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Old March 16, 2013, 06:07 PM   #1
Beagle333
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Today's 4-cav HP experience

Well, today I got out the NOE 360160WFN RG4 mold and gave it a whirl. And I learned a few things. First..... a 4 cav brass mold is heavy.
Next, the silly b̶o̶o̶l̶i̶ bullets stick to the pins much worse than a nice twist-n-pull single cav pin casting, and more than a Cramer style too. Or perhaps it was just the big ol' fat pin. I did get lots of help by taking the pins out, chucking them up on the drill and spinning them in some 800 grit sandpaper for a few seconds and reinstalling them, and didn't even burn myself too bad while doing that. I think it could use some more smoothing, but it was much better at dropping them after that. They didn't really stick to the side of the cavity much at all. Just the pins. I don't know anything about mold design, but I do think that steel pins instead of aluminum would really help them hold heat better.
Fillout was nice too, but I was using isotope again, so it had 2.5% tin in it and I had the temp set to about 800-825. I got the mold pretty hot on the hotplate before I started. Then..... the wooden part of the handles on the Lee 6-cav separated from the metal. That didn't deter me much, just annoyed me. I cast with gloves on anyway and I just pushed the handles back up on the metal every time I closed the sprue after dumping. I did end up with about 12# of pretty nice ones after all was said and done. I probably cast somewhere around 20# though. It was an experience. Part of the trick (as I discovered) was to get it casting really well and then cast like my life depended on it. As long as it was going really fast, they came off the pins much better and looked good. I never got it hot enough for any frosting (which was kinda my goal.... I seem to do best right before it gets frosty), so I might have to up the temp and my casting speed next time. It will help when I figure out how to reattach the wood to the handles.
And... it would probably help more to keep things hot if I hadn't been ladle casting. But I don't have a bottom pour.
Here's a pic of the 12# effort from my cellphone. I'll take some better pics and update tonight with digital camera.
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Old March 16, 2013, 06:50 PM   #2
oryx
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Nice, put a pic of the mould as well.
I just cast about 600 .45's today and getting ready for a size/lube session soon
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Old March 16, 2013, 09:09 PM   #3
GP100man
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Nice Job Beagle333 !!!

Getting a 4 banger hot with a ladle is near impossible & like ya said heavy !!

A bottom pour with a mold guide will help with the fatigue of handling it constantly !!

The pins as you found out like to be hot , but I also take a Q-tip of sprueplate lube (barely damp with lube) & touch the pins & it`ll make the booli A-hem bullets fall rite off .

Don`t go crazy with the lube just a tiny bit will go a long ways !!!

I`ve been following this bullet & waiting for a good range report or 2 , over on Castboolits they say ya gotta push em to get em to group ?? we`ll see !

I really don`t understand the trend for such large HP cavitys
as the faster the bullet these tend to shed the HP portions at least with the 180s.

See , now you`re saving money on bullets
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Old March 16, 2013, 09:26 PM   #4
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Like my friend from Tabor City said, you need heat plus that little lube/pin trick will work.
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Old March 16, 2013, 09:41 PM   #5
Beagle333
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Here's what they look like closer up, new and fresh!






And here is the mold....
I didn't know I could put any lube on the pins. Thanks to both of you for that tip.







They do shoot great, GP! They're like little laser beams! They shoot better than any of my others or I wouldn't fiddle with this finicky mold! It's not terrible to use, it just isn't for recreational casting while sipping tea in the shade.

But you are right.... the big HPs just blow the nose off. They're useless as hunting bullets. But they'll just destroy a water-filled can or jug when that nose explodes.

Here's a pic I had of some before and after firing.... These are lubed with Thompsons Cold Bear Lube. I shot em about 900fps, through some 2L bottles of water and into sand.
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Old March 16, 2013, 09:47 PM   #6
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Those are a great looking bullet...........Geez those are large pins.
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Old March 16, 2013, 09:49 PM   #7
Beagle333
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They sure are..... just think how nice and hot they would stay if they were steel instead of 'loominum though!

You can see the pencil scribblin' I do on top of the blocks. That graphite trick works great for me. This one just had 20# run through it and look how nice and clean the top of the block is..... still nothin' but scribblin' up there.
It slides nicely and lead doesn't stick. I had thought (just tonight after I was taking pictures) about maybe I shoulda scribbled all over the end of the pin too and perhaps it might help with the sticking.
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Old March 16, 2013, 09:56 PM   #8
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Great looking bullets and moulds.
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Old March 16, 2013, 10:02 PM   #9
Beagle333
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I think they look good lubed and loaded too. This is my favorite bullet..... just not the easiest to make.

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Old March 16, 2013, 10:07 PM   #10
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Don't want to be in front of that.
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Old March 16, 2013, 11:48 PM   #11
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Good work Beagle! I like'em. I've been hollow pointing my 900g .62 bullets with a gig I made. I just wanted to see if I could stop them from shooting through everything. The only thing here in OreGun that even slows it down are brown bears. I loose about 100g doing it though. Well...you've talked me into it or ok I did. I'm going to have one made with a hollow point. Good work man. Those are beautiful.

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Old March 16, 2013, 11:57 PM   #12
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Okay, this is a dumb question from a non-caster. How do you get the lube into the lower two grooves, but not the top (crimp) groove? Is that something you can do with a push-through "lubrisizer"-type setup, or are you using a different method?
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Old March 17, 2013, 12:21 AM   #13
Beagle333
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These were lubed using a Star lubrisizer and you just tap a small piece of lead (birdshot) into the top hole on the sizer die and it doesn't lube that groove.

But normally I pan lube, since I don't always have access to my friend's Star that lubed these.
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Old March 17, 2013, 08:07 AM   #14
Sure Shot Mc Gee
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Need some more lead?
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Old March 17, 2013, 10:21 PM   #15
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Man looks like an ashtray with that big ole hole...
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Old March 18, 2013, 04:07 PM   #16
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Scott,

If you have the Lyman/RCBS type lubricator/sizer, the RCBS dies have the lube distribution holes only at the base end of the bullet, so you can control which grooves fill by how deeply you push the bullet down into to die. For low pressure target loads, filling only the bottom groove is often adequate.
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