Strange request, stranger boolit

[44man]

My friend Bioman came by and dropped off his Lyman mold. He asked if I could get better boolits from it then he does. I opened it and laughed! :-D Holy crap, a .22 mold! I never made anything that small.
I tweaked it a little and got it ready. I needed some Ranch Dog boolits today so I heated everything and used both molds at once. I cast twice with his to every one of mine and they came out nice, not a single reject from either mold. I didn't cast long though, running short on my alloy.
I have to decide if I want to string these on a little chain for a necklace for him! [smilie=w:

[Ranch Dog]

Intersting... I've been think about a mold for my Bee and Zipper!

[sundog]

44Man, yeah, and wait until you start running them through the loob-sizer and fiddlin' with those iddy biddy teeny weeny gas checks! Then we'll see what yer yoohoo smiley face is doin' then!

btw, nice looking boolits!

[454PB]

I cast .22 caliber boolits, but very rarely. It is a bit of a shock because most all my casting is larger caliber slugs. A 20 pound pot yields a LOT of those little buggers!

[cbrick]

44man, does this look like the boolit? A 44man should cast 44 grain boolits right?

44 gr Lyman


http://www.lasc.us/Lyman44gr22cal-9.jpg

[44man]

Thankfully, I don't have to fool with them. He will take them home as is. I can't even feel them between my fingers! [smilie=1:

[SWIAFB]

44 MAN, I know what your saying. I cast and checked about 75 225415's yesterday. Tiny

[felix]

Corky, do we have a mold that makes that 44 grainer shown in Cbrick's post? ... felix

[cbrick]

Felix, its Lyman # 225438. My mould casts WW at 44.3 gr and .225". Bearing surface is 61% @ .300". Bullet length is .515".

Rick

[felix]

Good to know, Rick. I thought that Lyman number was a little flatter in the nose, more like the Bator. It just might make it to 150 yards with some gusto. The length of the Bator I have here is 0.535, bearing 0.300, boreride 0.100. It would be nice to compare these two in detail in a whole bunch of guns. ... felix

[cbrick]

If my memory is any good at all this bullet was originally designed for the 22 Hornet by Guy Loverin and made by Lyman, its still in their catalog.

Yep, its always nice to get to the range and test and compare different guns, loads and what if's.

Rick

[snuffy]

44man, does this look like the boolit? A 44man should cast 44 grain boolits right?

44 gr Lyman


http://www.lasc.us/Lyman44gr22cal-9.jpg

Rick, I gotta ask, what camera did you use to take that ultra close-up of that tiny boolit? The reason I ask is; I'm in the market for a new digital camera, I might as well get something that I can take close ups like that with.

As far as 22 boolits go, I just made some 225462 Lyman's that look a lot like the one in the pic, but are nominal 60 grainers.Jim T

[cbrick]

Its a Nikon CoolPix, I know nothing about photography so I had little choice but to buy a camera that's a whole lot smarter than me.

If my memory is correct they make/made 4 models of this camera, one about $200.00, one about $450.00 with 4 mega pixel (the one I bought) and lot's of auto features including the close up feature, one around $650.00 and one well over $1000.00 with options that I can't even pronounce the names of.

My main concern/purpose in getting the camera was for photo's for my web site. This camera does such a good job with the close ups it actually make me look like I know what I'm doing.

Now if I could just remember to keep my thumb from the front of the lens and push the button at the same time. [smilie=1:

Rick

[44man]

Guys, the number on this mold is 225438AV. What does AV mean?

[cbrick]

hhmmm . . . Dunno, perhaps if Glen see's this he'll chime in. Glen is fairly up on the Lyman numbers. Just a hunch but possibly the AV is the Lyman machinist's initials, seems I heard someplace that they used to do that.

What do your bullets weigh, is it the 44 gr mould?

Rick

[dubber123]

I believe the letters are the code to the manufacturer of the cherries used to cut the mould. I believe Lyman uses several different outside vendors to cut the cherries.

[44man]

I went down and put one in the scale. It weighs 44.2 gr's but still needs the gas check. I don't have any.

[DLCTEX]

I sized, lubed and checked 200 of those this week end. My fingers are sore! As stated it doesn't lower the lead in the pot very quickly. I was surprised they were that easy to cast, no problems. I dipped the mold in the melt to heat it up and started casting. Five casts later it was making beautiful tiny boolits. I had the pot running hot (10 lb. Lee) and got a steady rythem working. Bright light and working close to eye level aids in starting the checks and also getting them in the sizer and top punch. Worked great in my .222 and seem to shoot consistently in the same place but four inches higher than jacketed in my 22-250 Savage Stryker. I will test them more when the wind gets lower than 30 with 69mph gusts. DALE Lube goes a long way too.

[cbrick]

44man, same bullet then, mine is 44.3 gr with the check but I add a couple percent tin which would make it a bit lighter then the check brings it back. A 22 check doesn't weigh much.

[floodgate]

44Man:

dubber is right; it is a Lyman code indicating that the first cherry for this bullet design ("A", "B", "C"....) from vendor "V", was used to cut the mould. We don't know who vendor "V" is, but they make a lot of Lyman''s cherries. This info comes from Tom Griffin at Lyman.

floodgate

[WyrTwister]

Intersting... I've been think about a mold for my Bee and Zipper!


Anyone shot any cast bullets in an AR-15 ?

God bless
Wyr

[44man]

It's so pretty it makes me wish I still had my .222! :-?

[softpoint]

I've been thinking about getting that very mold. Iv'e never cast any .22 bullets,but I'd like to for my cz Hornet. I might use pure lino for that one, couple of pounds of it would make a BUNCH of bullets. Prolly have to use tweezers to handle the checks! I've thought about getting that Bator mould from Midsouth to try first, but thier websight shows they are still out of stock. Wonder if those little fellas would work well tumble lubed? I don't do a lot of TL, but that might be one place it would be easier, still have to put gaschecks though.........

[StrawHat]

Good to know, Rick. I thought that Lyman number was a little flatter in the nose, more like the Bator. It just might make it to 150 yards with some gusto. The length of the Bator I have here is 0.535, bearing 0.300, boreride 0.100. It would be nice to compare these two in detail in a whole bunch of guns. ... felix

felix,

I may be the only guy who doesn't know how much the Bator boolit weighs so you better fill me in.

Is this the one from Midway?

I may need one for my 22 WCF.

Thanks.

[felix]

Usually, with typical lead mix in the pot, around 52 grains. Typical = WW + a smite of tin. ... felix

[HORNET]

Actually, that's the current version of the 225438. The old version had a dirt catcher groove at the bottom of the nose and mine has a more rounded nose shape. Still weighed about 44.5 grains with WW. I got a mold for the new version from Pilgrim but haven't shot any yet. The old version does good from the .22 Hornet from mid-speed squirrel-whackers to full throttle.
I'm surprised that you guys count them. When I get them running, I usually just keep going until it starts getting hard to refill the dipper in my old Lyman pot. That's usually about 7 pounds or so. Takes a while (especially with that 37 gr 225107),since most of my molds are single cavity.