Saeco Mold problem

[Moondawg]

I recently purchased a Redding-Saeco 38 mold, #354, which is casting slightly oval shaped boolits. My .358 sizer die is sizing several thousands off at two points opposite each other and not touching in between. Measurements indicate that unsized boolits are about 6 thousands out of round. The mold halfs are closing squarly and tightly, so it appears the cavities themselves are out of round.

Has anyone had any experience with Redding-Saeco standing by their warranty? Will they make things good if I complain and return the mold?
Thanks,
Bob

[Ford SD]

are the boolits out of round with the seam or 90deg to the seam

[Calamity Jake]

Every Saeco mold I have(10+) are good ones producing round (.002-.003) boolits. I've never had to send one back.

Give Redding a call or email explaining the problem, they should make it good.

[cbrick]

Redding warranty seems to be hit & miss, seems to depend on the mood of Robin Sharpless when you call. I got a couple of bad brand new SAECO molds that Redding (Robin Sharpless) refused to even look at much less do anything about, I had Erik Ohlen at Hollow Point Bullet Molds work his magic and save the molds. The downside of course was buying the most expensive molds out there and then paying someone else to make it right/useable.

Because of my experience with Redding hit & miss warranty I have bought my last anything that says Redding on it. With molds of similar bullet designs an RCBS bullet out shoots the SAECO design anyway and at far less cost & far superior customer service.

Rick

[bobthenailer]

Ive have about 20 Saeco moulds and have made hundreds of thousands of bullets with them with no problems.
The only thing i can think of to try is to drive in the mould blocks alignement pins to where the mould haves just have a slight sticking when trying to open a cold mould this will aligne the 2 halves of the mould blocks , if you still have the problem ? it will probely be a defective mould

[Moondawg]

are the boolits out of round with the seam or 90deg to the seam

The out of round is WITH the seam. The oversize area is the seam area. The blocks seem to be closing tightly, I cannot see any gap or light showing through. I have five other Saeco molds and they all cast almost perfect boolits and don't give me a bit of problem.

[stubshaft]

Time to give them a call and tell them you got a lemon. I have and have used alot of SAECO molds and personally have not had anything but great results from them.

[gandydancer]

I had a brand new redding luber years ago and tried for months almost a year to get a 409 lube die and to replace a bad sizing die in 45/70 after a year I lost my cool and sent the items back sizing press and all and told them what they could do with them. they tried evey thing in the book to make it up to me I told them to Pxxx off. I do use a T7 press and they do make good stuff most of the time. and when Bruce was in charge you had superior customer service. To day I have no idea what there like. I still have a few of there things but nothing new in years. Lyman & RCBS NOE-Accurate-- Miha whomever.

[bosterr]

I own quite a few Saeco molds and never had a problem of out of round. I did buy a brand new round ball mold in .530 dia. that after cutting the sprue there was a flat spot of 1/4 inch in diameter. The cavities were cut way too high up the mold. Imagine how these things would fly through the air, unless the flat was pushed down the barrel perfectly square with the bore (impossible)! Redding said that is the way the cherries were made and too bad if I ddidn't like it! I use Lee molds now instead. Anybody want to buy a Saeco .530 round ball mold?

[PacMan]

Wher did you buy the mold Midway or some of the other better suppliers they will exchange or refund you.

As to the question the last Saeco mold i bought last summer cast two diffrent size bullets.I returned it to Midway for a full refund.

[leadman]

I would play with the alloy before I condemmed the mold. Sometimes the mold does not fill out for some reason. Maybe try some straight lino and then check the boolits for egg shaped.

I had a new RCBS 7mm mold that didn't want to fill out on the sides away from the seam and it was difficult to not have wrinkles.

I finally cast a couple boolits from each cavity, used a small drill to start a hole in the base thru the sprue plate. Then removed the boolits and drilled for a drywall screw. Put some 600 grit lapping compound on them and just took the dark finish off the cavity surfaces. That did the trick and now it is a great casting mold.

[Humbo]

I'm lifting this thread. I'm also having some problems with a recent Redding/SAECO mold. First of all, it's more than .006 out of round at the seam, but to make it even worse, the bullet is about .006 taller on one half than the other. The mold closes like a bank vault, there is no play between the mold halves whatsoever and there is no visible light between them. You can actually see with the bare eyes that it's out of round when looking at the cavities from the top. And when placing the bullet on a flat surface it tips slightly to one side. I haven't talked to Redding about it yet, I'll send them an email with pictures and see their response.

[Mitch]

Humbo
It looks like your mold haves are not closing properly you can see it in the pic in the middle it is miss macthed in that pick.You need to check the mold have for either a piece of lead between the mold halves or that the alinement pins are not in the proper position.There may be some lead in one of the alinement pin holes or around it.looke em over good before you call the maker It is what they will tell you to do first.There is something causing the mold halves not to line up.It could be the handle holding out of alinement to.Make sure you have the proper handle and it is working as it should.

[John Boy]

Hold the mold up to a strong light (in the handles) and determine if you light in the cavity between the 2 mold halves. Also check the handles and make sure they are not loose. If they are, tighten the handle bolt, usually if the 2 handles can be wiggled, you will light in between the mold half’s

[Humbo]

Thanks for the replies guys. As mentioned, molds fully close and there is no light between the mold halves, and there is no play whatsoever. This is a brand new and unused mold, there is no lead buildup anywhere. I have literally hundreds of molds, and I know what to look for when bullets don't come out right. Here's a picture of the mold halves.

[Humbo]

I use original Redding handles, and they are are rock solid too, with no play in them. And if there was light between the mold halves, the bullet would not be out of round where the seam is.

[oldhenry]

I have four 4 cav. & three 2 cav. pre Redding SAECO molds & have never had any problems with them & they've been well used. Redding makes good stuff. I likewise have their Ultra Mag press & several of their bushing type dies that I've used satisfactorily.

They make such good stuff that they have a difficult time admitting that occasionally they goof up. I had two issues with their product & it was like pulling eye teeth to get the problem solved.

Please let this forum know how your problem is resolved & how you were treated.

Good luck.

[Humbo]

This is also the first time I had problems with any of their products. I have four of their presses, lots of molds, die sets, trimmers etc. and they have all been working beautifully. I have dealt with their customer service on a couple of occasions earlier, and it has been nothing but stellar. So hopefully the matter will be resolved this time as well. Just to be clear, my post was in no way meant to bash Redding in any way, I was just curious about what happened with the OP and his mold since we seem to be in the same boat. I've sent Redding an email and I'm waiting for their response. I'm willing to send this mold back to them, even if it'll probably cost me an arm and a leg in shipping due to being located in Norway.
I'll keep you posted.
Thanks!

[Mitch]

These are just things i have found in my casting adventures.You may very well have a faulty mold.I see nothing in your pic that shows any problems.just one thing you can check to be sure you do not have to send the mold in for repair if you have not done it already.sheck and see if the mold blocks are evein top and bottom if not take off the sprue plate and remove the mold blocks from the handle. If they are even then you can see what is out of wack when you reasemble.The only reason i say this is I went thru the same thing with 2 molds one was bad the other was the handles.the one i sent back to lyman and it took for ever to get back to me.I sure think you would want to use the mold right away as i do with a new toy i mean mold.The words rock solid with no play make me think this.There has to be a little play for the blocks to line up. Good luck hope it all works out for you.