225462 experience?

[MtGun44]

Anybody out there use the Lyman 225462 boolit? I picked up one at
the gun show today and was interested if anyone has any good or
bad words on this design.

The mold had a boolit in it and that one mics at .228, which seems like
a pretty good thing.

Bill

[BCall]

Yes, I have a couple of them. Had Buckshot HP one of them for me. It shoots very well in my 222 that has a 10" twist over a modest charge of 4759. Will put a hurtin on a crow. Mine doesn't cast quite as large as yours appears to though. Both of mine are closer to .2265. Wish I could find a 4 cavity one. Billy

[Jack Stanley]

I've got one and it drops bullets closer to what Billys mold does . I'm still using up bullets of this design that I cast in a borrowed mold last year and I hope to get to use the new four cavity this winter . Initial casting and testing looks good but then I'm pretty easy to please shooting them at just over rim fire velocity .

I'll look around the dungeon and see what my load data for it is but I think it's a light charge of Bullseye .

Jack

[MtGun44]

Thanks guys. I may have to use this as an excuse to look for one of the small .22 CF
rifles, maybe Hornet or Bee or something. Never had any experience in that end of
casting or even shooting, but if I find something interesting I may pick it up.

Bill

[JeffinNZ]

Bill, I have one that shoots very well in my .223 Rem 700. I had Erik HP one cavity and it is fantastic. Mine drops WW are .225 ish so your fat mould will be great.

[Jack Stanley]

I went down and found the data in the can of ammo I'm using . The charge is four point six of Bullseye with a CCI 400 primer , I think I tried some with Winchest small pistol primers later and they worked as well or better . Bullet is seated with the gas check at the bottom of the neck .

It works well for reduced range shooting .

Jack

[JIMinPHX]

Go to the cast pics section of the site, look under "articles by members", then look for the 3 part series on cast in the .223 by Beagle. It has a wealth of info on that boolit & several others. Be prepared to sit & read for a while. There is a LOT of information there.

[MtGun44]

Have not cast with mine yet, so the .228 boolit in it could be any alloy, no idea if that is
what I will get.

Jeff -
Thanks for the info - I have a bit of trouble imagining a HP in that TINY boolit. It is about
the same size as the hole in my favorite .44 cast HP!

Jim -
I will look up Beagle's article when I have time to follow it, too late tonight to start.

Bill

[GabbyM]

I use a rich alloy to help with filling out those little groves in the nose. Plus the size comes out correct. An 8lb ingot of 2/6 with one pound of Linotype added. Twenty pounds of that alloy and you've over 2,300 boolits.

Mine cast right on new bore specs with .225+” body and whatever the nose wants to be for a 223. IIRC .221”. Big item is the gas checks fit well. That’s a big one with the little bullets as you’re challenged getting those little bugers on anyways. If it cast a fat shank with WW metal you can always send it back to Lyman for a replacement.

I’m thinking a 16” twist Hornet would have a hard time stabilizing that bullet.

[HORNET]

Trying to stabilize that boolit in a 16" twist Hornet is a good way to expand case heads and loosen primer pockets. I couldn't get it to stay point-on much past 100 yards at acceptable pressures (even WAY over current SAAMI spec.s). It might work out of a 16" twist Bee, though. I think one of the Rem. 700 Classics in .221 Fireball would be a great gun for cast .22's but I've never seen one that I could afford...:sad:

[Dale53]

Hornet;
You are "spot on" regarding the original slow twist Hornets. However, I have a Ruger #3 with custom wood that has a faster twist and WILL stabilize the longer bullet. However, mine has been re-chambered to .221 Fireball. This gives great case life (the .221 cases are as good as it gets) and still allows me to use at Hornet velocities up to near .222 velocities. I mostly use the Lyman 225420 because my first .22 cast bullet rifle was an original Hornet.

I have hunted squirrels with a rifle for most of my life. I find the .22 rimfire to be less than the best for this purpose. I have a 25/20 that is a great choice for edible small game. However, a good Hornet, .221, or .222 with cast bullets can be a revelation to those who haven't used anything except a .22 rimfire. Using a flat nosed bullet at 1200-1400 fps (I use 3.0 grs of Unique in the Hornet and 4.0 grs in the .221) does a fine job in those cases where Mr. Squirrel doesn't present a head shot. That flat nose kills quite well with little meat damage.

Just a thought or two...

Dale53

[MtGun44]

So what twist rate will I need to stabilize these things at low velocities like 1500 or less?

Bill

[telebasher]

The little Lyman 225438 was designed for the 1-16 twist Hornet, but the round nose does't thump much. I found by accident that using the 415 top punch will put a nice little flat point on the 225438 and increase it's smacking potential considerably. I use 2.7 grains BE, shoots in a inch @ 50 yds, plenty good for rabbits, squirrels etc. I agree with Dale53 the flat point kills quite well with little meat lost.

[Jim,In]

I use the 438 also, but I do the nose first sizing. I get a nice flat point like the 415. I use Unique in my 10" T/C Jim

[TCFAN]

I have a hollow point 225462. I have not done much with it. Shot a couple of groundhogs and several armadillos.
I use straight linotype to cast 22 boolits.it make it alot eaiser to get good fill out.If they are run at 2500fps or so they are quite destructive.
This is what my 225462 looks like.........Terry

http://i755.photobucket.com/albums/xx200/TCintheOzarks/Cast%20Boolits/225462HP.jpg

[Larry Gibson]

So what twist rate will I need to stabilize these things at low velocities like 1500 or less?

Bill

14" twist will do fine with that bullet along with 225415 and 224462. My Savage M40 .22 Hornet has a 14" twist and my 21" TC Contender barrel seems to be a 12" twist as near as I can measure it with a cleaning rod/tight patch. Not sure what my 10" Contender barrel is but it does well with 225415 at under 1500 fps.

My old #3 Ruger with a 16" twist does really well with 225438 and the very sweet 225107. I like to run the 227107 cast of WWs +2% tin at 1800 fps. It weights right at 39 gr fully dressed and the fp thumps ground squirrels really well.

Larry Gibson

[telebasher]

What does that do to to an armadillo? Do they jump straight up like when you shoot them with a 22 rimfire? Do they completely penetrate? Sounds like fun. We have Armadillos in the northern Texas panhandle, Might need to investigate terminal ballistics on a new varmint!

[TCFAN]

What does that do to to an armadillo? Do they jump straight up like when you shoot them with a 22 rimfire? Do they completely penetrate? Sounds like fun. We have Armadillos in the northern Texas panhandle, Might need to investigate terminal ballistics on a new varmint!

I use a 222 with cast 225462 and 225415 both in HP form. Cast out of linotype and at 2500fps they will shoot through a armadillo end to end and make a half inch or bigger exit hole.The armadillo flips over and dies.

If you want to really have fun shoot them with a 357 rifle using a 358156 HP at 1700fps.Inside 25 yards it will cut them in half..........Terry

[telebasher]

So many ways to have fun, having a hard time deciding what load, what varmint to go after. No more load development for a while, got to see what my new hollowpoint 225415 will do on our local praire dog population! Who knows what else might show up.

[HORNET]

If you want a little more effectiveness than the 225438, BRP has a 226-47-GC that's basically a 225438 with a flat nose. He makes a cute little 4 cavity version on RCBS-sized blocks for those who shoot bunches of the little critters.

[w30wcf]

MtGun44,

A few years ago a was working with a number of .22 WCF loads in my '43 Winchester 22 Hornet (1/16" twist). The 22 WCF factory cartridge used a 45 gr. bullet at 1500 or so f.p.s. Both the NEI 45 gr and the Lyman 225438 wrked very well with either 3.0 Titegroup or 3.3 of 231 ignited by small pistol primers.

One day I decided to try the 225462. I was a bit concerned about stabilization but wanted to try it anyway. I used 231 and bumped the powder charge to 3.8 grs (1,603 f.p.s. avg.) for the heavier bullet weight. The results were interesting.

The 5 shot group went into 1.51" @ 100 yards with some slight scuffing at target which indicated a not quite stable bullet. Still the accuracy was pretty good. :D

w30wcf

[telebasher]

Been looking at Ranch Dog's 50 gr TL design . Says 72% meplat, talk about smacking something! Better yet its a 6 cavity mould to boot, guess I need to add one to my collection.

[quack1]

I shoot the 225462 in my 22-250,1-14 twist, with good accuracy at about 2200fps. I hollow-point them on a lathe for hunting with no change in accuracy.
Like 30wcf, I tried them in a 43 Winchester, bee instead of hornet, same 1-16 twist and couldnt get any better than 1 3/4" at 100 yards, no matter how fast I pushed them. They just wouldn't stabilize. The 225438 worked much better in the bee.

[Jim,In]

This is what I love about my T/C in a Hornet, 1-12 barrel going to try a 62gr bullet out of a NEI
mold that I have. Still working on Subsonic load for my Hornet. Jim

[mroliver77]

My NEF Hornet must have a faster twist as it shoots the 462 well. It dotes on the 415 and the rcbs 55gr. I use a case full of 2520 and it shoots very well.
Jay

[MtGun44]

Interesting info, guys. Looks like the issue is twist rate for this boolit. I have never cast
this small a boolit, it will be interesting to see how they do compared to the .38,
.44 and .45 stuff I mostly cast. I think I'm going to need tweezers for the GCs! ;-)

Bill

[JeffinNZ]

Bill, the single biggest improvement I made to both my Lyman 415 and 462 was to make replacement sprue plates from 5mm thick 7 series aluminum and drilled the pouring holes a mere 2mm. This cut the weight variation down to +- 0.1gr.

The 462 is a fine bullet but unless you have it really smoking it is not much a small game bullet especially compared to the 415. I found that the 462 departing at 1700fps, I had hit the bunnies fair and square in the boiler room or they didn't drop. That is why I had Erik HP a cavity. MOTHER, that makes a difference.

[MtGun44]

Jeff,
RN vs FN is the difference, I presume. Interesting report, I have heard this same sort of
thing with RN .38 and .44 cal pistol boolits compared to SWCs.

Bill

[telebasher]

Bill, the single biggest improvement I made to both my Lyman 415 and 462 was to make replacement sprue plates from 5mm thick 7 series aluminum and drilled the pouring holes a mere 2mm. This cut the weight variation down to +- 0.1gr.

The 462 is a fine bullet but unless you have it really smoking it is not much a small game bullet especially compared to the 415. I found that the 462 departing at 1700fps, I had hit the bunnies fair and square in the boiler room or they didn't drop. That is why I had Erik HP a cavity. MOTHER, that makes a difference.

According to Lyman, the proper top punch is the 438. If you use the 415 it will leave a nice little flat point that will give much better results on game, same on the 22 Bator.

[JIMinPHX]

I have never cast
this small a boolit, it will be interesting to see how they do compared to the .38,
.44 and .45 stuff I mostly cast.

The biggest difference that I've noticed is temperature related. The small amount of lead that gets poured into the cavities does not have very much heat to transfer to the blocks, so it's a little tough to keep the mold up to temperature, even if you move quickly. So far, I've gotten around this by running my pot VERY hot.

Lately, I've been toying around with the idea of drilling a bunch of holes in the tops of my blocks to reduce the thermal transfer rate from the area around the cavities to the outside surface of the blocks. I haven't tried it yet. I've just been thinking about it.

[home in oz]

How does it do out of a semi-auto .223?