madsenshooter
04-22-2011, 11:13 PM
A couple years ago I had Bernie Rowles of Old West make me some molds using the cherry for the Eagan MX3-30G that I got off ebay. First he cut me 3 that were 1.150" long instead of the 1.25" that the bullet was supposed to be. Course that gave them a much larger meplat. When I complained he said to send them back, he can cut some of the bigger bullets he normally does into the blocks. Good deal.
So he cut me 3 the proper length. Two of them were a mess. I'd bought them hoping to sell them on ebay, and I did sell one that was good. The other two were woefully out of round and quite out of alignment, both vertically and side to side. Couldn't understand how that would happen when cutting with a cherry, but now I know he didn't have a centering vise. The danged sprue holes didn't line up right either.
Ever since then, the chunks of brass have been sitting on the floor of my shed corroding. Today I decided to see what I could do with them. After all I had the cherry, should be able to correct what he messed up. I put the cherry in my drill press and clamped the molds shut. One was a good tight fit, the other was a bit loose. But I got them cut, they line up vertically now. Lube grooves got a little thinner, but that's ok, I think it was meant to be dip lubed anyway. I got one of the sprue plate holes to line up by brazing a little bit forward of the stop screw. I think I'm going to have someone mill a bit off the top of the other mold to make it like the short one Bernie cut. I still had some of the boolits and they shoot pretty good, and have a meplat that'll make a good hunting bullet. The sprue hole should line up ok with the larger meplat.
I cast some with the mold that has the sprue plate that will line up. Bottom band is now .314" and it's within .0005 of being round, it was .310 and out of round. Hornady checks shave a little, that seems to be normal for an Eagan bullet, but Gators work ok. Once I get that one milled off, I think I'll have couple of functional molds, no thanks to Bernie. (I take that back, thanks for the good work on the outside, Bernie) For a pic of the MX3-30G, see post 18 here: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=76457
Update: One of the molds casts well, the other is still slightly out of round. The blocks are in the freezer, the cherry is sitting on the heater, I'll either get it right, or ruin what was already bad. Won't be out anymore than what I already was.
So he cut me 3 the proper length. Two of them were a mess. I'd bought them hoping to sell them on ebay, and I did sell one that was good. The other two were woefully out of round and quite out of alignment, both vertically and side to side. Couldn't understand how that would happen when cutting with a cherry, but now I know he didn't have a centering vise. The danged sprue holes didn't line up right either.
Ever since then, the chunks of brass have been sitting on the floor of my shed corroding. Today I decided to see what I could do with them. After all I had the cherry, should be able to correct what he messed up. I put the cherry in my drill press and clamped the molds shut. One was a good tight fit, the other was a bit loose. But I got them cut, they line up vertically now. Lube grooves got a little thinner, but that's ok, I think it was meant to be dip lubed anyway. I got one of the sprue plate holes to line up by brazing a little bit forward of the stop screw. I think I'm going to have someone mill a bit off the top of the other mold to make it like the short one Bernie cut. I still had some of the boolits and they shoot pretty good, and have a meplat that'll make a good hunting bullet. The sprue hole should line up ok with the larger meplat.
I cast some with the mold that has the sprue plate that will line up. Bottom band is now .314" and it's within .0005 of being round, it was .310 and out of round. Hornady checks shave a little, that seems to be normal for an Eagan bullet, but Gators work ok. Once I get that one milled off, I think I'll have couple of functional molds, no thanks to Bernie. (I take that back, thanks for the good work on the outside, Bernie) For a pic of the MX3-30G, see post 18 here: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=76457
Update: One of the molds casts well, the other is still slightly out of round. The blocks are in the freezer, the cherry is sitting on the heater, I'll either get it right, or ruin what was already bad. Won't be out anymore than what I already was.