Casting rates?

[Tatume]

How does the Magma Master Caster manually operated machine with two-cavity H&G # 68 mold compare in production rate to an experienced caster using a six-cavity Lee 452-200-SWC mold?

[tazman]

I watched a you tube video of a Master Caster such as you describe in action. The operator was getting about 12 boolits per minute at what looked like a sustainable pace.
That is about the same or slightly slower than what I get with my Lee 6 cavity 452-200-SWC. On a good day I can go a bit faster but not a lot.
I spend too much time reloading the lead pot since the 6 cavity mold drains the pot so fast. I have a 20 lb capacity pot but you run out a little more than a pound of lead every 6 times you fill the mold.
With the 45 caliber molds, I usually only cast for about 30-40 minutes at a time and get over 400 boolits. With smaller diameter and weight boolits, I can cast for quite a bit longer and get more boolits out in an hour before I need to refill the pot.

[runfiverun]

a 2 cavity mold is a 2 cavity mold.
little bullets can run very quick on the magma machine, something like a 250gr bullet still takes 5-6 seconds of cooling time before you break the sprue.
it's all a matter of efficiency and mold temp management.

I took one of my magma pots and turned it into a hand casting pot to use with the multi cavity molds because they are quicker than the machine is.[for me]

[farmerjim]

I use 2 six cavity molds to speed up the process. I keep ingots heated to about 500 deg to add to the pot as soon as it is down by a pound. It drops the temp of the pot only about 20 deg. I will cast about 40 pounds of lead in a session with the pot still full. I don't cast much 45, so I only have one mold, but with the Lee 358-125-RF (2 molds) I can do about 800 an hour. If I cast with 2 different molds it slows me down a bit because of the difference in cool down times. I let the molds air cool so that the boolits are just a little frosty. Two cavity and large caliber molds are considerably slower.
The little 22 boolits must be cast as fast as you can with a single mold.

[gundownunder]

with a 4 cavity aluminium mold I can cast at a cycle rate of 15 seconds, about 960 per hour. My pot holds 40 pounds of lead which is enough for about 2000 bullets. Add a pre-start melt time of 40 minutes, makes an average of about 720 per hour continuously. I usually Hi-tek coat at the same time which involves swapping trays from the oven every 10 minutes which probably slows my rate to 650 per hour. The Master Caster would be easier on my wrists, but I would need 2 of them to better my production rate.

[dverna]

For sheer speed, 6 cavity molds are hard to beat. I had a 10 cavity mold and it would make a lot of bullets. But I was young and strong back then. I would never cast more than 3 hours with it.

The advantage of the MasterCaster is that it is less of an effort to use. And it can be automated if health issues call for that.

It is the reason I acquired one this year. I will produce fewer bullets per hour but I can cast for longer periods of time.

[dragon813gt]

The advantage of the MasterCaster is that it is less of an effort to use. And it can be automated if health issues call for that.

It is the reason I acquired one this year. I will produce fewer bullets per hour but I can cast for longer periods of time.

This is the advantage of the machine. Less physical effort is needed. Production rates may not be as high. But your body will thank you as get older. Wish I had known Accurate made molds for the Master Caster earlier. I would have stopped buying hand casting molds and switched over. At this point I'm heavily invested and it would cost a lot to tool up a Master Caster.

[fredj338]

Like taz, you are gonna max out at 12 bullets a minute on the Magama. You might get 14 with a 9mm mold, less alloy to setup. Any 6cav beats that for per minute production rate. Even a 4cav will get you 12/min. The diff is I can pull the handle for hours, not so with hand casting. Though I rarely hand cast for more than an hour, I will go 2hrs with the Magma. A 5cav alum mold might be just about the best balance of fill time vs setup time compared to a 6cav.

[Vagabond55]

dverna has got it right. The mastercaster is not all that fast, but is sure is a whole lot easier on you. The six cavity moulds sure can put out, but I find that after all these years, it's no trouble to sit in front of my magma pot and cast for several hours, make a pile of boolits and not be fatigued.(golly gosh darn gee whiz, if i new i was going to live this long, i would have taken much better care of myself)

[Tatume]

Cool fellows. May I ask a follow-up question? In the spirit of making many bullets fast, what is your favorite method of pan lubing?

[dragon813gt]

Cool fellows. May I ask a follow-up question? In the spirit of making many bullets fast, what is your favorite method of pan lubing?

Making bullets fast and pan lubing don't go together. A lube sizer or one of the coatings is what you're after if you want speed.

[dverna]

Agree with dragon. Pan lubing makes no sense if you want production.

[Tazza]

I have an automated master caster, the projectile i cast is a 9mm 125 con rn, running flat out, it will run around 1,000 per hour, at this speed you do start to compromise quality though, as it's running hot and lead will eventually start to stick to the mould. In winter outside, it can go quickly, but summer, it has to slow down, or when the mould opens, you just get wet lead falling out.

I agree with dragon, if you want speed with sizing/lubing go a lube sizer.

[toallmy]

Tatume you might look into using tumble lubes instead of pan lube to speed things up .

[gundownunder]

Toallmy nailed it. Unless you want to make the investment to move to Hi-tek coating, your best bet will be tumble lube. Find the improved recipe for tumble lube using Johnstons floor wax.

[denul]

Using 2 of the Mihec 8 cavity molds, with a small fan to prevent overheating, really boosted my rates. I got 2 because they are aluminium, which heats rapidly,but they are also light. Not sure I could sustain for long using brass, cast iron or Steel.

[lightman]

I don't have a Master Caster and I've never really kept up with it. But just thinking, I can fill and dump my 4 cavity H&G mold 2 or 3 times a minute. The pot holds 20# and I never completely empty it. So, say I'm dumping 2400 grains of 45 bullets a minute the pot should be ready to refill in 40 minutes or so. Thats 480 bullets per hour by my math. Its hard to sustain that pace and I'm guessing I cast maybe 350 or so an hour. I'm not in a race! With a 2 cavity mold the totals are much lower.

[Walter Laich]

Cool fellows. May I ask a follow-up question? In the spirit of making many bullets fast, what is your favorite method of pan lubing?

powder coating, PC, does a pretty quick job of 'lubing' the bullets. after casting do a swirl and shake and cook in toaster oven. when cool run through Lee press mounted sizer. In warm Texas no worries about lube melting in our hot summers and guns stay remarkably clean with no leading.

there is a subsection on coating that has loads of info

[fredj338]

I don't have a Master Caster and I've never really kept up with it. But just thinking, I can fill and dump my 4 cavity H&G mold 2 or 3 times a minute. The pot holds 20# and I never completely empty it. So, say I'm dumping 2400 grains of 45 bullets a minute the pot should be ready to refill in 40 minutes or so. Thats 480 bullets per hour by my math. Its hard to sustain that pace and I'm guessing I cast maybe 350 or so an hour. I'm not in a race! With a 2 cavity mold the totals are much lower.

I add 1-2# of alloy every 10-15m. That way my 20# Lee doesn't stop me from casting. The 40# Magma will take 10# of alloy & still keep casting.
Pan lubing, not since 1975! Just way too slow. Agree, Alox is faster but still smoky. So I am pretty much HT or PC coating these days, even though I have a perfectly good Star sizer on my bench.

[runfiverun]

I do the tumble lube thing.
the powder coat thing, and have tried pain lubing a few times.
they are all slower than just filling the tubes and running them through one of the star's.
I actually lube/size faster than I cast. [something like 4X faster]