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View Full Version : Lyman 287346 and 285129 at work



ohland
06-05-2014, 01:26 PM
107168

Old man is still trying to get a 225415 to cast properly. A 22 caliber boolit is not for the faint of heart. Besides, he has the older style with non-vented halves...
107169

107170

Anyways, I was getting some decent production out of a pair of 7mm moulds today (pics to follow). Pot was running 780+, before I started, I hosed the 285448 down with Brakleen, dried it out with a paper towel, then picked up a super advanced cavity cleaning hickory twig (Cavity Kleener sticks available, POR), sharpened it to a chisel point, then methodically cleaned out the crimp (?) groove up front and the edges of the loob grooves. Smoked it but good with a butane barbeque lighter.

107171

I was having trouble with the 285448 holding the spout to the mold, then rotating them so the ladle filled the cavity. Could not get a good fill to save my donkey. Then I went all manly-man and I held the mold right side up, and poured into the cavity from the side. Only problem was when I did not control the pour and / or the angle of the mold so the stream of lead started to fill the second cavity. About 20-ish nose only fills or part fills, not the mold, but the screw loose holding the ladle.

107173

287346 was pretty quick as the rounded loob grooves keep the boolits from hanging as much.

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Still having issues with wrinkles. Looks to be more of pouring technique (or lack thereof).

287346, 137gr, .958 long, .286 dia as cast.

285448, 105gr (?), .828 long, .286-ish as cast

Not sure of the scale, the big weight does not exactly line up with the graduation on the beam. The 287346 is close to the expected weight (135) while I have seen the 285448 somewhere about 118-125.

:castmine:

JeffinNZ
06-05-2014, 06:21 PM
Your 415's look like a cold mould at work. .22 moulds like a bit more heat and head pressure. I hold the ladle against the sprue plate to be sure of a good fill.

ohland
06-05-2014, 10:28 PM
Your 415's look like a cold mould at work. .22 moulds like a bit more heat and head pressure. I hold the ladle against the sprue plate to be sure of a good fill.

My dad finds it a bit much to bend enough to see if the bottom spout is lining up with the mold. I suppose that I should whip up an adjustable mold guide that has a positive stop for use with the Lee 4-20 pot. The stock guide sux.