mold doubts
Hello everyone, i have to ask the more experienced ones the following :
What whould you choose between : http://www.midwayusa.com/product/106910/rcbs-2-cavity-bullet-mold-25-050-rn-25acp-251-diameter-50-grain-round-nose vs
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/427712/lyman-2-cavity-bullet-mold-257420-25-caliber-258-diameter-65-grain-flat-nose-gas-check + http://www.midwayusa.com/product/427712/lyman-2-cavity-bullet-mold-257420-25-caliber-258-diameter-65-grain-flat-nose-gas-check
With my setup i got .56 grain cast bullet around 968 fps with a LW 20″ barrel and 100 gram hammer.
All Replies
You can get 950 fps using my 25 valve on the R&L barrel.
I don’t have any numbers for 24″ .257 barrel. But I do have a 24″ .25 TJ’s in a gun right now. Sizing down .257 slugs I get around 920 fps with 76 gr on 3100 psi. Bump it up to 3300 psi and it does even better.
I know Cedric’s .257 has a 26.625″ barrel and he is shooting around 1010 fps but this is a different setup with a real .257 valve.
I intend to stick with the 50-80 grain bullets for now, i know that faster spin rates are necesary to stabilize heavier bullets.
By the way that is a very nice group at 80 yards 🙂
Eric,
Being as the base steers the bullet, that would be a difficult thing to get right. Maybe Mike or Old Goat will send you some.
Sorry RC… corrected the post thanks :)… Mixed results with the cut down 420 bullets meant I couldn’t identify any real improvement in accuracy over shooting the full size bullets. My sample size was not big since I manually shaved the bullets themselves (carefully) and it took a while to just do a few. The results seen from Knifemaker look promising though! Maybe with a Dyotat 25 valve it would be a good match. I need to find out how to get one of those.
Eric,
I was the one who sent the bullets to Randy at RLAirguns.
Just to keep the record straight.
Ericw, please tell me more about the mixed results you are getting with the cut down mold.
Here is a almost typical group with the 420 cut down to 54 grains.
Speed it at 1030+ in this group. I now have her turned down to 950 and get about double the shot count with the Condor/Talon bottle and Dyotats 25 valve.
KnifeMaker
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Chris, another thing you will want to think about is barrel grove twist. The twist rate on the walther is 1-16, where as the TJ’s are avaliable in 1-14 and 1-10. The 1-14 is better in the 50-80 grain bullet rate, and athe 1-10 seems much better for the 100 thru 120 grain.
RoachCreek has done much testing in this area for us. 😉
Bottom line is that the 1-16 walther is just too slow a twist rate for our heavier than pellets projectiles. Regardless of whether you can size the bullet down far enough.
KnifeMakerhttp://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r294/mlovett_photo/DSC01939_zpsdc37881f.jpg[/url][/img]
I’ve had one of Randy’s .257 barrels for a while now and did get Randy to try it out with 257420 bullets I sent him that were sized to .2572 (barrel slugged out to that). At that time he was only promoting the barrel as a good way to shoot JSB King pellets. My barrel is one of the ones he was selling that is just .5 inch OD and 24 inches long from TJ. I cut my own lead in and the sized slugs fit in very snug . Randy fashioned a shroud for me as well. I have a stock valve in my condor but run one of Tony’s top hat setups with the inserts (taken out for shooting slugs). I find I only get speeds of about 840 fps or so and think i probably need to put in a heavier hammer and better valve. Randy sells an “extreme” valve and I have read about the ones Dyotat100 made. Don’t want to hijack this thread but would be interested in pointers on best steps to increase fps past what I get with the stock valve and hammer?
The groups I shoot at 30 – 50 yards are nearly one hole but could be better at 70+ yards with 1-2 inches typical. I shaved the gas check area off the back of the 420s to try that out but had mixed results.
Thanks to RoachCreek for sending more of the 257420 off to Randy.. you got me off the hook for doing that myself. I had promised Randy to send some and wanted to “inspire” him to put at least a first pass ream job on the lead in for people wanting to shoot bullets. Did you send him some sized slugs? I also wonder if the bigger OD barrel he now sells is a better way to go?
Being able to switch my condor from pellet shooter to slug shooter in a matter of 5 minutes is really awesome. It opens up a whole new world where I cast my own bullets and shoot over 100 FPE with dreams of 200.
RC i was thinking about Lyman 420 mold my bore is .254 but i have to measure it one more time to be sure. Doug was saying that .258 bullets can be sized to .255 to work in my barrel.
About that .251 mold i wanted. to see how those bullets performed .
Chris you don’t really want that mold, it is way too undersized if your bore is 255. It did not shoot well for me at all.
I sent it to Hollow point mold service to have the bands enlarged, he made a mistake and made them too big and paid me in full for the mold.
It was like Christmas to me, I was delighted he ruined it..
I get it now…casted with pure lead they weigh more, maybe someone who can share some pics with RCBS .251 50 gr. groupings will show up if i don’t ask too much,
alhtough Lyman 420 mold is my first choice…the barrel can come after, like roachcreek advised me . 🙄
PS : I have a stronger valve ( i think) i have never tried, but it needs a stronger spring and a modified brass breech.
74 is what they come out with pure lead. Most molds are like that.
My RCBS 150 gr .308 drops at 158 gr
I think the Lyman is 73.5-74.5 depending on your mold. I know my 420 that I had HP’ed is a little smaller OD then my regular 420 mold.
Yeah, it would be nice to get a Tj barrel, unfortunately i live in Europe and not US 🙁 . I think i had preety good results with those 56 grainers 80 yards away it was about one inch group size.
80 yards grouping
The distance to this black target was at 230 yards away…the wind was blowing from the left … my aim point was the top left corner of the target..
This are the bullets sent by a friend for testing purpose…home made though
@Dyotat why 74 grains if they say 65 ?
LE : nevermind those 3 flyers from the black target , i was checking to see if i hit the target, behind it were pieces of plasterboard 🙄
The 25 acp mold will not work.
First they are 251 and your groove diameter is .255, bottom line is, LW barrels are terrific pellet shooters and very poor bullet shooters.
Best bet is to buy a 257 barrel from RLAirguns and install it, Randy is working on cutting leads in them, I sent him 257420 bullets last week to use to get his cast bullet barrels working.
I tried all this stuff two years ago, I bought the 251 molds, then a custom 256 LBT mold and until I started sizing down the 257420 to .256, I did not do all that well.
I would have been money a head to install a TJ barrel and have gotten a off the shelf 257 mold.
So to recap, wait until Randy gets his TJ Condor barrels going, and then buy one, and ask for some bullets to try, several of us will send you bullets to try and you can see what works best for you.
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Thanks for the advice and I will keep in mind what your valves can do, but now my valve is doing fine with 56 grain bullets 985 fps on average it’s ok . If I will get a .257 barrel and my setup won’t work I will contact you for sure.