Hopefully casting on Sunday.

[Beagle333]

I'm hoping to get some casting done before the weekend is gone! It rained off and on Saturday. I enjoyed a break from the heat, but it wasn't good for making bullets.
I have some new molds to test out. I took these pics with my phone, so I apologize for any blurriness.

First up is a MiHec 45-225 in 4 cav, fresh off the boat from Slovenia. I like to mix the penta and hp pins and cast both at the same time. And although all MP molds come with blank pins too (for casting solid points), I don't think I have ever used any of them.

And another that was a MiHec Group Buy which closed a couple of weeks ago. I believe it's supposed to be a clone of the H&G 68.

And then I got a NOE mold during his 4th of July sale.
This is the 45-230 BD. (The BD is for the guy that created it)

If the rain holds off, I will post some cast pics too. Get those pots hot and make some boolits!!!

 

[FrankenMauser]

Rain... pffft!
As soon as I heard about today's thunderstorm warning and saw the sky darkening earlier, my initial thought was, "Hmmm... probably a good time to try one of those RG molds again."



...But a good, cold beer won me over first.


Good luck!

 

[Chainsaw.]

Such pretty moulds!

 

[Beagle333]

I got em casting today. I don't heat-treat mine, I just wash em with a toothbrush and Dawn and start casting. They'll get much better on the third time out, but I got some keepers from the bunch.
Here's the 45-225 HP

And the H&G 68

I ran a few of em through the Star, just to see how CR looks on em.

I didn't get to use the 45-230BD though... storms moved in here around 3:30 and I had to gather my toys and move back inside.

Maybe next week!

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[Pahoo]

Excelelnt work !!!

Beagle,
As usual, excellent work and very professional. .....
If any, what is your rate of rejects or remelts?? Sadly, mine is running about 30%. Getting too old to buy a new pot. .....

Be Safe !!!

 

[Beagle333]

Just not a clear answer availabe.

There's really no way to put a number on it. Some molds are more finicky than others and some just rain bullets right from the start. Usually, once the mold is up to temp though, I can probably cull one out of 20, or around 5%.

Molds with lots of grooves (Loverin), with thin square grooves or double crimp grooves will almost always have one bad one in every drop, or 25% culls, but that's just my bad casting.

If you count the first dozen pours, probably 80-90% are culls when getting a HP mold up to temp, but the solids such as the 452488 will drop keepers right off the hotplate.

 

[FrankenMauser]

Looks like fun.


I ended up dropping about 110 of the NOE 311-165 RF ('updated' RD .30-30) on Sunday, after the kids were locked inside and before I ran out of light.

Nothing special, and still lots of wrinkles.
I'm having to relearn everything again and re-adapt the tools to the current space.
...But there are enough usable for the current purposes (cheap trigger time and some dummy rounds).


I need to build another casting bench...
(Or build bigger work bench, so I can have the old bench back for casting. )

 

[Mike / Tx]

Those are some real beauties there Beagle ol bud, as usual. They should get you into that nice new 45 in good fashion.

I hope you have a few jugs stashed away to fill with water and try out those HP's in. Probably take 4-5 to stop them easily. Those first ones won't offer much resistance once they make contact.

Those SWC's, well either really, will do well over some Bullseye, around 3.8 to 4.8grs on the heavy end, is about all they need, and seated to the point you can just see the front edge of the driving band sticking out of the cases, some say a thumbnails thickness worth.

You can work your loads one of two ways, I like to go for top accuracy, my close friend likes all his brass to pile up about 3-4' to his right. Mine seem to fly a bit further but still end up in fairly close proximity to me. I can at least keep them all on one of those cheap $6 moving blankets they see over at HF or Northern Tools.

So now that you have them poured, sized, and lubed, lets see some of what you can do with them...

 

[Beagle333]

I see the doc again next week. Hopefully he will clear me to shoot again.