.223 to cast or not to cast

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c.t.smith

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That is the question.

I have wheel weight lead and dont want to get into tracking down lino.

Im not after max velocity just accuracy.but is their any point I have a .22lr

i cast for my 30-30 and 444 but should I invest in a new .22 mold and GC or just buy jackets or even factory ammo at .60 to .70 cents a pop?

AND GO!!!!!!!!
 
Having cast and sized 223 with and without GC I found it more to do it rather than save money, its such a small lead pour its like waiting for grass to grow using up the lead at least with a 2 cavity. also cast 45acp 9mm 44mag
 
Some of the self appointed gurus say that casting for a .22 is a waste of time and money. You can't hit anything with them. I've never had any trouble getting one inch with them at fifty yards. That was during my gopher assassinating days back in the seventies. One hundred yards, well, that'sounds the colour of a different horse. Five or six inches is the norm. Beagle, a real American guru, says that a hollow point is required to get good 100 yard accuracy. The CBA cast bullet handbook suggests a softer alloy for the .22's.
My first attempt, and only one, with powder coating, was unremarkable, but I'll take another run at it down the road. Others have gotten good practical results with ARs and Mini-14's.
 
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223 cast boolits, not everyone's cup of tea....

i have cast many 22 and i find that casting for 22 is a bit different than casting for larger calibers.

if loading for accuracy you must learn to develop good casting technique to hold good consistency in your methodology for good results.

sounds like a bunch of mumbo jumbo but ill try to explain.
lets say you are casting for a nice big bore 45-70 and you are casting a 405 grain bullet.
well, some bullets may drop at 405, some at 410 some at 402 etc etc, depending on your melt temp and other variables , you get the point...

well, if casting small 22 bullets that variation is more critical.
when casting a 405 grain bullet with not so much attention to consistency ,can weigh, lets say 400 to 410 grain which is a variance of about only 10 grain spread or about +/-1% from the overall bullet weight.
well, let's say you are casting small 69 grain hollow point 22's and you are not paying attention to consistency so some bullets drop at 66 and others at 71 so there is 5 grain variance, which is better than the 10 grain when casting the 405 grain bullet however the spread variation has jumped to almost +/- 3% in variation from bullet to bullet weight.
small variations in small bullets make a bigger difference than small variations in big bullets.
and as we know about shooting for accuracy... consistency is key and bullet weight variation plays a role.
so i guess the bottom line is.
yes, 223 can be cast but it requires more paying attention in your casting session and trying to keep the variables to a minimum in order to get consistent results.
i have several 22 molds and enjoy the chalange of casting 22.
i have a 4 cavity 68 grain hollow point mold that shoots very well in my bolt 223.
can get very consistent grouping at 200m


hope this info' helps.
 
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I've put 50 through my ar15 (see my thread in this section) i've cast more up but haven't had a chance to coat and load them. accuracy wasn't amazing but didn't do any load development yet.
 
One of the vendors on the castboolits site was saying he was hitting pretty close to 2800 fps IIRC, using his lube, in a 221 Fireball rifle, with a 225107 from a NOE Molds group buy that went a few years back. Search the mold number along with "Speed Green" to find the thread.

Digging around there is time well spent. Lots of experience.

I would suggest a bottom pour pot, and with a single cavity mold I was dropping a decent bullet about every six or seven seconds. I poured a nickel or dime size puddle on top of the sprue plate to keep the heat up, and found that rhythm was absolutely essential, as any fiddling around required a run to get the temps back up on the mold.
I used a heavy leather glove to shear the sprue off, catching the button off the plate and returning it to the pot with one hand, while opening the mold and shaking out the bullet with the other.

Casting little bitty bullets isn't much like what gets done to cast 450 or 500+ grain 45 caliber bullets for the Buffalo type guns or BPCR. The rhythm is frantic by comparison, but the lead consumption isn't, at 45 to 70 grains per bullet.

Cheers
Trev
 
trevj said:
One of the vendors on the castboolits site was saying he was hitting pretty close to 2800 fps IIRC, using his lube, in a 221 Fireball rifle, with a 225107 from a NOE Molds group buy that went a few years back. Search the mold number along with "Speed Green" to find the thread.

Digging around there is time well spent. Lots of experience.

I would suggest a bottom pour pot, and with a single cavity mold I was dropping a decent bullet about every six or seven seconds. I poured a nickel or dime size puddle on top of the sprue plate to keep the heat up, and found that rhythm was absolutely essential, as any fiddling around required a run to get the temps back up on the mold.
I used a heavy leather glove to shear the sprue off, catching the button off the plate and returning it to the pot with one hand, while opening the mold and shaking out the bullet with the other.

Casting little bitty bullets isn't much like what gets done to cast 450 or 500+ grain 45 caliber bullets for the Buffalo type guns or BPCR. The rhythm is frantic by comparison, but the lead consumption isn't, at 45 to 70 grains per bullet.

Cheers
Trev
Click to expand...

The mold i'm using is a round nose 62gr 5 cavity aluminum mold (NOE). the faster i went the better it seemed to turn out. I'm using a
PID controlled pro 4-20 lee pot set to 380C. i use princess auto welding gloves for casting and cut the sprue by hand as you suggested for all my casting and return the sprue back into the pot. It's definitely a faster pace as compared to a 230gr 45cal mold or 400gr 50 cal mold that's for sure.
 
I've been casting for my .223 CZ 527 for about 20 years now and have approximately 30,000 rounds down the barrel; shoot adult gophers and get good accuracy ( 1 1/2 " @ 100 yards ) using the lyman 225415 mould and its hollow pointed... used to cost me about 13 cents a round, but now with gas checks costing 5 cents each its more like 15 cents.
boolit is accurate up to 140 yards, then does south rapidly.
wheelweights and a little linotype and tin are my mix; 15 bhn.
boolits moving along @ 1900 f p s ; my only problem is cleaning the next day; going to use a bore cleaner in the field before heading home.
 
Alberta Separatist 11 said:
I've been casting for my .223 CZ 527 for about 20 years now and have approximately 30,000 rounds down the barrel; shoot adult gophers and get good accuracy ( 1 1/2 " @ 100 yards ) using the lyman 225415 mould and its hollow pointed... used to cost me about 13 cents a round, but now with gas checks costing 5 cents each its more like 15 cents.
boolit is accurate up to 140 yards, then does south rapidly.
wheelweights and a little linotype and tin are my mix; 15 bhn.
boolits moving along @ 1900 f p s ; my only problem is cleaning the next day; going to use a bore cleaner in the field before heading home.
Click to expand...

What lube?
 
I cast a 55 gr Noe bullet. My alloy is 8 lb ww. 2 lb pure lead 0.5 lb 50/50 solder. I use freechex gas checks make from aluminum and powder coat the Bullets. Velocities run about 1740 fps. Groups can be 1.5" or smaller in my Rem 700 at 100 meters
The price of a five cavity mold is about the cost of 500 jacketed Bullets. Once you have the mold you will always have a bullet that can be made the same every time

I use a lee 0.2255 sizing die. Noe makes a nicer less expensive sizer.
Buy a good mold. Get a lb of powder coat and a$3 toaster oven from a thrift shop. And a clean margarine tub. You can always sell the mold on the ee or back to Swede at NOE
There isn't much investment and if you aren't happy sell the expensive bits

You may only need the sizer to crimp on the gas check
 
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