Made something for the Blackhawk to eat today.

:eek:That's it rub it in....:D:D I'm waiting on mine to get here. It won't take long to get it broke in either once it does. LOL

What no penta's in the bunch? LOL

Yep I poured up quite a few this afternoon myself. I emptied the 4-20 on the Ranch Dog 429-240, and then again on the MP 429 HG 503. I threw two cavities with the penta pin and two with the blank for straight SWC's. Like mentioned above I had the SCW stick nearly every time I cast them, but I found that if I alternated 2-3 pours with the penta only then hit all of them the S flat nosed would drop free ....almost every time.

Anyway it was a productive day, I also smelted up close to 100# of alloy as well just getting ready for the new ones to arrive.
 
What no penta's in the bunch?
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I didn't wanna push my luck. It was my first time with a Cramer style anyway. :) Besides, the penta pins look like somebody put a point on em with a dull chainsaw. I gotta smooth em up a lot. They would lock onto a bullet like a bulldog, I'd bet.:rolleyes:
 
I didn't wanna push my luck. It was my first time with a Cramer style anyway. Besides, the penta pins look like somebody put a point on em with a dull chainsaw. I gotta smooth em up a lot. They would lock onto a bullet like a bulldog, I'd bet.
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The penta's are a bit different in that they need a touch more heat, (I bump the temp up around 20 degrees on the PID), but they also need time between the cut and dump to fall free of the pins. I usually give them around a 5 count before opening the halves and they will drop most o the time. For the stubborn ones I tap the end of the pin slightly with a 3/4" dowel and that usually frees it right up.

To be honest I have more of an issue with the blank pins pouring the flat nosed in both the RFN and SWC molds. They simply don't want to turn loose of the grooves and fall out. Least with the HP pins they have a bit of assistance.

I'll try and get a pick of some I poured up yesterday, but don't hold your breath waiting.
 
I have a question. Are these steal or aluminum molds?

I don't cast much for center fire but I've cast more muzzleloader bullets/balls than a care to remember. I've fallen in love with the laser cast silver because you can push them hard and still get one hole groups. I've always had to smoke the heck out of my steal molds to stop them from sticking. Never had an aluminum one stick unless the lead wasn't hot enough.
 
Mine are brass molds. MiHec only rarely does steel, his specialty is brass and he does aluminum as well,.

I like some muzzleloading too, now! I cast about 700 round balls for my 1860 yesterday morning. That was with a DC Lyman (steel).:)
 
FrankenMauser: The NOE stickiness seems to be caused by temperature differences between the HP (or flat) pin, and the blocks. The slightly different cooling rates seem to make the crimp groove and/or lube grooves hang up.
The crappy thing about that mold, is that there isn't anything wrong with it. Its a good mold. It just doesn't get along with my style of casting.
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I got a brass NOE 360-160WFN RG-4 mold that is absolutely my favorite bullet.:) But I haven't ever cast with it. :o (I always got a friend of mine to do it, but he threw in the towel finally, due to it sticking half the time. And I'm running out of the bullets that he made for me.) It's a 4 cav and I'm wondering if there is even any use in me trying it with my ladle casting technique, or just keep it mothballed until I can afford one of those new Lyman Mag 25's or some other PID controlled bottom pour?
I can cast fast enough to keep this 2 cav MP mold going (most of the time), but I'm wondering if it'll work with a 4 cav. Perhaps a 4 cav will hold more heat than a 2 cav and it will be friendly to me? Thoughts on this anyone?
(thanks!)
 
It's a 4 cav and I'm wondering if there is even any use in me trying it with my ladle casting technique, or just keep it mothballed until I can afford one of those new Lyman Mag 25's or some other PID controlled bottom pour?-Beagle333

FWIW I use a Lee bottom pour and 6 cav Lee/RDO moulds. With the 30 and 32 cal moulds I keep the lead hot and the mould moving once I get it up to temp. Faster I go the better the bullets turn out. Bigger bullets like 35 cal are more my speed and the 45 cal moulds need a damp sock nearby to bring the temps down. I use a thermometer but no pid; low-tech redneck and proud of it.;)
I only ladle pour the big 1-2 cav BPCR and 45 Colt bullets, for some reason they appreciate the extra effort, can't get them to get along with the bottom pour furnace.
Short answer; go for it, adjust your rhythm and pour temp until your mould gets happy. If it doesn't work step up to a bottom pour.
 
TXGunNut expressed my thoughts pretty well...
Short answer; go for it, adjust your rhythm and pour temp until your mould gets happy. If it doesn't work step up to a bottom pour.
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You should be able to get it to work.


(I ladle-pour everything. ;))
 
Well, I didn't use the NOE today, I was a little short on time. - not that it takes longer to use a NOE, but I wanted to spin the pins in some 800# paper before I use it.
But I did use the MP 359640 again, and I put the hot plate on 9 (of 10 on the dial) and got it good and hot (left it sitting on it for about 20 minutes), then upped the lead to 8.5 on the dial (I was at 8-1/4 last time) and it went smooth as silk. :) The ̶b̶̶o̶̶o̶̶l̶̶i̶ bullets wouldn't hardly wait for me to tap the pins free from the blocks. A lot of them just slid out between the pin and the block when I'd open the mold. It was a wonderful experience. Perhaps a combination of extra heat and also the second time the mold had been used (or even heated). I had a pie pan heaped full of shiny, perfectly filled-out projectiles in no time at all. :D
 
Learning as I go....

I got em a little hot this time! Only about 30-40 of them turned out frosty, but they're kinda pretty. 'Looks like they fill out good anyway, so I'm gonna lube em up and shoot em. :) When they go through the sizer, the driving bands shine right up like a regular bullet.
One thing about running the mold really hot..... nothing sticks!:D
Frosty_zpsc39d456a.jpg
 
They look fine to me! For a couple of my moulds the line between "just right" and "frosty" is very narrow, probably 20-30 degrees but without pot PID's and mould mounted temp probes I'll never know. I'm getting better at judging them but it seems each mould has a favorite pour and mould temp. In most cases they get a coat or two of LLA so it doesn't matter much. I'd rather have sharp-cornered frosty boo...bullets than shiny ones that don't fill the driving bands.
 
In most cases they get a coat or two of LLA so it doesn't matter much.
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I like LLA too. I use it quite a bit (or Xlox). I'll probably lube tumble some of these when I get tired of dip lubing. I like to use TAC#1 (from randyrat) for them. I dip em, and then cut em out with my cake cutter (which is just an expanded .357 case with a nail through the primer hole for a pushrod):) It ain't fast, but it's cheap! ;)
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I've learned you have to get a feel for each mold. I've molded a few thousand 900 gn ;) .62 cal bullets and you have to run way hotter than my 440 gn .58 bullets. The same go's for my 2 or 4 cavity molds. The more lead they use the hotter and faster I need to go. The more you touch the lead the more heat loss you get. I've also found the larger the lead pot the more stable the temp. I use a home made 35 lb pot for the bigger stuff and my 20 lb pot for the smaller stuff. I also tried molding straight from a big spoon over a camp fire(just to see if I could). It's slow but can be done. Never used a brass mold though.
 
I hope to start casting soon. I've been saving, and refining wheel weights. I've noticed the frosting at times. reading the prior posts is it correct that the frosting come from a higher heat? Does it affect the BHN much?
 
reading the prior posts is it correct that the frosting come from a higher heat?
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Yes. That's it. Lots of heat, really just a tad too much. Just below frosting is where I was trying for, but I don't have a really stable pot and I wasn't using my thermometer.

Does it affect the BHN much?
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Not at all. As long as the mold stays roughly the same temp. The alloy can go from 750 to 950 and it won't matter.

But, if you let the mold temps go up and down crazy-like, it will affect not only bhn but size as well.
From what I've read..... up to 3 bhn numbers on the hardness scale.
 
I keep a bit of the mold block in the lead between bullets to keep it worm. It's the only way my 900 gn .62 cal mold will stay hot without going very fast. It easy to go through 30 or 40 pounds of lead.
 
I'll take a picture of one next to a few other bullets tomorrow. A guy I cast some for killed the big 5 with it. Stopped an 8 ton African elegant in one shot from his green mountain barreled cap lock. It went all the way through and stopped in the hide on the far side. It mushrooms to an inch and a half. The beast didn't take a single step. He said it dropped like you unplugged it's cord. It just dropped limp. My Dad got a dear with one at about 40 yards and it actually flipped over on it's back. Man what a sight. It takes 120 gns of FFF goex to get 1200 feet fps. 100 yards is really pushing the max range though. There's about 14 in. of drop at 100. Sure is neat though. I have a 1950's lay down freezer I filled with wet news papers. It go's clean through the 30 in. of new spaper and both sides of the steal freezer. It's really overkill on anything less than a grizzly.

Edit... oh I thought I'd mention it's over 2 oz. That's two 12 ga. slugs. :eek:
 
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