Lead-free .30 cal. pellets
- Thread starter marcella69
- Start date
Where in Cali are you located? I might be wrong but I don't think there is a 30cal lead free pellet in the market yet. I know there are a lot of .22s and a few in .25 cal but most of them really suck! The 22 h&n shoot ok tho,
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I'm in IB on the TJ border. (Why, are the regs inconsistent statewide?) I bought the .30 for hunting and now I can't find lead-free. I even contacted Mr. Hollowpoint & he was no joy.
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You could cast your own out of tin.
Use Mold Max 60 silicone rubber to make a mold using regular 30 cal jsb pellets. Melt tin or pewter on your kitchen stove and pour into the mold.
A $25 trial size tube of Mold Max 60 would be enough to make a 30 pellet cavity mold at least.
It is much easier to cast tin or pewter than lead. It's melting point is so low that it allows it to be safely cast in silicone. The properties of tin are not massively different to lead. I have never tried casting pellets from tin as I have no need by I have cast other stuff from it. It takes 5 minutes once your mold is made.
Use Mold Max 60 silicone rubber to make a mold using regular 30 cal jsb pellets. Melt tin or pewter on your kitchen stove and pour into the mold.
A $25 trial size tube of Mold Max 60 would be enough to make a 30 pellet cavity mold at least.
It is much easier to cast tin or pewter than lead. It's melting point is so low that it allows it to be safely cast in silicone. The properties of tin are not massively different to lead. I have never tried casting pellets from tin as I have no need by I have cast other stuff from it. It takes 5 minutes once your mold is made.
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Thank you for that, zebra; but it's not an issue now that I've learned that lead pellets are permitted for hunting in California.
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I was reading a post elsewhere concerning lead free in California. It was stated that this did not apply to pellets. I could be wrong, but you might want to check regs.
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I will have a .30 boat tail mold next week. I will see if they cast and shoot well in lead free alloy. I will be testing them in my carnivore and .30 boss. I will post the results.
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Yes, jland; I just found out that I can use lead pellets for hunting in California. As far as my new Impact .30, I love her! I've had her for a couple months now and have done quite a bit of hunting with 'er. She's a hammer. I have her ranged out to 100 yards with tight groups. She performs as advertised. I highly recommend her. I really like the on-the-fly swappable bottles! Here are the results of a complete shot string for my new FX Impact .30 (after one tin). Overall, I am extremely pleased 
! All readings are from the factory gauges with no tweaking. I used a Master Chrony. My reg is set at 150 bar. I shot 44.75 gr JSB Diabolo Domeds. I started with a bottle pressure of 250 bar and shot down until the reg pressure started to drop. I got 37 regulated shots with an average of 877.8 fps (76.55 ft-lbf). The reg pressure started to drop after the 40th shot (@ 864.6 fps) when the bottle pressure read 155 bar. The SD and spread was a little high at 3.74 and 14.5 fps, respectively. But, there was one outlier at 869.9 fps which skewed the result somewhat. So, for all intents and purposes, the performance is as advertised; and the gauges are accurate, given that they are analog and are graduated in 50 bar increments. Hope this helps
! All readings are from the factory gauges with no tweaking. I used a Master Chrony. My reg is set at 150 bar. I shot 44.75 gr JSB Diabolo Domeds. I started with a bottle pressure of 250 bar and shot down until the reg pressure started to drop. I got 37 regulated shots with an average of 877.8 fps (76.55 ft-lbf). The reg pressure started to drop after the 40th shot (@ 864.6 fps) when the bottle pressure read 155 bar. The SD and spread was a little high at 3.74 and 14.5 fps, respectively. But, there was one outlier at 869.9 fps which skewed the result somewhat. So, for all intents and purposes, the performance is as advertised; and the gauges are accurate, given that they are analog and are graduated in 50 bar increments. Hope this helps Upvote 0
I have had this conversation with DFW this year. They told me a pellet gun IS NOT classified as a fire arm and therefore lead pellets do not fall in the category of non-lead ammunition. If you got any doubt, call DFW yourself to make sure.
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Marcella, very interesting. I was also concerned about the lead ban in CA but looked it up and it doesn’t apply to air Guns.
Your shot string on the Impact looks almost a carbon copy of my .30 FX Bobcat. Same FPS with same pellet and same number of shots on regulator. Hey, what happened to the .25 Wildcat?
Your shot string on the Impact looks almost a carbon copy of my .30 FX Bobcat. Same FPS with same pellet and same number of shots on regulator. Hey, what happened to the .25 Wildcat?
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I am in CA and do hope that someone does create some lead free pellets as eventually it is likely to be a requirement. At some of the ranges they limit air guns only to their trash/plinking 40 yard range and I think it is because of the lead pellets so they want to minimize the impact so you are not allowed to shoot your air gun in the 50 or 100 yard sections.
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I would talk to Ron of Higharchunter. He as made some lead free for me in 357 that shot very accurate for me at 100 yards. He has some knowledge of the lead free casting which is a whole other world from regular lead.
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