Casting/mold questions

[customcutter]

I'm thinking about trying to make a few molds for casting slugs in .22, .25, and .30 cal.  I have pure plumbers lead which is very soft.

Can I properly "slug" the barrel with pellets or do I need slugs?  I have pellets, and hybrid style slugs.  I do not have any "banded" style slugs.

Do cast slugs drop from the mold at the size that they are machined, or are they slightly smaller?  If so approx how many thousandths?  I'm planning on using Aluminum to make the molds from.  I don't know if that makes a difference in the size that they would drop or not.

Do any of the commercial mold makers make hybrid style slug molds?  Or are they all the belted type like black powder slugs?

Which do you find more accurate belted slugs or hybrid type slugs.  I don't know if it would be easier to try making molds or swaging dies?

Thanks in advance, Ken

[Firewalker]

I'm thinking about trying to make a few molds for casting slugs in .22, .25, and .30 cal.  I have pure plumbers lead which is very soft.

Can I properly "slug" the barrel with pellets or do I need slugs?  I have pellets, and hybrid style slugs.  I do not have any "banded" style slugs.

Do cast slugs drop from the mold at the size that they are machined, or are they slightly smaller?  If so approx how many thousandths?  I'm planning on using Aluminum to make the molds from.  I don't know if that makes a difference in the size that they would drop or not.

Do any of the commercial mold makers make hybrid style slug molds?  Or are they all the belted type like black powder slugs?

Which do you find more accurate belted slugs or hybrid type slugs.  I don't know if it would be easier to try making molds or swaging dies?

Thanks in advance, Ken

HOLY GUACAMOLI, Ken! LOL!

First question: Yes, use anything that fits the breach and push it through to the crown. "Slugging" the barrel just means to push lead that is larger than the bore down to bore to measure the groves and lands.

[customcutter]

Thanks David, yeah I've been wanting to do this for a long time.  I started making a set of dies back in 2015 to swage .223 bullets with spent .22 casings.  I made the die to straighten the casings and a die to swage the lead to the exact weight I wanted.  I made a mold then to drop 10 "slugs" that could be sized for size and weight.  I got started on the point forming die, but never finished the project.  I've quit shooting my PB's.  So time to try making dies or molds for my air guns.

[35 shooter]

NOE makes a 25 gr. Slug like your talking about( no lube grooves or bands on it)
None in stock right now, nor have they been for quite awhile now.
I see he has 24 gr. pellets back in stock, so maybe he’ll have the slugs again before long.

[Firewalker]

"Do cast slugs drop from the mold at the size that they are machined, or are they slightly smaller?  If so approx how many thousandths?  I'm planning on using Aluminum to make the molds from.  I don't know if that makes a difference in the size that they would drop or not."

Gonna have to do the research there Ken, molds will always drop slightly smaller slugs, the lead has to shrink some in order to drop out of the mold. Different alloys shrink more or less depending on the mix. No, the mold metal is not going to grow or shrink appreciably with these temperatures.

[customcutter]

I did a few searches last night and found SB327's thread last night.  It was already saved in "my favorites".  It is exactly how I made my "D" reamer when making the pointing die for .223. 

https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=186722.0

I also learned what a BBT was in another thread and did a search and came up with this thread by rsterne.  I could make them as drawn, and if they are too heavy I can always deck the mold and cast lighter slugs.

https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=185897.0

The VFD died on my large mill, and there are several things stacked in front of my 6X28 mill.  I pulled some muscles in my back last week so not much I can do until the spasms quit.