are mentioned below.

Semi WadCutter:

Semi Wadcutter bullets, also known as Flat-Nose Bullets are somewhat of an all-purpose round. They are commonly used in revolvers and have a profile somewhere in between a wadcutter bullet, which is used for target shooting, and a typical round-nosed bullet.

Semi Wadcutter rounds usually have a roughly conical shape with a flat tip, and they are commonly used for hunting and target shooting. In some cases, wadcutters can have feeding problems, because of their flat tips, Semiwadcutters also eliminate this issue, and feed from magazines more reliably, even in semi-automatics.

Truncated Cone

The Truncated cone profile is also popular for hunting and these lead bullets typically have somewhat of a conical shape, with a flat, truncated tip.

Truncated cone bullets are good for hunting since they tend to tear through flesh instead of moving it out of the way like a round nose bullet will, however, they also have a drawback, in terms of reliability in semi-automatics.

Because of their shape, they can sometimes have problems in loading from a magazine, however, they are good general-purpose bullets for revolvers.

Flat Point:

Flat point bullets are pretty self-explanatory since they have a relatively flat tip. Flat point bullets have several applications, the most common being target shooting, especially with revolvers. They are really good for shooting paper targets because they leave a pronounced and prominent hole in the paper.

Flat points can also be used for self-defense, and carry the most stopping power, and least penetration power. They are more likely to mushroom and cause a lot of damage, whether you are using the round for hunting or self-defense.

This is the main reason why militaries aren't allowed to use solid lead flat points and only use jacketed round nose bullets.

Round Nose

When most people think about lead bullets, the first thing that comes to mind is a round nose bullet, since it is perhaps the most common bullet profile, for both solid lead bullets and jacketed bullets as well.

Round nose bullets are ideal for use in semi-automatic guns since they feed better from a magazine. Round nose bullets also offer more penetration, especially in the case of hard cast lead. They also expand less and retain their shape better after impact.

Round Nose Flat Point

The round nose flat point bullet profile lies somewhere between a truncated cone and round nose and offers the best of both worlds. Instead of having a conical shape with a flat tip, it has more of a round nose, with a flat top.

This means that the bullet will load into semi-automatics more reliably, and will do more damage, tearing into flesh while hunting. However, they don't penetrate as well as simple round-nose bullets.

Lead bullets are the oldest kind of bullets used in handheld firearms and are still very common in different forms. 

US Reloading Supply offers the highest quality Cast Lead Bullets for reloading, guaranteed to give you the best reloading bullets at competitive prices.   We offer the most popular bullet types for target shooters and game hunters.   

Our selection includes cast lead bullets in 44 caliber and 44 caliber in the following bullet tips:

• Semi WadCutter
• Truncated Cone Flat Point
• Round Nose
• Round Nose Flat Point                   

Check out our selection at Cast Lead Bullets at US Reloading Supply.