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AK Mike · Member

I've been kicking around the idea of a HW 90 or a BSA Sportsman XL. in .25 caliber. What I'm wondering is: can I use a .25 ACP bullet mold to cast my own .25 pellets? My reasoning is simply that I like to make and break and tinker with things with my own ten thumbs.

My Google-Fu is admittedly weak, but so far I haven't been able to find the actual diameter of a .25 caliber pellet. By all appearances, the .25 ACP mold is .251 for a 50 grain round nose.

Does my idea hold any merit? Any other suggestions?

I know if I were hellbent to mold pellets for an airgun, I could go to 9mm, .45, or .50, but I'd rather stay with a .22 or .25

Your thoughts on the topic would be appreciated!

AirGunEric · Site Admin

I don't know how accurate a non-diabolo "bullet" would be in a typical airgun. There are some (some) .25 cal pellets out there: http://www.pyramydair.com/cgi-bin/show_necessities.pl?show=NEW&Caliber=0.25&Type=0

Here is a pellet mold (I have no idea who this person is/isn't and know nothing about them, but the webpage has some pictures): http://airgundevelopment.com/mold.html

It looks as though the "Air Venturi" pellets are just straight "bullets"- but only one review on them, and it wasn't terribly favorable.

fritz · Silver Status Member

No doubt you could mould your own bullets for a .25. They might just need to be swaged for your bore (and maybe a loose fit for a barrel choke).

A 50gr bullet is an awful lot for an airgun, IIRC the Eun Jins stop at 42gr and .25 Kodiaks are only 31gr?

Both of the guns you mentioned are springers, so you can't get much more power out of them. Best to just use commercial pellets, save casting your own bullets for bigbores and muzzle loaders.

dummyracer36 · Senior Member

heres a place that has everything you need to do this, and all the info you could ever want... but the site is jumbled and kinda hard to navigate

http://www.corbins.com/pellets.htm

broommaster2000 · Moderator

Lovely, bad website ergonomics.

AK Mike · Member

I appreciate y'all sharing your thoughts on this one. You folks have been very helpful. I'd already checked out the Corbin site, which is definitely way far neat-o, but near as I can tell, much more expensive and intensive than melting used tire weights in one of my wifes old soup pots, ya' know?

I'll just split the difference- buy lots of .22 cal pellets, and eventually get a 9mm rifle and appropriate molds...

Griff1950 · Member

I've had extensive experience w/casting bullets. There is no reason you cannot cast bullets for your .22 or .25 airguns. One major thing I would insist on is that the bullets be cut off on the nose end of the bullet. A small deformation on the nose will not have a large adverse effect on accuracy, but any deformation on the base will have a huge effect. The Lee mold company used to make custom molds for a reasonable price. I would suggest contacting them.