Sprue plate question.

[Bazoo]

I've seen a few lyman moulds that have replaced sprue plates, that have the sprue holes not centered in the cavities. What will issue will this cause if any? If It doesnt pull metal from the sprue when its cut, would it be out of balance still?

Thanks.

~Bazoo

[country gent]

If its a clean smooth cut then it shouldn't matter a lot. If there is raised metal or pulled metal then it may matter more.

Depending on how they are off and how much they can be adjusted with the stop by filing to allow the plate to swing over more or making a stepped pin to hold it open more. Another way would be to drill and tap a 6 48 hole in the stop area of the plate and a screw ran in tight and cut to center the holes as the new stop.

[Bazoo]

Ones I seen on ebay are double cavity, and off pretty bad.

[stubshaft]

I have a couple of molds with off center sprue plates. Discounting the psychological factor which says "the boolits are unbalanced" I have not found any issues with inaccuracy with them.

[Bazoo]

Stubshaft, that is encouraging. Could you give more detail as to pistol/rifle, what mould and range they were fired at? And if the accuracy was compared to any other projectiles?

[Dragonheart]

Extensive tests have been made with cast bullets over 50 years ago showing even minor damage to the base of a bullet causes inaccuracy. Cutting the sprue leaves a hole, smear or some other imperfection on the base of cast bullets.

When I read some of these tests years ago I wondered then why mold manufacturers didn't make more nose pour molds as imperfections on the nose have less bearing on accuracy.

I have found the powder coating process tends to fill in some of the minor imperfections. As far as an unbalanced bullet you are not going to see much difference under 50 yards, but step out to a 100 or more and a wobble will show up.

[Walter Laich]

I know I have to slow down casting when I start tearing out pieces of the bullet rather than cutting it clean

Dragonheart is correct that PC will fill some of the damage

[Bazoo]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I have done some more research on the subject, and found that for lyman moulds they offer 2 different sprue plates with different spacing between holes. So for lyman, at least, you should be able to get the right plate.

[Walks]

I just bought a pair of 4cav sprueplates kits direct from LYMAN for a couple of old molds I bought at a garage sale a while back. They fit fine and the holes they cut are dead center in the sprues. I polished the bottom of each sprue plate, slapped them on and started casting. No problems at all.
I know they've been working on QC. The 2cavs I got at the beginning of last year were rough as heck. Sent them a long letter. I think some one listened.