Size #F Shot

[NZSarge]

Does anyone have experience casting these? Hard? Easy? Consistent?

Size 5.56mm round lead is virtually non-existent in NZ, unlike .177 balls.

Don't know why because I see Gamo has them in BB gun tins at 250 per/can.

Any way, aside from having a.22 ball to use in shotshells, I have a friend who needs .22 lead shot for his gas pistol as well. Sharpshooter buckshot molds has this size available and I was considering ordering one.

[Ole]

I haven't done what you're proposing, but I have made some #4 buckshot with one of the sharpshooter molds. It works well if you run it hot, but I would be leery to recommend casting such a relatively small shot.

How many #f's are in a typical shotshell? Figure it takes about a minute to do two loads of shot (40 pieces), then you have the hassle of dealing with the sprues, which takes just as long as casting. So that's 2 minutes of work to make 40 pellets. Maybe I'm not going as fast as some folks.

I suppose if that's all you had it would work, but it would be pretty time consuming to make shotgun ammo payload that way.

I guess it depends on how much time you have and how much of it you're willing to dedicate to making shotgun BB's.

[shotman]

sharp shooter molds work good but need to {fix} them put longer handles on them and cast fast.
get some dog toenail clippers {biglots} or a pet store they will cut the stems on a octave
he is member here
skiunlimited ?

[John in WI]

I cast #F shot with a sharpshooter mold and it works great. In a 12 gauge with a winchester wad, I can get 7 pellets to a layer.

Ole is right--it's slow going--it takes 2 pours to make shot for one shell. But, I was not able to find this size shot (and especially shot shells pre-made). I bought it to try and work up some 7/8oz "duplex" load with #F and #1 buck.

Anyway, the balls I'm dropping with the sharpshooter mold are exactly .22 and quite uniform. Once in a while you cut the sprue a little close and leave a flat spot, but I doubt that's a serious issue out of a shotgun. I saved a few bucks because I asked him if he had any "seconds" and I think he took $15 off the price for the two. I don't know what was faulty with the mold because all the balls come out perfectly round. IF they are well smoked and you run it hot.

Too bad Shipping to NZ would cost a fortune, or I would loan you mine!

[NZSarge]

Thankyou for the replies and the kind offer, post is worth it, two molds ..same cost.

Price of most stuff hear works out way dearer, e.g one double cavity. Lyman mold is $NZ150 which is $US113, so post is ok, still cheaper

[4950cycle]

I'm a nuwbe here and an HPA airgunner also. And I am also interested in buying an #F (.22) shot 20 cavity Sharpshooter mold. The only problem is is how do you order one ? I've been to the new Sharpshooter site and there is no option to order. Just a link to contact him. But he must be swamped because he hasn't returned any emails. Any info on this guys ?

[HiVelocity]

NZSarge-

I bet if you sent Sharpshooter a PM or E-Mail, he may make you a sweet deal on 5 or 10 of his molds; if you know of others interested. Also, he now makes a combination mold of his best seller. In one mold, he tooled up to cast 00-buckshot and on the other side, #4 buckshot. (Same price too.) Sweet deal if you're looking for a combo mold.

Personally, I'd send him a note and see what he would charge you to make a combo mold in .22 RB and 00-buck, or like combination (your call).

BTW, I bought a 0-buck and 00-buck and he not only gave me a deal, I even got a set of "nippers" to cut sprue's. My 0 buck came out looking better than commercial today when I tumbled for about 45minutes. Now into the JPW.

The pots hot! Time to cast.................:bigsmyl2:

HV

[35remington]

Why do you need JPW on your buckshot? Is it used with a wad?

[4950cycle]

He (Rick ) has been working a lot . I finally got my mold deal together with him. At first I wanted a .22 F shot mold and an .180 or 18 cal. . He (Rick at Sharpshooter) told me that a mold anything under 20 cal. is problematic to cast with . The fill hole has to be to small as to not have to large a flat spot after you cut the sprue off relitive to the pellet size. I guess most of those small shot sizes are made with a shot tower instead of a mold. I ended up deciding on a .22 F shot and a #3 shot .25 cal. mold. Rick Plank seems to be a fine and more than fare guy to deal with. Gave me free shipping and ofcoarse the free sprue cutters he gives with a two mold deal. The free shipping he thrue in for the minor inconvenience I had I getting ahold of him.

[NZSarge]

Now I just have to convince him to give me free shipping to NZ....)

Kidding, I'm sure they are well worth it, I need two as well

[shotman]

shipping down there is not too much for light packages. . shipping lead could be a problem

[HiVelocity]

Why do you need JPW on your buckshot? Is it used with a wad?

I roll the buckshot in JPW to make them slick, won't stick together in the wad. I plan to load these with some type of buffering media in 2 3/4" shells with Blue Dot.

The loading buckshot project isn't finite. I'll keep trying lots of combinations for that "Sweet Spot".

HV

[GunFun]

Are you guys aware of anyone selling #f or TT or anything around 0.20" in field grade 25Lb bags? it's a bit fiddly for me to be interested in casting by hand, but I would really like to have a good supply for it.

[Ed1]

I cast the #F too with the sharp shooter mold. I use it for coyote in a 3 1/2" shell. Works great on them. Here is his website: http://buckshotmold.com/. He used to give out a free spru cutter with an order but now its free with 2 or more molds.

[GunFun]

Thanks, but the style of the sharp shooter mold renders it labor intensive. I'll keep looking.

[Cerberus62]

Are you guys aware of anyone selling #f or TT or anything around 0.20" in field grade 25Lb bags? it's a bit fiddly for me to be interested in casting by hand, but I would really like to have a good supply for it.Ballistic Products has the shot you want:

http://www.ballisticproducts.com/Super-Buck-Lead-F-8-lb_jar-220/productinfo/SBK1F/

It's not in 25# bags but it is very good stuff.

[bstone5]

The Sharp Shooter molds work good but need to be hot to get good fill out.
Warm up hot with a propane touch and use thick heavy duty welding gloves handling the mold.
The wooden handles do not cover the mold vey good, thin gloves will not work on the hot mold with the installed handles.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I once made a friend a couple of little cupped dies, a bit like bullet sizing nose punches, and inserted them in the jaws (annealed first) of an unloved old bolt cutter. He cast a slab of lead a fraction over a quarter inch thick in an old stainless baking pan, and then he could chomp out 1/4in. balls as fast as he liked. You could probably do something similar with a powerful reloading press, and after that it is television-watching work.

[sthwestvictoria]

I once made a friend a couple of little cupped dies, a bit like bullet sizing nose punches, and inserted them in the jaws (annealed first) of an unloved old bolt cutter. He cast a slab of lead a fraction over a quarter inch thick in an old stainless baking pan, and then he could chomp out 1/4in. balls as fast as he liked. You could probably do something similar with a powerful reloading press, and after that it is television-watching work.
What a nifty idea. A bullet biter!

[GunFun]

So it's a swaging punch. Clever.
I could see doing an arbor press from harbor freight with a die that punches 2-4 shot per bite. The trick would be to get sheets or rods of lead that are a consistent thickness.

I know commercial swaged bullets and buckshot are usually nipped from lead wire. I've also seen molds which make 1/4" rods about 6" long for nipping and swaging.

I am currently working on a project to automate a magma caster. If that goes as well as I would like, I think I will have a 4 cavity buckshot mold made in a magma spec mold block, probably with a thicker sprue cutter with a trough to hold a bigger puddle of lead on top. If I can get it to cut the sprues nicely so there is not any trimming operation, I think this will be the way to go for me.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

Unfortunately you can only get sheet lead in sizes suitable for birdshot, and biting out pellets at the rate of 200 per ounce is a bit much. It wouldn't be a hard alloy either. What I tried was slabs cast by myself. That mould for six inches of quarter-inch rod sounds very workable, for any kind of swager. It sounds a lot more likely to work consistently than a mould for a long string of tiny balls.

I'm just guessing, but I think commercial swaging of large pellets from lead wire probably involves two wheels with edge to edge hemispherical depressions. If they are kept in synch with gears further along their axes, that ought to work. For the class act, see eBay and search for "rolling mill" under "jewellery". It is the sort of thing that could be copied quite a bit more cheaply than you see them there.

139286

[GunFun]

That's starting to look like a more serious tool. At the least it would give you consistent weights for the nibbler method.