High volume hand casting 38-105 FP 4-6cav?

[Advil]

Need to hand cast with molds identical to Magma's 38-105 FP (high volume cowboy action for 38/357)

Who would you recommend for a 4 or 6 cavity mold for hand use and which handles?

Thinking about getting at least a pair of molds to keep production speed up.

High volume and long mold life are primary (30-40k per year), bullet quality is secondary.

Any other recommendations for me? New to casting in this quantity, but will be working with another person to help with keeping up with the pace.

[rintinglen]

The choices are Lee 6 cavity molds, versus custom, Such as Accurate Molds or MP, or else Ballisticast. Given the quantities being cast, I'd check with Ballisticast first. They make iron molds that will give you the long life you want, and since I'm spending your money, they can make 8 cavity molds, or so I have been told. (They ain't cheap, just good.) I've read that Accurate Molds is now making 5 cavity molds, but I do not know what material those are. I do know that they make beautiful, brass molds.

[Bret4207]

IME I'm no faster using 2 moulds than 1. Mould temp is critical and using multiples doesn't work for me. Why cast junk?

Just FYI.

[btroj]

I am in agreement with Bret, one mold is enough. I tried two and just get bad bullets. Two 6 cav are going to be hard to keep at the proper temp in my opinion.

[Moonie]

I have a number of 6 cavity molds and for the life of me can't figure out how people run them two at a time. Fill 6 cavities, count to between 3 and 5, cut spru, dump boolits. Now I guess someone else could pour another 6 cav in the 3 to 5 second pause but I don't drink enough coffee for that...

[Advil]

Ok, I checked on Ballisticast, they are way outside my price range.

MP only does group buys and has no pricing.

Accurate had the design I want right in the catalog, and is closest to the price range. They have a 5 cavity mold, and half the tolerance variance of Lee (+.0015 instead of +.003) and half the lead time (3 weeks instead of 6).

So, I'm between two 5 cav molds from Accurate or three 6 cav molds from Lee (any less from Lee isn't worth the setup fee).

Opinions?

Remember, two of us will be casting at once for efficiency so I think we can find a use for two molds at once. Production speed is paramount for us.

[geargnasher]

If you're team-casting, then two moulds are in order.

Accurate moulds are some of the very best in the business, and accept the inexpensive but good Lee six-cavity mould handles. You'll have to get your own handles. Accurate only offers five cavity moulds in aluminum, brass goes up to four depending on caliber.

Now for the clincher: If you want the boolits to be identical from all cavities in all moulds, buy and Accurate. M&P, or Ballisticast. Accurate moulds aren't cheap either, but you do get what you pay for, and he only does custom designs to your specs or copies of cataloged items. He is able to duplicate exactly from mould to mould. Lee, on the other hand, may or may not be exactly the same design from each mould, and the Lee moulds may require some touch-up work to get them to drop boolits reliably. But, two Lee six-cavity moulds and two sets of handles with shipping is right at a hundred bucks from most places, you're looking at over $250 for two five-cavity Accurate moulds plus your Lee handles from somewhere else and shipping for both.

No matter what you decide, if you get Lee handles, before you ever use them, tap the handles off of the tangs, fill the hole and cover the tang with Permatex Ultra Copper high-temp RTV silicone, and tap them back on. They WILL slide right off in the middle of a casting session if you don't.

Gear

[Colorado4wheel]

Get the Accurate Mold. With out a doubt. I have used all the above.

Their brass mold is heavier but more durable. It also is only 4 cavity.

[Advil]

This really changes my plans.

Very, very tempted to go with Accurate. I don't want sizing/lubing issues due to mold variance.

How about this question: With two 5 cavity aluminum molds, how long will they last? We need to make 40k per year.

[bobthenailer]

I have 5 , 8 cavity Saeco moulds some with 75 k made on them and they are in excellent condtion with no real wear , i would recommend a iron mould , you can make between 1,200 and 1,400 bullets a hour useing only one mould and they empty pots fast so you are consantly feeding the pot no time to fool with using 2 moulds .

[garandsrus]

Advil,

Surprisingly enough, the speed of casting is more dictated by how well the boolits release from the mold than the number of cavities. If you have a sticky cavity, the production speed really slows down. A 4 or 5 cavity mold that releases the boolits easily will out produce a 6 cavity that is sticky.

Either option will probably work find. The Accurate mold is going to be better quality than Lee, but the Lee can produce great boolits also. I have quite a few Lee molds.

John

[Moonie]

Just to give you a nudge, he says 3 weeks on the Accurate website, rarely does it take more than 1. My 3 cav 245C 30 cal drops boolits like rain.

[mktacop]

Just to give you a nudge, he says 3 weeks on the Accurate website, rarely does it take more than 1. My 3 cav 245C 30 cal drops boolits like rain.

I must be one of those rarely's :-?.....coming up on 3 weeks since I ordered a mold from Accurate. Not an issue for me, but it is taking longer than many have reported.

[Advil]

Wow, I want to thank everyone on the forum for being so helpful including the vendors.

Everything we need is now on the way. We should be bullet independent within a month.

I'm sure more questions will come up once everything arrives. Thank you all again. This would have been 100x more difficult without this forum.

(Almost forget to mention, ordered the 5 cav molds from Accurate. Awesome service answering questions before the order.)

[runfiverun]

now you just gotta figure out how to lube that many.
ahhh double the work.
casting a thousand a week is the easy part.
i can easily do well over that in a couple of hours start to finish with a 4 cavity.
getting the lead,culling the bad ones and lubing really adds the time.
might as well start looking at a star or ballisticast luber now.
and i really hope you aren't gonna try using a lee pot.
if i were motivated i could knock out 1k boolits in an afternoon from start to finish.
someone culling boolits and filling tubes for the boolit feeder would make it easier.

[Mk42gunner]

Personally, I think using an RCBS lubamatic adds about 5X the time when casting with a 4+ cavity mold. Sizing gets really boring after the first hundred.

Robert

[Advil]

It's a family deal so we have extra hands and I just ordered the Star luber/sizer today and the die from Lathesmith who was extraordinarily helpful ponting me in the right direction as to how to lube these smallish bullets and what dimensions to consider for the molds and sizer die.

If you can do that many on a 4 cavity then I'm encouraged.

Lee 20lb pot yes for now, with a thermometer and another old pot to melt ingots in and transfer to the Lee if necessary.

The longest part to wait for is now the sizer. Magma told me 3-4 weeks. Bummer. May have to pan lube a few to test out.

[runfiverun]

1k boolits is gonna be @ 30 lbs of lead.
figure out how to keep the pot going and the lead flowing.
boredom will set in quickly.

[schraubermani]

Hello Advil,

i've ordered a used Star sizer from a friend of mine who lives in the states. He sent it yesterday and i can't wait to get it.
I ordered the sizers from Lathesmiths.

In cause of the high volume casting:
Today i tried to cast with a MP 4cav. RN HP .452 brass mold and with a MP .452 SWC 6cav.aluminium mold similar.
I have a 20lb Lee pot.
What the hell of a hurry!!
I couldn't quite melt the lead as fast as it was casted.
I think i casted about 1800 bullets in 2 hours.
I always had to take care, that the molds won't cool down too much.
But that isn't fun, only stress.
I am really tired now and every bone in my body hurts.
And castin such a volume in this short time was only possible, because the bullets dropped out of the mold quite easily.
Only the brass mold needed a few punches with a hammer for dropping the boolits.

Manuel from Germany

[Dan Cash]

So, I'm between two 5 cav molds from Accurate or three 6 cav molds from Lee (any less from Lee isn't worth the setup fee).

Opinions?

Remember, two of us will be casting at once for efficiency so I think we can find a use for two molds at once. Production speed is paramount for us.

If you buy the Accurate, I doubt you wait 3 weeks. Their mould will cast spot on from each cavity and at least with a brass mould, you will only run one mould and run it fast. You better have a real big pot, too unless you are casting .22s.

[Lloyd Smale]

I run at least 2 molds when i cast. Heres my take on it. If i run only one im not allways letting it set up for the same ammount of time and also if you speed up at all the mold gets hotter and if you slow down it gets colder. Running two at a time lets you get in a rythmm as your not waiting on anything. You fill one mold empty the other and fill it. It gives the lead just the right ammount of time to set up and keep the mold at a constant temp. Personaly i get more consistant bullets like that then i do casting one mold and produce more bullets doing it. This is especially so with iron molds. You cant cast them or even brass near as fast as aluminum. So if i have a choise of twidiling my thumbs or filling another mold ill take filling another mold.