Thinking of making another core mold?

[customcutter]

OK, I made my first core mold for .223 cores and it didn't quite work out as I expected. It was capable of making 8 cores, but my sprue plate wouldn't cut the sprues off. I wound up cutting them close to length with wire cutters. Not a lot of fun, and very tiring at the end of the afternoon. The holes in the sprue plate were the same size as the cores .185".

What is the smallest hole that I could make in my sprue plates and still have lead flow at a decent rate? I'd like to be in the 1/16 to 3/32 range.

Could someone show a close up of their 6 cavity Lee mold and the "camming action" of the sprue cutter? The one I made for the first mold did not have a camming action and didn't have the leverage to cut the sprues.

thanks,
CC

[fredj338]

BT makes an 11cav mold using a Lee blank & spru plate. It is really diff to shear all 11 cores at once, until the mold gets really hot. The sprue holes are about 0.140".

[customcutter]

BT makes an 11cav mold using a Lee blank & spru plate. It is really diff to shear all 11 cores at once, until the mold gets really hot. The sprue holes are about 0.140".

I knew that he made one, so it had to be possible to cut the sprues. I'm going to try a 1/16" sprue hole and work my way up to see what the minimum sprue hole is that will flow at a decent rate.

Thanks,
CC

[fredj338]

I knew that he made one, so it had to be possible to cut the sprues. I'm going to try a 1/16" sprue hole and work my way up to see what the minimum sprue hole is that will flow at a decent rate.

Thanks,
CC

I would rather go at least 0.10", I don't think you'll get good flow smaller.

[customcutter]

Thanks, I'll increase as needed, but hoping to keep it as small as possible so that cutting the sprues is easier.

[anotherred]

I make mine to mimic lee size mold. When I make the next one it will be thinner so it heats up much faster. Maybe little narrower too.

[runfiverun]

umm you have a pot full of lead you only need the mold in the 400-f range to cast well with.

the trick to good casting with a multi-cavity mold is to heat the mold first then start with the first 2 cavity's away from the handles and as they get easier to cut move to 3 and 4 then up to the max you have.
you should be able to open the mold by hand if your doing it right.
I cover the top of my molds with a light coat of nickel anti-sieze so if I open the mold too soon it doesn't smear lead on top of it and gall the aluminum.
I can just wipe it off with a rag and pour the next string then apply more anti-sieze before dumping the cores out.

I actually don't like the lee cam method it's too fragile and unnecessary it's also why I won't buy a lee 6 cavity mold unless I absolutely have to.

[customcutter]

umm you have a pot full of lead you only need the mold in the 400-f range to cast well with.

the trick to good casting with a multi-cavity mold is to heat the mold first then start with the first 2 cavity's away from the handles and as they get easier to cut move to 3 and 4 then up to the max you have.
you should be able to open the mold by hand if your doing it right.
I cover the top of my molds with a light coat of nickel anti-sieze so if I open the mold too soon it doesn't smear lead on top of it and gall the aluminum.
I can just wipe it off with a rag and pour the next string then apply more anti-sieze before dumping the cores out.

I actually don't like the lee cam method it's too fragile and unnecessary it's also why I won't buy a lee 6 cavity mold unless I absolutely have to.

Yes, a few people have commented on pouring 2 cavities, then 4, etc. to warm the mold. I was able to open the mold easily, but sprues did not want to cut because they were the same diameter as the cores. I was also try to cut 8 cores before the mold was hot enough. It was my first time trying to pour or cast. I was planning on getting the mold hotter next time before pouring. If your mold doesn't have a cammed sprue cutter, I'm assuming you have a straight handled sprue cutter without a mechanical advantage?

thanks,
CC

[Prospector Howard]

CC, Have you thought about making a precision core mold, like 2 cavity? I went a completely different way than the rest of the swagers. I made precision 2 cavity molds that drop the exact weight that I want right out of the mold. Then there's no need to swage the cores, so I'm saving time not having to lube, swage, and clean the cores. Just because you're making 10 or 11 at a time doesn't mean you're saving time. Also, casting them is pretty dang fast anyway with a 2 cavity mold. With the small size of the cores, the lead solidifies really fast, so I can bang away really fast. If you have a Lyman mold or something, just copy the way they made it with aluminum blocks and cut the cavities to the right size. You'll have to test to make sure the two drop the same weight and tweak them till you get it just right.

[customcutter]

Howard, thanks for the insight. I thought about making large cores and swaging wire, if they could be cut to accurate weights. I agree swaging the cores is a lot of extra steps and time consuming. I've read that the major bullet manufacturers try to maintain their weights within 2%. So in our case that would be 1 gr if the jackets are consistent. I'm looking to make plinking ammo, minute of pie plate, not bench rest ammo.

I did clean my Lee 4-20 pot this morning. I had only used it twice, and it was starting to leak. After melting and pouring off the lead and can see why. I definetly need to do a better job when smelting my lead, plus I didn't know I needed to clean the oil of my pot before the first use.

I measured the pour spout with a transfer punch and it was 3/32", so I'll go with 3/32 on the sprues for now. All I need to do either make a new sprue plate for this mold, or turn the mold over and drill new core holes and make a sprue plate for that side.

[Cane_man]

cc, far easier imo just to find the right size/caliber Lee mold and trim the boolits to the correct length for the core weight you need (yes you will have to make a trimmer, but if you use lead wire you will have to do that anyway)... there is some variation, probably not as good as with core molds and squirt dies, but I have done this with two different calibers now and the finished swaged bullets shoot MOA!

[customcutter]

cc, far easier imo just to find the right size/caliber Lee mold and trim the boolits to the correct length for the core weight you need (yes you will have to make a trimmer, but if you use lead wire you will have to do that anyway)... there is some variation, probably not as good as with core molds and squirt dies, but I have done this with two different calibers now and the finished swaged bullets shoot MOA!

Cane, you're getting MOA using cores cut to length??? If so that is great. I'm going to give it one more try with the mold and a new sprue plate them move onto something else if it doesn't cut the sprues.