NOE brass 430-365 FP/HP

[echo154]

I just received my NOE 430-265 FP/hp brass mold….it's a beauty….I soaked it in vinegar/peroxide as suggested here as well as preheated it in my oven to 375 several times. I tried casting today…..what a mess…no complete fill outs….every boolit had some type of fill out problem….some wrinkled …others looked like debri was in mold….alloy clean melted hard cast boolits, I no longer use. I'm gonna re-clean mold with dawn /hot water as well as brake cleaner and see what happens…NOE 460-405 filled out ok after warm up with same mix….got parts for pid ordered.

[echo154]

I suspect it's my lack of experience with brass....read a lot of threads....seems all molds have their sweet spot......any tricks for a newby with a brass mold?

[Hickory]

You need to run them a little hotter then both aluminum & iron molds there is where the sweet spot will be.

[echo154]

Thanks Hickory…..I may have a worse problem…..I had a "tube" of lead my father in-law gave me…..he worked for a power company. He said it was pure lead that they used to splice connections….it was about 8" in diameter…2' long and 3/8" thick. I chopped a couple of chunks off of it….seemed soft as sheet lead….and melted it in with some melted hard cast bullets I no longer needed. Well I noticed that as my pot got up to heat and the alloy started melting, that several small chips of the "tube" were still solid…despite the fact that previously cast misfits were breaking apart easily….could the "tube" have zinc in it? Not sure…I have parts for a pid coming but no thermometer so I'm not sure what the temp was. I also have some lyman #2 on the way as a comparison….luckily it's only 20lbs or so if it is contaminated.

[echo154]

I did get one each of the HP and FP that were ok…out of 100 or so….both weighed within two grains of advertised weight…they are awesome looking too.

[rintinglen]

Cast fast, and run the melt hotter than normal. I start out with my Lee cranked all the way up, pre heat the mold, and then pressure cast the first few with a big sprue. Don' take time to look at the boolits, just fill, open, dump and repeat. I get my best boolits with mild frosting. You need to run at about 3 casts per minute. When it starts taking longer than 8 seconds for the sprue to freeze, I drop the setting on my thermostat down to about 6 (YMMV). Then I cast until the pot runs low. Once you hit the spot, you will be raining hollow-points and the vast majority will be good boolits.
If it is zinc contamination, running the melt hotter will help, though nothing really makes it got away. All you can do is drain half the pot into your ingot molds and refill with clean, good lead. Mildly contaminated alloy responds well to dilution. Then use the ingots on a 1-1 or 1-2 bad to good ratio.

[echo154]

Thanks…I emptied the pot and cleaned it then refilled it with Lyman #2 from roto metals. will try and cast some in the am when I get home from 3rd shift.

[Beagle333]

Gotta run hotter with brass, and also hotter with those RG pins. So..... keep warming up til' they get good for ya.
Good luck! You'll LOVE it once you find your sweet spot. Those NOE's sure do make a pile of nice HP's, and I do prefer the brass. :grin:

[echo154]

THANX BEAGLE still learning….love it though…think I am more addicted to the casting than shooting….can cast at home…neighbors get testy when I test loads in the yard:bigsmyl2: