Cast Bullet ####

Casting .22 slugs is very much a labour of love! Nearly like swaging them. I cast .22 boolits back in the 70's and didn't have very good success with them, so I took up swaging.
You have to work at that too to see positive results.
Mike
 
kenneth carlson said:
Lyman's are so much nicer than lee moulds. I been selling off all my lee moulds lately.
Click to expand...

The newer style 2 cavity Lee molds are pretty darned good now, far superior to the old style. The 6 cavity molds are very nice too and sure empty a pot fast! RCBS are even nicer than Lyman. The old Ideal molds are fabulous though. My favorite mold to use by a significant margin is NOE though. I have never used an MP mold or any brass mold. I had an Accurate mold that I couldn't get to drop without beating the crap out of the handle bolt and got rid of it. Replaced it with a NOE and am much happier. I've heard the Heavy Metal (HM2) molds are very nice as well.
 
As with zuke I tried both and noticed no difference in the casting process or bullet quality.
One thing that really bothers me about them is they shrunk the gas check shank diameter. Only the thicker copper gas checks will stay on after sizing; the thinner aluminum ones can be flicked off with a fingernail or just falls off on its own. I've have to ream out the base of two moulds so far to increase the diameter of the gas check shank so my aluminum checks actually stay on. Kind of annoying but at the same time removing material is always much easier than adding it back.
 
I just find the locator pins line up a bit better. Have only used commercial copper checks from Hornady but plan to make my own soon from aluminum flashing. Hoping to not run into these size issues. Lutnit, who's checks are you using? It's a toss up between freechex and patmarlins check makers for me. The speed of the freechex III is impressive but like the fact you can get a check maker for plain base bullets from patmarlins. Guess since they're not too pricey could just get both and with my shooting habits have the things pay for themselves in a year or two.
 
Most of my current gas checks are no-name aluminum ones in plastic bags I got from eBay. They do the job and are often 1/2 the price of copper ones from the big brands.
 
I've never had aluminum left in my bore from gas checks. I have a couple rifles that have seen nothing but cast since new and have never had either copper or aluminum left from gas checks. Have had some leading to deal with once or twice though.
 
I use alu gas checks for about 4-5 years now-no sign of alu in barrel or on patches.

They work better in some calibers than copper,some boolit designs need alu GC glued to work perfect but this might vary in your barrel.

Altogether price and availability of alu GC makes them great deal (just like Lee molds).

:)
 
Why would that be impossible? There are lots of hollow point molds already in use,

images



and there are boat tail bullet molds.

images




Ted
 
Why are you interested in a cast boat tail bullet? They have a history of very poor performance so no one makes many moulds for them. Lee current makes a (310gr?) .308 boat tail spire point meant for .300BLK and reports say it doesn't work well at all. The boat tail is sized in such a way that you can still put a gas check on it but I don't know how much that helps. I think it was being discussed in this thread earlier.

You can get hollow point moulds from many different manufacturers and custom shops will hollow point any mould you send them but boat tails are really rare for the reasons listed above.
 
How are Accurate Molds? They are available in aluminum, brass and iron.

Where are you guys getting your lead? How much are you paying per pound? Do you test it for purity?
 
1899 said:
How are Accurate Molds? They are available in aluminum, brass and iron.

Where are you guys getting your lead? How much are you paying per pound? Do you test it for purity?
Click to expand...
I have nothing but good things to say about Accurate Molds. They drop within .0005" of the size I order with the specified alloy and are just easy to use. Lee moulds are good for the price but not nearly as nice.

Most of my current lead is from a friend that works in a garage. He can't get me lead anymore due to changes in management. I have tried a dozen or so local garages and they all either already have agreements with people or aren't allowed to sell it. I once had a guy tell me it was illegal to sell scrap lead privately due to environmental laws. I recently dropped off two 5-gallon buckets at a friends uncles garage to get filled up. I have no idea when I'll get them back though; it's been several weeks.

For a known common alloy or pure lead you can be looking at $2-3/lbs. For smelted wheel weights $1/lbs is a good price. For specialty alloys like pure linotype you can be looking at as high as $5/lbs from some places. These are all excluding shipping too. If you need it shipped it can get really expensive due to the weight.

For testing I just do the fingernail test. Hardly scientific but good enough for my purposes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom