molds
i am thinking if getting a bullet mold made in .22 i have a lee lead pot that i use for muzzle loaders. well anyways i found a company that uses cnc to make the mold blocks so you do not have to pay for a cherry so there prices were pretty reasonable.
http://www.lbtmoulds.com/moulds.shtml
the guy seemed to be very knolgable about the diffrences with air rifles vs rifles, first think he asked was twist rate and velosity so he can do some math for stabilty issues.
they will make anything that i want, so i was thinking of a bullet with a band up front and one on back like jerry slugs but instead of a wadcutter like jerry i was thinking short flat nose design.
well anyways here are the questions
what is our twist rate?
and what is the best diameter for the bands. i was thinking .217 but i do not trust my caliber.
i was thinking of making it about .5 inch long and was wondering if ther is a program to figure out the weight of the bullet if you have demintions i was hoping for low 40 grain weight
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subsonic what vel. are you running the rws h.p. , i have found that they will not shoot accurately over 850 fps or so, they one hole with my condor at 750 fps to 800 .
Mike
im running a match grade .22lr barrel …and i have shot the .22 bullets offerd by NAA and found that the LR barrel in general loves almost all pellets that are available so i haven’t bought any more of the .22 bullets and just shoot what ever pellets i can get…the only ones i cant get to group with my gun is the RWS super-H point… 😈
I want to try this too. I like the idea of casting my own pellets. I think it would be fun trying different weights, contact points, shapes, etc.
GO to the North American Arms site. They make a black powder version of their well known little .22 mini-revolvers. They sell lthe .22 led bullets(Made by CCI) for these little powder burners. A ready source. Just turn down a .22 lr bbl. and your set! 😀
Mike
i am going check into bullets in bulk .223 and see
edward , plan on sizing these and lube? or shoot as cast?. ive made a lot of bullets and it is hard work if you make a lot of bullets. i like the idea to use a rimfire barrel and then 😈 just buy your bullets in bulk. if your dead set on casting your own you might want to look at a mold that drops six pellets or so. any way i would rather just shoot its a lot more fun. good luck either way u go ! kingpin
cost?
how big of a box are you speaking of? what type of lead is it? thanks!
Don’t be discouraged! 40gr is a good target for a high performance tuned .22 Condor. The twist in your barrel is almost certainly 1 in 16 and pretty easy to check. Unless you put a long nose on the pellet and shoot it at slow speed, 1 in 16 should stabalize a 40gr slug.
Do a web search at the mold makers sites, Corbin and/or Google and you’ll find that there is software that will estimate bullet weight from the design. If that’s too much of a PIA, then just eyeball your dimensions against other pellets and bullets, you don’t need to hit 40 on the nose anyway.
I’d recommend you go with a blunt or stepped flat nose to keep the upset aerodynamics low and keep length down. Use two or three drive bands that are not too fancy to fill when pouring and see what you get.
You might hit a homerun or you might waste $140. The risk one has to take…
Bass ackwards, dudes.
Stability is a function of mostly twist rate but also velocity. Watch the soft lead when casting your own. Too high a twist rate will strip the lead if too soft. LIGHT bullets stabilize with SLOWER twist rates. The HEAVIER your bullet, the FASTER the twist required. Well, not actually. It’s more related to length than mass. but in small calibers it’s the same thing. Making a bullet heavier when your diameter is limited by barrel bore size means making bullet longer if you want it heavier. So, LONGER bullets require faster twist. 1-14″ twist barrels in .22LR are rare. Most all of them are 1-16″.
Bullet shape affects stability too, the sharper and pointier you make it the more unstable. This is called the ‘upset’ ability of a bullet and describes its aerodynamic tendency to be affected by perpendicular forces trying to push the tip off course. Also for hunting, the sharper you make it, the better the ballistic coefficient, but the worse it gets for terminal ballistics… how much it affects the animal you shoot. Sharp points ‘push’ muscle around instead of imparting hydrostatic shock, which is why low velocity (i.e., black powder and pistol) bullets have a flat tip or hollowpoint. This flat top is called a ‘meplat.’ The rounded curve below the meplat is called the ‘ogive.’
If you want to make your own bullets, you would do well to look at existing designs and follow them for the most part, if you want reasonable results in a short time. No need to re invent the wheel. Keep in mind you are shooting at sub sonic velocities so copy only pistol ammo and black powder stuff. The hyper velocity stuff is designed for a completely different task so stay away from those designs.
walt
There was a guy on here using a .223 barrel on his condor…. ??
Do a search on this and other air gun forums. It has been tried-done and dropped over and over again over the years.
Even factory guns have been built for this purpose. The most recent is, or was-the now discontinued- Day State, Air Ranger 80 fpe Rifle. They then dropped the air bullets they were suppling before dropping the rifles themselves. (Day State dropped the .22 80fpe rifle in favor of the same gun in .25 due to better efficiency.)
The biggest problem you are going to run into is that in air guns, the skirt to the pellet gives the projectile a lot of it’s stability. The bbl.’s them selves have a very slow twist rate. A better solution, If you are dead set on doing it is to turn down a quality .22 long rifle or .22 short bbl. which already has the proper twist rate, and simply buy .22 bullets from any number of suppliers. CCI makes them as does Eley.
Mike
that is ok i do not need lead i have about 200 pounds, but i would think somone elce would have tried this in .22 cal but i guess not. i was hoping to hear what you guys have had luck with. i am still thinking .217 .218 would be a good size. they also garentey not to be undersized, but for 125 for a custom mold it would not take to much to get your money back (if it works) the bullets aoa has are expensive. when i feel like i have figured everything out i will order one, and make a few for people to try.
cost?
I’ve got 2 large coffee cans full to add to the mix if it’s useful.
How would you be interested in box of dirty lead…Would it be worth the shipping
cost?
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I only slowed them down to the low 900s ….I can get preds and even crow mags to group at 1000 with no effort so I kinda gave up in the H points….I plan on tuning my setup back down so its more backyard friendly since I now have the .45 for the big jobs…