Lyman 225415 - 45gr or 55gr ???????

[JIMinPHX]

I just looked in a new catalog from Midway. On page 410 they show a Lyman 225415 as being 55 gr. When I look in my Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook (third edition) on page 304 it shows that same boolit as being 45gr. I want to find out which one is correct.

I have a rifle with a slow twist that I would like to cast for & it doesn't like boolets that are over 50 grain. If this thing is 55-gr, then it's a deal breaker for me. Other than that, it looks like a pretty nice boolit. If anybody has this mold, I would love to know what weight boolit it actually throws. What would be even more useful than that, would be to know the length of the boolit that it makes.

Can anybody help me out?

Thanks,
Jim

[MTWeatherman]

Traveled this road myself. For a good discussion on this check out:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=8352

Per the mould I purchased in 2006, the weight is 55 grs. The gas check shank length was apparently increased from the initial 45 gr. design.

[MTWeatherman]

Jim
Should have read your post a bit more closely. As dropped from the mould, my 225415 runs .605 in length. You'd obviously have to add the wall thickness of your gas checks to that.

[JScott]

Mine is an older model that came in the cardboard box, not sure of its exact age. A random sample of 5 from my last attempts showed an average weight of 47.0grs cast from straight WW, and a length of .540. Again, mine is an older one I picked up last year at a gun show. I have not had a chance to try it yet and it gave me fits trying to get well formed bullets, lots of culls. I probably should have tried adding more tin.

[legend]

my 225415 useing straight wheelweights casts at 51grains,the mold is about 16 years old.

[JIMinPHX]

Thank you for that link MTW. There was lots of good info there. If the now heavier weight is due to a longer GC shank, than that is good news indeed. If I do run into trouble with the boolit being too big, I can always flycut a little bit off the top of the mold & bring it down to size. Also thank you for adding the length info. It turns out that this boolit is a bit shorter than I had expected. At .605” long + GC, that still leaves me some breathing room before I hit the .655” length of the 50-gr jacketed slug that works well for me now. & it leaves a whole lot of room before I hit the .690” length of the 55-grain fmj that currently shoots like garbage for me. Since Sir George Greenhill tells us that it is the ratio of twist to bullet length that gives us stability, I should be in good shape without needing to do any modification at all. Between that & the favorable range reports on your older thread, it looks like this boolit should be a winner for me.

Also thank you to JScott & Legend for your contributions.

[1Shirt]

My 415 casts about 46 gr. with straight WW. It is an old one. Also have it in HP, and it is a better shooter than the non HP'd. Weighs about 42 gr. depending on alloy.
1Shirt!:coffee:

[shooting on a shoestring]

My 225415 is the newer version. As cast in WW length is 0.598 to 0.602 depending on the sprue cut. GC'd with Hornady checks, the lenght is very uniform 0.610", weighs 54 grs without lube.

I bought mine for my Hornet with 1:16 twist. Shot terrible from 1300 to 1900 fps. Getting 9" groups at 50 yards. Then I used 4198 and ran loads getting 2088, 2171, and 2275 fps and 50 yard groups came down to between 2 and 3" with a couple near 1.5". That is still bad, but the best I can do with that boolit in my Hornet. I have a 1:14 twist .22-250 out at Dad's place. That boolit might work pretty good in that rifle.

I bought the 225438. The worst groups with it in the Hornet have been 4-5" at 100yds and I have a couple of loads giving 1.25" at 100yds with velocities 2300 to 2600.

[JIMinPHX]

1:16 is probably too slow, even for that boolit. According to Greenhill's formula, the twist-length relationship for a .22 goes something like this -
1:7 – 1.075 inch
1:9 - .836 inch
1:10 - .753 inch
1:12 - .627 inch
1:14 - .538 inch
1:16 - .470 inch
Shorter boolits are fine, but longer ones tend not to stabilize well. As your velocity goes up, you can cheat on this a little, but not a lot. There are also minor corrections for altitude, humidity & temperature, but I usually ignore them because they are small.

[JIMinPHX]

Hey Shoestring,

If you’re not happy with that 225415 that you have, I know a place you could unload it for a reasonable price.

[JIMinPHX]

My 415 casts about 46 gr. with straight WW. It is an old one. Also have it in HP, and it is a better shooter than the non HP'd. Weighs about 42 gr. depending on alloy.
1Shirt!:coffee:

Did Lyman offer that as a hollow point? Or is that something that you whipped up yourself?