First attempt at casting pellets/bullets

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IMADMAN

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Sep 20, 2017
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Hawaii, United States
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I cast mostly fishing lead, but since acquiring a few pcp's I'd figure I'd give it a shot. I'm using a Palmer hot pot. First order of business was to melt down a bunch of lead. These were the old style lead vent housings for the plumbing vent pipes on the roof. Took a while to cut them up, melt them, skim off the rubbish and turn them into ingots. I use the tiny muffin molds.

I made a few .45 200gr. swc's and some 46gr. Noe .300. It took a couple of tries but the came out pretty decent. I think I'll tumble them to remove any flash or rough edges.

Now only if I had a more convenient place to shoot these things.

Well unable to post a pic, but will do when the option becomes available again. 
 
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I hope you have better luck than me.

I just cast a bunch of the Noe 46gr. .30 pellets with soft lead and even after sorting for weight and culling imperfections they were all over the place at 30 yards. I’d get a few clustered together, and right when I started to think they might be okay after all, I’d get several wide fliers.

Keep in mind that this is not the first time I’ve done casting. I’ve done quite a bit for my firearms with good results, but I think pellets may be a different breed.

Kind of disappointing to say the least.
 
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I hope you have better luck than me.

I just cast a bunch of the Noe 46gr. .30 pellets with soft lead and even after sorting for weight and culling imperfections they were all over the place at 30 yards. I’d get a few clustered together and right when I started to think they might be okay after all, I’d get several wide fliers.

Keep in mind that this is not the first time I’ve done casting. I’ve done quite a bit for my firearms with good results, but I think pellets may be a different breed.

Kind of disappointing to say the least.
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Kinda bought the Noe mold on a whim. I got 3 pcp's in .30, hoping at least one will shoot them accurately. 
 
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I want to try my hand at casting .22 pellets. Interested to see your setup/what all is involved.
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Unfortunately, the pictures function is not working. But my set up is pretty simple.

Palmer Hot pot, can't rember if it's a 2 or 4lb capacity? Pure lead, in my case it was the old style roof lead. Toilet bowl wax ring, I found this at a job site so free works for me. I use it to Flux the lead to get the impurities and rubbish to float to the top. A metal tea spoon to scoop up the gunk that floats to the top. Bullet/pellet molds.

PPE- Respirator, safety glasses /face shield, long pants, long sleeve shirt, welding gloves. I cast outdoors so I'm pretty sure I got the ventilation covered.

Things that I'd still like to get are -

Hot plate to preheat my molds, possibly a mini ladle if there is such a thing? The pellet mold fills really quick so it overflows on the sprue cutter. Hoping that a mini type ladle I will be able to pour more consistant amounts.. Thermometer and hardness checker.




 
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I've used a NOE mold to produce 25 caliber pellets. The weight variation of my case pellets is smaller than the weight variation of my commercially made pellets - including JSBs. It took a little experimenting with casting temperature to get to that point, however. I use a hot plate to pre heat the mold. But my 2 25s do not like them. My Avenger puts them into groups nearly 2 inches at 25 yards. My P35 is better, maybe 3/4 inch on a good day, but it will shoot into 1/4 inch or less at 25 yards with FTTs. Avenger does that or better with FX 25.4s.

After this admittedly limited experience my guess is that cast pellets are somewhat like commerical pellets. Some guns like them, other guns do not. My Avenger insists on JSB pellets, my P35 prefers H&Ns. Avenger hates H&Ns.

It'd be great if there was a way to get a "sample pack" of pellets from a mold before we buy it.
 
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IMADMAN said:
View attachment 209575I cast mostly fishing lead, but since acquiring a few pcp's I'd figure I'd give it a shot. I'm using a Palmer hot pot. First order of business was to melt down a bunch of lead. These were the old style lead vent housings for the plumbing vent pipes on the roof. Took a while to cut them up, melt them, skim off the rubbish and turn them into ingots. I use the tiny muffin molds.

I made a few .45 200gr. swc's and some 46gr. Noe .300. It took a couple of tries but the came out pretty decent. I think I'll tumble them to remove any flash or rough edges.

Now only if I had a more convenient place to shoot these things.

Well unable to post a pic, but will do when the option becomes available again.
Click to expand...
I would recommend swageing them for size
 
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IMADMAN said:
I'm looking into doing it at some point. Right now I'm searching for a better location just to shoot.
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You might try talking to farmers in your area and offer to shoot pigeons during daylight or rats if you have night shooting gear. If you're stuck in the city indoor pistol ranges are available. I hate to pay to shoot but sometimes it's the only option avaialble.
 
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