New Bullet Mould

[LAH]

Contacted Swede Nelson & asked for a 2 cavity NOE 454-255-RF mould. He had one & only a few days later it arrived. The man is quick.

Open her up & took a look. The blocks were clean, no burrs or out of place tool marks. The cavities were beautiful. Removing the sprue plate, screw & set screw I gave the blocks a going over with a nylon brush & hot soapy water. She looked good. The sprue plate was cleaned with starting fluid & brush.

Before cleaning

After

I coated the top of the blocks & both sides the sprue plate with Frankford Arsenal Drop Out, installed the plate, adjusted & replaced the set screw.

Continued

 

[LAH]

Installed the blocks on RCBS handles & placed on the stove to warm up along with a Lyman 4 cavity 358429.

Once the melt was at 750 degrees & the blocks up to temperature the casting began. The mould dropped acceptable bullets after only a few dumps. The bullets fell with little effort. These are the first.

I sized at .454 for my 1973 New Model Blackhawk Ruger using LBT Blue lube. These fit my cylinder perfectly. The bases fill out well with a loose sprue plate, the lube groove is plenty large, & the meplat should be a killer.

I’ll load these first chance & see how they do, I’m expecting good things. BTW they came from the mould using wheel weight alloy at .454+ & 258 grains.

 

[LAH]

Finally took a break from firewood & fishing to try this bullet. I loaded 50 with 7.0 grains of HP38 & a Tula primer.

The bullet has a nice crimp groove. These were lubed with LBT Blue. The first target fired was on a previously used paper plate. If you throw out the called flyer its 1 ½”. All targets were shot at 30 yards.

Second target was 1 7/8” & third 2 1/4”

Notice the vertical stringing no doubt do to the fuzzier than normal front sight today. It’s hard to repeat the vertical hold & I would have been better served holding center.

 

[LAH]

These bullet were cast from air cooled wheel weight alloy. The barrel shows no signs of leading though I haven’t cleaned to be perfectly sure. I do believe however the load was too lite & needs to be increased. The cases were sooty so next load will be at least 7.5 grains. I’ll need the extra velocity as my rear sight is bottomed.

 

[Lee McNelly]

wonder

what it would in roa

 

[salvadore]

This is providential, I was looking at the very same bullet with a gascheck. I have been trying to get decent accuracy from my '73 winchester copy for years now. My biggest success was with a Lee mold that looks a lot like yours. I have been reduced to sizing, heat treating and lubing the bullets and loading with 2400 to get a half way decent group. I started out with pyrodex and wheel weights and the 454190 a few years back. Anyway I was hoping the gascheck would increase the accuracy just a smidge more. The mold and your bullets look great btw.

 

[Stick_man]

I've got 3 moulds from Swede already and have signed up for 2 more. I have met him in person and he is a very stand-up guy. Couldn't say enough good about him. As for his moulds, all I can say is they are a sight for sore eyes and shoot even better. Some of the best looking moulds I have ever seen. He cuts the moulds using CNC equipment and is establishing a very good reputation for himself. Prices are very reasonable. Only complaint I could possibly have would be that there are so many group buys lined up for his moulds he is booking a full year in advance right now. I'll be patient because I know it is not a good idea to rush a good thing. His group buys are keeping my discretionary spending account at a minimum.

 

[LAH]

You're correct stick_man. Swede makes great stuff. Wish I'd found him a long time ago.

 

[m&p45acp10+1]

I sometimes fimd myself wishing I was able to save long enough to purchase those nice molds. I end up loosing patience and ordering a cheapo Lee, and buying a ton of powder, and primers. Then of course the new gun to cast for from time to time as well.

My new mold is no longer new. I have it cooling off as I type, going back to cast some more with it. I hope I can cast enough to not have to do much casing when it is scorcher hot in the summer here. My Big Dipper works well though I know the AC can not compete with it on a tripple digit day. Last summer there were 80 of those in a row.. with night time temps near 85. Oh well I am gonna go check the mold now.