Cast 225438 vs Rabbit

[mroliver77]

This garden robber stopped in my lane for just a bit too long. 225438 cast from superfly's babbit over a charge of WC 820 2450fps NEF .22 Hornet anchored him right now. Frontal quartering shot messed up shoulders and evrything else in the way. I was surprised at the damage. This thing shoots these in one hole @ 75 yards all day long.
ENTRY


EXIT

[dk17hmr]

Gotta love those NEF's....I use 225415 in my NEF hornet. Case full of Trailboss with a 225415 and no gascheck is a cheap way to rid the yard of varmints.

[JeffinNZ]

That's great. I have a 225415 that I just love. It's great on game. I recently tested my RN 225462 on bunnies and departing at 1700fps out to 100 yards it put 'em down fine but only if the shot was right in the boiler house. Not much room for error with the RN......unlike the FN.

[snaggdit]

Nice. I got some of that babbit from Superfly as well. light stuff. Looks like it works well.

That's great. I have a 225415 that I just love. It's great on game. I recently tested my RN 225462 on bunnies and departing at 1700fps out to 100 yards it put 'em down fine but only if the shot was right in the boiler house. Not much room for error with the RN......unlike the FN.

Not to change the subject, but I have been thinking about casting for my AR. In looking at the choices, I see a lot of FN molds and not that many RN. By the above comment can I assume that the FN does more damage than the RN on game? I'm new to the .223 game so please edumacate me (as my FIL from AR always says)...

[303Guy]

N ice! (Well, not for the rabit .... !)

This thing shoots these in one hole @ 75 yards all day long.

Is that a hornet attribute or the NEF attribute?

And please 'edumacate' me on what 'superfly's babbit' is?

I have to find my RCBS mold and see what it is.

[JIMinPHX]

Yea, rabbits get messed up & blow their guts out that way sometimes. I'm glad that yours toppled over & stopped for you. The last one I blew apart like that made it another 50 yards & down into his hole. I never saw him again. It was enough to ruin my whole hunting ambition for the day. After waiting about an hour for him to venture out again, I figured that he had expired in the den. I felt so bad about it that I just packed it in for the day & headed back to the truck... where 2 of those little wisenheimers were sitting right in front of my rear tire. It's like they just wanted to mess with me or something. It's like they were daring me to take a shot. I'll leave the rest of that story for camp tales.


2450fps out of a hornet...geeze you've got that thing dialed in. Nice job.

[snaggdit]

Here's what I had posted before. Since the post, Superfly told me that he is pretty sure it is high tin babbit.
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I recieved a couple ingots of an unknown alloy from another member today. He thought they were high tin babbit. I cast a few Lee 175gr .401 TC boolits with it. They dropped at 163.2 and 163.4gr and .404 and .4045. I drained the casting pot (back into my muffin pan), cleaned it out and added a ingot of WW that I had melted and know they were pure WW, no stickons etc. Cast a couple with that alloy and they dropped at 180 and .403. I then checked hardness (fresh from casting). The boolits from the ingot of unknown alloy had a bhn of 19.3. The boolits from WW had a bhn of 12.1 using my Lee hardness tester. I compared the results to the info on the lasc site.
It seems that it might be linotype. Here's why I think that. The bhn for tin according to this site is 7bhn. Linotype is 18-19. The ingots look just like the ingots I cast a few weeks ago from known linotype. very shiny sides smelted into a muffin tin. I had the same hardening issues with my linotype as I did with these ingots, ie. slow hardening. Also, if you look down the site to the chart labeled Expected (Approximate) alloy weight variation from bullets cast of linotype, you see a weight in linotype of 165gr. In WW, this would be 8.1gr heavier. This is close to what I found with the unknown metal and WW. 163.4 and 180gr. Not exact, though. A greater difference of +16.6gr.

I did have trouble with the sprues not hardening right away on the first set of boolits. I tipped the mold over the pot after about 5 seconds to tap the mold open and the sprues ran. Typically, when I set the mold over the pot to preheat, the first set of boolits usually harden the sprues almost instantly, so this was a suprise. The second set of boolits I let cool in the mold for 20+ seconds and the sprues finally solidified. They cast nice boolits, perfect fillout.

[mroliver77]

N ice! (Well, not for the rabit .... !)
Is that a hornet attribute or the NEF attribute?

And please 'edumacate' me on what 'superfly's babbit' is?

I have to find my RCBS mold and see what it is.

Superfly from this board sold me some babbit that he had smelted down from train car bearings. He had sent some to snaggit for testing also. It is fantastic stuff for enrichening soft alloy. I have shot some and recovered them. As superfly had told me, they are tough! Dont shatter like linotype does.
This is my first Hornet. I have a few NEF rifles, all but one shoot very well. It shoots OK. They are basically a break down single shot shotgun type action. I bought this for my daughter to learn to cast and load her own on. Guess who shoots it most?
$7 lb powder, cast boolit and Wolfe primer makes for some cheap shootin.
Jay

[303Guy]

As superfly had told me, they are tough! Dont shatter like linotype does.

Thanks. I like the idea of tough. Mmmm.....

There is something about a break-action rifle! Mmmm..... slipping each hand crafted cartridge into the breach ..... ! Mmmmm.....

[mroliver77]

Thanks. I like the idea of tough. Mmmm.....

There is something about a break-action rifle! Mmmm..... slipping each hand crafted cartridge into the breach ..... ! Mmmmm.....

303, you make that sound kind of .....well.... Gosh, I have been alone too long!!
Jay

[Charlie Sometimes]

Edumacate me about the rate of twist in the rifling in the NEF- what is it? H&R 1871 doesn't make the 22 Hornet chambering anymore- at least I couldn't find it on their web site.

How much Trail Boss is "a case full"?

A buddy of mine had one of those back in the late 70's, and a 30-30 barrel, too (IIRC). He wasn't much of a rifle shot, but that Hornet he had would shoot good for me and my cousin!

[NoZombies]

Superfly from this board sold me some babbit that he had smelted down from train car bearings. He had sent some to snaggit for testing also. It is fantastic stuff for enrichening soft alloy. I have shot some and recovered them. As superfly had told me, they are tough! Dont shatter like linotype does.
This is my first Hornet. I have a few NEF rifles, all but one shoot very well. It shoots OK. They are basically a break down single shot shotgun type action. I bought this for my daughter to learn to cast and load her own on. Guess who shoots it most?
$7 lb powder, cast boolit and Wolfe primer makes for some cheap shootin.
Jay

You mind me asking what $7 a pound powder you're using?

[Buckshot]

You mind me asking what $7 a pound powder you're using?

"..............over a charge of WC 820, 2450fps".

WC820 was a military powder available as surplus for several years. It's a ball powder and almost as fine as talcum powder . There were 3-4 lot numbers out there over time. It was first sold as, and suggested use was "Use H110 data". I do believe that there was a lot that WAS like H110. My lot of WC820 was 47323 purchased in 1995. I originally had 24 lbs of it but am down to 6 lbs. It burned more closely to AA#9.

Pat's Reloading: http://patsreloading.com/patsrel/prices.htm still lists WC820 but mentions no lot number. Simply:

WC-820, Virgin, Magnum pistol ball powder, 13% faster than for Mag pistol and Carbine, 8 lbs--89.99

None of the surplus powders listed are the super deal they once were, but compared to current prices for canister grades they're still not bad if you have a use for them.

..............Buckshot

[NoZombies]

Hey Buckshot,

Thanks for clearing that up!