Casting for a .22 air rifle help needed.

[George_J]

I am looking for info on casting a bullet for a .22 air rifle. The pellets available for sale seem to have too much drag for the mass of the projectile. What would be a good choice for a mold for .22 air rifle?
Any help or comment is much appreciated.

Thanks to you all,
George_J

[ghh3rd]

Now that's an interesting question. 22 short bullets are somewhere around 29 grains. All of the .22 pellets I've seen are somewhere between 14 and 18 grains. I wonder if a pellet rifle could spin something that "heavy" fast enough to stablize it?

[AZ-Stew]

As I'm sure you're aware, it's not the weight that dictates rifling twist, but rather bullet length.

That said, there are a LOT of pellet designs available, and certainly cheaper than you can cast them.

Regards,

Stew

[mpmarty]

How 'bout a round ball?

[sagacious]

Yup, there are tons of 22cal pellet designs to choose from. Doubtless one can find a design to satify their demand.

The question of drag would seem to indicate that velocity at distance is the desired goal. For close to intermediate 'pellet gun' ranges, the drag of the pellet shape is of zero consequence. But at almost all ranges, the weight of a cast slug will mean very low velocity and a trajectory so arcing that hits become difficult.

But I hear ya. The idea of a heavier peller is irresistable. We used to carefully pry loose 22lr slugs and re-swage them to the bore size of a 22cal air-rifle. The idea was more impressive than the actual performance of the 'bullet'. Good luck.

[Al_sway]

An interesting question, as it is hard to see what a cast pellet could do that one of the commercial designs could not. Since all pellets are hollow based, that would add to the challenge.
I suspect you are seeing the flat nose pellets. Those are designed for shooting paper targets, but I understand that they also work very well on small game due to their impact. The only low drag pellets that I have seen are spire points, which is probably as good as you are going to get for ballistic coefficient.
What are you trying to do with the pellets?

[Butcher45]

Guys I think he wants to shoot a solid boolit design from his airgun, rather than a "pellet" design. When he mentions "drag", I think he means the drag of the projectile in the barrel, rather than in the air.

I think he's looking for as little contact with the barrel as possible (narrow bands). If they made a .22 version of the EPP/UG, that would be the one if that design would even cast that small......I hear that design is a big pain to cast.

[XWrench3]

I have a .20 caliber sheridan, talk about limited selection! i tossed around the idea of casting my own, but the thought of casting one projectile at a time (the only way i know of to get a hollow base), just turned me completely off to the idea. the only way i could think of to do it in any quanity would be to have a two peice mold made up where you would pour into the nose, then trim the nose before you unbolt the two halves. having one of those made up would be EXPENSIVE! basicly, it is a pelet gun, if you need more areodynamic projectiles, get a centerfire. that is pretty much what i have decided.

[George_J]

Thank you everyone for your replies and help

What are you trying to do with the pellets?

Chastise and Harvest enough of the chipmunks that destroy my yard and dig under my house foundation so I can make myself a warm winter hat.

I will have to try the round ball idea. Anyone ever seen a round lead ball with dimples on it like a golf ball? That would reduce the drag. Maybe I can tumble lead balls in some way that puts little dents into them.

If I use a solid ball, should I patch it like in a muzzle loader?

The drag I was worried about is air drag. It seemed to me that the pellets all have a big cross sectional area ( .22 ) and a really small mass. So I assumed that I could get more energy at the target with a slower, heavier bullet/pellet.

Thanks again everyone, and if you have more input please let me hear it.

George_J

[Larry Gibson]

George J

The domed pellet such as FTS or Crosman Premiers in .22 cal have pretty much the same BC (rag function) across practical pelet rifle ranges. I use a RWS M54 and stretch "practical range" out to 80 yards with weight selected CPs. I've tried heavier (most were longer also) pellets but those over 16 gr are limited by twist of the rifle. Also it being a springer, the heavier the pellet the lower the velocity. The CP runs right at 800 fps out of my M54 and beyond 80 yards the pellets lose stability and accuracy suffers greatly.

As mentioned in another post quality pellets can be boughtfor less than what it ould cost to cast them. For .22 cal pellets I like CPs and FTS pellets best but the Cabella's .22 cal domed HP pellet is a very good general use pellet for out to 50 yards. At back yard distances of 15 - 30 yards it is more than enough accurate forhead shots on pests. You might take a try at them.

Larry Gibson

[cricco]

Perhaps a sabot pellet for air rifles? Interesting concept. Something like a .10 cal pellet in a sabot cup would work? I think i just found my new business idea. LOL

[sagacious]

I still think you'd be better-off with a 'traditional' style pellet at any practical pellet-rifle distances, but here's the absolute apex of of low-drag pellet designs:
http://www.airgungallery.co.uk/categ...qx47dp64yq.htm Click on "airgun pellets" to see a whole zoo of pellets.

The Sussex Sabo is a spire-point, boat-tail, copper-plated, discarding sabot, pellet gun 'bullet.' I bought a large can of them a long time ago, and they are real screamers. Sometimes one can find the occasional can or two at gun shows. Nothing that I am aware of even approaches the extreme low-drag of the Sussex design. Great for nuisance bird control. However, in terms of 'rodent stopping power', a big old flat-point or rn is still at the top of the list.

Perhaps some kind soul would send you a few .224 cast bullets to try before you buy a mold. 22cal solid round lead balls are available for pellet guns. Good luck.

[JIMinPHX]

There are lots of pellets out there if you know where to look. I've seen .22 pellets as heavy as 30 grains (pile driers). They are very similar to a .22 short boolit. You need one of the higher power air guns to push them, but they do work.

I recently found out that we have a very good air gun shop here in the Phoenix area, that also sells on-line. They have a good selection of pellets in every caliber up to .25. They even have a good selection of .20 cal. The only thing that they don't do is the big bore pellet guns, like 9mm.

https://www.airgunsofarizona.com/

[AZ-Stew]

Jim,

You suffering from wet piles??

Oh, maybe you meant "pile driVers"

My mistake.

Regards,

Stew

[a.squibload]

I have a .20 caliber sheridan, talk about limited selection!...

Me too. Found a couple cans of Benjamin 14.3gn "cylindrical" pellets at a Big 5 Sporting Goods,
$10/500, they are $16 or $18 at other places.
I was hoping to make a simple mold by drilling holes in a piece of plate, like the guy who made
12 ga. slugs, foreign country, can't remember, previous thread.
Maybe shear the sprue off with an old table knife or paint scraper?
The nose would be conical I guess, the shape of the drill bit.
Would be cheap, not sure it's worth the trouble though.

[NSP64]

http://www.airgungallery.co.uk/categ...qx47dp64yq.htm Click on "airgun pellets" to see a whole zoo of pellets.

The Sussex Sabo is a spire-point, boat-tail, copper-plated, discarding sabot, pellet gun 'bullet.

Those, look cool! Wonder how they would shoot from my .223

[XWrench3]

I just remembered this from my youth. Way back when i was about 9 or 10, i used a peice of brazing rod, which fit my sheridan pretty good. And sharpened it to a dagger point. It was about as areodynamic as you could get a projectile with simple hand tools. That thing would go through a 2x4 at close range (2 feet). But it would tumble anytime the distance got very far at all. At that point, i had no idea about bullet stabilization or even different twist rates in barrels. If you are trying to get high balistic coefficent pelets, longer helps, but then you run into the twist rate ordeal. Good luck with your "project"!

[Bob.]

http://www.pyramydair.com/cgi-bin/sh...er=0.22&Type=0

I use the 16-18 gn JSB's ,, my pre-charged rifle spits em out around 970 FPS
A very accurate pellet with a high BC .

Bob

[ghh3rd]

Check out these 24.69 gr hunting pellets:

http://www.hn-sport.de/en/products/a...magnum-ii.html

[82nd airborne]

Gamo makes a lead round ball for .17, Im not so sure about .22. in mine it is actually pretty accurate. however, if i where you i would do the form 1 and just put a can on a rem 581 or something of that sort.