Blammer
10-03-2009, 04:45 PM
Ok I got a hold of one of NOE's RG2 moulds with the 360180gr boolit.
FYI, the RG is NOE's version of a multi-cavity HP.
A few words about it. You have to have the mould HOT before you start casting with it. I made the mistake of pouring it cold. The boolits had the death grip on the HP pins. :groner:
What a pain to get off! But I did.
I cleaned it, with brake cleaner and tooth brush and q-tipped dry and cleaned the cavities. I used NO lubricate or mould release of any sort on the cavities or pins. I only used Bullplate on the sprue after it was hot, and that was it.
Afterwards I set it on top of my pot Lee 4-20 pro bottom pour to let it heat up for about 30 min.
The great thing about the pins is that you can set it on a hot plate or on top of your melting pot and the bottom of the pin will get hot and carry it all the way though the mould to the top of the pin. No more "torch" heating the pin tip only.
I then commenced to casting and it was great! I tried a few different techniques to see if there were any real changes or differences.
As you'll see the pins are 'free' floating for a little bit. I first cast with them and closed the mould with the sprue plate on the top. This allowed the pins to be seated as far down as possible, creating a smaller HP. Then I cast and closed the mould with the sprue plate on the bottom, allowing the pins to be seated as deep as allowed for making the biggest HP. The final wt difference was about 1-2 grains between the two groups. Keeping your technique the same, the boolits all wt the same or within .5gr of each other. These boolits were one half a thousandth out of round. I was very pleased!
I'll have to admit there is a little bit more tapping on the mould and handles than I'm accustom to. Mostly to get the boolits to let go of the side of the mould that the pins are attached to. I finally figured out a technique that works quite well that involved one or two taps while holding the mould at a slight angle. Once the boolits dropped from the mould cavity they were not hampered by the HP pin at all, if I occasionally had one stick a small tap and it fell free.
Over all I am very very pleased with how the RG2 works for HP boolits. I've never cast so many GOOD HP boolits in such a short amount of time! This is definietly HP production!
Makes me long for an RG4! (the 4 cavity version instead of the RG2, 2 cav version)
Here are some pics of the mould and the boolits I produced.
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g81/blammer8mm/Cast%20boolits%20fun/DSCN7738.jpg
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g81/blammer8mm/Cast%20boolits%20fun/DSCN7740.jpg
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g81/blammer8mm/Cast%20boolits%20fun/DSCN7732.jpg
FYI, the RG is NOE's version of a multi-cavity HP.
A few words about it. You have to have the mould HOT before you start casting with it. I made the mistake of pouring it cold. The boolits had the death grip on the HP pins. :groner:
What a pain to get off! But I did.
I cleaned it, with brake cleaner and tooth brush and q-tipped dry and cleaned the cavities. I used NO lubricate or mould release of any sort on the cavities or pins. I only used Bullplate on the sprue after it was hot, and that was it.
Afterwards I set it on top of my pot Lee 4-20 pro bottom pour to let it heat up for about 30 min.
The great thing about the pins is that you can set it on a hot plate or on top of your melting pot and the bottom of the pin will get hot and carry it all the way though the mould to the top of the pin. No more "torch" heating the pin tip only.
I then commenced to casting and it was great! I tried a few different techniques to see if there were any real changes or differences.
As you'll see the pins are 'free' floating for a little bit. I first cast with them and closed the mould with the sprue plate on the top. This allowed the pins to be seated as far down as possible, creating a smaller HP. Then I cast and closed the mould with the sprue plate on the bottom, allowing the pins to be seated as deep as allowed for making the biggest HP. The final wt difference was about 1-2 grains between the two groups. Keeping your technique the same, the boolits all wt the same or within .5gr of each other. These boolits were one half a thousandth out of round. I was very pleased!
I'll have to admit there is a little bit more tapping on the mould and handles than I'm accustom to. Mostly to get the boolits to let go of the side of the mould that the pins are attached to. I finally figured out a technique that works quite well that involved one or two taps while holding the mould at a slight angle. Once the boolits dropped from the mould cavity they were not hampered by the HP pin at all, if I occasionally had one stick a small tap and it fell free.
Over all I am very very pleased with how the RG2 works for HP boolits. I've never cast so many GOOD HP boolits in such a short amount of time! This is definietly HP production!
Makes me long for an RG4! (the 4 cavity version instead of the RG2, 2 cav version)
Here are some pics of the mould and the boolits I produced.
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g81/blammer8mm/Cast%20boolits%20fun/DSCN7738.jpg
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g81/blammer8mm/Cast%20boolits%20fun/DSCN7740.jpg
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g81/blammer8mm/Cast%20boolits%20fun/DSCN7732.jpg