Cabin fever new acuisitions today

[country gent]

Have been thinking about this for a few weeks and today I tookthe plunge. Ordered 2 new moulds from old west moulds. First is a 40 cal 400 grn nasa bullet 2 cavity for my 40-65 CPA shilouette model. I have a single cavity that the bullets shoot great in this rifle for me and really rings the targets hard. Next is a 2 cavity mould 45 cal 547 grn shilouette bullet for the 45-70 and 45-90. I have been shhooting the lyman 510 grn round nose and 537 grn lyman postell from these 2 rifles. Both moulds are brass and steel construction. Dang are these rifles and accesories addictive.

[kodiak1]

country gent them sound like two nice acquisitions for your casting arsenal. Will be waiting for an update on how they shoot once you get them.

[Boz330]

I've had such good luck from my Lyman Postel I hate to mess with success. I was contemplating a Money bullet mold.


Bob

[country gent]

Just after buying my lyman postell mould I converted it to nose pour, not any issues with it but being a tool and die maker just had to play and experiment. Wasnt hard but did take a couple lunch hours to do. It now looks like a Hoch nose pour with plates top and bottom and a post between them to keep movement together. The 400 grn 40 cal Nasa bullet I have used for a couple years now from a single cavity mould from Old West. My High scores for shilouete targets have been 9 pigs, 9 turkeys, and 9 rams ( just cant take success and get that 10th one to go on them) Mr. Bernie Rowles makes a great mould, 90% drop when you tap hinge bolt to open. I aslo have been using the cabin tree locking handles. Im pondering if I will need to ID cavities or not.

[Boz330]

I have a Brooks mold for my 40-65 and put a punch prick in one for indexing but can't honestly say that it makes any difference since I've never tried it without. I have enough trouble getting trigger time for the important stuff. I also index it to my cases and index them to the chamber. Might not make one iota of difference but it sure won't hurt anything.

Bob

[country gent]

I havent tried the orientation of cases dies and bullets yet. I am making a fixture to hold cases so I can cut a radious on loction in the rim. Its a simple clthes pin type clamp around the case that will bolt to an angle plate and be bolted down to the drill press. A 1/8" end mill will cut the radious in the rim. Im thinking to use a number punch and makr each cavity 1 and 2 ( I have a set of 1/16" size to do this with. On the side of the nose it would id each cavity and act as a orientation marking. I have only used single cavity moulds toill now. I have a brooks mould also its nose pour adjustable 442 for paper patching in 45 cal. Casts beautiful bullets for me It also has the "vented" sprue plate. Ive converted my other moulds plates to this also now. Im still learning and experimenting to figure this out better.

[Boz330]

How about a picture of the vented sprue plate.
I use mostly single cavity molds for serious stuff and weigh the boolits as well.

Bob

[country gent]

I dont have a way of taking pics right now. Look on brooks sight I think its shown there. Basically its a small channel cut from sprue hole to edge of sprue plate about .060 deep. In use you dont pour a sprue but over pour letting excess run thru the channel. I ladle pour and I fill the ladle fit tip up and let the whole ladle run empty. This keeps the base bullet molten alot longer helping with gasses and air pockets voids.

[Gunlaker]

The vented sprue plate is an interesting idea. I don't know how much they really help, but it's a pretty old idea. I have a set of moulds that are over a hundred years old, made by A.O. Zischang. They have vented sprue plates, but unlike Mr. Brooks moulds, the venting is on the underside of the sprue plate.

Chris.

[country gent]

Talked to Bernie thursday on the phone to get payment info on the 2 moulds. He was making the blocks and cavities will be cut next week. Im looking forward to these 2 new moulds. Hopefully weather warms up soon here so I can get out and give them a try.

[country gent]

I recieved the moulds today in the mail. As before beautiful craftsmanship From Mr. Rowles and very good looking desighns. Getting ready to glue handles in place on a couple sets of new lee handles. Then the first casting session real soon. No tooling marks nice finish great fit smooth operating no shake or movement when closed up. These are a 3 pin locating syatem that really looks good.

[country gent]

Cast some with the 2 new moulds today. The 45 cal 547 grn Shillouette moulds bullets dropped at 542 and were round and true. .4585 X 459 base dia and noses were .448-.449. Nice looking bullet and casts pretty good. The 40cal 400 grn Nasa took a few more casts to get up and running but it did very good .4087 X .4095 bases and noses at .399. Ran 200 of the 45s and 100 of the 40s.

[Whiterabbit]

Old West sent me a sampler of 590 grain Lead Zeppelin bullets to try before I bought.

Their mold names are amazing. I love them.

[country gent]

These were my 2nd and 3rd moulds from them and I have been well pleased with all of them and doing buisness with Bernie is a great experience also.

[Dan Cash]

The vented sprue plate is an interesting idea. I don't know how much they really help, but it's a pretty old idea. I have a set of moulds that are over a hundred years old, made by A.O. Zischang. They have vented sprue plates, but unlike Mr. Brooks moulds, the venting is on the underside of the sprue plate.

Chris.

If you use a Lyman or RCBS ladle, vent the ladle spout instead of the sprue plate. It is easier to keep the sprue plate hole sharp and accomplishes the same thing.

[Lead pot]

Stop and think about this once.
When you mate the spout to the sprue plate or if your one of the casters that use a bottom pour pot and you start the pour the hole in the plate is completely filled with the alloy and the weight of the alloy will not any air past it, the air will pass through the vent lines of the block not back up through the sprue plate.
Steve sent me one of those vented plates on my last mould and I used it for one casting session and I took it off the mould and put a regular plate on it. I did not order the mould with that vented plate.
Here is what the vent groove on the plate does. when you start the pour with the mould at 90 degrees and slowly turn the mould up to get a clean bullet most or the lead leaked out of the ladle and it will not fill the cavity properly and you will not get consistent weight.
If you just dump the lead from the ladle or bottom pour pot with the plate on top what good is the vent? it serves no purpose other then leaking the alloy and getting poor none consistent bullet weights.
Stay with a regular plate and let the block vents take care of the air.

[montana_charlie]

Stay with a regular plate and let the block vents take care of the air.
That sounds reasonable to me, and there is another factor at work.

We all know that the sprue plate pivot screw should not clamp the plate down solid on top of the mould blocks.
There has to be some 'looseness', and some say that the plate should be able to swing open under it's own weight.
Personally, I like to have the plate held flat to the blocks, but only under the tension supplied by the spring in a wave washer.

This allows the plate to lift off of the blocks when that super heated air rises to the top, but it claps the plate back down flat when the air pressure has passed.
This provides instant 'venting' and flat bases which fill the cavity to the wall ... for a sharp corner.

To get this effect you keep the dipper nose 'firmly-but-gently' seated in the sprue hole, without a ton of pressure on it

CM

[Lead pot]

I run my plate pretty tight. It takes a pretty hard push to swing it or a couple light taps and I get good fill and sharp bases.

[TXGunNut]

Good thread, would like to see your new moulds & boolits country gent. I need to get back to my 45-90 project.
Sprue plate venting properties have been on my mind as well. Seems the truer and sharper the mould surfaces are the looser I need to run my sprue plate. Proper venting is a huge factor in sharp bases.

[country gent]

Got oit to the garage yesterday and fired up the pot around noon. proved a couple new to me moulds I purchased here a 405 grn lyman flat point the came up and cast nice bullets a 510 lyman round nose that in my 20-1 alloy comes out .459 at base and nose is .4495 just a snug fit in my pedersolis bore. I then picked up the 45 shillouette mould and cast with it the brass mould came up pretty quick ( but droping 1000 grns plus of lead into should bring it up to temp quick) Got a bunch of really nice looking bullets from it I started the pot around noon and was casting by 12:30 ran till around 5:00. I ended up with 80 of the 405s 125 of the 510s and just over 700 of the 541 grn shillouettes. Sized some up and lubed them with SPG hoping to load them and test tommorow in the hepburn.

[country gent]

Sized and lubed 20 of the 45 / 547 grn shilouettes last light and loaded up Load was 71 grns 1.5f Old Ensforde .060 napa rubber fiber wad compressed to .700 from case mouth ( roughly .175 compression in my starline cases) powder charge was dropped thru 3ft drop tube. Rem large rifle primer, foli disc between primer and case head. Primer pockets are uniformed and flash holes deburred. Light crimp applied cases sized with .482 bushing in sizing die. Bullets were snug but could be turned in case. Target was the NRA 300 yd reduced to 200yds. Range was 200 yds. Shot from stool and cross sticks. 8 10s and Xs 2 outi n 8ring. Nice round group, round holes and target looked good. @nd 10 shot group looked close but was broken up in firing 2 rds 5rds and 3rds with people wanting to go down range. Cleaned 10 rds and blow tube ( 2 breaths) between shots. Rounds dropped in ( if I wasnt carefull they dropped out to) easily and I may increase OAL some. But very promising. I vissually sorted but havent wieghed these yet. Grabbed 20 at random and lubed just to get an idea