What of these two molds are best to start with?

[s1120]

OK.. so I am just starting out, and have two molds to work with. One is the Lyman 358311 round nose, and the other is a 358495 WC. As far as "need" ? Well right now Im just plinking, and working on my shooting, reloading, and casting skills. I do plan on hitting up some pistol leages though... so target shooting is in the plans. I have more WC casted then RN so far..[I got the stuff for dad, and he had casted a lot up years ago]. .. so im thinking the round nose might be a better place to learn... But mostly Im asking what is the better mold to learn the art/skill of casting with?

[**oneshot**]

Either will give you an education on casting and shooting.
just remember KISS (Keep It Simple Silly)

[Wal']

You have two awesome molds there, either will keep you happy. the 358495 will be be the best of the two if you're mainly paper punching.

Enjoy...........

[Wal']

Either will give you an education on casting and shooting.
just remember KISS (Keep It Simple Silly)


I was always taught it was K.....I...S.......Stupid. :bigsmyl2:

[hd09]

Yes the 358495 makes a cleaner hole in paper. The 358311 tears a hole.

[s1120]

As far as pouring bolth are easy enough?

[mdi]

All the basics will apply to either mold; clean mold, pre-heat mold, clean melt, and pouring rythem. The bullet design, WC vs Round nose makes no difference, but if you need a "who-said" to tell you; start with the wadcutter...

[1Shirt]

All good advice!
1Shirt!

[Bigslug]

If you're playing the paper target game, you want the largest, cleanest hole you can make - so wadcutters will be more useful.

Casting round nose slugs will be useful for studying the effects of mold temperature on the pour, but that's mostly academic - when the mold gets hot enough, the boolits get pretty. Not much more to it than that.

Just my own opinion, but outside of historical correctness for certain guns, I've been coming around to the notion that round noses aren't terribly useful for handguns - they don't make very clean holes in paper, their terminal effects aren't very impressive, and effective feeding can be accomplished in autoloaders with flat noses so long as the body contours are properly tweaked. Only a little taper is needed for effective speed-loading in revolvers, so my attitude is to generally retire the RN's in favor of SWC's. OTOH, if they shoot well and you're only plinking, the mold has the saving grace of being paid for.

[s1120]

Thanks guys!
nice to know its pretty much a push either way. I'll just go for what I need when I fire up the pot then. I just wanted to make sure one wasnt real hard to pour for any reason.thanks

[runfiverun]

molds are individuals.
one of your's might be a champ and play along and the other one want's something else.
you have to find what it needs.
they will probably both cast just fine using the same technique.

[David2011]

S1120,

Welcome to Cast Boolits! If you're doing any kind of action shooting where you might be loading from speed loaders, definitely go with the round nosed boolit. SWCs make cleaner holes but they also snag on the cylinder and slow down reloads while the clock is running. If that's not a consideration, I like SWCs much better. The meplat (flat front end) and sharp square shoulder on the SWC also makes it better for hunting or defensive use. There isn't any significant difference in casting them. They're both fairly was beginning boolits. IMO, real small (light 25 cal or less) and real big boolits (over 300 grains) are harder to learn on. You'll be fine with either of your choices; ust go with the one that suits your shooting requirements.

David

[s1120]

molds are individuals.
one of your's might be a champ and play along and the other one want's something else.
you have to find what it needs.
they will probably both cast just fine using the same technique.

Well I know for a fact that the WC mold has casted many tens of thousands of bullets in its time!!! Dad had casted with it forever.