Alan in Vermont
06-10-2012, 04:12 PM
I used to campaign a couple 357 Herrett Contender barrels in IHMSA. Primary fodder, at that time, was 200 gr Hornadys. Keep in mind that this goes back to the early 1980s. At that time I was casting for my 44 and 357 revolvers as well as a 7mm TCU, for the Contender, but not for the Herrett. I've still got the 10" Herrett bbl. but the 14" is long since traded away.
When I started getting back into casting a few months ago I found a Lyman 358315 in my collection. It has had the GC shank machined out, very nicely done, BTW. You can "see" where it used to be but can't feel it, either in the mold or on bullets cast from the mold.
I have no idea where I got it but I'm leaning towards a gun show purchase. There was a small sticky tag in the bottom of the ammo can my molds were in with a hand written price of $20.00 on it. I don't remember casting anything from this pig and following the results yesterday I'm sure I WOULD remember the experience if I had.
I thought I'd cast some boolits out of it and see how they shoot in the Herrett tube. Yesterday I filed a set of Lee handles to fit it and checked to see how the blocks closed. Good to go!
Enter the boolit mold from HELL!!
Apparently this little number has been around the block a couple times. :(
First cast, when I opened the sprue cutter it was hard not to notice that both sprues are off center. The rear one just enough to notice but the front sprue is closer to the edge of the cavity than the center.
In addition to the sprue plate being off center it is also warped/bent/distorted. When you try to swing it closed it binds as soon as corner opposite the pivot gets to the blocks. About halfway closed it loosens up again. If the cutter screw is loosend enough to allow it to swing freely it leaves a very thick fin on the base of the rear bullet. On examination it is visibly apparent that the sprue plate is twisted in several directions
Other than the fin, the rear cavity seems to cast a decent boolit. The front cavity spits out boolits with no fin but can't seem to make one with everything filled out.
I probably cast a couple hundred boolits and maybe 25% of them are worth shooting.
I just spend 20 minutes working the plate on a file file. Trying to get the visible waves out of it before I try it on a flat block with abrasive paper. I got it close to flat (can't see the curve now) but it still binds/loosens every time it is closed.
I'm about ready to think of it as scrap metal and move on. I may give up on the idea of using this mongrel to make fodder for it and just work up some loads with condom bullets for it.
This did serve to remind me that 2-cav. molds take a LONG time to make a pile of boolits after using 4 and 6 cavs.
When I started getting back into casting a few months ago I found a Lyman 358315 in my collection. It has had the GC shank machined out, very nicely done, BTW. You can "see" where it used to be but can't feel it, either in the mold or on bullets cast from the mold.
I have no idea where I got it but I'm leaning towards a gun show purchase. There was a small sticky tag in the bottom of the ammo can my molds were in with a hand written price of $20.00 on it. I don't remember casting anything from this pig and following the results yesterday I'm sure I WOULD remember the experience if I had.
I thought I'd cast some boolits out of it and see how they shoot in the Herrett tube. Yesterday I filed a set of Lee handles to fit it and checked to see how the blocks closed. Good to go!
Enter the boolit mold from HELL!!
Apparently this little number has been around the block a couple times. :(
First cast, when I opened the sprue cutter it was hard not to notice that both sprues are off center. The rear one just enough to notice but the front sprue is closer to the edge of the cavity than the center.
In addition to the sprue plate being off center it is also warped/bent/distorted. When you try to swing it closed it binds as soon as corner opposite the pivot gets to the blocks. About halfway closed it loosens up again. If the cutter screw is loosend enough to allow it to swing freely it leaves a very thick fin on the base of the rear bullet. On examination it is visibly apparent that the sprue plate is twisted in several directions
Other than the fin, the rear cavity seems to cast a decent boolit. The front cavity spits out boolits with no fin but can't seem to make one with everything filled out.
I probably cast a couple hundred boolits and maybe 25% of them are worth shooting.
I just spend 20 minutes working the plate on a file file. Trying to get the visible waves out of it before I try it on a flat block with abrasive paper. I got it close to flat (can't see the curve now) but it still binds/loosens every time it is closed.
I'm about ready to think of it as scrap metal and move on. I may give up on the idea of using this mongrel to make fodder for it and just work up some loads with condom bullets for it.
This did serve to remind me that 2-cav. molds take a LONG time to make a pile of boolits after using 4 and 6 cavs.