Help with mold for 25 Auto

[WRideout]

I am trying to get set up for casting with my new (to me) Galesi 25 auto. There don't seem to be a lot of mold choices out there that aren't over $100, which is a little beyond my means. I do have the Lee 22 cal Bator, and I was wondering if anyone had tried Beagling one of those up to .253 or so. It might turn out rather oval, but that may not matter at seven yards. Or if anyone knows of a source for a suitable mold that won't break the bank that would be good too. Thanks.

Wayne

[kmw1954]

I am going to go out on a limb as say I think you are going to have a hard time finding a mold for that lil 25. Not much call for it and honestly it might be hard to find commercial 25cal pistol bullets let alone a mold. Though I wish you luck and hope you can find something.

[psweigle]

I had an rcbs 25 auto mold, and absolutely hated it. If I were to do it over, I would get a dedicated powder coat or hi Tec bullet designed mold. Wish you luck.

[DGV]

I have a Lyman 50 Grain mold. spotless! $50.00 shipped

[WRideout]

I am going to go out on a limb as say I think you are going to have a hard time finding a mold for that lil 25. Not much call for it and honestly it might be hard to find commercial 25cal pistol bullets let alone a mold. Though I wish you luck and hope you can find something.

Yeah, I know. Sometimes I get these oddball items just for the challenge. And I just hate to shoot factory ammo.

Wayne

[WRideout]

I had an rcbs 25 auto mold, and absolutely hated it. If I were to do it over, I would get a dedicated powder coat or hi Tec bullet designed mold. Wish you luck.

Thanks. I never ventured into powder coat, but it seems to be popular.
Wayne

[charlie b]

My father-in-law had a .25 Walther that he cast bullets for. I think he had a Lee die but cannot remember. He was a machinist so he probably modified one. But, didn't shoot the pistol much as the slide had a nasty habit of making two grooves in the meat of the hand. Just too small a grip for more than one finger.

[GunnyMack]

I have a .257 60gr mould for my 25-20. It's a GC boolit. I dont remember who I had make but if you would like to try and size some down I'll gladly send ya some to try.
I know I spent some time trying to find a 60gr and finally found a custom guy.

[megasupermagnum]

Arsenal makes a 60 grain flat nose bullet that might work.

[WRideout]

I have a Lyman 50 Grain mold. spotless! $50.00 shipped

I will send you a PM.

Wayne

[35remington]

It is not possible to beagle a 22 mould to 25 and even if you could the blowby on the undersized side would result in horrible gas cutting.

Hope you get that offered mould. Good luck.

[WRideout]

DGV; I'm still interested in the mold. Check your inbox. Thanks.

Wayne

[WRideout]

I have a .257 60gr mould for my 25-20. It's a GC boolit. I dont remember who I had make but if you would like to try and size some down I'll gladly send ya some to try.
I know I spent some time trying to find a 60gr and finally found a custom guy.





thanks, Gunny. I am trying to keep it around 50-55 gr. Appreciate the offer.
Wayne

[GunnyMack]

I do believe I have an Arsenal mould!
No problem Wayne offer still stands if you want to try them!

[pworley1]

The Lyman 252435 is the one you want. They show up on ebay fairly often.

[Petrol & Powder]

25 auto ?
Wow, and I thought reloading 32 ACP was frustrating enough.

[WRideout]

25 auto ?
Wow, and I thought reloading 32 ACP was frustrating enough.

I needed a bigger challenge.
Wayne

[Petrol & Powder]

I needed a bigger challenge.
Wayne


:bigsmyl2:

[Thin Man]

Finding a suitable mold is only half of the challenge. The other is to create a sizing & lubing die as I cannot find a .251 sizing die offered anywhere. I expect one could have a machine shop ream out a Lyman or Lee 243" die to .251" and move forward with the fun.

[rancher1913]

lee will do a custom size die.

[WRideout]

If you can find a bolt with the right threads, it is possible to drill out a sizer yourself that will fit a press.

Wayne

[rancher1913]

mp has a 46 grain mold, looks like a 3 cav for 110 euros. how hard would it be to remove the lube grove to make it a full pc style. been following this as I plan on playing with my old 25acp shortly.

[WRideout]

I bought the mold that DGV offered; waiting on dies I might get for Xmas, and a chance to mold a pile of those tiny boolits. I think the hard part is going to be chasing the empties in the grass.

Wayne

[kmw1954]

Wayne, good for you and it just goes to show the Cast Boolits community reaching out to help one another. Wishing good Karma to DGV!

Will be waiting to see pictures of those lil projectiles.

[WRideout]

Here is my Armi Galesi 25 Auto, with my homemade grips. I was having all kinds of trouble just finding the screws for the grips, then I scrounged through my old nut and bolt collection, and found two that would work. My wife thinks I save too much junk. I used a piece of walnut that I had been saving for occasions like this, and finished them with two coats of Tru-Oil. The project was rather reminiscent of the first neckerchief slide I made when I joined the Boy Scouts.

The bottom picture is of the results of my first session casting with the mold I bought from DGV. I'm happy with them, and just need a set of dies so I can put them to use. I might get a set for Christmas, if my family hasn't squealed on me to Santa. Thanks for your help and advice, guys.

Wayne

253431

253432

[Texas by God]

I like that Galesi. Good luck with your project and I'll say a preemptive prayer for your pinched fingers from loading[emoji16]

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[WRideout]

Thanks, Tex. No pain, no gain.

Wayne

[Poygan]

Wayne,
The hard part is distinguishing between the .25acp brass and all the .22s on the ground.

[WRideout]

I pick up 22s anyway, just for the brass bucket. I figure if I don't lose some, I'm not shooting enough.

Wayne

[fcvan]

30+ years ago, I had a buddy who for some reason bought a Beretta 25ACP. He was a reloader but couldn't see spending a bunch of money for dies and molds. He liked to tinker in his shop. He made a sizing die and crimp die from a 7/8" bolt, and a case expander die from another. They were not carbide dies but hey, they were home made.

Wanting a boolit mold he made one. The trick part was rather than make a two halved mold, he merely made a 1/4 drill hole, finished with a hand made spade bit to finish the boolit profile. As the mold did not open he had a pin hole drilled to push the boolit from the mold. Conveniently, the pin also formed a hollow point. Personally, I think a 25 ACP shooting a hollow point is pretty optimistic. Oh, he used liquid alox for lube as his mold had no lube grooves. I think dead soft lead ASBBPC'd might actually make a 25 ACP HP doable, but barely.

Food for thought, I spoke with more than a few criminals over 30 years in LE. Consensus was you carried a 25 ACP to break up/get out of a fight, a 22 lr if you wanted to kill someone. Shooting someone in the thigh ensured the guy could go home and dig it out without going to the hospital. A 22LR will 'scramble your brain from behind' or 'bounce all around your insides' from a torso hit. In my opinion, both are good at killing tin cans and that is just plain fun.

[WRideout]

This is never going to be my carry gun, but I am somewhat infatuated with those little pocket pistols.

Wayne

[rmatchell]

I swage and coat my bullets. 25 acp is not the most pleasant to load but it's still better than buying it.

[Alferd Packer]

I cast and lube-size bullets for .25 acp.
Easy to do.
Best thing is to homake
a brass catcher. With bent wire coat hangers and some netting, you can fashion a frame that you can hold in your hand while holding the gun.
Just experiment till you zero in on the arc of ejected cases.
Fashion a hood to curve over the top of the gun, then straight down into the palm of your hand. Cover with netting and let it bag out over the back of your knuckles to form a pouch for the brass to go into.
Sorry, no pics. My brother borrowed mine and still hasn't returned it.

[WRideout]

Thanks, Alferd. I shot a few factory rounds yesterday, and my gun throws the empties mostly to the front, so I have to wait for the firing line to clear before I can pick up empties. Still lost over half of them.

[WRideout]

I finally got my new dies, and loaded up a batch of boolits. My kids sent me a bag of brass for Xmas, but I am still working through some previously used brass. I hate to lose the new pretty ones right away. I took the pistol and handloads to the range two days ago; here is my first target at seven yards. Any fliers are my fault, mostly due to the almost non-exsistant sights.

254632

Here is a picture of some loaded rounds, and the boolits that went into them. In spite of what everyone seems to think, this was about the easiest round I ever loaded. I chose Unique for the powder, since I thought a slower powder would give me a little more margin for error. The dipper that came with the Lee dies did not have a readable size numbering, but when weighed, it came in at 1.4 gr. With Winchester SP primers, I seated them to just under the max OAL. At the range, they functioned without a hitch.

254633

Wayne

[kmw1954]

Wayne, that's beautiful, thank you for sharing, I know you had fun!

[WRideout]

Thanks; I am really enjoying this one.

Wayne

[Mk42gunner]

Tiny guns are a barrel of fun as long as they don't bite you. Your group with the .25 ACP looks pretty good to me.

Walther PPKs's left slide tracks on my hand, luckily it was a friends gun so I didn't have to spend anything to find out I don't want one.

Robert

[WRideout]

Thanks, Gunner. This little gun is so cheap to shoot, it's almost free. I have a free source of lead, and powder at 1.4 grains per shot is minimal. The primer is the most expensive thing in it.

Wayne