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rsterne
I found some time today to cast some of the new .22 cal Bob’s Boattails from NOE…. I used 1% tin in pure lead, and a temperature of about 840*F because of the tiny size of these bullets…. I have found the smaller the bullet, the hotter the temperature the lead needs to be, to properly fill out the mould…. They looked pretty good while I was casting them, no wrinkles on the body, but when it came time to sort them I found that over 2/3rds of the HollowPoints had a couple of small wrinkles so that the nose was not perfect…. Since some were fine, this is not a mould problem, but not quite enough temperature in the melt…. probably another 10*F would have made most of them perfect…. Alternately, a bit more tin might make the difference, but at over 800*F, the tin tends to burn out of the alloy, so just more heat might be the best answer…. Here are what they look like….
If you look at the HP on the upper right, you can see a couple of small divots in the HP rim…. compared to the perfect HP on the upper left…. In two hours of actual casting time (not including setup, melting the lead, and preheating the mould) I cast about 600 bullets, half were solids and the other half HPs…. Here is a photo of them….
The 2nd quality HPs are on the left (over 200), the solids are in the middle (nearly 300), and the perfect HPs are on the right (about 90)…. The solids weighed 29.6 gr. in this alloy, and the HPs were 27.4 gr…. and you couldn’t weigh any diference between the perfect ones and the seconds…. so I can use the seconds for Chrono testing and possibly target work, depending on how accurate they are, and I will save the first quality HPs for hunting…. As cast, the bullets were very close to the design size, which was 0.217″ at the back of the nose, 0.211″ in the middle, and 0.219″ at the rear band…. They were pretty good for being round, within about 0.0005″, and the diameters varied about 0.0005″ from bullet to bullet, just due to temperature and technique I am sure…. That’s what sizing dies are for, right?…. Here are photos of the beautiful NOE Moulds….
There is a Lyman style HP pin in one cavity, and this mould is for the smaller size that is available…. The larger one is 0.220″/0.222″…. ie 0.003″ larger in diameter…. Post continued below….
rsterne
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danielparrish
Had a chance to sneak in a few rounds today with my jkhan noblesse .22. I had previously shot the 30g bbt sized at 217 nose and 219 rear drive band. Ok accuracy to 50 yards but I felt they could definitely do better. I ordered some sizing dies from noe for my .25 and one for the .22 in 216.. sounds a bit small I know. The lothar walther is 215 lands 221 groves… but is also choked. So I sized down a few and ran down to the range. Definitely tighter groups, on par with my shooting the 18 jsb… with the open reticle, not a scope.
The picture below is 5 shots, three in the same hole…winds, nnw @ 11 mph with higher gusts, open reticle. When I can, I’ll get a .217 sizing die and try that also, but I must say I am very encouraged with the new results. That group is a bit less than the size of a dime.denisbeaudry
Here are some groups from today. The conditions were less than ideal but this is great for real work tests . 15 MPH to 30 mph gusty wind at my back .They were shot at 850 fps regulated with an ES of 30 fps over a chrony through a LW barrel . The bullets are unsized at .220 “ the barrel slugs at .221” . Shot at 100 yards verified with cheap rangefinder. I’ve been having mixed results with these as cast . I think the cold (- 10 C) the bullets hardened and helped with accuracy. I’ve been using a 40:1 mix but it would appear I should change the mix a bit maybe to 35:1 lead /tin. The target with the two 5 shot groups and one ten shot were sight ins at 50 yards to start. I should add that this was shooting from the tailgate of my pick up resting on a UTG grip pod. To say I’m extremely happy is an understatement. I cherry picked the best of 6 target papers shot at 100 .
danielparrish
davidferdian
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