New lee 22 cal mold

[fiver]

430-f on the mold temp is about right with a LEE.
if it were a better grade of aluminum I have a suggestion for over heating the mold to gas out any oils in it but I think it would warp a lee mold.

the voids and wrinkles are for sure a sign of poor venting. [wrinkles are generally oil]
one of the first things I do to a mold is break the top corners of the mold with a very light stoning of the corners.
I also run a razor blade down the vent lines and break the burrs on the cavity's edge with an X-acto knife.
then de-grease it and wash it off with starting fluid [which is an excellent de-greaser in it's own right]
if it's aluminum I don't even expect it to pour good boolits for 4-5 heat cycles and one of them is a good hot fast dump and pour run on the verge of too much heat in the mold.

 

[JWFilips]

I think fiver has mention this mould tune up work before ( on the venting lines) over the other place because I picked that trick up awhile back from him ( especially the x-acto work on the cavity edges). I always do this now for any lee moulds I buy. It seems to always do the trick

 

[Phil]

Anyone have any luck with this bullet in an AR? I tried some with H4895. Results were poor.

 

[Ian]

I'm not planning to buy one, the typical Lee two-diameter, parallel bullet styles just don't excite me.

 

[KHornet]

Sent the mold back to Lee with explanation of why it was a lemon. Received a new mold back in about 10 days, with a couple of pics showing mold damage on the original and an admonition not to bang the blocks closed (never have). Anyhow, Brad has the new mold to break in, as I am busy for the next month or so, and he volunteered to break this one in for me.

 

[Brad]

I decided to run the new mould thru it's paces tonight.

They measure .227 by .229. Should size to .227 well. Average for 20 was 56.6 gr.

I did ZERO prep on the mould. Took it from the box, added handles, a little lbe on the sprue pivot and alignment pins then onto the hotplate while the pot melted. No cleaning of the mould at all.

After maybe 7 to 8 pours they were filling out well. Bases are all nice and square.

This mould does exactly what it should, it rains little bullets. No trouble getting them to drop.

 

[Ben]

That's tempting.
I have my ( new to me ) SAKO , 222 Rem. that might like those ? ? ?

Ben

 

[Brad]

Hard to say?

I really wish this didn't have that tiny little from band but instead had the nose taper right into the full diameter. That little band is going to be mostly lost in sizing.

It will be a month or more before Khornet has a chance to shoot any of these, he is busy with other projects at home.

 

[frnkeore]

If the band to nose ratio is the same as mine, the nose should cast at least .2233 (on a .227 band), almost groove size. If that, it seems that it would have to be seated deep. The .224 freebore is only .025 long on the Rem chambers and then you have a pretty steep 3 deg leade.

Also, if they cast .229 and .002 out of round, I think that would be a issue and I'd send it back, again.

Frank

 

[Ian]

Frank is right, if the bands are oor then the nose will be too. That's an issue when the parting line ends up oriented between the lands or on them, not riding the rifling the same way each shot.

 

[Brad]

Further measuring shows that the bands are .002 out of round. Right in front of the bands it is less than .001 out.
Nose in front of bands is .223, the bands are running .227-.230 . They are smaller when measured parallel to the part line.
This from measuring 3 random samples. All are out the same way on bands, much better on nose.

 

[KHornet]

Interesting however is the fact that they size beautifully and are concentric, Which quite amazes me! Have cast, checked, sized, Lubed, and weighed about 200 of them. Will hopefully have a chance to shoot a few this week.
Appreciate Brad breaking it in for me, as time has been a critical factor for me with our show schedule for the past month. Last show was this weekend, and I had to crap out as I pulled my back big time. That said, Hope to get out this week and see if the little critters will shoot worth a hoot or not.

 

[waco]

Any range results with this mold KHornet? I just got a two cavity myself. I have yet to cast with it. It will be shot in my CZ 527 .221 Fireball and possibly my Ruger M77 22-250

 

[freebullet]

And Brad mentioned trying them in an ar. I looked at that mold and thought I'd probably wined up with one eventually and would love to hear some results.
It's supposed to be really nice Sunday(like -2) morning, maybe k & Brad can share some results.

 

[KHornet]

I sent some to Jim, and he ran them thru his 223 with excellent results. Still have not had a chance to shoot any of them myself, but cast another 350 or so of them cast very hard. Sized to .226, checked and lubed with 2 coats of BLL on 200 of them, and about 75 sized .225, lubed with Lar's Can Red and one overcoat of BLL. Will try in both 222 and 223, at vols in excess of 2200.

 

[Ben]

I'm more than just a little bit interested in seeing how these do down range ! !

Ben

 

[JWFilips]

waco,
As Paul said he sent me some samples to try out & I really liked the way they shot.
I only had 18 bullets so I used one for a dummy round and loaded the other 17.
I shot them on January 2nd I'm pretty happy with the results.

I shot this at 50 yards in my Remington Sportsman 78 .223
(I don't remember what lube Paul used.)
Jim

 

[9.3X62AL]

OK, THAT kind of grouping gets my attention.

I have had decent luck with the Cast Masochism Calibers (1/4" and under). Naturally, the 22 centerfires called to me after the 25s and 24s did well.

It was a TRAP.

Summary view.......22 Hornet did semi-OK with extreme refinement of procedures--weight sorting to 1/2 of 1%, Linotype alloy, CanRed lube @ ,225"--and ran to 2400 FPS with fair-to-good grouping. 223 Rem--uneven, but some promise with RCBS 22-55-SP. Ly #225415 utterly sucked in 2 rifles--never mind. 22-250.......fuggetaboutit, barrel was shot out. That Rem 788 has been re-barreled with a Shilen .224 x 1/12", given a lead-friendly throat angle that IS NOT .200" deep like most on off-the-shelf 22-250s these days. It remains unfired, and I mean to correct that very soon and get it ready for rat season (60 shopping days left until rat season, BTW). It will get RCBS 22-55-SP test-drives also, for the same reason people climb Denali and Everest--BECAUSE IT'S THERE.

I'll keep y'all in the loop.

 

[Rick]

Al. which RCBS 22-55? There are two that I'm aware of and I have both, both are FP. Also that I'm aware of only the later version is made any longer. Got a picture?

 

[JWFilips]

Well I have told the story of my first adventures here shooting cast on my .243 Win and .223 Rem a few times
The 243 was first...I had no cast bullets but a fellow over on Cast Boolits ( Altheating) sent me a handfull each of the ones he cast with Some load data and not having any cast reloading tools winged it on my first few outings I remember I used a piece of a tapered rod I stuck into a wooden handle to expand my case necks.
When I got to the range My good shooting buddy Ed looked at the rifle and said "You can shoot cast bullets in a 243 because it has a short neck. That first time out I shot 1 inch groups with are 3 of the bullets he sent me. Ed was pretty quiet after that! Then The same thing happened: I told him I'm going to try to shoot my .223 with cast & I got the same response Too small of a neck Cast won't shoot! Again not having and moulds for my .223 I contacted Bullshop & he sent me a few different samples of what he cast. I picked a 55 grain bullet to try first Loaded it based on My Lyman manual 11 Grain RX7 Used the same tapered rod tool on my cases Went to the range and shot it for the first time with Ed watching... you guessed it. My first 3 shots were sighters to dial in my scope Then the next 5 went into just under an inch Guess I just like the challenge of being told you can't do something!
Those two rifles are still the most accurate i have with cast.