I have an addiction for the big bores. my current favorite is my .58 pistol that I have been shooting for over a year now. Boy are they expensive to feed. If you are buying bullets, you're probably spending about a dollar every time you pull the trigger. Which, during a big hunt, you really don't care. But I shoot everyday. And I usually shoot about a dozen times when I am out. So I got used to casting my own bullets. I still get lead delivered to my door for $2.00 a pound. That gives me about 16 bullets per pound.
But there is a problem. Nobody is building a mold specifically for air gun use. You will be casting some pretty solid bullets normally used for black powder guns. The issue being barrel friction. You will almost have to size your bullets to help them be more efficient. And nobody builds a good hollow point mold for sale. Lee and Lyman should pay attention to this.
So Once again I say "Quit complaining and build your own" So I did, Now I realize why the bullet makers get $1.00 per round. It took me a very long time to engineer, draw, and make all the components for a mold.
I used 7075 aluminum for the body of the mold. Squaring up two blocks and getting the right finish on the mold face is not easy. It can't be super smooth, I actually machined .002 deep grooves spaced .050 apart to let air out of the mold cavity. There are three specially modified .250 pins strategically press fit as locating pins. The mold had to fit a Lyman handle left over from another mold I have. The hollow point pin has a 10 degree included angle for easier removal after the cast. It is held in position by a snap ring installed on the pin. The bullet itself is 435 grains. It is a massive hollow point that really expands nicely with my pistols slower 550 FPS M.V. It has two driving bans that engage the rifling. They are only .030 wide an they like to be sized to .576 (My actual bore size is .575) I'm forgetting a ton of stuff that is built into the mold. Let's just say, Boy this one works nice. I just finished the mold so I shot it for accuracy and exploded a few milk jugs. But that is it for testing so far. The photo doesn't do justice to all the machining. it looks really dirty with all the candle soot applied.
Nice mold!! Thats a purty hollowpoint.
Ive a .58 too, recently found a mold for cheap from ebay. Casts a little larger than .575 so will need sized to feed into my DAQ. Ive been searching for a sizing die to press them thru. May have to make a custom die.
Ive a .54 that I cast for too, I found a MaxiHunter mold that drops at 455gr ?, they drop at just over .540", luckily when I bought the rifle Mr. Hollowpoint included a .540 sizing die. After sizing they still need a nudge to feed into the chamber, I may try massaging the lead in to alleviate that issue.
I agree, there is a need for more airgun oriented casting molds. NOE has been coming out with some airgun dedicated molds, I recently picked up a .30 pellet setup. Capable of 4 different weights via replaceable pins.
Ive found that casting my own pellets and slugs is rewarding. Not only do I save money, I control the quality, Ive cast some primo ammo
Thanks for sharing your handmade mold, thats got me thinking now ?
Holy crap, you could pour a beer into that thing!
I'm going to have to make another one that is symmetrical from end to end. It would be a boat tail design and still have the big cavernous hollowpoint. But would be easily turned around for different effects. I will try to add the drawing file. John
@johnnysingleshot I am considering buying an AEA Element Max in 58… I’d like to have Accurate molds make me a 400 grn solid… just not sure about a sizer. Even if I cast and measure the barrel, I’ll still need a sizer… where did you find yours?
@neal yes you almost have to make your own, I built mine out of 17-4 stainless. Just a 2 degree included angle is all I build to lead in. Then build just a little tight, about .002 small. Then lap it to size very gradually. Plan on it taking all day to make a quality sizer.
It would be a lot easier to start with an existing $24 mold. Just sayin.
Where are the pics of recovered boolits? 😆 Must be at least one coon in your yard at night?
FWIW, I've found it takes approx the same amount of time to chuck boolits in a collet and bore them with a pilot drill, as is spent messing about with a hollowpoint mold. Especially if using multi-cavity molds.
Chucking up a piece of lead and drilling it out is an art form in itself. If your comfortable doing it. I can cast a bullet every 30 seconds. Punch it through the sizer in 5 seconds. It takes an honest hour to make 100 bullets. I don't have any photos right now of used bullets, but my pistol runs about 500 fps. Those bullets flatten out so fast that they don't go through a coon. But wow is that coon dead.
I do use the .58 REAL mold from Lee also. You will almost certainly need a sizer on these big bores. That REAL bullet is a solid slug that will not chamber if it cast any more than .002 over the bore size. But once sized, they shoot very well.
