In praise of the single cavity

[frkelly74]

I have had another moment of enlightenment here recently. I started out casting with a single cavity 309-160 lee mold and found it fun and satisfying to make all those shiny new "free" bullets out of dirty filthy scrap that everyone wanted to get rid of. Those bullets I shot through a 30-30 handi rifle and never had any major problems with function or accuracy. They behaved themselves and were fun to shoot and cheap. Eventually the mold leemented itself and is now a joy to use still. But then I became convinced that it was too slow and said to myself and to others that I would not buy another single cavity just because of that. So I bought double cavity molds and they proved to be fun and easy to use also, twice as many boolits for the same work. But some of the satisfaction of making each one individually was lost. I have now replaced some of my molds that were singles with doubles and find that I was hasty in doing so, I miss the one by one production a little. Singles I have left are the afore mentioned 160 gr 309 mold, a custom 6.5mm flat nose , a 6.5 266469 lyman, a 324-175 lee, and a recently acquired from e-bay 410-240 Lee round nose mold. I was trying out that last one yesterday and it worked very well dropping a 411 boolit that will be tumble lubed and shot through my old Ruger. Casting goes pretty fast ,with it being well broken in, and since it needs no pounding to drop boolits it should last about forever as far as I will be worried about it. And now I confess that I bought a 6 cavity mold to cast 200 gr semi wad boolits for my 45 almost a year ago and have not been able to get myself to heat it up and make some boolits with it. The thought of getting 6 cavities to all work as well as a single is just daunting to me. I may just sell it and go back to a double or even a single. I do like making one at a time.

[largom]

Same here. I had one 6 cavity mold and sold it! I like my single & double cavity molds.

Larry

[0verkill]

I didn't start casting until LEE had stopped making single cavities or was making the transition, my first order from Midway included a single and double cavity. I did manage to track down about 5 for my favorites, including a new-old stock 170gr 30cal flat nose for my 30-30 Winchester. I figured I don't use a lot for hunting so a single cavity casts plenty fast enough, and no worrying aboutdifferences in the cavities if there's only one.

[9.3X62AL]

A single-cavity mould will do fine for most lever- or bolt-action rifles. If there's a drawback, it would be the length of time it takes to fill up a 1# coffee can with Lyman #257312 castings. Once full though, that's a couple years'-worth of boolits.

With the big gang moulds, heat is definitely your friend--more so than with 1- or 2-cavity casting.

[Adk Mike]

I have old plain base 308241 single cavity mold. I cast with it while waiting for the double cavitys to cool. Plain base plinkers. I now have a can full. They are cheap fun for my 06. Mike

[GLL]

Ladle casting with a single cavity mold is almost therapeutic ! :) :)
Although I have a large number of 4-6 cavity molds I still enjoy making them one at a time in molds produced by BRP, Accurate Molds, and NOE. Many of these along with my old IDEAL/LYMAN single cavities are hollow pointed. It is not difficult to maintain a 200 cycles per hour rate (although I take a short break every 20 minutes). Although my MP molds are 4X faster they are not as much fun for me !

IDEAL 429421 HP by Buckshot
http://www.fototime.com/4C888A6B619CC43/orig.gif

454424 by BRP
http://www.fototime.com/D9491A6B8FF0C16/medium800.jpg

Jerry

[GT27]

I've got the single cavity Saeco 221,while I enjoy the end result there is a lot of time, and copious amounts of patience involved for use in the AR platform!

[HARRYMPOPE]

The old Ideal/Lyman single cavity blocks just seem to cast well.I own many gang molds but those old ones are a pleasure to use.

George

[Le Loup Solitaire]

They are a lot of fun to cast with. They are/were well made and do a good job. Slow, yes so overall production rate is low. but the quality is good and that counts for me. No overheating except with the real big designs like 405 and 45/70, easy to handle and not tiring and very low rate of rejects. Glad that I got them when I did. LLS

[rintinglen]

I realize we are, by any reasonable standard, all crazy. But this is a level of insanity to which I dare not descend. I am a caster, but also a shooter. I can not justify two hours putzing around for one hundred twenty three boolits. Were I only a hunter, perhaps. Were I retired, maybe. But finding time to cast is hard enough without deliberately squandering it.

[frkelly74]

It is maybe a Zen type thing. Clear the mind, block the distractions, become the alloy, flowing perfectly into an harmonious shape. Time has no meaning, only the flow, the harmony, the perfection..............

[Artful]

They do have their place
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v355/rowdyfisk/Misc/458LoverinCustomcutSC.jpg

[quasi]

if I had to cast all my boolits one at a time, I would quit casting. I have a Lyman 525 gr slug mould (out on loan at present) that I use once every few years and dread using it. I am presently purging my collection of most of my 2 cavity molds. Gang molds have never been more affordable in real Dollars, from $35.00 Lee 6 cavitys to all the custom makers.

[RU shooter]

Never had more than a double cav. mould either ,I often though about a RD mould but since I ladle pour with a small lyman ladle I couldnt use about three of the cavities anyways . I started out with a single Lee 312-155 that a generous member here gave to me and still use it often. Its not a big production thing for me .I enjoy the casting /pan lubing and making chexs part of it just as much as developing the loads and shooting them .Its a enjoyable hobby for me not a mass production line

[1Shirt]

This is one of those "To each his own" issues. A lot depends on how valuable your time is to you. And there is the old issue of a single cav being just that while a double or more cav has the potential to cast each slightly different depending on the cherry etc. Have 1,2,3,4,and 6 cav molds, and have a reason for all of them. Availability and what I can afford are key issues with me.

For big rifle blts, like 1 cavs, as I am not going to shoot that many that offten. Same holds true fro 2 cavs and larger rifle blts. For handgun, I like as many cavs as I can get for production, as it is not unreasonable to be able to cast 1000 or so with a 6 cav in one session. For little 22's and small HP's, a single is the cats a$$ to me. Much depends upon where I get my molds from and what is available. I am sort of addicted to old Ideal molds, and have a number of 1 and 2 cavs bought on e-bay, for no longer made designes. Some shoot great, it is just that they didn't sell in quantity, and were discontinued. So to each his own!!!!
1Shirt!

[John in WI]

I have 2 Lee 2-cavity molds, but also do my loading with a Lee Loader. So BY FAR the bottle neck in production is loading the finished rounds. I can pump out 50 or 100 boolits in no time, but to then load those into ammunition takes a few hours.

The casting part is fun--the hand weighing charges, hand seating and crimping boolits... is the tedious part!

[NSP64]

I agree with 1shirt.
I have 1 cav. molds for rifle and 6 cavity for pistols.

You cant beat the uniformness of a single cavity mold when your weighing boolits.

[fcvan]

I have two single cavity molds, both hollow point molds. I typically cast with two molds at a time and would sometimes use a double and a single. The last time I ran my 45 hollow point, I only used that mold and adjusted the alloy temp. I cranked a lot of pretty and perfectly filled 200 grain RN-HPboolits. After sizing with plain based gas checks and firing some test loads, I believe I have found my new favorite round for my 1911 .45 Auto. I don't mind casting with a single cavity because I'm really digging the results! Incidentally, I do have a double cavity mold of the same design, although not a hollow point, but the hollow points just look cool. They will look even more cool when I perfect my copper electroplating :) Frank

[Rex]

I have a one hole 358156 and an old 358477 single on the way. With my little Lee drip-o-matic they are easy to get to temp, easy to hold temperature and I've been retired 12 years now so I am never in a hurry.

[.22-10-45]

Hello, everyone. Since I had gotten out of IHMSA back in the early 80's, nearly all of my casting has been for rifles..only recently, have I started shooting revolvers again. I collect/use old Ideal/Lyman moulds and have become so used to the single cavity, now when using a dbl. cavity..for handguns..I find myself dropping bullets in two seperate piles from each cavity! Old precision habits are hard to break!