New 6 holers

[wistlepig1]

166329
Yesterday I got 2 new 6 holer mold and after cleaning them last night I started to breaking them in. One was a Lee 158 gr 38 cal. SWC and the second was a Lee 230 gr truncated cone. There is a little of a learning curve but thing worked out. Getting control of the Temp. was the lonely issue and that was with the 230 grer's. All in all very pleased with the product.

[Walter Laich]

have the same 230 gr mold--really like it. Working up loads for tomorrow's shoot

[wistlepig1]

Walter, I had a 2 holer for the last 2 years and used the load data from Lyman # 4 FOR Cast bullit. I started at 5.2 grs of unique and worked up to 5.7. The 5.7 worked well in all my 45acp's and OAL of 1.206 [ short] for MY guns. I would suggest the kerplunk
test on YOUR barrel for OAL. The new 6 holer will make getting loaded up for range day a lot quicker! hope this helps

[edadmartin]

You said you had to get control of the temp,what exactly did you have to do,what trial and error etc.As a newish caster, I'm having temp problems as well. I have a lee 2 holer 45acp 200gr rnfp and was thinking about getting the same in a 6 holer
.

[OS OK]

You said you had to get control of the temp,what exactly did you have to do,what trial and error etc.As a newish caster, I'm having temp problems as well. I have a lee 2 holer 45acp 200gr rnfp and was thinking about getting the same in a 6 holer
.

Have it in the Lee 6 holer…great choice, awesome cast…I quit dipping it into the melt to get it up to temp as I would still have to cast 3 to 6 times to get quality good enough! On advice from other members I ordered a hot plate, placed a skill saw blade on top of the elements, set the temp dial at 1/2 way to hot. Started the hot plate warming the molds and started the Lee 4-20 pot to melting the cup cake ingots I use. To my surprise they were both ready at the same time…started casting and literally had top quality boolits from the start, was amazed at how hard headed I can be to change…so glad I did!
Only this time I set the pot to midway between 4 & 5 on the dial so it wouldn't run over temp and I'd have to chase it down to 725 degrees where my mix is best, again it worked perfectly.

Best-O-Luck Tooyah! OS OK

[wistlepig1]

Edadmartin, I let my lead get too hot 775 on My thermometer. Once I backed off to 700-725 the frost went away and fill out was fine. One other thing, when filling each hole I watched for the lead as it came up in the hole and backup just a little to get the spur filled out, then moved to the next hole. That is a lot of words for something that take a 1/2 second to do. When I did that thing started going well, you may try a different way but worked for me. This was for the 45 TC on the 38/ 158gr SWC it was not needed, I think it is because of the larger amount of lead need in the TC but I have no proof other than it worked for me. good luck, Martin R.

[wistlepig1]

I forgot to say anything about the hot plate that I to preheat the mold on, that is good advice for all molds 2 or 6 holers

[Shiloh]

I love the 6 holes. Mountains of boolits in one session.

Shiloh

[wistlepig1]

Today I filled 2 of the tins in my first post. I will count them in a week when I Size/lube them. The more you cast the better this mold gets![smilie=l:

[6622729]

That's quite a run for breaking in a mold! :-P

[OS OK]

Just start your pour and run that sprue continuous across the sprue plate. It will keep that plate at proper temp. Hit those holes with the pour as centered as you can. It won't be long and your sprue will look like a welding rod path, big jet rod across the top of that plate and all will be well. When you crack it open only one sprue will fall, not several and all in different directions.
You are doing fine now!

OS OK

[RogerDat]

I found pre-heating the mold setting the mold on a hot plate with the plate temp setting around the middle made a huge difference. I also found ambient temperature seemed to make a difference in how hot I needed the lead. In 40* F - 50* F having the melt a touch over 700* probably closer to 725* worked better. I think the light weight Lee aluminum mold lost heat fairly fast in the cool air. When I went out and the ambient temp was around 60* I could bring melt temperature down to 700* +/- 5* and it would cast fine.

Alloy was 50/50 COWW/Pb + tin to 1.4%

I found and marked the place on the hot plate dial that was a good temp for the mold pre-heat. Too hot made ever step take too long until mold cooled down, too cool and I had smiling boolits for the first few casts, less casts than with no pre-heat but bumping the setting up higher eventually I found the "first cast ready" setting for the hot plate. Marked it with a paint stick. I have two hot plates and setting is NOT the same on both.

[wistlepig1]

167157
Well, the old Lackmiller got half way thru last weeks casting of the Lee 230 gr TC'S by my new 6 holer.

[runfiverun]

that's about 1/2 hr on a star... at most........ just sayin:bigsmyl2:
and about 1/2 hr at the range with my gang here.

[wistlepig1]

Run, I am sure old and slow that's for sure:bigsmyl2: