Newby on the block... well, to casting anyways.

[triggertreat]

Well, there's some decent grouping in there.  You really won't know what you have until you are able to stretch the distance out more.

[avator]

Been slacking on casting lately. I was able to replace my burned up hot plate and for testing I melted all the muffin tin pucks and poured them into the corn cob ingots. Those just fit better in the pot.
Anyways... I went out this morning and fired things up.
Something strange... My NOE 2 cav 217 20 RF aluminum mold has 217 20 WC stamped on it. It's absolutely the RF mold.. mis stamp I guess. I don't have a 2 cav WC mold.. the one I have is a 4 cav.
I got the first batch of 100 +- in the tumbler and the sprues back in the pot. I'll drop 3 or 4 batches today and call it good.
Once the pot comes back up I'll drop another batch and get those in the tumbler and refill the pot. While that pot is coming back to temp I'll cull and weigh the first batch. Rinse and repeat.

[avator]

4 100 pellet runs this morning. Last 100 is in the tumbler. Of the 3 batches I culled 30 pellets. Maybe 10 due to deforming (short pours) and the rest due to under or over my 19.30 - 19.50 range rule.
400 may sound like alot but they go pretty good once I get my rhythm going. I can make a drop of 2 around every 10 or 15 seconds.

[2A Georgia]

Well, there's some decent grouping in there.  You really won't know what you have until you are able to stretch the distance out more.

Need to make a LGR day for some 24M groups agreed...

[Back_Roads]

 I look at it like if I am going to sit and cast might as well make a full tin counts worth, 400 is in that ballpark, and $20 less one has to pay for a tin of good stuff..

[avator]

First round of 250 27 RF in the tumbler. I thought I had a bunch of these poured but I guess not. I want to spend a few days with the Avenger and it really likes these pellets.

[avator]

400 dropped between 29.2 and 29.5 with the medium pins. So far a shot a full 6 mags (48 shots) and it's time to air the gun back up and reload the mags.
This is probably the most consistent gun I own in accuracy from shot to shot at 35 yards. The smile factor is way off the chart. Part of the reason is due to the fact that it shoots my cast pellets as good or better than any marketed pellet I've run through it. That was my goal when I got into casting.
My only other .25 gun is the Hatsan 1k vortex break barrel. That gun does not shoot my cast pellets well. It does like most of the marketed pellets I have on hand. Once those pellets are all gone, that gun will be too. I just can't afford to feed it with today's prices on pellets. Especially since I'm just a target shooter.

[2A Georgia]

Back to the NOE68 Sunny today so instead of waiting for LGR and 24yds I shot the Powder Coated slugs at 14.7yds.  Group on the left calipered at .303 and the vertical line on the right is the .304 and larger.  I'm going to aggressively re-clean all the molds and try some NOE68 with 2 coats of HF PC and see what diameter they come out.  Looks like the AG likes .304 Powder Coated and back to tweaking the fill pressure to tighten the ES....

[2A Georgia]

Sighted in the Notos with JSB 18s last row I'd say is zeroed.  Then went back to the NOE217RF.  Still getting flyers so back down the rabbit hole gonna re-clean the mold and continue to work on technique, temperature control and QA/QC inspection.  The gauntlet has been thrown down

[2A Georgia]

So I changed the pins in the NOE217RF20 to flat skirt and they dropped at 26ish.
I will have to adjust the pin height as more than 2/3 culls with flash makes me believe 1 of the 2 pins is shorter.  The cleaned molds seam to have eliminated the thin seam problem IIDMP.  I sorted on diameter of greater than .225 going to the cull pile first.
Then I weighed them everything 26.8gr+ had some rim (shorter pin) so they got culled as well the centroid seams to be 25.8 to 26.3 If I fix the pin length and improve my technique a little I think I can use 25.7 to 26.3 as my keeper range.  I'm calling these plugs or sleletts.  It rained this morning and then I had a door latch on Babygirl's Fiesta to fix once it was sunny maybe pellet testing through the Notos this week.

[Madd Hatter]

From what I've read the flat based pellets aren't very accurate. No experience personally so.....

[avator]

Seems they would be tail heavy and tumble in flight. But that's also just a guess. I don't know how that stuff works but I bet Bob Sterne does.. 

[2A Georgia]

Here's the groups for the NOE217RF25.5's flat base through the Notos at 14yards.
The tight group is the 25.4-25.7 and the nest best is 25.8-26.0.
Seems like the 25.4-25.7 had no imperfections.  Closer looking the 25.8-26.0 had some minor flashing.

[2A Georgia]

Solved some PID issues, like a dummy I had the Pot plugged into the switched outlet and kept wondering why I kept overshooting...squirrel...lol
Dropping at 330-335C now, getting better at techniques, cleaned mold again, adjusted and oiled pins and cast some beautiful 217RF19.4s.  I forgot to get a picture but shot two five shot groups that were one ragged hole!  So when cast properly, the NOE217RF20 casts a perfectly acceptable hunting pellet for the Notos.  Once I get the Romeo mounted I hope the SPA800r project will feed these as well.  If they group, the chamber will get gently modified.  These groups pictured involved picking one pellet at a time as "perfect" and culling about 3-4 for each keeper into the recast jar.  The few flyers are "questionable" QA/QCs that I let pass.  When the pellet looks perfect and drops about 19.4-19.5 they group one ragged hole, which is dead squirrels all day long.  So now I just have to keep trolling this thread learning and improving IIDMP with casting.
For comparison, the NOE IMHO groups as good as the production H&N 18gr Hunters.  My tune is sub 700fps at these weights so no HP expansion going on, just a 20gr, 20fpe headache...lol

[avator]

Looks good.

[2A Georgia]

Looks good.

Thanks for the words of encouragement.  Like you I would like to cast for my AG or only have AG that my casts work for.  A long journey but with many rewards.

[triggertreat]

Quite the advancement from your humble beginnings.  I can sense you want it, so have no doubt you will reach your goals.

[2A Georgia]

Quite the advancement from your humble beginnings.  I can sense you want it, so have no doubt you will reach your goals.

Again thanks!  Trolling this thread and learning as much as I can.  Love GTA for the knowledge share.

[2A Georgia]

So wise ones, I'll state my theory and welcome responses, comments and  input.
The NOE68FN is going on WTS/WTT.  The $80 for the Harbor Frieght powder coat gun could go towards a bespoke mold.  With the value of the NOE68FN to add to my purchase someone with a .299 (99.9% pure) or .3005 barrel these pellets would give some nice fpe.  The .303 Challenger tolerates them at best.  If anyone has the ability to size I have a tin of .305-.306 splotchy hand shaken HF black powder coats, might even come with a 80% bottle of HF Black and some
 un-coated (Pam) oiled slugs(these are offered as pay it forward).  Pretty sure sizing them down the barrel would not be good for Challenger accuracy.  Pretty sure I don't want to put them in the pot and "burn off the impurity" powder coating.
So in theory at 847-891fps my 61.5gr HP NSAs are just barely fast enough to expand,but good for 100+fpe.
Option 1 is to order the Accurate Molds 30-62A @ .303 +.002/-.000.  It is not a HP but should be switchable without too mush scope adjustment.
Option 2 is the 30-70A @ .303 +.002/-.000.  It is not a HP and guessing would tune around 800-820fps (subsonic and no deformation).

I'm thinking a 100+fpe 70gr smack should be 45ACP style knockdown power for everything Coyote and smaller.  Should be adequate for veal sized Hawgs behind the ear.  I said I wouldn't point the Challenger at a deer, but now I'm thinking I shoot a 70gr .223 in my MSR,  While 800fps will not do for a high shoulder shot it should go through the boiler room from sub 50 yards as good as my 425fps crossbow bolt.  Here in Georgia we get a week between Bow and Firearms of "Primitive" (black powder) deer season and airguns are allowed during primitive seasons.  I'm thinking it be worth a week of run-n-gun with the Challenger and popup blind, if nothing else something to carry during pre-rut scouting that gives squirrels headaches out to 60 yards (if I can see that far).

[2A Georgia]

Went with the AM 30-62A at .303 +.002/-0.000 should arrive early July.
Cast a g ood run of 217RF Hunters with 40:1.
1/3 cull 1/3 19.4 and 1/3 19.5 with a few strays 19.3-19.6
Getting better with practice. 
Made some stickers so I know have a tin of 19.2, 19.3 and 19.4 (sort and add, shoot from one tin all the same weight).
Looks like I'll have to start filling a 19.5 tin....