.257 Slugs
Got my molds from LBT and my Lyman .257-420 from Eric that he made HP.
LBT copy of Lyman with smaller MP 75 gr
LBT copy of lyman but for air gun 73 gr
Lyman Hp 67 gr
Lyman 420 73.3 gr
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Viewing 14 replies - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)
Doug; I got my molds in today, still waiting for USPS to find either of my Rotometals lead shipments that made it as far as Hazelwood MO and then vanished!
This casting BS is all new to me. I am very impressed with the heft and quality of the LBT molds! Those suckers are a LOT more massive than I had envisioned them to be! šÆ
I asked Veral to make a light mold in the mid 40s and the other one was to be a low drag version of RCās 57 grain LBT slug. I ended up getting 2 molds, one is marked with a 41 (grains?) and the other is marked 51.
Thatās OK, I really like the looks of your 2nd slug, the air gun version of the Lyman 420. I am going to ask Veral to make a low drag air gun version of the 420 in 55 and 60 grains. I then plan to send 3 of my 4 cavity molds off and have 2 each of the 4 cavities converted into hollow point molds. I should then be covered in slugs between 41 and 60 grains in 5 grain increments.
I donāt have a clue as to how far the Boss can be turned up and I donāt know how heavy of a slug it can push at 850-900 fps. I would be happy with a 55 grain slug at 850 fps, more fps would be better! I re measured the loading port of the Boss and it is .590ā, a 73 grain, .663ā slug could be started in at an angle and it would load: I donāt know if the turned up Boss could push it out of the barrel.
I have made some heavier hammer weights. I need to figure out what the strength of my hammer spring is and order a selection of stronger ones. The regulator can be turned up, AOA won’t tell me how, I will have to figure it out on my own. I hope that the Hart barrel is only another 10 weeks out. By then, I hope that Rotometals has finally succeeded in getting some lead to me.
I really hate waiting for air gun stuff! Wouldnāt it be great if there was an Air Gun World right next to Wally World and you could just walk in and buy anything that you wanted?
After thinking about it for a little bit, it might not be that great as almost all of the stuff would be a cheap Chinese knock off!
Maybe I should just send the whole mess to Cedric and then constantly pester him with emails, phone calls and PMs until he has it done!
Ced: what is your shipping address? š
I got my single burner cast iron stove set up this weekend.
I also ordered two cast iron Bernz pots, one a #5 and one a #6. The #5 came in and I melted pure lead in it and it holds around 15 lbs. The #6 will probably be closer to 20 lbs.
The propane stove melts that lead so much faster than my Lyman 10 lb pot, it is really fast. You know how slow it is to fill your pot with lead the first time? This stove is light years ahead of the Lyman.
The idea is to have three cast iron pots, each one filled with a different alloy.
The propane stove also allows me to get a bigger pot that holds 50 or so lbs of alloy to mix alloys if I wish.
Now the stove I bought, I got off of Ebay, it is new and cost me 25 bucks, hard to find a camping stove for that price. But you also need a propane regulator and a hose. I have mine hooked up with a 10 foot hose to gets some space from the 5 gallon tank.
A word to the wise on cast iron pots. The lyman and RCBS hold 10 lbs, not much of an improvement if your running molds for big bullets. You need to find a pot at least 4 1/5 inches tall and around 5 to 6 inches in inside diameter on the top.
Cast iron pots on Ebay are all over the map in price. Some of the sellers are pretty sure those pots are collectable and have to have a history in the gold fields and are priced accordingly and I am talking $100.00 and up..
Shipping is expensive also. I look for free shipping and will not pay over 30 bucks for a pot with free shipping. I can probably find them cheaper in St Vincents, but I can also spend that much money in gas looking for one.
Looking at my bench can you find any clues to prove I am not suffering from obsessive complusive disorder š .
Regards,
Roachcreek
You gonna have to modify it OG. If you don’t want to, I WILL for YA…..lol!
I will check Wall Mart for the stove. .663 long would fit in the Boss breech. I think that the 73 grain weight would be more than the turned up Boss could handle. I donāt know how high I can turn it up. There is currently no info on that, or if there is, I havenāt been able to find it.
Yep you got that right. It’s not fun unless you can modify it.
The LBT airgun bullet is .663″ long. You could have him shorten it I guess.
As far as casting goes, go to walmart and buy a single burner Colman stove. It screws on to a propane bottle and makes heating the mold up a lot easier. These were the first aluminum mold that I had casted and it took me awhile to figure it out for perfect bullets. If I started getting bad bullets I would just heat up the mold a little more on the stove.
Thanks Doug.
WOW; after seeing the bullets that you guys cast, mine are stubby little bastards!
I ordered 2 .257 LBT moulds for my FX Boss/.257 Hart barrel project. I wanted a mid 40 and a mid 50 grain slugs for my project. My mid 50 something grain slug was supposed to be a copy of Charlieās 57 grain slug but with low barrel drag. It doesnāt look like it ended up with what I had envisioned.
My Boss shoots a 46 grain pellet at 870 fps and I currently donāt know how much higher the Boss can be turned up. FX said that it would shoot a 46 grain pellet at 120 fpe. I canāt get any info about turning it up and I guess that I will have to figure it out on my own.
I am a couple of steps down from you guys, I donāt really care about high fpe, I m trying to find the best accuracy at 100-200 yards that I come up with.
I am just starting out with this casting BS and I have no clue as to what I am doing!
I really like the shape of your LBT air gun copy of the Lyman 73 slug. I thought that I was ordering something like that, only around 20 grains lighter. I guess that I might have to order more moulds from Veral before the Hart barrel comes in.
The last line of this post was going to be: Does this buying air gun stuff ever end? And then I thought; If I got the absolutely best shooting air gun ever, would I be happy with it?
The answer was: No: I wouldnāt be! There would be nothing left to tinker with!
Here is your slugs Ted.
Here is some .30 samples of something he’s doing.
AMEN to that RC………….”FREEDOM” is the key word. And it’s beautiful!
DOUG, WHEN WE GOIN SHOOTIN WITH “YOUR” NEW BULLETS……lol!
Those slugs look really good, please post pics of how they group.
Interesting looking slugs Doug.
It sure gives you a freedom to be able to manufacutre your own air and your own ammo.
RC
looking good Doug! Hopefully some of you “Moldy lead throwers” will be kind enough to sell some slugs to those of us non casters š
Yes I have a couple of yours. I will post a pic in a few hours.
Yeah the delievery system sucks this time of the year. 5 days for a priority box from oregon for my HP mold and 4 days for my LBT molds UPS.
What’s wierd is my new chuck for my lathe only took 4 days to make it all the way from east coast.
What a difference the new chuck makes on my lathe.
Lookin good Doug!
Veral said that my moulds shipped out the same day as yours and I have been going nuts waiting for the mailman to deliver them. I have to wait till at least Monday now!
Did Veral send you any samples from my moulds? If so, could you post a couple of pics?
I have had a lead order from Rotometals make it to Hazelwood Mo. and then get lost there: twice!
If my moulds make it in Monday, I might have to go to wally world and grab some wheel weights off of cars in the parking lot! š
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Now this is one of those projects I’m keeping a close eye on! š š
Mike