Question about using a noe pellet mold

[Drew P]

I just got into pellet rifles so of course gotta cast for them! Picked up a noe mold in 25cal and it’s a traditional wasp waist pellet design, what we would call a hollow base in bullets I suppose. Anyway it’s interesting how they do the pins, I don’t hate it however I’m having an issue with finning around the base because there isn’t anything that really holds the pin up into the right zero clearance location in the mold. The retainer clip things that hold the pins are the only height control which I find a little odd. Maybe I’m missing something about the design?

[MT Chambers]

I don't think that you are missing anything, finning on the base of the skirt and unevenness at the bottom of the skirt is the problem I had with both a .25 and a .30. I don't know if it's the unevenness at the skirt or the pellet is just too long but accuracy was bad and pellets spiraled out of the group. So I'm stuck with 2 useless molds.

[Drew P]

I don't think that you are missing anything, finning on the base of the skirt and unevenness at the bottom of the skirt is the problem I had with both a .25 and a .30. I don't know if it's the unevenness at the skirt or the pellet is just too long but accuracy was bad and pellets spiraled out of the group. So I'm stuck with 2 useless molds.

did you experiment with the various pin heights that it comes with?

[Drew P]

Man this is a little disappointing. Noe was a premium provider so I thought, but this design leaves me questioning their quality a little. I wonder if Erik the hollow pointing guy could fix it for me? The pins are good, it’s just the retention system I object to. There is no height control over the pin, and there should be.

[KVO]

The NOE RG system isn't my favorite but it can make consistent bullets with a few precautions. The clips (or railed clips if you will) on the bottom of the mold that hold the pins control height. It is necessary that the pins move freely their entire length of travel without binding when seating flush in the mold blocks. The clips can twist and bind when torquing the retaining screws down. Similar to a scope reticle being level with loose rings and canting as you increase the torque on the screws. I've had to loosen and carefully snug up while putting counter pressure with my thumb to keep them in alignment.

Pin height is set by bottoming out on the clips. The catch is that the clips must be very precisely adjusted to set pin height, out of the box mine have been fine but yours may not be. NOE's old website had a section on adjusting pin height by carefully bending the railed portion up or down with a pair of smooth jawed pliers. You must keep the pins flush and bottomed out on the clips and only close the mold held up in the air, no contact on the bottom of the blocks to push the pins up from their respective bottom studs.

Last thing I can offer is that your blocks may not be closing all the way. The dowel pins used for alignment on these molds have no taper and can ever so slightly bind if not well lubed and it seems worse the longer there blocks are (greater number of cavities). All this may be old news to you but I hope it helps at least make your mold usable.

Side note, I once converted an NOE HP to the Cramer system but it was a lot of work and wouldn't care to do it again. Since the HP pins are already made and holes drilled, it may be reasonably priced for Erik @ HP Molds as you suggest to convert it to his inset bar system using the existing pins. It would be slick!

[Drew P]

Yeah I adjusted the tabs a little by tapping them with my mini rawhide mallet and it’s a little better but not ideal. I’d rather just have them side drilled and tapped like MP molds which is simpler by far than what I’m understanding he does. Heck maybe I can even tackle it.

[gpidaho]

I'm a big fan of Noe moulds and tooling but I question that I'd ever break even with a airgun pellet mould. Well made swaged pellets just aren't that expensive. Gp

[Drew P]

I'm a big fan of Noe moulds and tooling but I question that I'd ever break even with a airgun pellet mould. Well made swaged pellets just aren't that expensive. Gp

But lead free pellets that shoot well may not even exist at all, and are a little more pricey.

[Drew P]

I'm a big fan of Noe moulds and tooling but I question that I'd ever break even with a airgun pellet mould. Well made swaged pellets just aren't that expensive. Gp

Not sure where you buy pellets but my observation is they cost more than bullets do! They can be more than .20$ ea and with my semi auto rifle I can burn through them at a pretty quick rate.

[Drew P]

Well I ordered another noe pellet mold last night. I gotta quit internetting late at night lol.

[Drew P]

Looking at the mold a little closer last night and I’m wondering if anyone has tried some sort of spring or wavy washer that could be placed under the steel clips and would push the pins up to seal off the cavity a little better? This is just a bad system I’m afraid.

[whtsmoke]

I have been wondering about casting pellets myself for a 25, would love to try some before i invest in a mold is all. keep us informed on your progress.

[Mal Paso]

My 22 pellets are 2 cents each so that's 7,000 pellets to break even.

The 20g 4c is sold out again. Maybe that's a good thing.

Still it would be cool to get 6,000 boolits from a pot of lead. LOL

[Gtrubicon]

We love our air rifles around here, we also love casting. I’ve been on the fence about casting for our air guns, I’m going to follow this

[dverna]

I am looking at a PCP and expect 1” groups at 50 yards. I would love to cast but I doubt a cast pellet will do the job. I am leaning towards swaging.

But I am finding very little data on either cast or swaged pellet accuracy. Seems stupid to spend $800-1200 on a rifle that shoots poorly with a cheap bullet. $20 for 500 pellets makes more sense.

I have an RC so swaging would not be a problem, but it seems slow.

[dale2242]

I talked to Dave Corbin at a gun show last year.
Tools for swaging pellets are his top selling items.