Mold separation

[trying2learn]

How do you guys keep your molds separated and know which one is which. I luckily only have the one for now. But I can see it becoming addictive, I always seem to be thinking about casting now. I have been bit. I really need to get a burner so I can do more smelting. Then probably getting a 9 mm mold. But that's too come.

I got to thinking today that when you have say two or more of a specific caliber mold of different weights how does one keep up with which is 'which. I don't see the boxes lasting all that long as a storage option.

What's the trick to the madness??
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[polara426sh]

I keep mine in the original boxes (if I have them) on a shelf organized by caliber. The other moulds that don't have boxes are kept on the same shelf with the handles, and most makers stamp the mould with the caliber and cherry number or weight, so they are easy to distinguish from one another.

[trying2learn]

Ok I might hh ave missed that on the lee one. Thanks.

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[btroj]

I can look at the cavities and pretty well know what it is. I own over 20 moulds but can pretty easily tell exactly which is which.

I have a feeling most on this site are the same. Hand them one of their moulds and they know what it is from the cavities alone.

[runfiverun]

lee uses different numbers on thier molds.
rcbs is simple and uses 30-150 or 30-180
lyman uses a knida designation on thiers like a serial number [311041] 311 is the diameter and the 041 is the mold designation.
others use a number like 236 or 248 to designate the mold.
magma uses a simple system 09s-115 or 09s 124,or 30-165 rf.
usually i just open the molds and look at the cavity when rummaging through the 2 cavity mold drawers.
or look at the number on the side, if the 4 cav says 429667/429241 or 454424 or 452667 i know what they are right off.
having made 30-40k of each.

[StratsMan]

What's the trick to the madness??


Like others have said, you learn to recognize the cavities...

I also like to be able to grab the mold I want without pawing through them to find them, so I have a semi-solution for molds with handles already attached... I hang them up with rubber bands around the molds, then put a piece of paper with the mold number under the band (make sure to write LARGE so you can tell them apart from a distance...) Using the Lyman numbering technique tells you a lot at a glance... I've marked the H&G's with the makers numbers, but I still need to look to make sure what I'm grabbing... I have a few photos as examples...

Hmmmm.... gotta figure out how to move hosted images to albums...

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/5723505492cfb10d7.jpg

[trying2learn]

I like that idea of labeling. I thought about it but feared it would not work properly.

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[BruceB]

There are about 100 moulds living in my shed. Our climate is "high desert" and thus humidity isn't much of a concern. So, the moulds are stored in plastic shoe boxes with a dessicant pack in each box.

When a casting run is finished, I tape the mould closed with colored electrical tape and write the mould's identity on the tape with a Magic Marker or Sharpie....this makes the future identification of each mould very simple.

Also, mould damage is eliminated when they are all taped closed, which protects them from dings etc in the boxes. I can pile them into their boxes willy-nilly with no worries about damaging them. With handles or not, my moulds store easily and compactly, using this method.

[trying2learn]

I like that idea I may steal it from ya. If that's ok.

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[John Boy]

I maintain a spread sheet of the bullets that are casted. The sheet has the mold name & number - caliber of rifle - alloy used - weight - base diameter snd number of bullets. Then the bullet trays are marked in a similar manner

The mold boxes are stored in sequential base diameter. After one casts awhile one memorizes the mold numbers except for the goofy vendor mold numbers like RCBS ... 82084 ... BULLET MOULD .45-530-RN 621

[KYCaster]

What's the trick to the madness??



When you get it figgered out please let me know how you did it!

Right now I have 50 311407's standing in neat rows on the shelf above the scale where I sorted them by weight. They're part of a series of experiments comparing air cooling vs. heat treating with three different alloys in my 30-30 Win. '94.....

.....so, what's the problem? As I was placing the last boolit in its proper slot, the telephone rang........

I have, for many years, suffered from a case of CRS. Recently it has progressed to a full blown case of CRAFT disease!

Now, two weeks later, these boolits are sitting there with no label. I have a two cavity Lyman 311407 mold that casts at .309 with WW, a group buy 311407 clone made by Lee which measures .313 as cast and another Lee six cavity of the Buckshot "Fatter 30" which drops at .316. The only thing I know for sure is these were cast in the Lee .313 mold and are sized to .311. I'll have to dig out the six boxes the various boolits involved are stored in and, through the judicious use of my Cabine Tree hardness tester and the process of elimination, maybe get them back in the proper box. [smilie=b:

But that's not all.....I've also been experimenting with light boolits in the 7.62X39. While perusing targets in my files, I find some marked 115-FP-GC, 115-FP-PB, 120-FP-GC, 120-FP-PB, 125-FP-GC, 125-FP-PB and 130-SP. They're all grouped together with a couple of targets shot with Lee C312-155-2R which is my accuracy standard.(I don't know if the 155's were cast with the original Lee six cav. which has to be Beagled, or with the NOE clone) I don't recall having that many molds in that weight range! :groner:

It's not bad enough that I have to deal with problems like this, there are some members here who seem to take some kind of perverted pleasure in flaunting their superior organizational skills. One in particular who comes to mind is very fond of posting a pic of his dozen or so iterations of the Kieth 44-240-SWC mold. I won't name names but you can find the pic in post #14 here: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=23681&highlight=SWC

Ask him how he keeps them all straight. Maybe he can give you a clue, cause I sure can't. :killingpc


Jerry