11 cavity core mold for my 308s

[BT Sniper]

Finally drilled a blank 6 cavity Lee Copy mold out the other day. I figured a .242ish hole spaced one in between each of the standard 6 spots would give me just enough room. Turned out pretty good. Should be about perfect for 180 grain .308bullets using the FN 5.7 brass for jackets.

I have yet to try it out but will keep you posted.

BT

http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu87/BTSniper/Leeramtop013.jpg

[ANeat]

Dang, Ill bet that sprue plate looks like swiss cheese ;)

[Blind Eye]

That looks good. Let us know how it works.

[Tom R]

I made a 224 core mold with 10 cores and I cant get the sprue plate to cut. I have very little experience with this kind of thing and no experience in mold making.

[BT Sniper]

I'm hoping I can run the mold hot enough to cut the full 11. If not I can put on a standard 6 cavity spure plate since I line up the holes with the original. My orginal concern with only 6 small .242ish size holes was that I would not be able to keep the mold hot enogh, didn't think about troubles in breaking the spure loose.

experience in making molds... a little, more lik emodifing them for my JHP needs. This one all I did was drill the holes. Another member here made the Lee copy mold. I wanted to make sure I put it to good use on somthign worth while. I hope it works too :)

I'll keep you posted.

BT

[BT Sniper]

Dang, Ill bet that sprue plate looks like swiss cheese ;)


There he is. Hope I did you proud. I channeled out the spure plate with a 1/2 ball end mill from the first to the last hole then drilled the 5 additional holes inbetween the allready existing ones. Everything looked great and I felt confident. As I was putting the final touches camfering these new holes I mistakenly clamped the spure plate in the vise at a slant. A large chip was underneith one end. It does no good to bore to the exact same depth on a expensive, fancy milling machine if you don't mount your piece level. Lessons learned the hard way I guess [smilie=b:. I did effectively make gradually larger holes with every move towards oppisite side. Also made purty little swirl marks in the tops of the cavity from the resulting AL chips, not enough oil? Hope it doesn't cause core to stick. If so I can pollish I guess.

You figure a tub/channel like this for the spure to gather and fill cavities will work?

BT

[Tom R]

I will go take pics of mine. Maybe you guys can give me advice.

[Tom R]

Here it is. I did not do the best finish work on this piece. I machine all day and I do not always give my own work the same finish I give my customers.

http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n235/tjsr19/101_0844.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n235/tjsr19/101_0845.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n235/tjsr19/101_0846.jpg
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n235/tjsr19/101_0847.jpg

[Tom R]

didn't think about troubles in breaking the spure loose.

BT[/QUOTE]

Same here. I did realize it after words real quick though.

[ANeat]

I made a 9 holer and it cuts pretty easily. When the mold is cold you dont want to let it set up too fast or it will get tough so work fast. Youre just making cores and hopefully they will get squirted to the final weight.

I did make a steel sprue plate for mine.

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h165/aneat/Swage/DSC01212.jpg

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h165/aneat/Swage/DSC01213.jpg

[BT Sniper]

Looks great guys.

Yep mine looks similar with same channel idea and counter sinks, but with stock Lee spure plate. Are those allen heads the same thread as the Lee or the ones you made custom way back when? I figure the same as you about working fast and hope to not let it set up to much. As far as squirting cores well I'll have to make a core swage die a suppose :)

Thats sure some pretty looking lead. Is it alloy or pure? I never concern myself with teh looks of my cores and typically run them a bit hot as they scale aterwords anyways but those look "just right".

BT

[ANeat]

TomR your mold looks great,

BT, yes the allen head screws are 1/4-28, like the lee screws. I had to use those since the sprue plate was thicker.

I just made brass bushing for the screws, a little thicker than the sprue plate so I could tighten the screws down.

And yes I think that was some pure lead I was using, although Ive shot some of the 223 bullets with WW cores and I cant tell any difference in the way they shoot

[Tom R]

My screws are 1/4 20 I had them laying around.
Thank you for the complement ANeat
I think I might need to make my sprue track a bit deeper to make cutting easier.
I also made my sprue plate thick.

[garandsrus]

Tom R,

Do you think that the sprue plate holes could be a little smaller and still work OK? They look pretty big compared to the cores. A smaller hole should make the sprue easier to cut.

I have a H&G 10 cavity mold and the sprue cuts easily as long as the mold stays hot and you cut the sprue quickly.

John

[warf73]

Great looking mold all of you.

[DukeInFlorida]

Tom, Brian, and others.....

I would turn your mold around on the handles, so that the sprue plate "handle" is down next to the mold handles. That way, you'll have some leverage to open the sprue plate.

Tom's picture showed that he installed the mold on the handles with the sprue plate handle at the top (opposite the handles) of the mold. That will make it tough.

ANeat's picture shows the right way to do this.

I now have core mold envy!

[Tom R]

Tom, Brian, and others.....

I would turn your mold around on the handles, so that the sprue plate "handle" is down next to the mold handles. That way, you'll have some leverage to open the sprue plate.

Tom's picture showed that he installed the mold on the handles with the sprue plate handle at the top (opposite the handles) of the mold. That will make it tough.

ANeat's picture shows the right way to do this.

I now have core mold envy!



Thanks I will try that. I am still new to casting.