I finally got that .220 buckshot mold from sharpshooters. I guess their mill was broken down for awhile so it took longer than usual. Anyways, I got it yesterday and today I cast some, lubed them up with 45-45-10, and proceeded to shoot them. My first casting attempts are shooting well. (heavy sigh of relief). Just like the store bought round balls, those that fit a bit loose shoot pretty much where they want to, but those that are tightest fitting are quite accurate.
The mold drops 20 shot at a time so it really shouldn't take long to cast quite a few. The slowest part of the task is cutting the balls from the spru. (shown in the middle of the shot) Sharpshooters included the flush cut side cutters for that task at no charge. They also refunded the shipping cost to me because it took an extra week to get the mold out. They seem like a pretty straight up outfit to do business with.
There will be a definite learning curve to casting these little gems. Out of 120 cast, I only got about 50 good ones this time around, but as you can see from the image my first good .>(?) ones are quite satisfactory. I didn't cast more this time because of time constraints and I really, really, really wanted to try them out. These shot dropped at right around 15+ grains using pure lead with a little contamination from some wheel weight material left in the pot. After casting a few thousand more I should I should be producing a much higher quantity of good pellets!
These were shot from my Umarex Octane at 15 yards. The red aiming point is 3/4 inch. I have not chronoed these yet. Those two flyers. . . oh well! Terry
