anyone cast 223?

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laurencen

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so I went thro my molds and have a 2 cavity 224 mold, as I cast 9mm and 45acp I am considering next time I cast making some 224 for the pro hunter, anyone else cast for 223? I have the sizing die and load lots of 223 so the question is how would lead work in this application? would I use a reduced powder charge to reduce fps

ideas? is it a waste of time?

thanks in advance
 
I bought a 60gr mold from noe to use in my ar15 but haven't had the time to do any serious casting with it. I'm planning to powder coat them. I'm also waiting on some gas checks. I may grab a sizing die and lube them but I think powder coating is the way to go for use in the ar15.

ShawnC6 said:
Wouldn't leading be a big problem with the velocity of .223?
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Not if done right. Size, lead alloy, gas check and or powder coating, lube and so on.
 
I've been told by a reliable casting source to put 10% tin in the mix to harden the round before powder coating. This advice was given for pistol rounds. I was told because lead being so soft, the pressures elevate considerably with a 5" barrel if it deforms mid barrel. I would only imagine the pressures down a 16-20" barrel of an AR15 if it wasn't coated properly.
 
SoylentD said:
I've been told by a reliable casting source to put 10% tin in the mix to harden the round before powder coating. This advice was given for pistol rounds. I was told because lead being so soft, the pressures elevate considerably with a 5" barrel if it deforms mid barrel. I would only imagine the pressures down a 16-20" barrel of an AR15 if it wasn't coated properly.
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I use a mix of wheel weights with pure for magnum handgun stuff and some extra tin. Never had any serious build of lead with it. It usually comes out with a pass or two of a bore snake.

For 223 I will be using all wheel weights and some extra tin, antimony is what gives the hardness, tin is for better mold fill out.
 
i have a 4 cavity HP gas checked mold 70 grain with adjustable HP pin length which will make a lighter bullet. mold is by NOE.
cast WW lead and shoots MOA accuracy from my bolt gun at 200 meters.
had several loads for it.
sold the gun but still have the mold. that thing would group extremely well with those bullets.
pushed it up to 2700 fps with no leading and good accuracy.
 
phishroy said:
i have a 4 cavity HP gas checked mold 70 grain with adjustable HP pin length which will make a lighter bullet. mold is by NOE.
cast WW lead and shoots MOA accuracy from my bolt gun at 200 meters.
had several loads for it.
sold the gun but still have the mold. that thing would group extremely well with those bullets.
pushed it up to 2700 fps with no leading and good accuracy.
Click to expand...
What lube?
 
mold does have provision to use gas checks, its not for the AR but a contender single shot, looking at it I figured a cheap way to get the odd gopher, I would be lube sizing anyway and load a low power, to go thro powder coating the lead, sizing and gas check its easier to load the normal projectiles and done with it.
 
laurencen said:
mold does have provision to use gas checks, its not for the AR but a contender single shot, looking at it I figured a cheap way to get the odd gopher, I would be lube sizing anyway and load a low power, to go thro powder coating the lead, sizing and gas check its easier to load the normal projectiles and done with it.
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:agree: I tried my best to get good cast bullets for my .223's The tiny little things are too darned hard to cast & it takes a long time to get the mould up to temperature.

The best I could do with cast was slightly under an inch at 100 meters using a hard cast gas checked 55gr bullet. My rifles on a good day will shoot well under a half inch using jacketed Hornady or Sierra bullets.

I found it was just not worth the time spent casting & sizing the .224. That said I do have good results with cast in my .308 & .45/70.
 
Yes you can cast and shoot Lead Gas checked in a 223

Big Questing What Twist ??

1/7 SoSo
1/9 Better
1/12 Excellent you Can shoot it Fastest with this Twist

7”…………1166…………..1361
9”………….1500…………..1750
12”…………2000………….2333 Fps With Good to Excellent Groups

Reduced loads and Correct powder selection will get you on target
 
just having some fun said:
Yes you can cast and shoot Lead Gas checked in a 223

Big Questing What Twist ??

1/7 SoSo
1/9 Better
1/12 Excellent you Can shoot it Fastest with this Twist

7”…………1166…………..1361
9”………….1500…………..1750
12”…………2000………….2333 Fps With Good to Excellent Groups

Reduced loads and Correct powder selection will get you on target
Click to expand...
I was actually waiting for someone to mention the twist rate.
Ivor
 
just having some fun said:
Yes you can cast and shoot Lead Gas checked in a 223

Big Questing What Twist ??

1/7 SoSo
1/9 Better
1/12 Excellent you Can shoot it Fastest with this Twist

7”…………1166…………..1361
9”………….1500…………..1750
12”…………2000………….2333 Fps With Good to Excellent Groups

Reduced loads and Correct powder selection will get you on target
Click to expand...

What bullet weight(s)? I can always single shot my ar with trailboss, to bad we don't have non restricted ar's with suppressors.
 
A lead bullet will always be shorter than a similar copper jacketed bullet. You could possibly shoot a 60 gr lead bullet in a 1in12 bore, wheras as 60gr cup and core would have little chance of stabalizing. The big problem with lead bullets in tight twists is that in not having a jacket, the tight fifling will strip the bullet.
Ivor
 
I've worked up some 55gr GC'ed loads for my 10.5" Norc CQ-A/AR. Using the Lee 55gr flat-nose mold. Haven't chronied them but they cycle the rifle fine with no leading and no debris in my gas tube after a couple hundred rounds (lots of carbon though). I took normal starting loads for 55gr jacketed bullets and reduced it a further 10%. Worked up till the rifle cycled. The accuracy isn't great but good enough for cheap plinking. The 2x reddot I have on it can pretty easily shoot 1" groups at 50yds off a bench with bulk jacketed ammo. The cast are closer to 2-3" groups.

Benchmark and H4895 proved not great in terms of accuracy. Found some decent loads with 18gr of H4198 and 21gr of IMR3031. I seat to the crimp-groove on the bullets; not sure on OAL.

My most accurate loads short-stroke the AR so it just jams each shot. They matched jacketed for accuracy at 50yds.
 
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ivor said:
A lead bullet will always be shorter than a similar copper jacketed bullet. You could possibly shoot a 60 gr lead bullet in a 1in12 bore, wheras as 60gr cup and core would have little chance of stabalizing. The big problem with lead bullets in tight twists is that in not having a jacket, the tight fifling will strip the bullet.
Ivor
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thats where an adjustable HP comes in handy. you an adjust the hp depth, you will get a lighter bullet but same length.and at the same time it will also shift some of your mass towerds the heal of the bullet which helps.
 
Never tried it ,but have a book on plumbers teflon wrapped cast bullets to prevent leading with higher velocities.Wrap in the direction so that the rifling tightens the patch instead of shredding it.Harold
 
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