Molding your own pellets

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Jazzman

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Sep 25, 2015
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I'm very new to air guns but am an experienced competitive shooter in various shooting disciplines. In fact, I mold my own projectiles for many calibers from 6.5 mm all the way up to 45 caliber.

After searching this forum i did not see anything regarding molding equipment to create your own pellets. I have Saeco, Lyman and other molding equipment and Redding, now the re seller for Saeco, says they do not have anything....yet.

Would any of you know if someone out there makes molding equipment for airguns?

With a large supply of my own recipe of lead/tin/antimony rated at about 9 on the SAECO specific hardness scale I'm wondering if this is even plausible.

This is likely a question steeped in ignorance but thought I'd ask anyway.

:)
 
Pellets are so inexpensive that is seems like more trouble than it's worth. In .25 cal for example the high quality JSB Exact 25 grain pellets are around .02 cents each. Smaller calibers are even less. Plus with air guns many shoot a lot more than with firearms. I regularly shoot a 100 or more pellets in a session. That's a lot of production even if you could find good molds for pellets that your gun actually shoots well and that's a whole other can of worms to open.
 
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I am sure that the future will open all sorts of doors in the airgunning world, but currently casting and even swaging pelllets/bullets are typically not very good in "airgun" barrels. You can switch to an unchoked TJ's or similar bore to take advantage of making your own or buying custom slugs from others, but results aren't a sure thing. If you are talking .257 and bigger than yes, thats the way to fly, but trying to make pellets for .177-.30 is about a waste at this point in time.

I have multiple custom barrels as well as standard "airgun" barrels. It is very hard to beat the results of shooting JSB and other quality pellets. I have tried all sorts of stuff and have no issue throwing money at a project to achieve results. With that said, I currently shoot "airgun" barrels with high quality pellets and simply size and do other things to extract the most out of my airguns. Again, if you are talking mid to big bore bullet shooters then cast or swag away. If you are talking standard pellet calibers up to .30 then save yourself the headache and shoot out of the tin!!
 
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Thanks blackdiesel. I checked out Bob Sterns posts and followed the logical path into bullet "Width" and its dramatic affect on accuracy at extended ranges. Eventually followed multiple threads including designing one's own reamer.. So, back to the mold idea.... It looks like this is still in its infancy with regards to airguns but certainly understand some of the challenges associated with shape and size, from meplat through a weird shaped ogive and ultimately the flare... So, have the spar located at the meplat seems to be the only real solution to ensure uniformity elsewhere.

Being someone who's expertise is metallurgy it'll be interesting to play with components to see what happens during my 'long' journey on this topic. Meanwhile, I'll purchase off the shelf projectiles for now while I experiment. :) My initial suspicion is that a softer compound might be the ticket but that's only an educated guess and it needs to be balanced against potential deformity.

Anyway, thanks for your being patient with me as I begin my new journey in the world of air guns.

 
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I cast my .35 cal bullets. The big issue I see in airguns are that the barrels are not uniform in size. Most Korean made barrels tend to be larger. For instance, my Career Ultra barrel is .358. So I had Accurate Molds build my mold at .359. Since it's the EPP/UG style bullet I don't have to resize them. And a lot of the 30 and 35 cal repeaters have barrels that choked like smaller caliber pellet guns which seem to cause problems when shooting slugs.
 
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There are many different types of air gun ammo that you can't buy in a tin. I have made pellets out of hot melt glue, felt and lead. I made my own mould for my Air Force Talon p in 25 caliber. The mould throws a 33 grain bullet with excellent penetration.
My point is this, don't be afraid to experiment with homemade ammo. Let the timid be content to buy their ammo, etc. The goal is to have fun and push boundaries! 
 
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