Casting for the .25-20

[EDG]

At the last gun show I ran into a 65 grain 2 cavity Lyman .257 GC mold. Based on my results wioth larger molds I am going to have a hard time getting this one hot enough to fill out.
Any suggestions for getting this mold hot enough to cast with out it taking all day to get 20 good bullets.

[leadman]

Warm it up on a hot plate or edge of the pot. If you can't do this do as I do with a 22 cal. mold. I fill the mold and cut the sprue but wait just a little longer then normal to drop the boolits. Do this a few times. I think? it transfers more heat from the lead to the mold so it warms faster.

[Bret4207]

Cast faster. Simple really, but the more hot lead is in the mould the hotter it gets. Alternatively, many guys here report using a hot plate to warm the mould.

[Calamity Jake]

Yap I warm all my molds on a hot plate while the casting pot is comming to temp(750-800° for them iddybiddy boolits). I use the one mold only and cast a pretty fast pace.
If I want more than one caliber of small boolit or a different style of the same caliber then that mold(s) is on the hot plate waiting for it's turn.

[DLCTEX]

Dunk the corner of the mold in the melt for about 30 seconds, I do it all the time with aluminum and steel molds.

[Larry Gibson]

I've no problem at all casting excellent bullets with my Lyman double cavity 257420. As mentioned; cast hot.

Larry Gibson

[EDG]

Thanks for the info guys!!

[9.3X62AL]

"Ditto" to Larry Gibson's comments as to Lyman #257420, which sounds like the mould design you're dealing with. I just pre-warm it at the edge of the pot, and within 2-3 pours it starts behaving itself.

[runfiverun]

i use a 2 cav aluminum 75 gr mold for the 25-20 i start at the hot side and let the mold cool some as i get started. by the time i get into rythmn i need to wipe it on a wet cloth every few pours to keep the temps down.

[jlchucker]

I've no problem at all casting excellent bullets with my Lyman double cavity 257420. As mentioned; cast hot.

Larry Gibson

Larry, I've got one of these as well--but no longer have the rifle I molded for. I too had no problem at all casting excellent bullets with this mold. Once you get going, you can cast a big pile of these little bullets with one potfull of alloy. They shoot great in the 25-20.

[Larry Gibson]

Larry, I've got one of these as well--but no longer have the rifle I molded for. I too had no problem at all casting excellent bullets with this mold. Once you get going, you can cast a big pile of these little bullets with one potfull of alloy. They shoot great in the 25-20.

I really like my little Savage 23B. It's had it's barrel shortened to 20" which makes it handy and it has a Weaver K2.5 scope on it. I cast those bullets fairly hard with a 60/40 WW/linotype mix alloy and load them over 11 gr of 5744. Velocity is 1830 fps and they hold into 2 moa at 100 yards. A slightly more accurate load is 4.5 gr of Unique for 1550 fps. I also cast the old Ideal 257283HP (makes for a 80 gr PB HP) out of salvaged .22LR lead and load it over 2.5 gr Bullseye. That runs about 1000 fps and shoots into 1" at 50 yards. It rivals the best of .22LR HPs and sure thumps squirrels and rabbits a lot harder.

Larry Gibson