Cleaned out the pellet trap today and wow. So now am wondering what is needed to possibly recast these to slugs or pellets again to use? And hoping not an arm n leg on cost. Or would sell to someone is already set up for it but if it’s cheaper to Reshape or swag would be great
What’s needed to recast pellets or slugs
- Thread starter robertnadia84
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Anybody molding their own pellets?
I have been considering getting a pellet mold. For years I molded all sorts of jigs for fishing. I did it both because of cost and because what I wanted wasn't readily available. I still have a HotPot as well as a bottom pour pot and 100's of lbs of lead so I'm good there. My apprehension is...
www.airgunnation.com Heres a thread with some questions answered, it kinda does cost an arm and a leg to get set up I think you'd have to shoot A LOT to break even in a reasonable amount of time.
I think at this years rmac there was a swaging set up at one of the vendors that was pretty slick, but it made the Corbin set ups look like the poor mans option.
edit: Presslug was the one I was thinking of, fancy and pretty but it would take ~22,000+ slugs to break even.
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The biggest cost is the pellet or slug mold. I bought a 25 caliber from NOE and a Lee lead pot + a Lyman digger. My cast pellets vary in weight less than the JSBs I had on hand. But neither my Avenger or my P35 shoot them very accurately. I think my cost was about $150 with most of that in the mold. If you can find somebody that casts a pellet you are considering, I would buy or beg some ammo from them to try before buying the mold. I did not find it overly hard or time consuming to make them but it seems like cast pellets are just like commercial ammo. Some guns like them and others do not. I also later bought a Lee mold to make 1 lb and 1/2 lb lead ingots. That is pretty cheap and is something you might want to consider. You can melt lead in an old pot you don't want to use for anything else but you need to be really careful pouring it. There are also bottom pour melting furnaces that are not very expensive.
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I've cast PB bullets for 35 years. It would be impractical to cast diabolo style pellets but it can be done. The mould block requires a removable base pin that would have to be inserted into the mold before the casting which would form the hollow base. The pellet would be cast then the center pin would be removed, knock the pellet out. Since it would require the use of a center pin it would almost certainly be a single cavity mould. African Air Ordnance make Diabolo moulds for 30 cal and up. They are all single cavity. http://www.africanairordnance.com/424820687/category/618414
Casting one pellet at a time would be crazy tedious.
Swaging appears to be the industry standard method of making pellets from videos I've seen of pellet making at JSB's factory on YouTube. Swaging requires pure lead wire of the correct diameter for the weight of the pellet desired.
For home cast airgun projectiles slugs would be the way to go. Cast them in a multi-cavity mould, spray them with a light coat of Ballistol and press them through a PB bullet sizing die of the correct diameter.
Use pure lead, especially in the big bores.
IMO making your own pellets would be an labor of love. Slugs are far more practical with a reasonable payback period. Regards
Casting one pellet at a time would be crazy tedious.
Swaging appears to be the industry standard method of making pellets from videos I've seen of pellet making at JSB's factory on YouTube. Swaging requires pure lead wire of the correct diameter for the weight of the pellet desired.
For home cast airgun projectiles slugs would be the way to go. Cast them in a multi-cavity mould, spray them with a light coat of Ballistol and press them through a PB bullet sizing die of the correct diameter.
Use pure lead, especially in the big bores.
IMO making your own pellets would be an labor of love. Slugs are far more practical with a reasonable payback period. Regards
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