Looking for a .22 cal pellet mold

[FSR]

Since .22 rimfire ammo is so scarce and priced to the moon I am breaking out the air rifle for tree rats this fall. I would like to pour my own since I have a big pile of lead.

[HARRYMPOPE]

.22 pellets are cheap enough at $9-15 per 500.Unless using a PCP gun for long range a spring gun cant drive heavy cast 22 cals fast enough.i shoot lots of squirrels with my 22 pellet airguns with 15- 20 FPE and they kill great.

[gloob]

You might try some round ball at close range? That should be a little over 15 grains, at 0.212-0.214" diameter.

My rifle groups well with Daisy's. They're a penny each. I guess that could add up. But I'd sell the lead and buy the pellets.

I don't mind having a mold I don't use, just in case. I guess I wouldn't mind buying a $20.00 Lee pellet mold, but something tells me a pellet mold is going to cost at least $120.00. And the chances that your rifle likes the pellets it drops are probably pretty small. Then you have to buy pellet sizer dies and skirt expander dies, too.

[Black Beard]

Sorry but you won't be able to make pellets that come anywhere near the accuracy of good factory pellets. They sold LEM pellet casting moulds in the 80s but they produced rubbish pellets. Lead firearm bullets won't work as they will be .224 instead of air gun sizes (.220 largest for old British stuff, most of the rest are nearer 5.5mm). Firearm bullets will get stuck in the barrel.

[odfairfaxsub]

Molded pellets won't be good enough for most air rifles. Not consistant enough for the modest power systems to get awesome accuracy. Air rifles typically call out the smallest of defects.

[HollowPoint]

I was able to do a sort of work-around. I made an adjustable mold that casts cylindrical 22 caliber lead slugs that I then swage into a more ballistically efficient 22 caliber pellet profile. It's sort of like a scaled down pistol bullet with a hollow base and a shallow cup point.

The mold is an adjustable 4 cavity contraption that allows me to adjust the weights fairly precisely. By trying different weights of slugs, I found that finished pellets weighing 16.2 grains shot the best out of my break barrel air rifle. So, I adjusted the mold to drop those little lead slugs weighing 17 grains. After swaging and cutting off the bled-off lead extrusion around the skirts, I can get 8 out of 10 of these little swaged pellets to come in at an exact weight. The rejects generally weigh just a tad more or less and I use those for plinking.

I did write up on these home made pellets a while back. The thread was titled, "Rejoice With Me Brethren." The opening sentence reads, "I'll never have to buy pellets again."

I'd always heard that a swaged slug/pellet tended to be a little more concentric and uniform than a molded pellet/slug so I went this route and it turned out to be true. At least in my case.

HollowPoint

[Ballistics in Scotland]

I'm quite sure that swaging is far superior to casting for these, although the initial piece of lead might be cast. The gravitational effect and fast cooling of so little lead would make it very different to fill the mould correctly. A reloading press would give plenty of power for the swaging.

The shape isn't really critical at relatively low velocities, but the amount of engagement with the rifling is. I'd use a set of number drills, and drill most of the die to land diameter, with a very short groove diameter flange at the rear. A full-diameter ejection punch would be fine, and you could make a pointed rear punch for a hollow base if you like.

[HollowPoint]

This is what I came up with. The point of impact of the 16.2 grain swaged pellets is about 1 3/4" below the POI of the 14 grain crossman premier hollow point at 25 yards. This pic shows some of the eighteen grain pellets I swaged while I was looking for the most accurate weight for my Octane air rifle.

The 16 grainers look identical to these 18 grain pellets. They just happen to be a couple of grains lighter. I tried heavier and lighter grains but, 16.2 grains showed the most consistent accuracy.

HollowPoint

[Ballistics in Scotland]

They look just about right. That rear flange should spin the bullet without causing too much loss of energy through friction. A thinner rear skirt might expand and tear off.

A 2.145in. bore sounds almost excessively interesting.

[odfairfaxsub]

Yup swaging would be the ticket. Those are impressive

[Tom_et]

Isn't there an English guy that makes and sell pellet molds

[HollowPoint]

Isn't there an English guy that makes and sell pellet molds

Yes there is. The molds produced by this gentleman are called "Pile Drivers". They are kind of heavy for the calibers they're made in. One is the 22 caliber and the other is .177. I believe they too are a mix of molded and then swaged pellets.

HollowPoint