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I just purchased a Waltz 22LR die. Anyone else out there using one? Just looking for any tips on what worked best or warnings about issues you may have encountered.
I only heard about this die a few months ago. I went sage rat hunting for the first time this year and a buddy I went with uses one to hollowpoint his 22LR ammo.
In a nutshell, the die is made by Neal Waltz of Ohio. He's a retired machinist and has been making them for quite a while. The die swages your 22 bullet to a uniform size. You can also hollowpoint your ammo with it. Some people use it to improve the accuracy of their rounds and others use it to make hunting rounds.
On my first sage rat hunt, I was using CCI Mini Mag HP ammo. While accurate, I was kind of disappointed at the performance. It just seemed to punch clean thru and not very clean kills. I quickly shifted to my AR. On that one day hunt, I shot about 50 rounds of Mini Mag and about 420 rounds of 5.56.
On my second hunt, I went with this buddy. I was surprised when he said he was shooting Federal Automatch and he suggested I bring a box. The night before, he loaned me his Waltz die and I hollowpointed the box. The next day we went out shooting and what a difference! The Mini Mag HP rounds would hit with a "pop" and pretty much the same results. The Automatch HP rounds would hit with a "thwack" and were DRT. It would also blow some guts out. Both rounds are rated at 1200 fps.
Mini Mag HP at about 40 yards. Flopped around a bit.
Automatch HP round at about same distance. DRT
This second hunt was a two day hunt with a buddy. I shot about 400 rounds of 22LR and about 120 rounds of 5.56. This was later in the season so the critters were a bit skittish but for two shooters, we had a good time. We were both making clean kills out past 100 yards with our 22s. While the dies are not cheap, it did help save on ammo cost, provided a cleaner kill, and I find shooting 22LR more pleasant. After seeing the difference, I had to get one.
Someone might ask "why not just X the bullet with a knife"? I have tried that on other critters and did not find it consistent. Secondly, it often changed the POI too.
I only heard about this die a few months ago. I went sage rat hunting for the first time this year and a buddy I went with uses one to hollowpoint his 22LR ammo.
In a nutshell, the die is made by Neal Waltz of Ohio. He's a retired machinist and has been making them for quite a while. The die swages your 22 bullet to a uniform size. You can also hollowpoint your ammo with it. Some people use it to improve the accuracy of their rounds and others use it to make hunting rounds.
On my first sage rat hunt, I was using CCI Mini Mag HP ammo. While accurate, I was kind of disappointed at the performance. It just seemed to punch clean thru and not very clean kills. I quickly shifted to my AR. On that one day hunt, I shot about 50 rounds of Mini Mag and about 420 rounds of 5.56.
On my second hunt, I went with this buddy. I was surprised when he said he was shooting Federal Automatch and he suggested I bring a box. The night before, he loaned me his Waltz die and I hollowpointed the box. The next day we went out shooting and what a difference! The Mini Mag HP rounds would hit with a "pop" and pretty much the same results. The Automatch HP rounds would hit with a "thwack" and were DRT. It would also blow some guts out. Both rounds are rated at 1200 fps.
Mini Mag HP at about 40 yards. Flopped around a bit.
Automatch HP round at about same distance. DRT
This second hunt was a two day hunt with a buddy. I shot about 400 rounds of 22LR and about 120 rounds of 5.56. This was later in the season so the critters were a bit skittish but for two shooters, we had a good time. We were both making clean kills out past 100 yards with our 22s. While the dies are not cheap, it did help save on ammo cost, provided a cleaner kill, and I find shooting 22LR more pleasant. After seeing the difference, I had to get one.
Someone might ask "why not just X the bullet with a knife"? I have tried that on other critters and did not find it consistent. Secondly, it often changed the POI too.
