22 Bator Mold

[smokemjoe]

I just got the 22 Bator mold, Whats the history of this mold, It sure cast nice with no hang ups, For 22s I have a Sav. Model 40 in 22 Hornet and a 38 lb. bench rifle in 222, Any loads for these cal. Thanks- Joe
I also found a 221 fireball in a custom rifle on a 700 action, lijan barrel and the same in a TC that i made a barrel for, Twist ? Tanks for the imputs.

[felix]

In 222, circa 8.5 BD/N105, circa 6.0 4756, circa 12.0 N110. ... felix

[Charlie Sometimes]

I tried it in a Ruger 22 Hornet I had, over Lil' Gun but it didn't shoot very well.
225415, 225438, RCBS 22-55-RF all shot better than it did.
They shot better the faster I pushed them- ended up with near max load and great accuracy.
Twist was 1:14- your Savage might be 1:16(?), so the lighter boolits might work better.

I'm working on getting me a 222 for cast boolit shooting. Ought to be a good round for it, with that longer neck. :smile:

[Larry Gibson]

smokemjoe

My 21" Contender barrel has a 12" twist, my Savage M40 has a 14" twist and my Ruger #3 has a 16" twist. I don't have the bator mould. I have 225415, 225438, 225107 and 225462. The 225415 and 225462 only do well out of the 16" twist past 50 yards if I push them faster than 2000 fps. The 225415 and 225462 shoot very well out of the 12 and 14" twists at all practical velocities. The lighter 225438 and 225107 do very well in all 3 rifles.

I suspect the bator bullet will do well in your Savage M40. I've used 4579 and 5744 with good succes with the heavier bullets for the higher end loads. I use Unique for high speed .22LR equivelent loads (1400 - 1500 fps) with the 225438 and the 225107.

Some years ago I had a very nice M788 in .222 Rem with a 14" twist and it did quite nicely with the 225462 over H4895 with a 1/3 gr dacron filler. Suggest you start at 16 gr and work up.

Larry Gibson

[Bullshop]

Charlie, I have a 222 for sale or trade. Its one of the BRNO break open single shots. I dont know the twist but I do know it shoots boolits way good. It has the factory mount (hard to find) and a Burris fullfield balistiplex scope. A real good set up for calling varmints. It can go with or without the scope.

[Old Goat Keeper]

So enlightened a relative noobie on exactly a "bator bullet" is. I've not heard of that before.

Tom

[BCall]

It's a 22 cal boolit mold cut by Lee for MidSouth Shooters Supply. I believe the original design came from this board. You can order one from Midsouth under their "Special order moulds" section.

[JIMinPHX]

I've used the Bator & the Lyman 225415 in a .223. It's not quite a .222, but it's close. The Bator was easier for me to get good accuracy out of , but the Lyman came around when I started getting it seated out far enough to touch the lands.

10 grains of 2400 & 7 grains of Unique were good starting loads in the .223 for around 2,000fps with good accuracy. There is room to go up from there, but I never got good accuracy much above 2500fps with any powder.

I pushed the Lyman up over 3,000 fps with no leading using 748 & Lyman Super Moly lube, but accuracy was very bad. I went as high as 2900fps with the Bator over RE-15 with no leading, but again, accuracy was very bad. My alloy was basically WW + 1% tin. Water dropped was slightly more accurate than air cooled. Hollow pointed was slightly more accurate than solid in most cases. A stronger alloy may have helped my high speed accuracy, but I kept my boolits soft because I was using them for hunting. A friend of mine casts his out of straight water dropped Lino & reports that they shatter on contact with game, but I never tried that myself. I don't like powdered lead in the critters that I eat. I was using a 1:12 twist with a long throat.

Beagle did a real good 3-part write up on cast in the .223 over on the cast pics section of this board. It's a must read for anyone that is starting to cast for a centerfire .22. If you have a few hours on your hands, I highly recommend that you sit down & soak up everything that man has been kind enough to document for the rest of us. It saved me A LOT of time.


For those who are new to the Bator, they can be found here - http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp?sku=0000622BATOR. Be prepared to wait several months for delivery. Midsouth waits until they have a certain number on back order, then they place their lot order with Lee. A 6-month wait is not uncommon.

[uncle joe]

midway had them in stock this week
sorry not midway
midsouth

[Old Goat Keeper]

Thanks for smartening me up guys!

Tom

[Moonie]

FYI, just tested this boolit in my AR 15, 18gr H4895 sized to .225 gator GC FWFL lube light action spring from Borwnells functioned perfectly.

twist 1-9" did have last rounds jam due to follower tilt, will be replacing the stock followers with Magpul followers very soon.

[Larry Gibson]

FYI, just tested this boolit in my AR 15, 18gr H4895 sized to .225 gator GC FWFL lube light action spring from Borwnells functioned perfectly.

twist 1-9" did have last rounds jam due to follower tilt, will be replacing the stock followers with Magpul followers very soon.

Might check the springs in the mags you've got, they get put in backwards many times and the jams you mention are the result.

Larry Gibson

[Moonie]

Larry, good thinking and I will check that, but haven't had issues like this before with that mag. I did use only one mag.

Thanks for the tip.