Articles for casting .22cal bullets?......
- Thread starter waco
- Start date
fiver
Well-Known Member
Jon Goin's articles.
the 22's ain't as hard to cast as everybody makes them out to be.
I freaked out at first and fought trying to keep the mold all heated up, which of course gave me a bunch of weight variations.
I finally gave all that up and just got the mold warm and run with it.
the mold found it's settled down temp and I just went with it.
I did find that doing really long runs and just keeping a settled in pace produced very small weight variations.
the 22's ain't as hard to cast as everybody makes them out to be.
I freaked out at first and fought trying to keep the mold all heated up, which of course gave me a bunch of weight variations.
I finally gave all that up and just got the mold warm and run with it.
the mold found it's settled down temp and I just went with it.
I did find that doing really long runs and just keeping a settled in pace produced very small weight variations.
Ian
Notorious member
I don't think I would do well ladling .22s. My RCBS and Lee moulds require quite a hustle. So does the MP NATO 4-banger I borrowed. What I like to do is make two piles of casings, one for practice, one for real. The ones in the "for real" pile only go there when the mould gets to perfect cruising altitude and I'm holding temp, timing, and the overall heat steady. Just because they look good doesn't mean they're all the same size and weight.
Ian
Notorious member
I'm slow with a ladle compared to bottom pour. Yes, you can heat the top, but you have to heat the blocks, too, and I try to do that with high cyclic rates. I run the Lee six-banger and MP brass four-banger at 4-5 cycles per minute, complete with a large sprue puddle and fan to quench the sprue. 4-5 pours per minute is just not something I can do with a ladle counting the ladle handling time.
waco
Springfield, Oregon
I just tried to do a run a Lee 22's(newer design) from a two cavity mold. This thing is not worth the $20 I spent on it.
I'm not even sure why I fired it up. I just wanted to cast I guess. 70+% rejects.
I don't even really shoot cast in my Fireball or my .22-250
I put it away and cast from an Accurate 44 mold I had cut. 2 cavities are a copy of the Lee 310gr only plain base, and the other two are a 240gr RNFP with TL grooves in it for using BLL in my 1894 lever gun. 7-8gr of Unique is the normal charge.
I'm not even sure why I fired it up. I just wanted to cast I guess. 70+% rejects.
I don't even really shoot cast in my Fireball or my .22-250
I put it away and cast from an Accurate 44 mold I had cut. 2 cavities are a copy of the Lee 310gr only plain base, and the other two are a 240gr RNFP with TL grooves in it for using BLL in my 1894 lever gun. 7-8gr of Unique is the normal charge.
358156 hp
At large, whereabouts unknown.
One of my little tricks is to over preheat the mould a bit, and then cast at a comfortable rate to allow the mould to acclimate downwards to the temp it wants. I know it sounds crazy, but sometimes backwards works better. This usually helps me get a feel for a new mould just a little bit quicker somehow.
Chris
Well-Known Member
I've done this before too, that is excellent advice.
Ian
Notorious member
I did a whole study on just that a while back, will see if I can find it.