To anyone that has a Jack Haley .257!!
What bullet molds are you using, if you’re casting your own? his specs are for 80-90 grains, but the only molds I’ve been able to find are for 50-55 grains, or a 64 grain mold. I need some guidance before I take the plunge on a Jack Haley rifle- Mind you, I don’t want to buy pre-cast bullets, I want to cast my own. My dad’s been clearing out the basement and found about 12-15 years worth of scrounged lead… so I’ve got some castin to do!!! 😈
All Replies
Casting has many roads to success.
I have had better luck with 30-1 and softer on the large bores myself and better accuracy with pure lead on the smaller bores like 25, but that is just my exerience.
Butchers’ idea would not cost you much to try and see if it will work. I have mined hundreds of pounds of lead from firearms ranges over the years for smokeless loading and it worked very well.
I did not use the store boughten lead until I stated shooting BPCR, which just does not do as well with range lead or WW’s as it does with 30-1 or 20-1.
Not knowing what the specific alloy is and what in fact made in have its hardness would mean for me that it would be hard to dupicate.
Personally I find once spending between 1500 and 2 grand on a rifle, scope and casting equipment that I would just as soon as know what I am sending down the bore, not that an alloy will harm it, because alwmost always it will not, it is just time becomes a finite item as you age, and for me when I use known ingredients, I find I can duplicate them easier if I find that they have taken me to the end of that road to success.
RC
As far as the usefulness of your range lead goes….mix-it up thoroughly, make ingots out of it, and test for hardness. If the hardness is around BHN12 or so, you can mix it 50-50 with pure lead and have an alloy useful for any airgun.
I have had great luck with 50-50 WW/pure lead slugs that tested BHN8.5 right after they were cast. Most any airgun will shoot up to BHN9 hardness pretty well when sized correctly. The Korean guns tend to prefer BHN9 or less.
If you do buy a Haley, you really should just buy your first couple batches of bullets based on what others have bought and have had success with.
Once you find a bullet that will shoot well in your rifle based on others experience, you can then go about duplictating that performance with your own equipment.
Some Haley owners are getting one inch or less groups at 100 yards with commercailly cast bullets, and either Jack or Reba Haley are beyond helpful and friendly and will recommend a good bullet to start with.
Casting, altho not needing a rocket science background, takes some skill that needs to be learned and perfected with time and practice.
Something 41 years of doing it has taught me, but then hell I might just be a slow learner. 😕
RC
Unless it was all 22 slugs from rimfire, your wasting your time for air guns bullets. Those cast slugs were most likely Lyman #2 or they were simply wheelweights, both are way too hard.
Your limited in power with Airguns, unlike firearms whchare very forgiving compared to air guns and can get away with hader alloys and really need harder bullets due to heat and velocity.
If you can find someone with a lead hardness tester you can send them some of your alloy, but your money ahead to buy from Rotometals.com.
Rotometals will sell you the alloy you need , be it pure lead or 40-1 or 30-1, and if your order over 100 bucks worth the shipping is free, and on lead that is a great deal.
The alloy will also be consistant and clean. IF you ever had the missfortune of getting a large amount of alloy contaminated with aluminum or zinc, and find it will not flow or fill the mold well, you will know what I mean.
Good luck, and read everything you can on casting in the meantime.
RC
sweet deal. awesome! thanks for the info! how do I test the lead for hardness? all the lead my dad has was from stuff he picked up at the range. nothing jacketed, just lead bullets. I have no way of knowing what’s in it. this was stuff from the 80’s and early 90’s. I am definitely waiting on the bullet casting stuff until I have the rifle in hand. the only stuff I’m looking to get right now is an ingot mold. at the very least I can melt down the lead into ingots while I’m figuring out my next move as far as what mold to get and such. How would I go about “slugging” the bore to determine groove diameter?
Butcher is right on the money on Veral Smith.
Off the shelf molds seldon cast to advertised diameters, and of course you will want a mold that casts right at the groove diameter of the rifle you get.
Which makes buying molds before you slug and measure that rifle a wild goose chase in most instances.
For the Condor I did the testing on, I never did find a off the shelf mold that would drop bullets the correct diameter i needed despite the advertising claims.
So I called Veral Smith and for the price of a RCBS mold, I got a custom mold that was right on the money and could be adjusted a thousand either way by slightly changing my alloy.
But save yourself some money and wait until you have rifle in hand and then slug that barrel, and order a mold accordingly. This is not a firearm which will allow you to be a couple thousands off due to the acelleration of ignition, getting the right groove diameter will be your ticket to airgun cast bullet accuracy.
RC
Veral Smith of LeadBulletTechnology cuts some airgun-specific molds for airgun casters.
I don’t have one yet, but am getting prepared.
Look in Midway under .257 caliber, Lyman makes at least a couple molds, I have one that throws them at 65 grains and around .261, and they also make a 87 grain.
Don’t confuse them with 25 ACP Molds, .251 and 50 to 55 grains. What your really looking for is a mold for the 25-20 Winchester, 65 to 95 grains in .257/258.
Some seem to have success going as large as .261, which most off the shelf .257/258 molds will probably cast out to, but most will depend on your alloy.
Which brings up the subject of testing your lead for hardness, not all scrap lead is equal when in comes to being a bullet casting material. Pure lead is going to be the best or something around 40-1 just enough tin to get a good fill.
RC
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
The Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook/reloading manual has some very good and useful information on the subject of lead alloys, how to mix up different alloys, how to test them for hardness, how to harden lead, (which may not be what airgunners are looking to do, but it’s nice to have the reference material at hand), how to cast bullets, and information on Lyman cast bullets. It’s one of the best books of its type that I have bought through the years.
Good Luck!