Well this is my first casting with my first mold so far, so im by no means claiming to know how this mold or it's cast bullets compare to others. Just what my impressions are as a newbie caster. i will add some pics later when my wife returns home as my camera is in the van.
First off, this mold is by a long shot the shiniest thing i own. i got the 5 cavity model to cast for my .444 marlin because there happened to be one left over from a group buy, and i must say the finish of the machining is absolutely beautifull! It came supplied with a custom fit top punch and a sample of bullplate sprue lube, and it is machined from 2024 aircraft/structural grade aluminum by a couple guys who obviously know what they are doing. Sprue plate and alignment pins are of carbon steel.
I started last night by scrubbing it down with a toothbrush and hot soapy water, drying and then seasoning it in the oven as per manufacturers inst by bringing it up to 350deg and cooling to room temp 3 times, and finished by cleaning with a quality carb cleaner.
This morning i woke up at 4:30am and couldn't resist going into the shop early to cast a few testers.
I started with 10lb of WW alloy with about 1/4lb of 95/5 Sn/Sb added to the melt (i get a really good deal on the solder, otherwise i might not have bothered), and fluxed with pine sawdust. the first 20 bullets dropped very shiny but had slightly rounded edges on the grooves, but after the mold and alloy found the temperature sweet spot it produced 100 absolutely perfect looking bullets. no wrinkles, frosting, voids... just perfectly smooth bullets with sharply defined edges... and they drop perfectly round at exactly .432!
I water quenched the first 50 and air cooled the second 50 for load testing purposes, then GC'd and sized them to .431 in the RCBS lubamatic2. i didn't size to .432 because my bore slugs out to a hair under .429 and i figure .431 is sufficient to engage the microgroove rifling, and i wanted the bullet to actually swage through the sizer... that and the die was cheaper
The gaschecks snap on to the base with a slight "click" sound. the precision of this thing really impresses me.
first impressions, For the first time in a long time i feel like i got more than what i paid for so far as cost/quality goes, and im very happy with my decision to spend a few extra bucks and get a high quality mold from the start. the quality and consistantcy of the results are far greater than i was expecting for my first time around the block, but on the downside... im probably spoiled. i think i will be less than impressed with any mold of lesser quality that should happen to end up in my shop in the future with this one as my benchmark.
Goodbye $56 boxes of 20 leverevos,
So long $40 per 100 hornady FP IL hahahahahahaaaaaaaaa!!!!!
Hello $4 boxes of 20 NOE penetrators!!
Now to research some powder data for R-7, make some test loads and hit the range!
First off, this mold is by a long shot the shiniest thing i own. i got the 5 cavity model to cast for my .444 marlin because there happened to be one left over from a group buy, and i must say the finish of the machining is absolutely beautifull! It came supplied with a custom fit top punch and a sample of bullplate sprue lube, and it is machined from 2024 aircraft/structural grade aluminum by a couple guys who obviously know what they are doing. Sprue plate and alignment pins are of carbon steel.
I started last night by scrubbing it down with a toothbrush and hot soapy water, drying and then seasoning it in the oven as per manufacturers inst by bringing it up to 350deg and cooling to room temp 3 times, and finished by cleaning with a quality carb cleaner.
This morning i woke up at 4:30am and couldn't resist going into the shop early to cast a few testers.
I started with 10lb of WW alloy with about 1/4lb of 95/5 Sn/Sb added to the melt (i get a really good deal on the solder, otherwise i might not have bothered), and fluxed with pine sawdust. the first 20 bullets dropped very shiny but had slightly rounded edges on the grooves, but after the mold and alloy found the temperature sweet spot it produced 100 absolutely perfect looking bullets. no wrinkles, frosting, voids... just perfectly smooth bullets with sharply defined edges... and they drop perfectly round at exactly .432!
I water quenched the first 50 and air cooled the second 50 for load testing purposes, then GC'd and sized them to .431 in the RCBS lubamatic2. i didn't size to .432 because my bore slugs out to a hair under .429 and i figure .431 is sufficient to engage the microgroove rifling, and i wanted the bullet to actually swage through the sizer... that and the die was cheaper
The gaschecks snap on to the base with a slight "click" sound. the precision of this thing really impresses me.
first impressions, For the first time in a long time i feel like i got more than what i paid for so far as cost/quality goes, and im very happy with my decision to spend a few extra bucks and get a high quality mold from the start. the quality and consistantcy of the results are far greater than i was expecting for my first time around the block, but on the downside... im probably spoiled. i think i will be less than impressed with any mold of lesser quality that should happen to end up in my shop in the future with this one as my benchmark.
Goodbye $56 boxes of 20 leverevos,
So long $40 per 100 hornady FP IL hahahahahahaaaaaaaaa!!!!!
Hello $4 boxes of 20 NOE penetrators!!
Now to research some powder data for R-7, make some test loads and hit the range!
