Please don't ask for more sample bullets

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Kinetic45

Member
Nov 26, 2017
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Texas, United States
Some of you know and some of you don't that I designed and had the cherry made so molds could be made for a .357 big HP hunting bullet that is usually very accurate and hard hitting. It's ment for air rifle velocities (although I understand it's been loaded in some .357 Special n Magnum and reduced loads in .358 Winchester and did so well they asked for more). It shows in the NOE catalog pictures as a gas check bullet but it IS NOT a gas check bullet!

I did this because I have, in .357: a Texan, Pitbull, Slayer and a FLEX+ (it's a prototype 'magnum' version) and I just wasn't getting the performance I wanted from the existing bullets out there in any of these air rifles.

In the last year I've cast, then weighted every single bullet and culled any out of spec ones and sized and shipped over 1400 of the:
https://noebulletmolds.com/site/product-category/358/358-152-hp-cf4

THESE WERE GIVEN AT COST to multiple airgun shooters who wanted a sample of them (usually 50 each). In almost every case I only asked cost of lead + USPS flat rate shipping of $7.00. (The cost per bullet is Rotometals 40:1 alloy and the cost works out to .08 cents a bullet so that's only $4.00 for 50, I never charged for my labor not for electrical or anything. So I was asking $11.00 for 50.).
However, I just can't continue this any more no matter how much I want to help members of the airgun community.

So last week I bought one of these molds from NOE and had it shipped direct to HiKal-BigBore bullet company... I'm giving it to them for free / no strings and I hope they will decide to stock this bullet and anyone who wants this proven very accurate bullet can buy from them. You'll have to ask them if they'll make them for you as it's not in their current product list.

NOTE that I do not have any financial arrangement with either NOE or HiKal, I don't get a cent for any mold nor will I get anything if HiKal decides to cast and sell any of these bullets.

So please don't contact me and ask for any more samples, I'm not doing that anymore.

FYI - In development, I had several prototype molds versions made by Accurate Molds (then each was sent to Hollowpoint Mold Services to HP) until I was satisfied then had the cherry made at NOE and Al decided to put it into production and stock it in the catalog. It cost me about $100 a mold and then $50 a cavity for the Accurate Molds (and of course all the shipping back and forth) then the cost of a cherry is $300. All told I spent close to $1000 in development.
As I mentioned, I did this at my cost and I don't get a cent from anyone for any of this, I just did it to get a better airgun hunting bullet out there for everyone because there was a big lack.

There's contact info on Hizkal's website if you want to ask them to make some...
https://hikalbigbore.com/

Also, the BBT .357 bullet I had Bob (Rsterne on the GTA forum) redesign from a 174gr to a 152gr and make bore riding is also sold by HiKal as the "Renegade", it also has tested well in accuracy and hunting. It's my second choice 'go to' hog and deer slug.
 
Quite good actually. 

The barrel was dialed in and the muzzle was threaded 1/2-28 for the muzzle brake.

The chamber end OD was turned down

The rear bushing which is a snug fit into the frame tube was mounted with set screws and epoxy (never to be removed again), the CF tube and barrel joined with epoxy (the tube sockets into the rear bushing 2 diameters for stiffness), the front bushing slid OVER the CF tube and secured with holes drilled through it to the barrel and permanently secured with epoxy.

The chamber reamer (10 degrees each side, 20 total lead angle) is done and once there are some sized bullets (.2845 which is what the barrel slugs) with the sizing die we're waiting on then it will get reamed to the right depth which is based on the bullet.

If course, it can be shot across the chronograph in the shop but it might be a couple weeks due to Wuhan virus restrictions to get it out to the range.

If you can log on here there's pictures to see

https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=171097.0



NOE has some new, just for this project, molds made for two different weights:

https://noebulletmolds.com/site/product-category/284-7mm/284-73-fn-j6

https://noebulletmolds.com/site/product-category/284-7mm/284-89-fn-h6

And Arsonal has it's Bowman .284 96gr

http://arsenalmolds.com/products?product_id=99
 
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I actually am trying to eventually get six different weights from 73gr to 105gr, all of which should stabilize in the 18" twist barrels.

I've got a FLEX and a Pitbull 7mm projects going too.

But Dyotat100 was kind enough to use some of his valuable time to post about the 7mm Texan he's making for me.

FYI - Told me today that he'd gotten the chamber reamed and thst with the stock .257/.308 Texan valve and filled to 3000 PSI he was getting 1050 FPS using a 98gr bullet.
 
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You SIR are a way better man than i and almost any one else!

You did what noone wanted and due to your excessive kindness flooded in the: "Me want more for free" croud.

Think of yourself first, and when you're full then consider carefully what you want to poor that excess into. Family, freinds or completly strangers.



Dont burn out caring for complete strangers and their arbitrary needs!
 
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Update
As I mentioned in a previous post I gifted a .357 152gr HPGC mold by NOE to Hi-Kal Big Bore bullet company. Didn't hear anything from them about it, but didn't need to either.
Then a couple days ago I got a call from them and it turns out they never got the mold! Someone called them asking fore some of these bullets and that's how they discovered they'd never gotten the mo;d.
Tracking shows it was delivered but it appears to have been stolen so Al at NOE Molds replaced it free of charge and told them who it'd come from.

So they called me to tell me they had gotten the replacement mold, cast some and were pleased with the test shots they'd done. He told me he's going to put it into his catalogue and they will be available to order soon.

Had a good conversation and I decided to send them another mold, free...
this one is a custom .457 BBT that Bob Sterne drew up for me and I had Accurate make it (Accurate 46-364B http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=46-364B-D.png). Id then sent the mold to Eric at http://www.hollowpointmold.com/ to have a big HP done so it would expand at the lower air rifle velocities. {This mold I'm sending/giving to HKBB is Version 2 of the design I had made, I got rid of the first mold (Ver 1.0) to UpNorthAirgunner who wanted it}

Again, I'm not in the casting business but want my fellow airgunners to have good bullet choices and this one too has been a great Texan bullet that cast +- 327 / 328gr and since it's bore riding loads a bit easier. Another bullet that delivers a lot of 'smack' but isn't so heavy that it launches at too low a velocity and too much of an arching trajectory. This was my attempt at a "balanced" weight for this caliber / rifle combination. After they test it they may add this one too, if you have a .457 Texan you might want to try it.

picture of the bullets it casts

1590190845_16619014215ec862fd408c98.91938514.jpg

 
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My original plan after I finished tweaking the design of the .457 BTHP was to have NOE grind a milling cherry and produce the molds for anyone (like I did with the two .357 designs) but I moved on to other projects and didn't proceed with this bullet.

By donating the mold to Hi-Kal, at least people can buy the bullet to test and hunt with from them and maybe someone else will ask Al to make molds available if there's enough interest.

I will say that the deer and hogs shot with it in testing found it to be lethally effective (none of them complained that it wasn't good enough, they just expired)
 
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Hi-Kal called to say the .457 mold arrived.
And I had included some of my 130gr .357 HP in the box so he'd test shot then on his 135 yard range and the performance was so good he was excited and wanted to know what mold made them so he could get one..
Since it's a modified NOE mold it's not one you can buy so Tuesday (after the holiday) I'm sending / loaning it to him so he can cast a bunch of bullets with it.

I bought a mold from the .355 listings as I was trying to see if they'd shoot 'as cast' without sizing. They do throw .3565 diameter but the accuracy was just OK but not good enough for me. Since it was a Gas Check shank mold (which tend to shoot better than a plain base with most bullets which is why it's usually my first choice of options), besides the smaller diameter it was casting, I thought the bearing surface was too short and perhaps leading to some cocking/misalignment of the bullet in the barrel.
So I sent it off to Eric at HollowpointMold.com because in addition to his great HPing machining he does other mold modifications.
I had him cut out the gas check shank and make a driving/sealing band at the base that would cast .359 so it could be sized to .358 or .357. This increased contact length in the barrel and improved centering from the band engaging the rifling more (plus possibly no gas leaking around the bullet too) gave the improved accuracy I expected.

So now it's sort of a 'bore riding' bullet for 3/4 of the side length, then has a full groove engagement, driving/sealing band at the rear... This is kind of like a pellet which has a smaller diameter head and a larger skirt.

When I got the mold back and cast some (this mold casts easy, good fillout around nose and the tumbleLube side grooves AND drops off the pin easy too) and shot them the new bullets had much better accuracy and with their weight I was getting some respectable velocities in my Pitbull, Texan and Slayer.

Here's a picture of some of them with the dry lube I'm using (which is Hexagonal Boron Nitride held on with a bit of FinishLine Chain wax, 500 shots at 974 FPS and NO fouling)
And the drawing on the NOE website of the gas checked original bullet that was modified so it has a double side diameter

Perhaps he will decide to add these to his catalogue too, but he'll have to get his own mold modified and send me mine back, like I said, it's just a loan! This bullet shoots so good I'm not giving up this mold and it's going to be hard to even loan it out!!!

1590369704_13131171625ecb1da8240941.00630873.jpg


Here's the drawing off the NOE site

1590369748_11723869745ecb1dd4445e00.76176027.jpg

 
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Update: So Richard at Hi-Kal cast some and loves them and is going to stock them as 'the Destroyer HP' on his web store.
He sent me a couple of boxes of his first run (Yes, I insisted and paid for them!) and I thought Id show you how he packages them. Note that there's a desiccant pack on the underside of the plastic tray.
Also note in the second picture how the .358 sizing die only sizes the last band/base of the bullet (This is how the mold was modified). The main body of the bullet is smaller and barely engages the rifling so less bore drag but still aligns the bullet in the barrel for good internal ballistics and easy loading. Again, similar to a pellets head being smaller than the skirt.
I started trying to find a 'replacement' bullet to the Aeromagnum when that company collapsed (I still have 14 unopened boxed on my shelf I saved, but now I'll use them up as this replacement is better) and this 130gr gets as good as or better accuracy in my four test guns. I haven't tested in a choked .357 barrel but they might do OK as the only thing that going to really hit the choke restriction is the rear band.
Remember, the unmodified NOE GC base mold DIDN'T get that good of accuracy so these bullets are from the modified mold. I have talked to Al at NOE about this and he might put a modified mold up for sale but for now the only place to get these are from Hi-Kal.

1591303924_18423992565ed95ef4f00e86.68428796.jpg




1591303946_16490666605ed95f0a42c808.55227193.jpg

 
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