Saeco # 446

[Ben]

A few days ago, I took out my new 2" snub, 44 Special and shot my SAECO #446, 200 gr. SWC. IT SHOT WELL ! !

I thought before the cold weather hits that I better get outside this morning and cast some. They drop from my 4 cavity SAECO mold at .431", nice and round.

These are shooters !


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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v494/haysb/010-30.jpg

[bobthenailer]

I have the Saeco # 420, 200gr tc and it shoots excellent from every 44 mag ive tried it in about 8 of them. my 2 loads are 7.0gr of bullseye or tightgroup powder @900 fps and 13.0 gr HS6 @1,200 fps loaded in 44 mag brass. I also have the #944 200gr wc but only use it for bowling pins although very accurate @25 yards accuracy drops way off at 50 yards.

[cbrick]

A few days ago, I took out my new 2" snub, 44 Special and shot my SAECO #446, 200 gr. SWC. They drop from my 4 cavity SAECO mold at .431", nice and round.

Lucky Ben.

My SAECO #446 drops at .431" also. Well, on one side it does, on the other side it measures just a bit small at .427". I called Redding and they told me to pound sand, said that Redding wouldn't produce anything that far off and if I don't like it to buy RCBS. Robin Sharpless of Redding then proceeded to send out emails to completely uninvolved people slandering me when I posted the results here of my superb customer service experience with Redding.

Bottom line is that Redding refused to even accept it back to look at it. This mold does now drop all four cavities at .431" but only because after I paid for a brand new 4 cavity mold I then paid Erik Ohlen to recut all the drive bands in all four cavities to drop .431". When I got the mold back from Erik it was cut primarily in one side (block) only but they are round and they are .431".

Rick

[Ben]

Ummm, that's a bad deal.

I hate to see people pay A grade money and receive D and F grade mdse and then the company won't stand behind their products.

Ben

[williamwaco]

Lucky Ben.

My SAECO #446 drops at .431" also. Well, on one side it does, on the other side it measures just a bit small at .427". I called Redding and they told me to pound sand, said that Redding wouldn't produce anything that far off and if I don't like it to buy RCBS. Robin Sharpless of Redding then proceeded to send out emails to completely uninvolved people slandering me when I posted the results here of my superb customer service experience with Redding.

Bottom line is that Redding refused to even accept it back to look at it. This mold does now drop all four cavities at .431" but only because after I paid for a brand new 4 cavity mold I then paid Erik Ohlen to recut all the drive bands in all four cavities to drop .431". When I got the mold back from Erik it was cut primarily in one side (block) only but they are round and they are .431".

Rick

Erik Rocks.

No, he is not related.

[leadman]

I'm also done buying SAECO molds since my recent experience with an undersized 41 mag. mold. I did buy a 220gr Saeco TC mold a few years back that drops at .412".
Glad the OP got a good one.
I bought a Lee 41 cal. 215gr TL SWC that casts at .411" and shoots great, less than $20.00.

[Ben]

Buying new molds today is a " dice roll ", My favorites are old used IDEALS, new molds would be Al's NOE molds , and Accurate molds.( I'm certain there are others that are super dependable in their manufacturing tolerances, I don't mean to leave anyone out.......) There is a high probability that with any of those molds , your air cooled wheel weights will cast at the correct diameter or .001 or .002 " over.

I'm still perplexed why some companies test their molds with some type of " Elite Alloy " that 99% of casters have no convenient and readily access to.

This is their benchmark for performance with their molds. If you complain about their molds not casting large enough, they say........We'll you aren't using the " Elite Alloy " that our molds are spec'd with , if you were , you wouldn't be having problems. The mold meets our specs. End of story.

Problem is , you have bought a mold that is basically useless to you with the alloy stock piles that you have on hand.

Now let's get real, .....What percentage of casters use range lead and or combinations of range lead and wheel weights. Answer is, a very high % of casters use tons and tons of this each year. Most will never have a single pound of the " Elite Alloy " on hand for any casting session now or in the future.

[tonyjones]

If I had some of that "elite alloy" I'd mix it 50/50 with pure lead and end up with something like 95/2.5/2.5, IMHO an even better alloy.

Tony