experience with Lymans 225646?

[bhp9]

Anyone out there have any experience with this rather stange looking cast bullet? Have you used it in the .223 Remington?

[Finn45]

Excellent articles from John "beagle" Goins; fourth, fifth and sixth from the top:
http://hgmould.gunloads.com/casting/castingfellowspage1.htm

[bhp9]

Thanks for the Reply about Goin’s 3 articles but my own experiences are exactly the opposite of Goins. For example:

1. He says he uses wheel weights. I my experience wheel weights are the worst mix to use as they contain no tin today as compared to the past when they did contain just a little. I use pure linotype metal and even that is not often good enough as some linotype metal has much of the tin burnt out of it. It is the tin that improves the flow of the lead into the grooves in the mold.

2. He says he recommends sizing .224. Again this is the opposite of my experience. No rifle barrel is perfectly straight or is of a uniform diameter, even custom made barrels. There are loose and tight spots in all of them so going bore size is not the way to go for extreme accuracy. I have often gone as far as 3 and even 4,000 thousanths over size with excellent accuracy.

3. He recommends sizing first and then lubing to minimize distortion. This is a sure way to distort any bullet whether you are sizing it base or nose first as if the sizing die has no lube on its walls the bullet sticks to it insuring more distortion as it passes through it.

4. He recommends the RCBS bullet as a good one for people staring out. This bullet cannot be used in the .223 at all if the throat is in good shape as it will jam itself into the throat while chambering and drive the bullet down into the case, if you are lucky (I tried this bullet on 3 different rifles with the same results). Once the base is down into the case hot gases will distort the sides of the bullet and also cause the gas check to fall off as it exits the case when firing it.

I guess my best bet is to call Lyman (no easy task to get a hold of anyone there) and ask them if there newest design was made for the very short neck .223 Remington.

[felix]

That boolit is a custom design by someone other than one working for Lyman. He/they designed the complete look-alike series for "long" range target apps. ... felix

[beagle]

I calls em" as I sees em' based on my experiences testing about 5,000 rounds of .223 cast for my own use and these articles./beagle


Thanks for the Reply about Goin’s 3 articles but my own experiences are exactly the opposite of Goins. For example:

1. He says he uses wheel weights. I my experience wheel weights are the worst mix to use as they contain no tin today as compared to the past when they did contain just a little. I use pure linotype metal and even that is not often good enough as some linotype metal has much of the tin burnt out of it. It is the tin that improves the flow of the lead into the grooves in the mold.

2. He says he recommends sizing .224. Again this is the opposite of my experience. No rifle barrel is perfectly straight or is of a uniform diameter, even custom made barrels. There are loose and tight spots in all of them so going bore size is not the way to go for extreme accuracy. I have often gone as far as 3 and even 4,000 thousanths over size with excellent accuracy.

3. He recommends sizing first and then lubing to minimize distortion. This is a sure way to distort any bullet whether you are sizing it base or nose first as if the sizing die has no lube on its walls the bullet sticks to it insuring more distortion as it passes through it.

4. He recommends the RCBS bullet as a good one for people staring out. This bullet cannot be used in the .223 at all if the throat is in good shape as it will jam itself into the throat while chambering and drive the bullet down into the case, if you are lucky (I tried this bullet on 3 different rifles with the same results). Once the base is down into the case hot gases will distort the sides of the bullet and also cause the gas check to fall off as it exits the case when firing it.

I guess my best bet is to call Lyman (no easy task to get a hold of anyone there) and ask them if there newest design was made for the very short neck .223 Remington.

[26Charlie]

My results were satisfactory in a .223 Ruger #3 with 8.0 gr. Blue Dot, and in a Ruger M77 .220 Swift with 10.0 gr. Blue Dot with the 225646 GC bullet.
I use a range scrap/ wheel weight mixture that I would say is medium-soft; I don't heat-treat either. I used to try linotype when it was common, but didn't like how brittle the bullets were. Curiously the wheel weights have gotten softer, and the range scrap (probably from the greater use of commercial cast bullets) has gotten harder over the years. I thought of testing my alloy, but since there is nothing for me to gain I haven't done so. I've got enough range scrap and wheel weights to last me quite awhile. I did get some cable sheathing, which I keep separate for soft bullets for the muzzle loaders.

As Felix says that Lyman series of designs includes the .22, a 6.5 mm, a .270, and a .30 caliber, all fairly heavy for the caliber. I believe they were designed by a man named Schmitt, at Lyman, and all use the same nose punch in the lubrisizer. Some of them such as the .270 and .30 have lube grooves in the nose area, to be hand-lubed if you want to. The lubrisizer won't do it because of the taper to the nose; the grease would squirt out all over if you tried it.