Review my equipment for my new setup.

[zanemoseley]

I'm going to start reloading .45 acp, I actually don't have a .45 yet but will in the Spring so I'm going to try and get some bullets loaded up so I'm ready to shoot.

What I already have or have on order:
-Hurricane Natural Gas Burner http://www.williamsbrewing.com/HURRICANE-STOVE-P2213.aspx on my own custom stand. I used this for brewing and have a QD tap directly on my meter outside my garage.
- Cheap left over 4 gallon stainless pot I'm going to test drive before buying a dutch oven or other pot.
- RCBS Thermometer to keep my temp low to avoid melting any zinc my sorting missed.
- Mini muffin 24ct pan to make small/manageable ingots

What I plan on buying:
-Lee Precision 20lb Pro 4 Furnace $66
- Lee 452-200-SWC Double Cavity Mold $20
- Lee Precision .452 Size and Lube $23
-Lee Single Stage Reloader for Size and Lube $29
-Cheap slotted spoon and ladle $10

Any issues with anything I've picked out? Do I need a mold release spray or just smoke the mold before using? Anything I'm missing?

[KYCaster]

Mold release? Smoke?............don't even go there!

Clean the mold well.........WELL........, with MEK, acetone, alcohol or some here swear by soap and boiling water.

Heat the mold in your oven to 450 deg. and cool to room temp three times before you attempt to cast with it.

Do a search for "lee-menting" and another for "bull plate".

Jerry

[zanemoseley]

Also should I jump straight to the 6 cavity mold or stick with the 2 cavity to start with?

[3jimbo3]

If it were me I would stick with the two cavity until you find the one you like. I tried the tumble lube design first in the two cavity and all I can say is I'm not a fan of tumble lube. I tried a few others and just got a 6 cavity the other day. I haven't cast any out of it yet but I am looking forward to it. That's just my opinion, is really what ever you prefer.

[zanemoseley]

Are the 6 cavity any harder to use? I'm pretty set on a 200 grain swc, I will be resizing and lubing instead of going with the tumble lube. Its only about $20 more since the handles can be reused.

[3jimbo3]

From what I have seen, you tube mostly, they actually look easier to use than the two cavity. I can't say from experience but with the 6 banger, but you're just filling 4 more holes. After a few cycles you should be able to get a pretty good rhythem going and since you have that 200 grain hole to fill, you may be better off with 6. I know it will have to be faster.

The one thing that helped me a lot was when I built a mold oven. All you really need is a hot plate and an old coffee can to make one. There are some pics on here of some that are real simple. And they work! I was getting wrinkled castings after I had been casting for a while, someone told me that my mold was cooling off during the session. So I took their advice and made an oven, no more wrinkles. It works good getting the mold up to temp when you first start too, it will be hard to get those 6 cavities down in the pot to heat them up.

Good luck, happy casting, and always put safety first. This stuff gets really hot.

[el34]

Personally I love the 6 cavity molds. The sprue cutter is much better to use than having to whack it on a smaller mold. And the throughput is obviously considerably greater. Last week I cranked out 1060 230 grainers in 3 hours. And then felt disappointed about not needing to cast more for quite a while!

Any idea how much you intend to shoot?

[Springfield]

As long as you always pre-heat the 6 cavity it should work well. Just don't start with a cold mold and expect the cutter to work well and expect to get decent fill-out. And buy some Bullplate Sprue lube, it REALLY makes life easier.

[1911KY]

You may already have these 2 things but you need eye protection and long heat resistant gloves.

I originally bought the 2 cavity mould and shortly thereafter bought the 6 cavity mould. The 6 banger is a higher quality mould and really turns out some bullets. I would suggest going ahead and getting the 6 cavity since you know you want the 200 gr SWC. I load the H&G #68 clones and the 6 banger is great! Like KYCaster said, just clean it real good and make sure it is at casting temp when you start casting and it will drop nice casts. Make sure you lube it well and keep it lubed.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?137982-Mould-Lube-Instructions-%28works-with-BullPlate-too%29



http://i1159.photobucket.com/albums/p628/jamesearnett/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20140915_003127_zpsn5hdckns.jpg

http://i1159.photobucket.com/albums/p628/jamesearnett/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20140901_023049_zpscxnymfyz.jpg

[1911KY]

Oh, yea...beware of the muffin tins as you may destroy one if your ingots don't drop out smooth! I just beat one up pretty good the other night. I prefer cast iron ingot molds or the commercial ingot molds as they just fall right out.

[sdcitizen]

I have found the 'bright' muffin pans will solder ingots in place till you burn the shine off, while the dark teflon coated ones drop free right off the get-go.

[el34]

Maybe I'm just lucky, I've used non-stick muffin pans from Walmart since I began casting. Different sizes, my current favorite is mini-muffin, 24 to a pan. Two of them holds about 35lb lead. I have enough to not require dumping them hot while still ladling them.

There are several ways to get the mold hot when setting up to cast. I haven't enlisted the electric skillet I got though, I'm still quite successful by starting with a cold mold and casting about 10-15 cycles to get it hot. After filling the cavities I let it sit a bit longer than normal to allow heat transfer. The wrinkly boolits and sprues immediately go right back in the pot while still hot. Takes just a few minutes until boolits are coming out nice.

I'm experimenting with an easy way to check mold temp on the fly while casting. If it works I'll post it, I'll know in a day or two.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Also should I jump straight to the 6 cavity mold or stick with the 2 cavity to start with?

Having already went through this exercise many years ago, I suggest you buy a six cavity, but not the mold you're looking at. Instead, go get a group buy/made by one of our vendors six cavity copy (Lee style, Lee handles will fit) of the H&G #68. Just about the best 45 ACP boolit there is for accuracy in most .45's. By now, some of our custom vendors probably stock it. It'll be a bit more expensive than the Lee and worth every dime, because you'll be happy with the performance and you won't end up buying two molds, so you'll need out cheaper.

That said, I would buy two each of the six cavity molds and do a search on how to do the BruceB speed casting. You'll be happy you did. Kinda one of these buy once, cry once kind of deals. But the pleasure of having good boolits will dry your tears real quick.:)

Note: The Lee 200 grain SWC looks like the H&G #68, but it ain't and doesn't perform like it.

[MT Chambers]

Yup, go cheap, your results are guaranteed.

[3jimbo3]

You may already have these 2 things but you need eye protection and long heat resistant gloves.

I originally bought the 2 cavity mould and shortly thereafter bought the 6 cavity mould. The 6 banger is a higher quality mould and really turns out some bullets. I would suggest going ahead and getting the 6 cavity since you know you want the 200 gr SWC. I load the H&G #68 clones and the 6 banger is great! Like KYCaster said, just clean it real good and make sure it is at casting temp when you start casting and it will drop nice casts. Make sure you lube it well and keep it lubed.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?137982-Mould-Lube-Instructions-%28works-with-BullPlate-too%29



http://i1159.photobucket.com/albums/p628/jamesearnett/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20140915_003127_zpsn5hdckns.jpg

http://i1159.photobucket.com/albums/p628/jamesearnett/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20140901_023049_zpscxnymfyz.jpg


I must ask! How do you get those shinny boolits? I get those up to about 50 or so then they start getting frosty looking.

[huntnman]

Slow down or lower melt temp, mold is too hot.

[1911KY]

I kept my pot temp between 650 and 750, but I believe the alloy had more to do with it. It was pure range scrap ingots, so fairly high % of lead. The ingots I am casting from now are producing a frosty looking cast at the same temps. The pic with the 6 cavity mould has the frosty looking casts.