BruceB
08-09-2005, 11:20 PM
I sure wish folks wouldn't put together these "package deals" for moulds or bullet-sizing dies on Ebay. One gent has SIX moulds for sale, which forces buyers to bid on the whole megillah if they want just ONE of the items for sale.
I was fortunate in this last buy, because although I already have a 4-cavity 452374, it's a very desireable design and I sold it to one my best pals here within minutes of the closing of the auction.
The 4-cav 311291 was the one I REALLY wanted. It's an Ideal-made mould, and in excellent shape. (The 374 appears utterly un-used, just gummy with preservative, and it's marked "Lyman".) Someone tried to snipe me with a few seconds remaining, putting in a fifty-dollar "bump". He was a serious caster, too! Fortunately, my worst-case-scenario bid was high enough that it succeeded.
Using full-mould samples of four straight-wheelweight bullets each time (i.e.: one from each cavity), the bullets average 175 grains+/- 0.5 grains. The noses run .300-.301", and the sides are parallel...not always the case. Bands are .3105-.3115", so although these won't see much use in my .303s, they should be OK in most of my .30-calibers.
Hmmm...imagine, it was just a couple years back, I think, when I was pontificating here on the CB Board about how casting RIFLE bullets, as opposed to those unwashed, callow HANDGUN bullets, was a Zen-type exercise worthy of much thought and consideration, with strange incantations and spells uttered for each bullet in turn. The perfect place and time for a nice, slow one-cavity mould, yep. I would never contemplate (I said) the purchase of a soul-less 4-cavity mass-production mould for RIFLE bullets, nope, uh-uh, not ME, grasshopper!
HAH! Crank 'em out, devil take the hindmost! I'm here to SHOOT!
Boolits, boolits, more boolits, MORE boolits, faster, faster....! I now have 4-cavs for at least four rifle bullet designs.
I'm sick, but I'm enjoying it. Just 'cuz I'm crazy don't mean I'm stoopid.
I was fortunate in this last buy, because although I already have a 4-cavity 452374, it's a very desireable design and I sold it to one my best pals here within minutes of the closing of the auction.
The 4-cav 311291 was the one I REALLY wanted. It's an Ideal-made mould, and in excellent shape. (The 374 appears utterly un-used, just gummy with preservative, and it's marked "Lyman".) Someone tried to snipe me with a few seconds remaining, putting in a fifty-dollar "bump". He was a serious caster, too! Fortunately, my worst-case-scenario bid was high enough that it succeeded.
Using full-mould samples of four straight-wheelweight bullets each time (i.e.: one from each cavity), the bullets average 175 grains+/- 0.5 grains. The noses run .300-.301", and the sides are parallel...not always the case. Bands are .3105-.3115", so although these won't see much use in my .303s, they should be OK in most of my .30-calibers.
Hmmm...imagine, it was just a couple years back, I think, when I was pontificating here on the CB Board about how casting RIFLE bullets, as opposed to those unwashed, callow HANDGUN bullets, was a Zen-type exercise worthy of much thought and consideration, with strange incantations and spells uttered for each bullet in turn. The perfect place and time for a nice, slow one-cavity mould, yep. I would never contemplate (I said) the purchase of a soul-less 4-cavity mass-production mould for RIFLE bullets, nope, uh-uh, not ME, grasshopper!
HAH! Crank 'em out, devil take the hindmost! I'm here to SHOOT!
Boolits, boolits, more boolits, MORE boolits, faster, faster....! I now have 4-cavs for at least four rifle bullet designs.
I'm sick, but I'm enjoying it. Just 'cuz I'm crazy don't mean I'm stoopid.