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475Linebaugh
08-26-2014, 06:57 PM
Hey guys! I just got a Benjamin marauder 25 cal air rifle an am looking to see who is casting for a 25 and their thoughts? So far it shows great potential! and am very happy with factory pellets. I know LBT will make molds but want to see if casting is worth it??

tazman
08-26-2014, 07:25 PM
You might want to post this in the airguns forum.

melloairman
08-26-2014, 11:27 PM
I do cast for 25 caliber air rifles . But not the marauder . Which has restraints that I have not dealt with due to its multi shot plat forum . LBT is the only one I know of that offers custom 25 caliber molds . My avatar is from one of his molds and I think there is a Bobs bobtail for your rifle as well . You have to have the power to push a heavier sold than a pellet . GL.Marvin

rsterne
08-27-2014, 10:54 AM
Unless your Marauder is modified, I think you will find that cast boolits are too heavy.... In addition, you may have to rechamber the barrel for them as they tend to be longer and you may have difficulty in pushing them home with the bolt....

Bob

Smoke4320
08-27-2014, 01:12 PM
Clip length and weights will limit what you can use for a custom mold as mentioned above

JSB exact king 25.39 gr (25.40 on some sites) will probably be your friend :) They are cheap relative wise and seem to be almost universally accurate in 25 Cal Mrods..
for heavy weights the Eun jin 43.2 Gr work will in many rifles .. just buy 1 tin and give them a try ..

In mine with a 3000 LB fill and JSB 25s at 50 yds it will knock a 1.5" x 2" steel angle iron target approx. 2 ft back ..

Smoke4320
08-27-2014, 01:16 PM
PS there are lots of mods that can be done to the Marauder .. several guys are even reporting getting over 100 FPE for 8 shots.. heavily modded of course..

475Linebaugh
08-27-2014, 03:55 PM
Thanks for the info guys! Once my shop is up and running I plan on making some molds for this.

Dryball
08-27-2014, 04:50 PM
What is the average weight of your casts? I have a modded Airforce .25 and was lookin for a casting alternative as well.

melloairman
08-27-2014, 11:24 PM
What is the average weight of your casts? I have a modded Airforce .25 and was lookin for a casting alternative as well.
Mine are around 61 grains but LBT can alter that . I used the RCBS 25 cal 52 grain for quite a while as well . Just to heavy of a mold for me . With my Condor and my PB with choked LW. barrels I had to use 10-12 bhn lead to take the hit from the choke or the lead would shear to the base and cause accuracy problems . Some were cutting the choke off but that normally lowers the power and causes accuracy problems if you go back to pellets . Do not for get to slug the barrel before you order a mold . GL Marvin

Pakprotector
09-05-2014, 12:09 PM
Unless your Marauder is modified, I think you will find that cast boolits are too heavy.... In addition, you may have to rechamber the barrel for them as they tend to be longer and you may have difficulty in pushing them home with the bolt....

Bob

Two critical areas, the bolt and the valve. The OE, Gen1 bolt has a slot cut in it, a so-called flow-through, and the Gen2 has a pin that pushes on the very center. Neither of these will faze a pellet that requires little seating pressure. Boolits OTOH...so, a solid-nose bolt, with a breech mod to allow pulling the bolt backwards past the transfer port will both get all the bolt out of the flow path, and uniformly push on the back of the boolit.

The valve needs to be bigger; the OE design in both Gen1 and Gen2 is limited in how big you can make the passages. At its biggest the upper end of deliverable muzzle energy is about 80 FPE. There are a few ways to address this, and are of varying complexity.

I made a .224 boolit shooter( a TJ .224/.219 Hornet liner in 14" twist ). It got both the bolt and valve mods. It will send a 46 gr cast downrange quite quickly...ME numbers of 100+ FPE are possible. At this level, more hammer energy is required to open a big valve, and that will need some more modifications...among them should be a tool steel sear; the OE is sintered, and has sharp corner stress-risers and I don't trust it too much further than I am right now.
cheers,
Douglas

a 30 cal can be made to shoot in the 150-160 FPE regime with stock hammer travel...and I have a build in 30 cal planned that will address this...hopefully to the tune of 200-220 FPE. 500cc tanks are available in 3600 psi ratings; all my boolit shooters are bottled. Slightly larger 870cc tanks are 3000 psi rated...:)

HARRYMPOPE
09-05-2014, 06:28 PM
my buddy uses the standard 25 ACP Ideal mold.Feeds though the mag and shoots well.

Pakprotector
09-05-2014, 10:37 PM
my buddy uses the standard 25 ACP Ideal mold.Feeds though the mag and shoots well.

252435, and 53 gr in 2% Tin. The sprue plate wrecks the bases; they shoot much better if you get a good one with a .090-.1" funnel hole.
cheers,
Douglas

HARRYMPOPE
09-06-2014, 11:10 AM
i cast them for him from a 4 cavity i have from backstop rimfire lead/pistol bullets .they shoot as well as the JSB's.Mine had teh stsandard big sprue and if cut with a gloved hand the bases are fine.

melloairman
09-07-2014, 12:39 AM
252435, and 53 gr in 2% Tin. The sprue plate wrecks the bases; they shoot much better if you get a good one with a .090-.1" funnel hole.
cheers,
Douglas
Doug If that is the mold I sold you . I never had a problem with the base of the bullet or accuracy . But I learned by experience and reading From Ingot To Target that conical molds and particularly small diameter molds need a little more alloying than what you are using . There are exceptions to every thing and I do not know what Harry is using . But I do know I had no problem as long as I kept the bhn at 8 or above . Most people do not recognize that most pellets are alloyed and think that all AR need pure lead or no more than 2% tin . But that is like believing all BP rifles need pure lead when people have been shooting wheel weight lead through them for years . Hope this might help you .Marvin

Pakprotector
09-10-2014, 06:04 PM
all well and good, but a new sprue plate shrank the group substantially, and left no un-sized area on the drive bands from cut off pressure. it may be that even harder alloy will improve this, but both the RCBS and 252435 wreck the bases with even 5% tin. I am not seeing the hardness of the alloy helping this, harder means more pressure which though resisted with a harder alloy is still going to make a mess.
cheers,
Douglas