So I bought my first NOE mold. It was supposed to be a 5 cavity aluminum. After a month I called because I had not received it. I have him a call and he said my order had been mis-placed and he did not have that mold in stock. He offered to set up and run me one, but said it would be a while because he was having trouble getting stock for the molds. He offered a 4 cavity brass, which I accepted, and it shipped the next day.
So I did my first batch of casting today. It was a bit cold out at about 36F. I put the mold on top of my lee pro furnace and let everything warm up for about 30min with the furnace on HI. I tried to cast and got horribly wrinkled bullets. I put the bad bullets back in the furnace and put the mold back on top and let it warm up for another 15min. the second round they looked better but the lube grooves were not filling in. I let it sit for a bit more and got about 2 good casts until the mold cooled off too much and things went back out the window.
Am I going to need to use a hot plate or something to heat the mold? Not sure what else to do...
Other problems.... brass is HEAVY. my hands were killing me after casing maybe 40-60 bullets. I will NEVER order brass again unless its in a 2 cavity mold. 4 is WAY too heavy.
The sprue plate burned me. It kept swinging around too far and hitting my hand.
This is a gas check design. I was planning on using these heavies in my 357mag. I was planning on powder coating, however the 2 gas checks I have are both a VERY snug fit. Not sure how I am going to get them on once powder coated I did order some clear powder by the pound powder, as I have heard it goes on thinner than the eastwood... but still.
I also cast some with my lee molds, 124g round nose for 9mm, and 158g WFN for my 38spl. Both those molds threw flawlessly as usual.