GTA

All Springer/NP/PCP Air Gun Discussion General => PCP/CO2/HPA Air Gun Gates "The Darkside" => Topic started by: rsterne on January 23, 2014, 10:52:55 PM

Title: The Lee Mold That Shouldn't Exist
Post by: rsterne on January 23, 2014, 10:52:55 PM
I got in on a Group Buy for a .25 ACP bullet a few months ago, for a Lee 6-cavity mold.... Lee finally finished and shipped the molds a couple of weeks ago, but somebody misread a dimension and they made the mold at 0.225" instead of 0.255".... so I ended up with a "freebie" mold for a 40 gr. bullet, as Lee will be reshipping the correct molds and don't want the incorrectly made ones back.... I cast some today, and here is what I got....

(http://i378.photobucket.com/albums/oo221/rsterne/Bullet%20Casting/IMG_3992_zps110358d4.jpg) (http://s378.photobucket.com/user/rsterne/media/Bullet%20Casting/IMG_3992_zps110358d4.jpg.html)

I used 1% tin, and I had to cast at 850*F to prevent wrinkles, even with preheating the mold.... The holes in the Sprue-cutter are, IMO, quite a bit too large for a .22 cal bullet, and even though the bullet is a bevel-base design they had a slight flange/cutoff flash on one side.... I tumbled them for 5 minutes and it completely removed it, resulting in some pretty nice looking bullets that weigh 40.7 gr. and measure 0.225"-0.226" as cast.... I'm looking forward to trying them out in my Hayabusa barrel.... They measure 0.440" long, so won't function in a .22 cal MRod magazine, but can be used in a .25 cal fittted with the star wheel from a .22 mag....

Bob
Title: Re: The Lee Mold That Shouldn't Exist
Post by: mudduck48 on January 23, 2014, 11:18:03 PM
Nice find. 8) 8)
Title: Re: The Lee Mold That Shouldn't Exist
Post by: Ribbonstone on January 23, 2014, 11:30:09 PM
That would have saved me a whole lot of mold modification work.  Look like they should work out.
Title: Re: The Lee Mold That Shouldn't Exist
Post by: SeanMP on January 23, 2014, 11:55:40 PM
Sweet! Ya gotta like it when an unexpected gift horse shows up.
Title: Re: The Lee Mold That Shouldn't Exist
Post by: 45Bravo on January 24, 2014, 02:28:13 AM
I would like to buy say 100 from you to see how they shoot from my various .22 air guns

Title: Re: The Lee Mold That Shouldn't Exist
Post by: rsterne on January 24, 2014, 02:35:31 AM
Sorry, I'm not in the business of making bullets.... and besides, .22 cal airgun barrels are typically 0.217" bore, so these bullets would be wayyyyyyyy too tight and that is too far to size them.... They would work in a .224 cal Hornet barrel with a 14" twist, which is what I have on my Hayabusa....

Bob
Title: Re: The Lee Mold That Shouldn't Exist
Post by: 45Bravo on January 24, 2014, 02:54:34 AM
Thank you for the reply.

Just for grins a few weeks ago, my brother used his lathe at work and turned down a marlin model 60 micro groove barrel to fit a beeman dual caliber springer.

He has been shooting .33 gr Remington projectiles pulled from .22 rimfire yellow jacket rounds..

He says his velocity not worthy, but it shows promise he says..
Title: Re: The Lee Mold That Shouldn't Exist
Post by: rsterne on January 24, 2014, 11:59:08 AM
Yeah, that would be waaayyyyyyyyyyy too heavy for a Springer, I'm guessing you can see them in flight.... You "might" be able to size these bullets to 0.222" to work in a .22LR barrel.... certainly nothing smaller.... You can get 30 gr. swaged bullets from NAA for their Cap & Ball Revolvers, I'd try those in a rimfire barrel....

Bob
Title: Re: The Lee Mold That Shouldn't Exist
Post by: cwlongshot on January 24, 2014, 12:19:16 PM
If soft enough maybe you could swadge them down to 22 diameter...
Title: Re: The Lee Mold That Shouldn't Exist
Post by: K.O. on September 18, 2016, 03:28:57 PM
Hey how did things end up with this mold/Boolit..?