The invention discloses a method for casting a piston ring by use of an iron type sand coating cylinder, which comprises the following steps of mould manufacturing, moulding, core settling, box closing, pouring, box opening, casting cleaning and machining, wherein the moulding is iron type sand coating moulding; the thickness of the sand coating layer of the iron type sand coating is 6-8mm; the poured molten iron comprises 3.6-3.9% of C, 1.9-2.2% of Si, 0.4-0.6% of Mn, less than 0.05% of P and less than 0.05% of S; the pouring temperature is 1,380-1,400 DEG C; the pouring time is 23-28 seconds; and a riser is not required for pouring. By adopting the method disclosed by the invention, the produced piston ring meets the performance requirements and has the advantages of high dimensional accuracy of the casting, small working allowance, high yield of the casting, high production efficiency and the like.