Several .224 Casting Questions ?

[ohiochuck]

As I prepare to gather supplies to cast .224 bullets for my .22 Hornet- Winchester Model 70 several questions??
-type of alloy recommended # 2?
-when I dropped heavy cast bullets (large caliber) in a 5 gallon bucket of water, I found the bullets hit bottom and dented. What is the solution- a deeper water bucket?
-does if matter which brand of gas checks-Hornady or Lyman?
-which lube for warm/hot and cool/cold weather? Is there a lube the works well for both temp extremes?
-sizing- I am told that the model 70 .22 Hornet barrels are .222. Does it matter if they are sized at .224 or test and see? Not sure I want to purchase several sizers.
Thanks for your time and help!
Jim

[BABore]

As I prepare to gather supplies to cast .224 bullets for my .22 Hornet- Winchester Model 70 several questions??
-type of alloy recommended # 2? I used 50/50 WW-Pb, water dropped. 22 bhn.
-when I dropped heavy cast bullets (large caliber) in a 5 gallon bucket of water, I found the bullets hit bottom and dented. What is the solution- a deeper water bucket? Use a cushion. Old rags or the like.
-does if matter which brand of gas checks-Hornady or Lyman? Hornady or Gator crimp on preferred. I don't like slip on anything as there's no guarantee when, where, or if it will come off.-which lube for warm/hot and cool/cold weather? Is there a lube the works well for both temp extremes? Something you have to test. I had great luck with LBT for HV in warm weather. Turned cold and it sucked. Try several and let your gun tell you.-sizing- I am told that the model 70 .22 Hornet barrels are .222. Does it matter if they are sized at .224 or test and see? Not sure I want to purchase several sizers. I size as close as I can to a fired case neck ID. For me, that's 0.224-0.225. I'd start with at least a 0.224.Thanks for your time and help!
Jim

Hope this helps.

[Ricochet]

-when I dropped heavy cast bullets (large caliber) in a 5 gallon bucket of water, I found the bullets hit bottom and dented. What is the solution- a deeper water bucket?

How high did you drop them from? I use a standard household bucket that probably doesn't hold 3 gallons, and I haven't had that happen. I bend over and drop the boolits out of the mould just above the water.

[303Guy]

... I am told that the model 70 .22 Hornet barrels are .222. Does it matter if they are sized at .224 ...

Only the fit in the throat matters. I have been using only 224 j-words in my 222 bore hornet.

I would size to 224 and go shoot.

[1Shirt]

I use a bunch of strips of foam rubber that floats (soaked) on top of a 5 gal bucket that is about 2/3 full. A friend of mine uses a bucket with a bunch of wine corks floating on top. Both work fine.
1Shirt!

[JIMinPHX]

#2 alloy should be fine.

I water drop into a 2-liter soda bottle with the top cut off that I keep under the bench. I drop them out of a gloved hand from just an inch or two above the water. That works fine for me. You may not need to water drop them if you have a gas check.

I've been using Hornady GCs & I've been happy with them.

I had my best luck with Lyman Super Moly lube (no leading @ 3,000fps in a .223) but it's kind of messy. Orange magic seems to work good around 2,000fps. Many other lubes will also work well. Alox/bees wax is a classic. Any of the rifle boolit lubes should be good. I've wanted to try bullshop's speed green, but I haven't gotten around to ordering any yet.

You should really slug your barrel & then size the boolits about .001" bigger than the groove diameter that you measure. If you want to take a stab in the dark, .224 is probably not a bad size to try. The hornets (especially the older ones) tend to have a lot of variation in the barrel dimensions, so that is one caliber where I would really want to slug first.

Also, with any of the .22's, be careful to set the boolit out until it just touches the lands. The small boolits seem to be more sensitive to that than the bigger ones are. In addition to that, the Hornet has a reputation for being fussy about the powder charge being spot on. Measure your charges carefully. A friend of mine claims that he gets better accuracy out of his Hornet if he uses small pistol primers instead of small rifle primers. I see that Speer 13 lists maximum Hornet pressure at 43k CUP & 357 mag silhouette pressure at 45k cup, so the pistol primers should be able to take the pressure if the gun is in good shape. Personally, I wouldn't use pistol primers unless I was downloading the charge.