A bummer of a mold - I’m mad at myself :-(

[Gene Pool]

I bought a used but excellent condition 4-cavity Lyman mold off EBay and spent the whole afternoon casting bullets. It is supposed to drop .452 diameter 225 grain round nose bullets. In actuality, it casts .451 diameter bullets out of 2 of the cavities, and .4515 out of the other two. They weigh 230-232 grains. I am using wheel weight lead.

What aggravates me is I didn’t check the diameters until after spending all that time. I would like to size the bullets at least .452 but now can’t (.453 would be even better). Oh well.

I now wish I had bought a Lee 6-cavity mold instead. I’ve had nothing but success with Lee molds, and their 6-cavity molds are great in making lots of bullets in a short amount of time.

Man, I’m mad at myself!

End of rant.

Gene Pool

[bmortell]

shake and bake pc would make em just the right size for a .453 sizer

[osteodoc08]

Perfect excuse to start powder coating.

[Target4fun]

Powder coat those babies...time well spent

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[toallmy]

I wouldn't take much to polish / lap out the cavities a thousandth .

[sw282]

Yep- ''MOM! lts not fried. lts SHAKE n BAKE. And l helped''

[mold maker]

Others have reported size increases with age. Mine don't last long enough to grow.

[Larry Gibson]

it casts .451 diameter bullets out of 2 of the cavities, and .4515 out of the other two. They weigh 230-232 grains. I am using wheel weight lead.

The Lyman is cut for #2 alloy or linotype. Using "wheel weight lead", especially if a mix of COWWs and the SOWWs, will give heavier bullets of smaller diameter because there is a higher % of lead in the alloy and more shrinkage.

Try one of those alloys or at least add 2% tin to your "wheel weight lead" alloy. Also cast at 710 - 725 degrees and get the alloy into the cavity as quick as possible leaving a large sprue.

[gwpercle]

Yep- ''MOM! lts not fried. lts SHAKE n BAKE. And l helped''

That brings back some old memories !

My mom quickly became a fan of the less messy shake and bake method of cooking... I did like the way pork chops came out "Shaked and Baked".
Gary

[C.F.Plinker]

I agree with what Larry said above. I have a Saeco that casts at .451 using range scrap. The sizer doesn't even touch it - it just lubes it. My 45s love them. My suggestion is that you lube up a box of them and see whether or not your guns like them. When you get right down to it the opinion of "Dr. Gun" is the only one that matters.

[bedbugbilly]

Don't beat yourself up too bad over it. I think that anyone who has cast a long time and picked up molds along the way (used molds) has probably run in to the same thing at least once - I have in the 55 years I['ve been casting. I've purchased a number of molds off of the same site and finally came to the conclusion that for the most part, I was buying somebody else's "problem" - not always but enough times that I no longer will buy a used mold there - I'll wait and buy a decent new mold that can be sent back if there is an issue.

I once bought a Lyman SC hollow base mine mold that was supposed to drop at .445. Like you, I just went ahead and cast a bunch of them up - several hundred - without bothering to check. After all, it was a hollow base which would expand when fired (muzzle loader) and the mold had the number stamped right on it. Only problem was . . . after casting up a large pile, I decided to check and see how tight they are for the bore of my rifle and if I was going to have to size them - that's where the problem came in. The mold was "miss-marked" by Lyman and they were .452 instead of .445 - huh? I felt pretty stupid over that one. Fortunately for me, even though the mold is mis-marked, I kept the mold as I figured at some point I would play with the boo lit out of a 45 Colt.

Larry gives good advice - try a different mixture and see how they drop - at the worst - PC is a good thing.

[Wag]

I like to add a pound of 50/50 solder to 9 pounds of WW lead. That approximates the #2 alloy and may solve your problem. YMMV, of course.

--Wag--

[Screwbolts]

I completely agree with what Larry said above. Turn the heat up, get the mold hot for frosty casts if your not going to use #2 or lino

[toallmy]

Lube a few and try them ,

[Beagle333]

I vote Powdercoat. It'll add about 2 thousandths to them. You might like it! Or melt em, add some tin and recast. I enjoy an afternoon of casting (or recasting too) :smile: Good luck!

[Conditor22]

I have gotten several Lyman 4 cavity molds for dirt cheap because the cavity sizes differed so much. Yours is excellent in comparison.

Lymans use to be comparable to RCBS, NOT ANYMORE!! several years ago their quality control, warranty and customer service went to hell. recently I've heard some better reports about their customerservice but they have a long road to travel before they get back to where they were and gain back the respect and trust of their customers.

Check on leementing if you want to continue using ([smilie=b:[smilie=b::groner:) lube.

The next mold I Leement (polish) If I have to go more than .001 I'm going to to try cutting the nose of the boolit/polishing plug off first so I don't enlarge the nose.

[lar45]

You might try"Beagleing"
Get some aluminum ducting tape, cut some narrow strips.
Peel the backing off and stick to the inside sides of the mold.
Cast a few and see if you need to add more strips to get to where you want to be.

[MT Gianni]

You might try"Beagleing"
Get some aluminum ducting tape, cut some narrow strips.
Peel the backing off and stick to the inside sides of the mold.
Cast a few and see if you need to add more strips to get to where you want to be.

Yep, 17 post to get to what used to be common knowledge on the board.

[Mal Paso]

I lapped a Lyman 429421 out to .432 with diamond powder from arrowhead lapidary using bullets cast from that mold. I inserted a hex screw in the tail of the bullet and spun them in the closed mold with a drill. I sprinkled diamond powder on a steel plate and rolled the lapping bullets on it so only the drive bands were coated. This mold had a taper as well so only the top bands got diamond on some cycles. There was some migration of the diamond and the entire cavities got some polish making this one of the easiest molds I have to cast. Iron is still the King in molds.

Larry Gibson is genius but I think he gives Lyman too much credit. I did get .429 on the base band with #2 Alloy but the forward band was still .427 and the middle in between. I think Lyman should have been ahead of the curve and been making slightly oversize bullets if only so the LYMAN SIZER WAS USEFUL.

I came to Cast Boolits because I couldn't figure out how the LYMAN SIZER was going to make the LYMAN BULLITS big enough to fill the LYMAN SIZING DIE.

:killingpc

Lap the mold or use tape it's still a much better mold than Lee.

[gpidaho]

That mould would be perfect for my Ruger 97 DC. it likes bullets @ .451. But the posts above give good information and as mentioned, it's a lot closer than most Lyman moulds these days. Gp

[Larry Gibson]

No, I do not give Lyman too much credit, I just take them (as with any other mould maker) at their "word". On page 302 of Lyman CBH #4 it list #2 alloy for the 452374 bullet which should weight close to 225 gr. On page 278 CBH #4 also states the bullet is cast with #2 alloy. Cast of #2 alloy the bullets should give a minimal diameter equal to the nominal diameter......452. We also know that using COWWs can give close to .001 less diameter along with a heavier bullet. The OP states his bullets cast of "wheel weight lead" is doing just that. Additionally the casting technique (bottom pour, ladle and how each is used) and temperature of the alloy entering the mould along with mould temperature, etc. all affect the as cast diameter.

Over the years I have had numerous Lyman moulds sent to me for testing. I have also observed a few moulds with defects but then I have also had defective mould from other commercial and custom makers also. If the mould is cut for a certain alloy I expect it to drop at least to the nominal diameter with that alloy. I do not expect to use a different alloy, particularly one with a higher content of lead in it, and expect it to do the same. In the case here the OP is using "wheel weight lead" not #2 alloy. He is getting a heavier bullet of close to .001" less than nominal diameter. That is not the fault of Lyman.

If the OP care's to send me the mould (I will pay for shipping both ways) to test I will gladly test the mould with #2 alloy and report the results in this thread.

[beagle]

Yeah, I'd "beagle" the heck out of that mould, size to .452" and drive on. All is not lost. That's a good mould and tape's cheap./beagle


You might try"Beagleing"
Get some aluminum ducting tape, cut some narrow strips.
Peel the backing off and stick to the inside sides of the mold.
Cast a few and see if you need to add more strips to get to where you want to be.

[mdi]

I have experimented, dabbled with different alloys, different temps and different methods and found any one of these can affect finished bullet diameter. Don't remember where I put my notes, somewhere the shop, but alloy and temp often change the finished bullet; just like Mr. Gibson mentioned (post 8)...

I think if my mold was dropping bullets that small, I would try #2, and if necessary, lap the mold.

[Echo]

it casts .451 diameter bullets out of 2 of the cavities, and .4515 out of the other two. They weigh 230-232 grains. I am using wheel weight lead.

The Lyman is cut for #2 alloy or linotype. Using "wheel weight lead", especially if a mix of COWWs and the SOWWs, will give heavier bullets of smaller diameter because there is a higher % of lead in the alloy and more shrinkage.

Try one of those alloys or at least add 2% tin to your "wheel weight lead" alloy. Also cast at 710 - 725 degrees and get the alloy into the cavity as quick as possible leaving a large sprue.

What he said - harder alloy doesn't shrink as much, but adding only 2% Sn may not change more than a couple tenths...

[JeffG]

This is one of several reasons i instead buy NOE or Accurate molds. Yeah, they cost more than a Lee, but i do not trust paying a premium for a Lyman just to learn they cast small.

[gwpercle]

I also have noticed that boolits will increase in diameter slightly with age. My alloy is 50/50 COWW and plain lead + a little linotype for tin , air cooled.
Measured right after casting and a few months later gave different diameters , like +0.001 larger diameter I thought something strange was happening .

I have that same Lyman mould , never measured them but ran them through a .451 size die in my Lyman 450 and shot them in 5 different 1911's with not any leading or accuracy problems. I do cast them slightly frosty .
Give them a good test and see how they perform....may be worrying about nothing .
Gary