Casting allows shooters to tailor bullet to cartridge. The .40-65 Winchester (l.) is shown with a 260-grain bullet from an original mold. The .40-70 Straight (r.) is paired here with a modern-mold 330-grain slug.

Cast bullets--bullets molded from molten lead and lead alloys--have been around as long as we have had firearms. After five-plus centuries, you would think there would be little more to learn or to write about cast bullets. But you would be wrong.

Cast bullets have a multitude of personalities--and more so today than ever in history. They are produced by the hundreds of thousands and sold cheap to target shooters; they are lovingly cast one perfect bullet at a time by long-range blackpowder competitors who demand absolute perfection; they are created in esoteric shapes to keep ancient muskets shooting; and they are formed into weird configurations to create especially deadly projectiles.

But despite the fact that they have so many uses and have been around for so long, a lot of modern riflemen are not aware of all that cast bullets have to offer. It doesn't matter what kind of rifles you shoot or what your target is: Lead bullets can expand your universe.

Let's start with economy, since cost has been the driving force behind the popularity of cast bullets for almost a century.

In theory, a man could start with a gas fire, an iron pot, a bullet mold and a supply of old lead pipe and a couple of hours later have a few months' supply of slugs for his old .44. That was true a century ago, and it is true now. The more demanding you are of your rifle and your ammunition, however, the less simple it becomes.

Companies such as RCBS, Redding (SAECO casting products) and Lyman offer everything a bullet caster needs, regardless of his level of production. You can spend a few hundred dollars or a few thousand. It quickly becomes apparent, though, that it is almost impossible for the back-shed bullet caster to compete in either price or quality with the lead bullets available today from any number of commercial casting operations.

When you can buy a box of 500 beautifully uniform bullets of proper alloy for your .38 Special for $35 or $40, you need either an endless supply of free lead, or entirely too much free time, to make it worth your while trying to cast your own bullets for less.

The hitch here is that these fine, inexpensive bullets depend on volume for their economic feasibility. This means they are made only for the most popular calibers, and in the most popular weights. If you are looking for a 1900-era target bullet for a .33-40, you are unlikely to find any on your gun-shop shelf.

Cowboy-action shooting has brought back many old cartridges, and these have been followed by a wider variety of cast bullets, but for the man with a seriously obscure rifle, for a long-forgotten cartridge, casting your own is still almost the only option.

One advantage of having good lead bullets in common configurations, available in bulk at low prices, is that it frees up your casting time to concentrate on making smaller numbers of esoteric calibers and weights.

As for absolute cost, it is impossible to put a figure on it. If a man is determined to produce usable bullets for almost nothing, it can be done; if another wants to produce absolutely perfect target bullets and is willing to spend thousands to do so, that can be done, too. Your choice.