New NOE 311299.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I got my 311299 from Al Nelson. beautiful work.

I am having trouble getting complete fillout of the mould. I am no stranger to aluminum moulds and have several Lee moulds that are easy to get good results out of.

I have "Seasoned it" by heating it 3 times to 350 and letting it cool.

I tried smoking it with butane, a match and a variety of casting and preheat temps.

I have gotten closest to complete fillout when the boolits come out frosted which I already know is too hot. Still not perfect fillout, and slight wrinkles.

Any cooler and I get serious wrinkles. Using regular WW material.

I cleaned the mould before doing anything.

I have ran two casting sessions hoping it was just a breakin thing. No luck so far and out of 50 fills I have gotten only 4 perfect boolits.

This mould should work just fine with strait WW material and I don't want to have to add this or that to it.

Any suggestions, and please be very specific.

Randy

[Jim Flinchbaugh]

I recently got the same mold, in my questions here, it seems this mold wants to be run hot, Mold temps 350-400 & hot alloy- like 750. When I heated things up like this, I got great fill out, oh, I ladle pour, my ladle has a small spout, I have to press the spout into the sprue plate to get the base to fill out. To keep the mold hot, I have to cast fast, so fast that if I wait for the sprue to freeze on its own, the mold cools down too much for fill out. I now pour, them touch the sprue plate to a cold damp rag for about 2 seconds, then cut the sprue. Also, the mold wants to be level on the top to get a good base, cant quit the pour on an angle. Mine casts exactly on size using straight wheel weights. I am pretty much a novice at this game others may have better advice, but i was told these steps here and they seem to be working. Nothing wrong with frosty boolits either.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Mine are all on size and I'm not having any problems getting complete bases. My problem seems to be the wrinkles in the nose section.

I am up to running at 750 also.

I'll call Al and see what he says...

Talked to Al and am trying a variety of other fine points. I'll report back when successful

Long skinny moulds do tend to be somewhat finicky but still they will work great once you figure them out. These moulds are very high quallity and if a $15 Lee mould will work then these should too.

Randy

[Larry Gibson]

Using regular WW material.

First and foremost; add 1-2% tin to the WWs and cast at 725 - 750*.


Also if using a bottom poor have the sprue plate close enough to the spout that a decent sprue can be formed but will alow the alloy to get into the mould quickly before cooling. Opening the adjustment on the valve to allow the alloy to come out quicker will help. One last thing. I will let a little alloy out imediately before putting the mould under the spout. This gets any "cooler" alloy out of the bottom of the spout so it doesn't enter the mould cavity.

Larry Gibson

[W.R.Buchanan]

Thanks Larry,,, I was waiting for one of the gurus to speak up.

I'll try the close drop method tomarrow but I'll have to find tin to add next week.

Thanks for the tips. I know I'm already close jsut a matter of fine tuning.

Randy.

[geargnasher]

+1 on Larry's "double-tap" method of clearing the BP spout when casting smaller caliber boolits. I do, however, usually have good results much more easily with a ladle when casting the heavy .30 calibers. Contact and roll mould/ladle together.

One more thing, don't be afraid of a light, even, satin frost that comes from a mould run up over 400 degrees. That is the ONLY way I've ever been able to get consistent, perfect fillout from Al's moulds, or any aluminum mould, for that matter. I don't know who started the shiny-is-the-only-way myth, but that's all it is, a myth. A touch, only a touch, of tin will certainly help, but probably not solve the entire issue. I run most of my .30-caliber aluminum moulds at about four pours per minute with 700-degree wheel weight alloy with about one percent tin added, gets good results every time. Cut the sprue by hand an instant before it hardens to speed up the casting cycle and eliminate having to hit it with a mallet. Your boolits should look like these (not a great pic, but the best I have handy):

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_89094ea39a08d9d9c.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=2489)

Gear

[W.R.Buchanan]

Gear: thanks for the info, I read the other thread dealing with the same problems.

Randy