Nothing yet here in Fla. either.
|
   
   
|
|
Nothing yet here in Fla. either.
Got mine last week in SC and have already cast 1000 with it and powder coated 1/3 of them. Good looking slugs.Originally Posted by Lakehouse2012
Still waiting in NC. The postal service is a fickle beast.
Postman screwed me again today.... LOL. I even plowed 10" of snow off both sides of the street sidewalk for him and still he didnt bring my mold....
Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
Last edited by Lakehouse2012; 02-09-2018 at 08:55 PM.
Still nothing in Alabama. My impatience is slowly gripping tighter and tighter, lol.
"In GOD We Trust"
So far its's a no show in Port Huron, MI.
I found out that mine had shown up a few days ago and I picked it up Sunday. Now to get a chance to get out and do some casting tomorrow.
Got mine today in alabama
Still waiting in Cali
"(The Constitution preserves) the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation...(where) the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms." -James Madison
Got mine in Washington State
Got mine today. Looks great!
Happy Valentines Day to me, my mold arrived.
"In GOD We Trust"
Received mine yesterday in MO
I got mine today in Michigan!
Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
Here's my details so far:
Great casting mold, like them all. I was confused when initially the molds wouldn't align on my lee handles. I thought maybe the mold was cut too tight but it turned out just to be the insert that the sprue plate latches on to was too tight, and part was protruding into the channel for the handles. Just very slightly loosen the bolt and your problems will disappear.
Casts dropped free easily, I never once had to tap my mold. I cast about 250 or so at a very fast cadence. I am using the 8 cav aluminum. I for one am a gigantic fan of the new Lee style MP molds and really like them. If Lee would release a "premium" line with half the care and finish these have at a 50% upcharge they would have a real world beater of a product.
Average weight was 169.6 out of a sample of ten, max deviation was about 1.5 grains. Right on the money far as I'm concerned. My alloy is mostly wheel weights with a touch of lino thrown in- run of the mill "mystery metal", good for general purpose.
Base band reads 0.359, middle was 0.358, and front band was 0.3555-0.356. I honestly didn't know if this one would be 0.358 on all bands like elmer would have wanted but personally I am glad it is like it is. This will get you a little leeway with long loads in short cylinders. In all fairness I could get away without sizing in most of my guns with this size as-dropped. This would be a great bullet for tumble lube with lighter loads with cast sizes like that.
I powder coated mine in "magenta chrome". I got this off a member here not really knowing what to expect. I figured it'd be a metallic magenta color. The powder is, but the color actually cures to a chrome silver finish. Looks pretty good, but I wonder if it might make seeing damaged spots in the coating hard to see? Beside the point, I inspected mine closely and they all looked fine, so good deal.
Momentary shout out to the NOE bushing system for the star sizers- I love this tool and being able to buy a blue million different diameters for $9 a pop is great. I had lathesmith make me a ton of punches for every common caliber and I was ready to rock. I always found the stars fantastic for massive amounts of fewer different bullets but I'm an experimenter at heart and love to make adjustments and try new designs, so being able to quickly change things out and buy new sizes for whatever weird gun I might find is great. That, and spending $45-50 for a lube die for a star is a painful experience! You cannot lube with the NOE bushing system but I have mostly been doing hitek and PC lately anyway. It would be great for tumble lube too.
I sized to 0.358. Minimal sizing on the middle band and none on the front, just a touch on the base.
A group photo with some fairly conservative lyman load data. I plan to go with the 2400 load for this initially and probably load it fairly hot.
If it ever stops raining I might get to shoot!
Last edited by Echd; 02-16-2018 at 03:30 PM.
Wow, what a great looking boolit! Very little culls from my mold on the first run.
Cant wait to load a few in .38 and .357mag.
"In GOD We Trust"
I will be making the shorter HP pin the standard for me.....
Last edited by Lefty SRH; 02-17-2018 at 06:49 AM.
"In GOD We Trust"
Went to the Post Office and picked up my mold today. Very pleased.
Anyone noticed a big difference in OAL of the actual boolit vs. the Lyman book for the 358429 mold. My OAL is about 1.650”. The Lyman book says 1.553” OAL. The bullet is only .020” shy of being flush when loaded Ruger cylinder, I hope it doesnt jump crimp.....lol
"In GOD We Trust"
In the Lyman book section for the .357 Magnum it says "in order to maintain a maximum overall cartridge length of 1.590", it is sometimes necessary to crimp cast bullets on the forward edge of the first driving band." Sounds like that is what needs to happen with this boolit...??
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk
Posting Permissions
| BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
| BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
| BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
| C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
| HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
| PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
| LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
| GC | Gas Check |
Lakehouse2012
