52 grain cast 25 acp bullets in the Condor

I got my mold and some bullets that a member was nice enough to cast for me to try.

When I first talked to him about giving me some bullets to try, he asked if I had slugged my bore, and I had not. So I ran two Kings that I had tapped on to expand them into the bore, one all the way thru to check the choke and one just part way into it to check the bore.

He was taken back by the measurements, the choke was .251 and the bore was .253. He thought that was odd that the LW barrels differed that much and having bought my digital calipers from Harbor Freight I just assume my calipers were off.

I figured when I got the two sample packages of bullets, about 10 each he was sending, I would measure them, then compare those measurements to my calipers.

One thing we did not count on was that the barrel was from the latest batch and may differ from past barrels.

Well when I measured the bullets I recieved today, I found my measurements were correct, and my measurements matched the bullets that he sent. .2495 and .2505. When I chambered the bullets, they slid into the barrel lead easily and went another .25 inch further.

I shot the .2505 bullets and did get one group that was .80, but had to fire 7 shots to get a 5 shot group that was .80. The .2495 bullets just sprayed at 36 yards.

Now I have a unusual shooting bench at my 36 yard range, it is off the top of a 1958 Mercedes in the garage and I use no bags, just my hands to rest on, so sometimes my groups suffer.

I then decided to try the mold and see if I could cast some bullets that would be larger, now I might add I had no way of sizing these bullets when I cast them, other than tweaking alloy or varying the heat, cold alloy usually reduces the bullet diameter.

So I cast some bullets up at 750 to 800 degrees. I started with 40-1 lead to tin because that was what was in my pot. I went thru the ones I could find that were in the .2545 to 255 range,these were too large, but I lubed them with break free and forced them gently into the lead with a flat side of a end wrench.

They shot 1.5 to 3 inches at 36 yards.

So then I reduced the heat to 700 degrees to try and make them a smaller diameter and cast some more, they came out at .253 to .254. THis is usually not a way to cast accurate bullets, but it does make them smaller.

I waited until they cooled, which with these tiny slugs does not take long, then I hand rubbed Johnsons Paste wax on them for lube, this is what I use on my .452 bullets I use in my 45 Ranger and it has stopped the leading problem I was having in that rifle.

The Johnson Paste Wax lubed bullets, that cast out to .253 to.254 could be pushed into the lead flush with considerable thumb pressure, but they were in fact working.

The first group I shot was around 1.5 inches, nothing special, but I did not expect them to group right away, it takes 5 or 6 bullets to get the wax into the barrel.

The next group put 4 shots into one hole and a 5th shot took it to .65. The group after that went into .65 also.

Velocity is 877 to 925, I fill to 3200 PSI, the PW is maxed out and I have a Condor spring, hammer and hammer weight, and a RLAirguns valve stem, Top hat is at .85 this gives me somewhere around 15 shots before I drop into the 860 FPS range.

I need to stress these are not good quality cast bullets that I am shooting right now. The mold is new, and there are a lot of wrinkles. I get 3 or 4 shots into one hole and then a flyer that I know is due to a mold not warmed to the right temperture and being new.

I have a lot of work to do on this and I need to have a sizer die made, it is looking like it needs to be .2525 to .253

Much thanks to the member here who cast me up some slugs and sent them off to me to try and also check my caliper, I owe you big time.

Regards,

Roachcreek