Lyman 4 bangers

[Heavy lead]

I've only cast boolits in 2 banger moulds. I ordered a couple Lyman 4 bangers today and wondered if anyone had any advice on casting these. I was thinking if you should pour the middle two first, then the outer ones, or if this even mattered. If anyone can lend guidance on this, your input would be welcome. 4 bangers=more:Fire:

[runfiverun]

once you get the mold up to temp i don't think it will matter.
cooling it down while using it might be your problem.

[rusty marlin]

I ladle pour so this may or may not work for you.

I start with the farthest one away so that when the sprue over flows, the lead goes off the end, then the next one back so that when the lead overflows the sprue it runs into the filled sprue, and on up the mold.

Works for me.

[Heavy lead]

Yup, I'm probably thinking too much (I get accused of that quite often by the better half). I just want to try to maximize my time a little bit. Midsouth has Lyman 4 bangers for 63.66 a piece, just couldn't pass them up. So I got a 358429 and a 429421.

[Wilson]

I use a Lyman 4 cavity mold (147 gr 9mm) and a Lee 20# bottom pour pot to good effect, 740 bullets per hour. Not as good as Lee 6 cavity for easy of use and speed, but I think it casts a better bullet. ( I've done 1,000 125 gr 38s with the Lee in 40 minutes.)

[Heavy lead]

Quite frankly I'd buy the Lee if it were available in a couple of Keith designs I desire. I missed out on some gb's here that wouldv'e done the trick, cause I messed around lurking instead of jumping in with 2 feet. But whatareugonnadu!
So I got a pretty good price on a couple of 4 bangers (I pretty much use iron moulds anyway for the most part) and am gonna give em a try.
Thanks for your help

[CJR]

Heavy Lead,

On all my 4-cavity Lyman moulds, I machined a slot in the sprue plate (about 1/2 thickness) so that all the sprue holes were connected by the slot. The lead flows in the slot and fills the cavities very quickly. I got this tip from either the NRA Cast Bullet Guide or the NRA Handloading Guide. Some people have ground the slot connecting the sprue holes instead of machining it.

Hope this helps.

Best regards,

CJR

[Sprue]

I've only cast boolits in 2 banger moulds. I ordered a couple Lyman 4 bangers today and wondered if anyone had any advice on casting these. I was thinking if you should pour the middle two first, then the outer ones, or if this even mattered. If anyone can lend guidance on this, your input would be welcome. 4 bangers=more:Fire:

I think that you should first, fill the cavity furthest away from you, cut the sprue and drop. Then fill the cavity next closest so on and so forth. By filling only one cav at a time you will not have to worry about overheating your mold.

If'n that doesn't work then you might fill the two outter holes first, then, the two center ones. But NEVER fill the inner two first followed by outter two.

So in all actuality, you can see that a 4 banger will slow you down as opposed to the twoer's.

[Heavy lead]

Heavy Lead,

On all my 4-cavity Lyman moulds, I machined a slot in the sprue plate (about 1/2 thickness) so that all the sprue holes were connected by the slot. The lead flows in the slot and fills the cavities very quickly. I got this tip from either the NRA Cast Bullet Guide or the NRA Handloading Guide. Some people have ground the slot connecting the sprue holes instead of machining it.

Hope this helps.

Best regards,

CJR
Sounds like a good idea, I'll try it.

[crowbeaner]

I start with the hole farthest away and go right down the line. Once you get them broken in you'll have no problems. Ladle pouring is hard on the left wrist though.

[Heavy lead]

I'll probably bottom pour, the four holer shouldn't be too bad. Imagine casting with some of those old 8 hole H and G's. That'd put some arms on ya boy!

[MtGun44]

Good boolit choices!

I would love to know if the molds you get have square lube
grooves. I have seen some apparently pretty new Lyman molds
for these boolits with square grooves, while older ones had the
round grooves, and very old ones the original design square
grooves.

Thanks.

I can't imagine filling one cavity and then cutting off the sprue and then
filling the next . . . . . Fill the cavities, cut the sprues, dump the boolits,
repeat as often as desired. :drinks:

Bill

[Randall]

I just bought a new four cavity 429421 and it has an almost square lube groove, it has just a little taper with square corners.

[Shepherd2]

I use a lot of Lyman 4 cavity moulds. I don't think there is any one technique for filling the cavities. My way, using a Lyman mould master with a mould guide, is to insert the mould all the way in and lift the lever to fill the nearest cavity first while drawing the mould out of the guide. I never stop the flow until all cavities are filled.

My biggest problem is cooling the mould after it gets up to temperature. To speed up casting I set the bottom side of the mould down on a wet pad of folded cloth. After a second or 2 the sprue is hard enough to cut. It beats waiting around for the sprue to harden and some say it helps with fillout.

[Shuz]

Heavy Lead--I have several 4 cavity Lyman moulds, and what works best for me is to cast with two moulds in tandem. I use a Lyman 20 lb bottom pour furnace and a mould guide to keep the hands and arms from tiring out too much. I suggest you try both filling the hole close to the handle first and the other hole farthest away first. I have one 4C that is temperamental and must be filled in what I call reverse sequence in order to get good fill out. Have fun, and remember, casting boolits is an art not a science!--Shuz

[MtGun44]

Randall,

Thanks. That is what is called the 'square' lube groove, as compared to the
ones that are half a circle in cross section. As you say, they have a bit of angle
to make it easier to get the boolit out of the mold. However, I have seen
a boolit cast from a Lyman 429421 that has SQUARE corners, no perceptible
angle, on the lube groove. SO - they vary a LOT.

I'm glad that Lyman has come back closer to the original Keith design.

Bill

[HeavyMetal]

Have two 35863 wadcutter molds, 4 bangers of course.

I use almost pure lead for these boolits and ladle pour. I put a small groove in the bottom of my Rowell ladle.

How this works is simple I dip the molds to heat them, fill the ladle with hot alloy set the groove on the sprue plate tip the mold so the rear cavity is higher than the front twist the ladle till it fills the first cavity and then slide the ladle away from me to fill all 4 cavities.

Since I'm filling "up hill" I don't have issues with a partial fill and with two 4 bangers can get some serious production and quality boolits in a short time period!

I'm a lefty so I hold the mold in my left hand and use the ladle with my right.

Try going through this a few times with cold molds and see how comfortable it can be before you melt anything.