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[Tantrim]

alright so i was surfing the wonderful world of youtube and stumbled across this video of a guy making his own pellets! Seems quite efficient too! (Compared to other methods on youtube)

Anyways heres the videos, theres 2 parts so watch both!

first! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZbNX4W1 ... ature=plcp
second! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZvJBN1J ... playnext=1

and heres his official website you can buy these molds from: http://airgunpelletmaker.weebly.com/

[sacshooter]

Very cool

I was thinking someone should make a 25 cal swagger that you can drop the 25 cal buckshot into and smack it with a hammer to form a pellet.

Roger

[TFB82]

Very cool

I was thinking someone should make a 25 cal swagger that you can drop the 25 cal buckshot into and smack it with a hammer to form a pellet.

Roger

Going from a round ball to a pellet might be a little too much unless you have a press that can put out some major pressure.

If I was going to go through all of this trouble, I'd slug my barrel and then cast and size pellets to the thou. Like those ringed slugs out there for .25s. What I would like to do is pan lube those ringed slugs.

[Tantrim]

Very cool

I was thinking someone should make a 25 cal swagger that you can drop the 25 cal buckshot into and smack it with a hammer to form a pellet.

Roger

Going from a round ball to a pellet might be a little too much unless you have a press that can put out some major pressure.

If I was going to go through all of this trouble, I'd slug my barrel and then cast and size pellets to the thou. Like those ringed slugs out there for .25s. What I would like to do is pan lube those ringed slugs.

Haha i have no clue as to what some of the lingo you used means TFB82. Pan lube, slug you're barrel? Are you saying to make pellets that are made to be a perfect fit with you're own barrel?
Also, that would be pretty cool to cast some pellets from buckshot... what kind of mold would you need to try and make this practical? My dad has a big machine shop with some pretty big hydralic presses or hydralic brake for bending thick sheets of metal which im sure i could use somehow...

[TFB82]

Sorry it took so long to reply. I've been away, sorta.

Pan lubing is a process people use with bullets and musket rounds. The bullets have grooves in them around the circumference of the bullet. They sit the bullets straight up on their tails in a double boiler. Then you heat up wax in the pan. It goes into the grooves. Then you allow it to harden. When you pull the bullet out, there is a ring of wax in the bullet.

Slugging your barrel determines the exact diameter of the bore. You take a piece of soft lead slightly larger than the bore and you ram it through using a mallet and some push sticks. When it leaves, you get a perfect impression of the lands and grooves. You can then measure it with a micrometer down to the thousandth. If you're shooting a .22, your barrel might actually be .225. If your pellets are sized at .222, then you might have accuracy problems.

How most people make their own pellets is by swaging. They have a mold that is very close to the final dimensions they want. They pour the molten lead and create a blank. Then they take that blank and put it in a swaging machine. There are some swagers that will fit onto a bullet reloading press. There are some stand alone swagers.

There are some issues though. Lead is toxic and while most of people never have a problem, casting it exposes you to a lot more lead dust and fumes. Lead is also very hot. It melts at around 620F but you want to get it a little hotter so it will stays liquid until it fills out the mold. You need to wear long pants, long sleeves, gloves, a face mask and maybe a respirator if you're doing it inside. It is not comfortable.

The big problem you'll find is getting a consistent mix of lead. I cast mostly fishing weights and jig heads. Their weights don't need to be exact. I just weighed two weights from the same mold 5oz mold. The first one weighed 4.41 ounces. The second one weighed 4.52 ounces. For a fishing weight, .11 ounces doesn't matter but that's 48gr. On a smaller scale like a .22 or a .25, that might be a grain or two difference but that's a lot for us and it's too much for someone who is going through all the trouble of custom pellets.

Pure lead is too soft for a pellet. You need to mix in some tin and/or antimony (another toxic element) for a good combination of weight, flex and rigidness and then you need to be able to duplicate that.