Sprew Plate Trough

[Alstep]

I see a lot of older molds like H&G have troughs in the sprew plate rather than individual holes. Any advantage to this design?

[country gent]

If your not pressure casting it allows you to make one pour dragging the mould under the stream filling the cavities. Everything temp wise has to be right for this to work. I have vented my moulds so I can over pour with the ladle and the excess is controlled back into the pot. I also think since the trough holds more lead the sprue plate may stay hotter while casting. This makes for better bases and fill out.

[OS OK]

I've thought about those troughs and they look interesting until I thought of Pb getting into the next cavity before I have finished poring the first cavity...causing the Pb to cool and form lines in the nose of the next cast.
I tilt my 6 bangers away from me a little to prevent that happening with separate holes in the sprue.

[rwadley]

If mould temp is right, mould troughs can make casting fast. One advantage is that you can just hold the mould in one position and just tilt it slightly.

[Dusty Bannister]

I have always thought the purpose of the trough in the sprue plate was to allow the use of a ladle. Move the ladle not the mold. Just one continuous pour as you dribble the length of the plate. But since I bottom pour, I just move the mold and raise and lower the handle and direct the flow into each hole. Tilted away from me, no overflow into the next hole.

[fecmech]

My H&G experience is with 4 cavs, I have 3. They are the nicest casting molds I own. I preheat them over my pot as the lead melts and after 1 or 2 fills I get good bullets that fall out of the mold easily. I think the trough in combination with the thick H&G spru plate makes for good bases, I rarely cull any bullets with those molds. I have always used a bottom pour pot.

[melloairman]

I have done that to many Lee 2 cavity molds and it seems to help with base fill out for me .Marvin

[runfiverun]

I like Dusty have found the troughs do work best when not pressure pouring from a ladle.
you just pour a continuous stream and drag the ladle down the edge of the plate pausing at each hole.
I do my core molds this way and they have the trough.
I went so far as to file a notch in the rib on my ladle so I could push it against the edge of the plate then tip it from there, and slide it down the edge towards me.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

I like to grind a trough in my lee moulds too, I think the bigger sprue helps fillout, and casting is easier too, and when the mold is up to tem I have gotten a little in the other cavity while pouring and it didn't make a difference, as far as having wrinkles. I have also just poured in the middle to fill both at the same time, it works while its hot but not a regular technique of mine or anything

[imashooter2]

I do one continuous pour with or without a trough. As I do the job, a trough is just different, no better or worse than 6 holes.

[SgtDog0311]

"I went so far as to file a notch in the rib on my ladle so I could push it against the edge of the plate then tip it from there, and slide it down the edge towards me". I think I need a video;)

Nowadays I have trouble with the trough sprue plates. Used to do nothing but bottom-pour so that style was all I ordered if I had a choice.

Hopefully the next step in my evolution is me getting better at not running over into the next cavity till I'm ready. So far my technique is lacking. Maybe I need to try a notch. So runfiverun, when you say you "slide it down the edge towards me", does that mean you have the mould canted and start at the lower cavity then come toward you?

[runfiverun]

the core mold is sitting flat.
by flat I mean it's bolted down on the edge of the bench and the mold part itself overhangs off the edge.
the notch is there so the spout doesn't over or under shoot.

for a regular mold it would be sitting flat on the edge of the pot or on the bench.
I would move the ladle in from the side to engage the notch then roll the ladle over to pour into the cavity's [trough]
then slide the ladle towards me, making a continuous pour, but pausing at each cavity's sprue hole.
I don't dump nearly the amount of lead on the bench anymore.

for single cavity molds I do the mate and twist thing.
but most of my single cavity molds are unvented ideals and the like.

if I were doing say a 4 cavity 45 caliber lyman mold and was using a smaller lyman ladle.
I would do two pours starting at the middle with a 3/4 full ladle and pour number 2 and number 1.
then refill the ladle and pour number 3 and 4.
or more likely purchase a 2lb Rowell ladle.
that is where the trough would come in handy it holds that extra alloy/heat between pours.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I've found the trough to be a welcome addition to a mold that's difficult to keep hot, ie small boolit cavities. But I have found it a hindrance to molds that like to over-heat easily. More alloy means more heat.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

sgtdog, I might need aa video too, my a.d.h.d kicked in about 1/3 of the way through,lol just funnin' with ya, runfiverun

[KCSO]

When we quantity reloaded 38 wadcutters we ran 2 H and G gang moulds with dippers from a 50 pound pot. The moulds were hung from the ceiling on screen door springs and we just tilted the mould and poured along with the ladle. We switched back and forth between the two moulds to keep the temps right and usually ran 500 to 1000 a night with one casting one sorting and one lube sizing in the old Star. We fed the whole Police Department that way and had enough to keep us on the pistol team. PPC with Duty Guns.

[Victor N TN]

I have 2 H&G molds that have the trough in the sprue plate. The #34, in 45 is a 6 cavity. Big steel or cast iron blocks. I don't remember if the 38 wad cutter is 6 or 8 cavity. But I sure do love them H&G molds. The 45 especially. I used it more. You had better have everything laid out where you can reach it when you start. I was using a LEE pot in the 1980s & 90s. When the pot finally came up to heat and I started casting, it never shut off until I stopped. You can sure make a BUNCH of bullets with those molds. 3 or 4 gallon jugs of good bullets in a day was not too unusual. But I had my brother cleaning the alloy and casting them into ingots for me. He was using a Coleman stove and a plumbers pot to clean it.

Yes... I like the trough on a heavy, multi cavity mold.

[dkf]

I like troughs on molds that cast large bullets, helps make up for shrinkage when cooling so you don't get into the base. To add troughs or make current ones larger I use a 1/2" ball endmill in the mill.

[SgtDog0311]

the core mold is sitting flat.
by flat I mean it's bolted down on the edge of the bench and the mold part itself overhangs off the edge.
the notch is there so the spout doesn't over or under shoot.

for a regular mold it would be sitting flat on the edge of the pot or on the bench.
I would move the ladle in from the side to engage the notch then roll the ladle over to pour into the cavity's [trough]
then slide the ladle towards me, making a continuous pour, but pausing at each cavity's sprue hole.
I don't dump nearly the amount of lead on the bench anymore.

for single cavity molds I do the mate and twist thing.
but most of my single cavity molds are unvented ideals and the like.


runfiverun, Oklahoma Rebel evidently shares an interesting phenomenon of my aging:-) The focus does wonder if the task is not quick. So thanks for the added effort - and I do get a picture now of the mechanics. Have never seen a set up where the molds are stationary. I spend a lot of time in the Idaho Panhandle. Alas, Idaho is like California in one area (thank goodness only one) in that this does not exactly make us neighbors. Otherwise I'd drop by and film that technique and make you famous on YouTube. Ok, maybe not famous - but there is more than one person on this forum whose technique I'd like to see in a video. What with my grandson's wrestling and the new smartphones I've actually learned how to do it too.

[runfiverun]

hey now :lol:

I probably do a whole bunch of reloading and casting stuff not quite the same as everybody else.
I'll frequently start out a response with the words 'well there is something else I do wrong'.

[Shiloh]

A thicker sprue plate with deeper gates is something I'd like to see.

Shiloh

[dragon813gt]

I'm personally not a fan of them. I don't ladle pour. All I use is a bottom pour. I've found the bullets are more inconsistent in weight w/ a trough. I don't use one long pour because it can make a mess quickly. And if I don't let off on the at the right time you start filling the next cavity. This is definitely a personal preference thing.

[rintinglen]

I'm personally not a fan of them. I don't ladle pour. All I use is a bottom pour. I've found the bullets are more inconsistent in weight w/ a trough. I don't use one long pour because it can make a mess quickly. And if I don't let off on the at the right time you start filling the next cavity. This is definitely a personal preference thing.

This is my experience also. Like the Dragon, I do not ladle pour, I use a bottom pour. I get more rejects and less consistency with a trough-type sprue plate than with a conventional one-by-one. This may be idiosyncratic to my casting technique, but I only have one mold so equipped, a much cherished H&G 50. I get my best results by running the mold hot and bobbing it up and down from cavity to cavity.