A Newbie Question Pertaining too Using One Cavity to Cast in a Multiple Cavity Mold.

[8uck5nort]

I just started casting about 6 weeks ago and really am enjoying it. I started with a Lee 2 cavity mold and quickly bought a custom Accurate 3 cavity mold. The Accurate mold has three different cavity designs so I could play with three different weights. I only cast 358 projectiles. I have gone through my initial stock of 230 grainers which I discovered are really accurate and thump stuff out of my 357 max rifle. So the question is can I safely use my 3 cavity aluminum mold and cast in just one cavity to replenish my 230's and not damage the mold? Do you always need to fill all the cavities in a given mold during a prolonged casting session? I just don't have the experience here to know if I am about to do something stupid with a very expensive mold. Thank you for input.

[RickinTN]

Cast away one cavity at a time! The last Accurate mold I bought from Tom I purposely had one cavity a gas checked bullet for 45-70 and the other a plain based bullet for plinking. I've not had the opportunity to work with the mold much but I can already see I'll be casting with the gas-checked cavity a bit more, at least at first while I'm working up my hunting loads.
Take care,
Rick

[country gent]

The issue I see is the extra mass of the multi cavity mould using 1 cavity is it may be hard to cast fast enough to keep it up to temp. May need to rest on a hot plate pr run a higher pot temp. It may require a faster cadence also.

Not only is there more mass but the empty cavities will act as heat vents pulling heat away.

[dale2242]

I have a 4 cavity H&G mold with 2 different bullet designs .
2 cavities of each.
I preheat as normal and cast away with the 2 cavities I want.
The mold stays hot enough to cast good bullets.
BTW, the mold is 30 cal in the 175 gr. range.

[8uck5nort]

Well I gave it a go last night after work. It took a little longer to get the mold to temp, but once it started dropping good bullets it did fine. I would cast in all three cavities when I stopped to lube the plate and pins. I would do that every 50 drops or so. I am trying to develop good casting habits. I did around 175 drops with only 9 going into the reject pile. So I guess knowledge gained. By the way during my maintenance drops the other two cavities filled out just fine after not being used for several fill and drop cycles. It looks like my concerns were unfounded.

[BNE]

It was still good to ask. Lots of knowledge here. Welcome to the addiction.

[kbstenberg]

I know you only want bullets from 1 of the cavities. But if you use any of the other cavities, you can cull all except the best of the unwanted bullets. An put them in storage for a time when you do want some.