noe or lyman 303 mold??

[gregc]

hello,

darn but the lee 303 molds i'm currently using don't seem to be working too well in my enfields so looking at getting a larger diameter mold. am getting keyholes at 25 meters so only god knows where the projectiles end up at 100m. so, wanting to pick up either and noe or lyman mold in 314 diameter.

could anyone recommend one mold over another to me based on experience.

thanks in advance!!

 

[BattleRife]

I just picked up an NOE 311-174-FN a few weeks ago, I was going to shoot some today for the first time but it's 3 o'clock and I haven't packed up yet, so I guess it's going to be tomorrow.

I'll be shooting a Long Branch No.4 MkI*, I'll let you know how they do. They are a little out of round, being .312" across the blocks and .314" parallel to the blocks. My plan right now is to powder coat exclusively, but we will see how they work.

The mould sure does cast nicely; this was my first experience with rifle bullets and they just fall out of the mould, unlike the sharp-shouldered pistol SWC I commonly run.

 

[vagrantviking]

Noe is great to deal with. Just wish more of their stuff was in stock or they could let people know when things would be available.

I really enjoy using most of the Lyman molds I have too. Do you have a good source for Lyman products?

 

[slug]

I would go with NOE.
Lyman's quality is hit and miss these days, and their customer service has gone down the toilet.
NOE moulds are beefier and have more care in their assembly.
I've replaced the sprue plate stop pin with a headed screw to ensure that the sprue plate is held flat against the top of the mould blocks on some Lyman moulds.
This isn't necessary on NOE moulds.

Another alternative is to get a custom mould from Accurate. A bit longer, a bit more expensive, but noticeably more pleasant.

UPDATE!
About three hours after making this post, I went to start casting with my new NOE .22 cal. mould, and found a lot of tear-outs in the cavities.
I've sent Al a message about this and we'll see how he responds over the next few days.
I've found that the acid test of a company's integrity is how well they respond to legitimate complaints.
I still hold them in high regard.

UPDATE May 28;
Well, Al got back to me a day or two later. He left a message on my landline which I seldom use because I can't hear well on it. He asked me to call him. In the meantime, I found that the tearouts were actually small chips which were pressed into the sides of the cavities. It took a little over an hour to wiggle them off with steel wool and a sharp lead pencil and now it casts very nice bullets.

So, NOE is still very good in my book

 

[vagrantviking]

I have had a few Lyman that had issues but they were bought second hand so it's difficult to draw conclusions about their quality control from that.
One looked new/unused with the halves misaligned badly enough to be useless.

I've had good luck with MP-MOLDS but they don't really offer what you're looking for.

 

[Lionel]

Go to your favorite auto parts store and get a roll of aluminum muffler tape.
Cut iny strips of the tape and place the strips carefully besides the cavity.
You don't have to be tight to the cavity, or worry about finning.
I've done a couple molds and the muffler tape gives me about .002 or .003" if you only do one half of the mold blocks.
It doesn't make tge boolit oval, or out of round, in my experience.
I got about .0005-.001" out of round if I did both halves of the mold.
It gets pretty fiddly with the tiny strips of aluminum so if you have trouble with fine detail work this will test your patience

 

[10x]

hello,

darn but the lee 303 molds i'm currently using don't seem to be working too well in my enfields so looking at getting a larger diameter mold. am getting keyholes at 25 meters so only god knows where the projectiles end up at 100m. so, wanting to pick up either and noe or lyman mold in 314 diameter.

could anyone recommend one mold over another to me based on experience.

thanks in advance!!

Slug your bore.
Cast Bullet Diameter must be 0.001” or more than bore diameter
I use NOE 314299 in my 303 rifles. I powder coat and size to 0.313” with aluminum gas checks and if the cartridge chambers very easily I shoot them. The throat in the barrel sizes to the bore diameter

 

[calmex]

I had a Lee Enfield in Mexico with a .314 bore. I bought a NOE 314299 and it dumped the cast bullets around .316. I upsized a Lee Push-through die with a dowel and 1000 grit paper and polished it with 2000 grit paper. The die sized the bullets to .315. I was loading with IMR-4227, and the loads were doing about 2000 fps. This was before I got into powder-coating, so I was just casting wheelweights and putting in a pound of 50/50 bar solder -- fairly cheap in Mexico at the time -- and water-dropping the bullets. The gas-checked bullets weighed 210 grains. I was most happy with the performance. Lube was just off-the-shelf SPG. That rifle is still down there. I cannot remember if I was able to specify when I ordered to get the bullets dropping at .316 or not, but I think there was an option to + or - a few thou. It was like ten years ago if not a bit more.

My daughter shoots that Lee Enfield over a gunbag-rest at the Queretero shooting range. I had that rifle fitted out with a Parker-Hale rear fancy-dancy peep sight, sort of making an Ersatz Lee Enfield No. 1 Mk V out of a 1943 BSA Number 1, Mark III*. It was a nice Lee Enfield.