I found out what Hell will be!

[Leadmelter]

Group
I bought a single cavity 358/205 gr. Ideal mold to try out for my 357 Max and Herrett TC set up.
This mold is old as it does not have vent lines. It took a while to get it up to speed but after 6-8 cast bad bullets. Tried lowering the temp and changing tempo.
But in the end, I had about 175 usable bullets.
Maybe the evil for casters will be casting with a single cavity mold with a pot that get up to temp. Over and over again.
Poor casters caught in the Hell.
Good Luck!
Gerry

[HollowPoint]

Count your blessings.

It could be alot worse. You could be having to buy your bullets at retail prices.

Now that you have a little practice with this particular mold, things should go a little smoother next time you cast with it.

I started out with single cavity bullet molds and was grateful to have them.

Once I got the right temperature and rhythm down, they didn't seem as nearly as bad as my first few go-rounds.

It is possible to add vent lines if that's what you're wanting but, if you ended up with 175 usable bullets after all, you've probably found that vent lines aren't absolutely necessary.

I have it on good authority that the real "Hell" is infinitely worse than what you've described.

HollowPoint

[MT Gianni]

Try a sc mold for an auto pistol and teenagers. That will keep you busy.

[94Doug]

I still like my SC moulds for making consistant boolits in limited quantities.

d

[redneckdan]

Naw I'm pretty sure boolit caster hell is an RG 4 with one cavity that keeps hanging up.

[Sonnypie]

I have 1 - 6 cav, 2 - 2 cav, and 1 - single cav molds. (I know...[smilie=w: )
I really like casting with the single.
There is something to be said about all your boolits being cast in the same mold.
And in my limited experience, I have less "pot returns" with the single. I've only cast 500-600 boolits with it so far.
But they are all purdy, and the same.

Whereas the 6 cav... Holy Moly! That 20 pound furnace empties quick. But I count those boolits by the pound, not each.

[geargnasher]

Tough to beat a good SC for precision rifle work (or what this hillbilly calls "precision", anyway!). Even for auto pistol three holes is plenty. Casting time is quality time.

Gear

[Gtek]

I have several custom Hoch single drops for my fully seated in the lands launchers. Would not have it any other way. Gtek

[Rick N Bama]

Glad to hear that I'm not the only one that doesn't mind the one holers.

Rick

[captaint]

My first 452460 was a SC. Of course, it made beautiful boolits. Just so slow for a 45. I'd cast for a couple of hours, look at the little pile and think - that would have been a great pile if the mold had been a 4 cav........Oh well, they shoot great too!!! Mike

[pdawg_shooter]

I have a number of 1 hole molds and I have to say I get my best, and most consistent out of them. Fact is the only molds I have other then one holes are two holes. I can cast all the bullets I need with these, never seen the need for more.

[Ben]

If you want a better glimpse of HELL, toss in a wet ingot into the pot.

Remember.....Hell is 7 X hotter than anything we know anything about.

Ben

[Chicken Thief]

http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm153/Chickenthief/Blandet/Stereotypes.jpg

[GLL]

I love ladle casting with single cavity molds both in solid and HP form ! Slow but relaxing ! :)

Which IDEAL mold do you have in 358 205 grain?

I have put a lot of miles on this old IDEAL 429421 ! :)
http://www.fototime.com/E574E14FBE964F2/standard.jpg

Jerry

[9.3X62AL]

Hell is spout freeze in a bottom-pour, with two-pre-heated 6-bangers at the ready.

[1Shirt]

One mans trash is another mans treasure. Don't mind SC's for rifle, particularly for cals above 30. For pistol/revolver however is is sure a joy to drop a few hundred out of a 4 or 6 cav. mold in a relatively short period of time.
1Shirt!:coffeecom

[Dale53]

I started casting, like several of you, when I was a teen ager. I bought a single cavity mould because that is all I could afford. When I had 50 good bullets in front of me I thought I had done a "good thing". I was casting on the kitchen stove (gas) with a Lyman ten lb pot and a dipper.

I went along this way for a good while, dumb and happy. Then I met an older guy at a gun club and he opened my eyes to casting a couple of thousand bullets at a sitting. Kind of turned my world upside down.

Now, the only single cavity moulds I use are for precision rifle (custom moulds). I can run about 100 near perfect bullets an hour (will regularly shoot into 10 shot ½ minute groups at 100 yards).

On the other hand, I actually prefer my four to six cavity handgun bullet moulds by a LOT. I can run 21# of bullets through my bottom pour RCBS pots in an hour to an hour and a half (.32's take longer than .45's, as an example).

Rule #1, "Use what works for you"...

Dale53

[Ia.redneck]

I always pictured "hell" as being stuck in the Mall Of America for eternity!

[Green Frog]

I had a couple of dc moulds early on, but convinced myself that the only way to make accurate ammo was one bullet from one cavity at a time. I still am pretty much committed to this concept for rifles, but for pistols (and especially revolvers) this seems a bit of overkill. :guntootsmiley: I have just ordered a 4 cavity NOE mould for my .32 revolvers (it's about like the Ideal 3118 if I read the specs right) after getting a final nudge in that direction from Dale53 (I'll let you know later whether I'm grateful or irritated, Dale! :D ) If this works out, I guess a multi-cav 150 gr SWC for my .38 SPL/.357 Mags and another for my .45 ACP (probably about 195 gr) will come next. Does it ever end?? :roll:

Froggie

PS Back to the original poster's dilemma, I'm thinking custom moulds only for multi-cav... as an old retiree, I don't have time for Purgatory, much less Hell, before I get useful bullets! :?

[Hang Fire]

If you have more than one single cavity, cast with two or more. I got quite fast with .358 and .430 SC molds, then later inclunded a .410 in the mix.