NOE 359-93-RF cast with pure lead

[Spacebus]

PC Advantages:

#1 no mess on your hands when loading

#2 color code different weights/styles for easy ID

#3 works as a lube, but I'm having problems with this so not 100% for me

#4 looks cool at the range/club

#5 if you have a slightly undersized round, you can make up a little of that size

I lube my PC slugs and now bigbore pellets with 10 weight silicone oil.

My barrels come clean after a day of shooting with 3-4 patches. Before, it would take 1/2 -1 hour of cleaning the big bores.

I ordered Lyman Alox bullet lube for sizing cast bullets, but I also have silicone oil. Does it matter which I use?

[Wayne52]

Dj it's this mold from NOE using the short pins https://noebulletmolds.com/site/shop/358/356-84-rf-cc5/356-84-rf-cc5-2-cavity-hb/

I'm a little salty, apparently all of the good .25 pellet molds sold this summer before I started to look into casting. Looks like there are a ton of good molds in .357! That's really nice that you can make custom pellet weights with the separate pins. I'm ordering the NOE 34 grain .25 Magnum pellet mold the instant it becomes available.

DJ I was out shooting my AEA HP 25 cal carbine today, it's very accurate with the magnum hunters indeed.  I didn't get any squirrels while I was out there however I did manage to plug a few chippers at a good distance while I was out there.  From what I've been told the magnum hunters won't fit the 30 cal mags for anyone that plans on using the longer pellets in the 30 cal.

[steveoh]

PC Advantages:

#1 no mess on your hands when loading

#2 color code different weights/styles for easy ID

#3 works as a lube, but I'm having problems with this so not 100% for me

#4 looks cool at the range/club

#5 if you have a slightly undersized round, you can make up a little of that size

I lube my PC slugs and now bigbore pellets with 10 weight silicone oil.

My barrels come clean after a day of shooting with 3-4 patches. Before, it would take 1/2 -1 hour of cleaning the big bores.

I ordered Lyman Alox bullet lube for sizing cast bullets, but I also have silicone oil. Does it matter which I use?

I found alox to be a nasty mess. Silicone oil can be messy if you over do it too, but the Alox is a waxy mess. I use silicone because it does not combust, and it works!

[Wayne52]

I use the Imperial Sizing Die Wax, it works really good for sizing slugs.

[bduares]

I buy WD-40 in the gallon can and reuse one of the WD-40 pump cans. When I PC slugs I put them in a plastic tub with a lid, add a couple of pumps of WD-40 and use that as lube to put them through the sizer. They go through without harming the PC and it dries nicely without any issues for me.

[Eskimo_Airgunner]

I cast a lot of bullets for my firearms hobby and recently started casting for my .357 airgun.  The alloy I use for my handguns is my harder than I would use in an airgun.  All of my airgun slugs are cast from recycled H&N or Crosman pellets dug out of my target back-stop.  I usually pour small batches because it takes some time to save up 5 to 10 pounds of used pellets.  I also have a catch tray below the target in case any used pellets jar loose from the constant use the back-stop gets.  I recently had a good shooting session out at the range and went through several hundred .357 slugs shooting steel gongs at 100 and 200 yards, so I need to get busy shooting some of my smaller caliber guns, to get some pellets to recycle.

Currently, for airgun use I cast a 173 gn Keith bullet, 155 gn Keith HP, 127 gn RNFP and 106 gn SWC.  The Keith bullets come from Lyman molds and the other two come from Lee molds.  I have tried sizing them to various diameters .359, .358, .357, .356 and all shot fairly well except for the feeding.  The smaller diameter feed very well and had the highest velocity, the mid range fed decent and had good accuracy.  A .358 will work in my gun as long as it is a soft alloy and pretty much a .359 doesn't like to fit unless it is a round ball.  I have also experimented with different hollow point sizes.

[Eskimo_Airgunner]

I have found that using recycled pellet lead gives decent deformation if hitting solid objects and good rifling engagement, even when sized down to .356

[Greg_E]

If the gongs are angled slightly toward the ground, you'd probably be able to pick up most of the rounds that hit the target.

I really want to use some kind of device to catch/trap the lead, but my club does not allow this. Paper targets only and only on club approved backer boards. I understand why, people do stupid things and make a mess, but I'm not those people. I big steel spiral would be best, but I'd even be happy with buckets of rubber mulch on a post to hold my targets. Either way I'd get to melt things back into ammo when I was done.

[Eskimo_Airgunner]

If the gongs are angled slightly toward the ground, you'd probably be able to pick up most of the rounds that hit the target.

I really want to use some kind of device to catch/trap the lead, but my club does not allow this. Paper targets only and only on club approved backer boards. I understand why, people do stupid things and make a mess, but I'm not those people. I big steel spiral would be best, but I'd even be happy with buckets of rubber mulch on a post to hold my targets. Either way I'd get to melt things back into ammo when I was done.

The range I use with the log distance gongs, is an unmanned semi-public membership rifle range with gongs out to 550 yards.  If there are no other shooters there, I do have the opportunity to pick up lead, but unless I can verify that it was my slugs, then I use that for my firearms as it is mostly too hard for airguns.  I have a friend who is a life member of an indoor shooting range north of me and he has access to hundreds of pounds of lead so I don't pick up much.  He has a pretty nice 100 pound melting pot that 4-5 of us can stand around casting and shooting the breeze.  We used to have a friend with a bullet manufacturing business and he had a 1500 pound lead pot.  He would invite us over to cast in between the manufacturing process, usually toward the end of a particular alloy, when he didn't feel like turning it back into ingots.  I don't know where he got his lead but he used to buy it by the pallet loads.

I do have my own portable gong that is angled some and supported by chains to absorb impact and I can put a catch tray below it, to catch fragments as the slugs tend to completely break apart.  Even shooting 60 yards with an 82 grain pellet moves it.  It is think enough steel that I can also shoot 30-06 and other firearms at it.

[Mr.P]

Here are the 357’s that I will be casting for the time being to shoot out of an aea hp max. 

This MP mold is listed as .358 cal, 86 grain. They seem like a nice compromise between a wadcutter and round nose maybe. 

I just got some lead from rotometals and will cast up a decent batch of these over the next few days and test them out over the next week or so. The handful I tested when I first got the mold and gun seemed to be stable over a short range (circular holes, no signs of tumbling and i was able to hit the same spot repeatedly (more or less hole in hole) but this was just my initial unboxing and inspection. 

It had a leak that we couldn’t figure out in video chat, so I sent it back to to Bin Tac this week.  Bin and Jason looked it over, cleaned everything out, did what needed to be done, and got the gun to reseal just a few hours after UPS dropped it off.  Should have it next week, and I am hoping that after this it will be smooth sailing so I can share some data about noise, accuracy, power with a few different projectiles. 

[Eskimo_Airgunner]

Here are the 357’s that I will be casting for the time being to shoot out of an aea hp max. 

This MP mold is listed as .358 cal, 86 grain. They seem like a nice compromise between a wadcutter and round nose maybe. 

I just got some lead from rotometals and will cast up a decent batch of these over the next few days and test them out over the next week or so. The handful I tested when I first got the mold and gun seemed to be stable over a short range (circular holes, no signs of tumbling and i was able to hit the same spot repeatedly (more or less hole in hole) but this was just my initial unboxing and inspection. 

It had a leak that we couldn’t figure out in video chat, so I sent it back to to Bin Tac this week.  Bin and Jason looked it over, cleaned everything out, did what needed to be done, and got the gun to reseal just a few hours after UPS dropped it off.  Should have it next week, and I am hoping that after this it will be smooth sailing so I can share some data about noise, accuracy, power with a few different projectiles.

Those are nice looking slugs and I like that nice big meplat area on the end.  Those will smack hard.

[Greg_E]

I've been waiting for the hollow point version of that MP mold for over a year, still not in stock!

[Eskimo_Airgunner]

I've been waiting for the hollow point version of that MP mold for over a year, still not in stock!

What mold handles are you using on the MP molds?  I wonder if they would make a version of that without the lube groove or maybe a few smaller grooves?

[rintafile]

What mold handles are you using on the MP molds?  I wonder if they would make a version of that without the lube groove or maybe a few smaller grooves?

MP has own handles which fits all MP molds or if mold is 2-3-cavity it takes RCBS or NOE's handles. Also Lee's handles works

[Eskimo_Airgunner]

What mold handles are you using on the MP molds?  I wonder if they would make a version of that without the lube groove or maybe a few smaller grooves?

MP has own handles which fits all MP molds or if mold is 2-3-cavity it takes RCBS or NOE's handles. Also Lee's handles works

Good to know, Thank you.

[Mr.P]

I've been waiting for the hollow point version of that MP mold for over a year, still not in stock!

That would’ve been my first choice for sure.  You can convert molds to Hollow point at about $75 per cavity I have heard.

[Greg_E]

They are only $90 for the hollow point version, so not cost effective to have then converted.

The similar NOE seems to be decent, when you can get it. But I wonder if the large pentagonal pin would open better than the large NOE round pin.

I'm actually thinking hollow base might be better in airguns than flat base and I'd like to find a few designs.

[Eskimo_Airgunner]

They are only $90 for the hollow point version, so not cost effective to have then converted.

The similar NOE seems to be decent, when you can get it. But I wonder if the large pentagonal pin would open better than the large NOE round pin.

I'm actually thinking hollow base might be better in airguns than flat base and I'd like to find a few designs.

A hollow base like on black powder bullet would be a good choice for airguns as the purpose of hollow base was to allow the bullet to orbituate, to fill the bore before leaving the chamber area.  I would think a purpose built airgun slug mold would follow along the lines of those age old traditions.  I have been using my flat base molds because I also cast for my modern smokeless powder burners.  I think if I found a black powder mold that dropped a bullet that could be sized to my bore I would experiment with it.  The FX hybrid slugs basically are just the modern equivalent of these old black powder designs.

[Mr.P]

That’s interesting.  What range of bore sizes do black powder bullet molds come in?

[Eskimo_Airgunner]

That’s interesting.  What range of bore sizes do black powder bullet molds come in?

Black powder standard bore sizes tend to run even in that a 45 is .450 not .457 and 36 is .360, like that.  I was looking around for a round ball mold to use for my .357 and there just isn't a common mold for black powder that would drop a .358 or .357 round ball.

These examples are not cavity back but shows the sizes a caster would be dealing with.  I think a company like MP or NOE that offers more in between size option may have something on the shelf that would work. 

https://leeprecision.com/bullet-casting/black-powder-molds/black-powder-conical-cap-and-ball/

https://leeprecision.com/bullet-casting/black-powder-molds/black-powder-minie-bullet-molds/

https://www.lymanproducts.com/brands/lyman/bullet-casting/bullet-moulds

https://www.buffaloarms.com/358-9mm-125-grain-hollow-poi-lym2650637.html

https://lbtmolds.com/OurMolds/tabid/5807/Default.aspx

https://leeprecision.com/bullet-casting/black-powder-molds/black-powder-real-bullet-combo-molds/

https://leeprecision.com/bullet-casting/black-powder-molds/round-ball-mold/

Pre-covid this guy had a ton of old timey black powder cartridge bullets and molds.  I notice he still has some paper patching stuff.  Which is something I had consider, getting under size bullets and basically give them a paper half jacket.

https://www.buffaloarms.com/reloading-supplies-accessories.html

I can't remember the guys name but there is a custom maker in Idaho that will make what ever your hearts desire in the way of molds.  I have a friend who builds wildcat rifles and he has had to have molds made to get the correct weight and size bullet for his customs.  I will have to check with him to see.