NOE 9.3 280 gr. 4 cav

[Prodigal Son]

I was lucky enough to get in on the group buy for the NOE 9.3 280 gr 4 cav mold. 3 are GC 1 PB. I thought I was going to have to give up on the mold . I did as the instructions said to do, which I always throw away instructions on anything. I'm so smart I can look at anything and figure it out. Well, when you spend your hard earned money on something you really want, no precaution is to much propblem. I scrubbed the mold. I use a hot plate, I had my metal perfect. I couldn't cast a boolit I'd use in a bean flip. 2nd time, did the same thing, worst results. 50% WW, 1.5" of tin from some tin bar stock, the rest was solder and pure lead. I got 5 worth keeping out of three hours. Let the mold cool over night empty. Tonight, used comet and a tooth brush, half of pot of WW, 5 lbs, 1 lee bar of antimony, then filled the pot with ingot from my other 2 sessions to make 10 lbs. The one thing I did different was to not use and extension cord as in the other 2 times. Got my metal hot about 8.5 to 9 on the Lee pot, not much better, but the last hole, which is the PB base was doing great so I kept at it. I also held the mold at a 45 drgree angle so as to let the air out faster and, Eureka! All 4 holes were droping perfet boolits! No wrinkles an frost just perfect. What a mold. The GC drop @ 278.2, the PB @ 281. What a mold, I cast 100 then had to stop my arm was getting tired! Here are some poor pictures, but you can see the results! Thanks Swede, can't wait for the Skinny 323471 later this year!

[375H&HGuy]

Happy to hear that the mold is behaving as it should for you. Those are some very nice looking boolits. I too got in on the group buy. I purchased a 2 cavity, gas checked with one HP. I followed the directions per the included instructions and my mold is now working well.

I have cast with it twice. The first time around I don't think I had my lead hot enough. I was getting wrinkles and sometimes the lube groove was not forming a sharp edge. I chalk up this to my casting inexperience, not the mold. I managed to get a dozen or so from my first casting. I sized and loaded them and they shot well.

I cast some more last night and things went much better. I got the mold and lead up to temp and the boolits started dropping out nice and clean. I made up about 60 or 70 in this run. I plant to do some more shooting this week or next.

[Humbo]

It was a bit harder to get this mold to cast perfect bullets, there was a small window between wrinkles and frosted bullets for me. But my biggest trouble is seating the gas checks, anyone else having trouble with this? My shanks run a little big, i mic'ed them at .356, and there is just no way I can slip the gator checks on there. Even when running the bullet and check through the die, the check won't always slip on. And when it does, it shaves off lead and isn't seated perfectly straight. Are the gator checks tighter than the Hornady brand?

[shooter93]

I use one of Al's base "trim" tools. Seat the check separately with his seater. Sneak the bullet into a 375-376 sizer just enough to crimp the check and not touch the bands. then size and lube to suit. A bit of a pain maybe but the 9.3x62 is worth the effort. A fabulous round.

[jethunter]

I'll have to try holding it at an angle. I had problems getting this mold to fill, too. Eventually I learned that it is VERY sensitive to pour speed from the ladle. It seems that pouring too fast doesn't let the air evacuate the cavity and it appears to be filled. But then when I cut the spru I would find a void or rounded base from incomplete fill.

Eventually I learned to slow down the pour stream to a trickle and results were much improved. I wonder if slightly larger fill holes (is that the right term?) iin the spru cutter would make it work any better? The hole is s bit smaller than some of my other moulds.

[Humbo]

It could seem that venting is an issue with this mold, especially in the nose area. Air needs to escape through the sprue holes, and with a too generous stream, you will have problems. At least that's my theory. I just need to play with this mold a little more to find out what it really likes.