NOE 360180 WFN Brass Thread

[Beau Cassidy]

I must say when I ordered this mold I had very high hopes for it. The mold came in last week and after cleaning it with soap and water I began using it yesterday in rotation with a MiHec .44 HP mold. The mix is 50/50 ww/Pb. With the first throw on a slightly warmed mold the bullets stuck very bad to the HP spud to the point I had to go get pair of pliers to work them off of the spud. I figured it was due to the mold being new so I didn't fuss too much. I did manage to throw a few so so quality bullets. After throwing bullets for about an hour or more I sat the mold down and kept on with the MiHec.

Today I did the same routine casting as yesterday. I had no problem getting good fillout on the mold but for the life of me can't get the bullets off of the HP spud with out either a heck of a lot of luck or the pliers. Anybody else got a better mousetrap? I just took the HP spuds out and put the solid ones on the mold. It will be a few days before I can get back at it.

These are just a few I randomly picked out. I have about 20 and it looks like I will be chunking them all back into the pot.

[Firebricker]

Beau, It looks like you need to go through the break in process again and any problems should clear up. After that make sure your moulds preheated good and run your alloy hot and see if it clears up.
FB

[Cmasailor]

My guess is the same, though i have yet to use my 360180 WFN yet, your boolits look cold and arent filling out. Smoking the mould would be my next move as well as turning up the heat on the pot, perhaps moving faster too... But i'm a noob on here. And sofar alum moulds from lee are all i've played with. ...

I take it back, i've got a reproduction of a colt cap n ball conical roundball combo mould made of brass... And i had a hard time holding it it retained so much heat my welding gloves didnt cut it. But that doesnt help you much...

[Beau Cassidy]

Yes. I know these bullets don't have good fillout. I experimented with temps up to frosting them. No luck. I think I will just stick to keeping it solid.

[Iron Mike Golf]

Try a shot of spray-on graphite on the HP pins.

Also, your mold blocks can be hot enough to frost and the pins not hot enough to give a good fillout on the nose and easy release. Maybe as an experiment, try heating the pins with a propane torch and see how getting the pins hotter (and you know they're hotter) works.

The challenge is when boolits stick to the pins, the pins cool way faster than the mold blocks while you wrestle with release, because the pins have such lower mass compared to the blocks.

[gritsngiggles]

This is my first brass mould. I too had problems, even after the break-in procedure. Not filling out and sticking bad. Apparently my hot plate did a poor job at pre-heating the mould. The second time I removed the wooden handles off the tool and stuck the whole thing in my oven at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. Also coordinating the alloy melting process. After sliding the wooden handles back on I ran to the pot and quickly started to cast. My eyes never saw boolits simply fall off a mould before, like they couldn't wait for you to open it. But the party was short lived. The mould started to cool and boolits began to stick. I now know what I must do, create a better box for the hot plate and cast like there's no tomorrow. Don't give up, just keep at it. GOOD LUCK Practice makes perfect

[Piedmont]

I cleaned mine twice with alcohol and stuck it in the melt for 30 seconds. Bad bullets for several casts, so back in the melt for 30 seconds. Still bad bullets, so back in the melt for 60 timed seconds. Good bullets immediately. Frosted too!!

[nanuk]

the light coming off the noses make them look off centered

is that just an optical illusion?

[greywolf444]

I bought a hotplate in preparation for using this mold. It will help alot in getting the blocks up to temp. Last night I set the molds on the hotplate (set at 4.5) when I plugged in the pot. When the lead was up to temp (30 min or so ) I got good bullets from the first cast to the last. The bullets mostly fall out when you open the blocks. The odd one will hang onto the hp pin. A couple taps on the hinge pin and they drop off. Great looking mold. Can't wait to shoot some.

[GARCIA]

Found that smoking the pins help a bunch.

Tom

[chuck4570]

Mine looked like your photo, tried everything but no luck. I happened to look back at the group buy page for the 360160 post 49. The photo with the nice looking bullets. The text said pot 660 and mold 375. I kept the pot to about 660 to 680 and heated the mold to where the sprue took 2 or 3 seconds to frost over since I dont have a probe on the mold and wow, good bullets with even edges around the HP. I had been running the pot much hotter. I think too much heat is allowing deforming of the edges to looking off center as they swing off the pins. I do use kroil oil also.

[taminsong]

Found that smoking the pins help a bunch.

Tom

Try this idea, it really works for me. Use a lighter, and let the mold get hot and the alloy also.