Any one make .25 auto molds?
Printable View
Any one make .25 auto molds?
I don't know that Lyman makes their .251 mould any more, but they're on Ebay all the time. 252435 is the mould number.
BTW- You are a glutton for punishment if you want to try reloading the 25 Auto, much less casting for it! Good luck.
RCBS has made a 25acp mold but I don't know if it is in current production. BTW, this is like casting, sizing and reloading with a tweezers.
Not cast but Midsouth lists 25 acp bullets on closeout for $1.99 per hundred July special link Ron
http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/july08_spl2.asp
RCBS makes a 25 ACP mould but it is listed as a special which makes it twice the price! Over $100 new and a long wait on the spl. order from Midway. Best bet is to watch ebay for one, they can't be that popular.
NEI #15 - .251-51-PB sounds like what you want. They cut good molds and state that "Cast diameters are .000 to .003 larger than listed diameters". I've usually got mine within two weeks. This one appears to have a lube groove and no crimp groove.
At $20 for 50 and nearly $20 for 20 for HP i wouldn't mind using tweezers to load them. Finding the spent casings will be the hard part. I would load .22lr if i could. The gun i have is not some bo-bo Saturday night special .25 like most,except the berettas. It is a mint condition Colt Junior .25 passed down to me by my passed grandfather. They were only manufactured from 1958-1968 and are worth about $500.00+ in mint condition. Mine was actually made in Spain by Astra for Colt's.There like baby 1911 colt 45's. The parts are getting rare and expensive on these guns so i would like to shoot lead so the barrel will last longer. With the fine micro sights you would be surprised where i can put them at 25 yards.
Its like these.
http://gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewIte...Item=104946825
http://gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewIte...Item=105108546
What diameter is jacketed .25acp?Im assuming i should go .001 over sized for cast.
I had a Beretta 25 auto. 100% reliable with everything I tried. Killed a skunk and a racoon with it, maybe a couple other things. With decent sights I think they would be shooters.
Not Lee. NEI, and there is a website but I'm away from my desk and they are carpeting the stairs and upstairs hall so I can't get there. Do a search for NEI and Bullet Mold and it's likely to come up. They cut the mold when ordered, they have no stock. Iron, brass or aluminum blocks, all mine are aluminum.
It is NEIhandtools.com Give them a try. It is Walt Melander's company now run by his daughter.
To revive a old, dead thread about mini-mouse boolits: I recently purchased a Lyman 252435 on Gunbroker as part of an auction that included the mold, .25 ACP dies, and 250 pieces of once fired brass. I looked around for a while for one of these molds, so I jumped on it. I couldn't find any of the big makers doing a .252 mold anymore, and Mountain Molds won't do one that small either.
I load the .25 ACP on my Lee Classic Turret. I've found that the most annoying thing about loading it is handling the small cases. Using the turret in auto index mode keeps case handling to a minimum, and .25 ACP projectiles are not really any smaller than .223 ones, which I load regularly. I think quality .25 ACP pistols are fun plinkers, and with cast boolits and the small powder charges they use, its hardly any more expensive than shooting .22LR.
Primers alone cost as much as 22LR ammo. What can a 25acp do that a 22LR can't?
I'm one of those people who load for damn near everything including the 25 auto. I've never had the tenacity to cast for it.
I guess that depends on what one is paying for primers. I recently bought some CCI SP primers for $22.50/1000. I can't buy 1000 rounds of .22 LR anywhere around here for $22.50, its more like $15-$20 per 500 these days in my area. With cast boolits there is no cost, I get the lead for free. Powder charges in the neighborhood of 1 grain mean nearly 7000 rounds per pound of powder, and a pound of powder is about $20, or about $3 per 1000 rounds. I already have the brass, and its easy to pick up .25 ACP brass at various ranges because almost no one reloads it. That is $25.50/1000, or just slightly more than .22 LR bulk packed ammunition is for 500 rounds.
What does the .25 Auto do better than the .22 LR. In my experience it is both more feed reliable than the .22 LR versions of the tiny pistols that use it and has better ignition reliability than rimfire ammunition.
It's not the cost on loading the .25 ACP but the challenge. Had a friend that loaded it with the Lyman bullet and he had a ball with it. Not much of around but he sure got satisfaction out of it./beagle
I have/had the 25 mould in HP.
Made an extremely nice little round in my humble opinion.
Had RCBS DC mold as well, neve got it up and running.
Loaded the 25 bach in early 70's and made a sizing lubing die from a Herters 243 die.
There was a WTS on Castboolits with 25 brass and bullets day before yesterday if I remember correctly.
http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/...ad.php?t=75177
I bought a bunch of FMJ when stores put them on clearance many moons ago. Some new Hornady as well.
Clears your mind when you work with them for sure!:groner:
FWIW
PS Bought two little Bauers a couple years ago and am in throws of restoring them even now.
D.
IIRC, Ranchdog was working on a design for the .25 before he got tired of fighting with Lee's ongoing problems. He claimed very good results from the prototype mold and it looked like it would be more effective than the typical RN.