Tandem Casting w/ Dissimilar Moulds

[TXGunNut]

Tried rotating my 5-cavity NOE RD 360-230 and Accurate 323-170A (4-cav) yesterday and it was a humbling experience. Both moulds were brought up to temp on a hot plate. I started with the NOE mould, after it was dropping good boolits I brought the Accurate mould into the rotation. That's when the troubles began. For some reason I couldn't get good base fillout with one mould, then the other. My rhythm (or lack thereof) was allowing the sprue plate to cool and I just couldn't manipulate them fast enough to keep both hot enough. I've done this before with two NOE moulds and thought I'd used the Accurate mould once before with another NOE mould but I guess there's just enough difference in these two moulds that I wasn't able to pull it off.[smilie=b: Wound up using them one at a time to get good boolits. Had quite a few culls, or so it seemed.
Luckily I had a couple of Lyman 2-cav moulds on the hotplate while I was struggling with the aluminum moulds, the 375449 and 380681 are very similar and the tandem cadence works very well for these two moulds. It's amazing how many boolits you can cast with two 2-cav moulds that work well together, didn't really need any 375449's but I knew the 380681 preferred a leisurely pace so cast a pile from both moulds. It was good therapy after struggling with the other moulds.[smilie=l:

[leadman]

I have a 5 and a 4 cavity NOE molds and have found that they need a fairly fast casting cadence to keep them dropping good boolits. I have used 2 of the new style Lee 6 cavity molds and this worked well but I think I would have the same problems as you if I tried 2 NOE or and NOE and another mold.

[MT Chambers]

Yup, if they are preheated and you go along and after about 30 bullets if it's not getting done, your cadence is too slow, and you may not be able to fix it, so drop down to just 1 of the molds at a time, or go with one and introduce a 1 or 2 cav. to mold to speed up the cadence.

[btroj]

Mould material and bullet size make a difference too. A larger bullet brings more heat into the blocks with each pour than a smaller bullet. Aluminum moulds also require a faster cadence in many cases than a brass or iron mould.
I cast much different when using brass than Al moulds. I just used a 6 cav Lee for a 9mm 120 TC. I can't really cast fast enough to over heat the mould unless I fail to let the sprue harden fully. A Brass MP mould for 30 Sil requires a distinct colling period between casts or it overheats fast.

This is all part of the art of casting.

[TXGunNut]

Yes, just enough difference that I couldn't pull it off. Part of the art, indeed, btroj. Wanted to try it, now I know. Entry in my casting notes for the Accurate mould; "may not play well with others". ;-) Sprue plates totally different, Accurate a bit thicker and "trough' type. I just couldn't keep up.
Somewhere about 200grs in a 6-cav aluminum mould I have to keep a wet rag around to cool the mould now and then, smaller moulds don't seem to have that issue. Learned that trick with a RD 460-350. :-) Takes a lot of hot lead to make six of those bruisers, heat's going somewhere. Quite a bit goes into the mould.
Oh well, I have four nice little piles of boolits and I learned something. Nothing wrong with that. Those Lyman moulds just keep getting better, only three or four casting sessions apiece and they work flawlessly. Hot plate made a huge difference with them. Even with two moulds I had to take it slow to let the sprue harden but I enjoy casting at a slower pace now and then.

[Idaho Mule]

I love alternating a couple similar molds like that. My NOE 314316 and 314008, both 4 cavs work quite well together, but I gotta go FAST with that pair. Makes lots of 32-20 bullets pretty quick though. My rcbs27saa pairs up pretty well with either 410swc, or Lyman 452374, all double cavities. I pair up some others as well at times. I have troubles when trying to cast a long rifle bullet with short fat pistol bullet even if same weight, they just cast different. JW

[geargnasher]

I get my zig and zags all cornfused trying to use two moulds at once, kudos to you guys who can do it. Only time I made a good go of alternating moulds was with a couple of single-cavity Lymans, that process worked well for me because the pace was slow enough my pea-brain could deal with it.

Gear

[btroj]

I love alternating a couple similar molds like that. My NOE 314316 and 314008, both 4 cavs work quite well together, but I gotta go FAST with that pair. Makes lots of 32-20 bullets pretty quick though. My rcbs27saa pairs up pretty well with either 410swc, or Lyman 452374, all double cavities. I pair up some others as well at times. I have troubles when trying to cast a long rifle bullet with short fat pistol bullet even if same weight, they just cast different. JW

How do you keep a 314008 4 cav near hot enough? In Al there is no way I could. I would be hustling to keep it hot just using a single mould.

[bobthenailer]

I only use one mould at a time when casting ! weither im using a 2 up to 8 cavity mould, its just to busy for me !! i was just casting some 95 gr 380 bullets from a Saeco 4 cavity mould when everything was running perfect i was cutting off the sprue off every 8 seconds after the mould was filled

[msp2640]

Kudos to those that can get a rythm down using those "hi capacity moulds", I almost always run two different 2 cavity Lyman moulds when casting. Have aquired alot of new moulds from NOE and Miha this past year, that are multi cavity and will be going slowly, "need to walk, before I can run!" Never even planned on attempting to run 2 of them at once, with those. As always, learned something new, again!, I guess I should be running similar size cavities on the moulds, to keep the cooling periods similar...makes perect sense, just never gave it a thought. Been a long time since I've used aluminnum moulds, but really looking forward to better weather to having some fun in the garage.........Thanks Bill.....4 feet deep in the white stuff in MA

[bhn22]

I've never had any success using anything larger than 2 cavity iron moulds. I do feel I can cast better bullets much faster with 2 identical 2 cavity moulds than I can with a single 4 cavity mould. That would be difficult to prove however.

[BruceB]

Careful time study years ago proved to me that using two moulds slowed me down.

The excessive number of hand motions used too much time, compared to the simple routine movements with ONE moud..... which is never set down.

Try a search for "speedcasting".... 400 to 500 bullets per hour with one two-cavity mould is rather easy.

[Animal]

I tried this once before. I tried casting with my Lyman 4 cav and Lee 6 cav at the same time. This did not work out well. The Lee liked the temp much hotter than the Lyman. So I then set the Lyman off to the side and found that my iron Saeco worked better next to the Lee mold than the steel Lyman. I haven't felt the need to try it again since.

[masscaster]

Large Calibers and Iron or Brass Moulds work best with this. Out of 250 moulds I have only 12 that are suitable for casting with 2 at a time, and only 2 are Aluminum.
An example is a .776 RB (Aluminum-NEI) & a 505 gr. .58 Minie (Iron-Ohaus) that do well together with PB.
Another is for BPCR using a Lyman 460gr. 50/70 Single Cavity with a Lyman 4 Cavity 420 gr. 45/70.
All large and easy to work. Just my experience and making useable boolits. ; )

Jeff

[shooter93]

I'll cast with an Accurate 3 cav brass mold with a 180-250 grain bullet and a 4 cav Hensley and Gibbs iron mold of the same weight. I cast with the brass mold until it gets hot enough that is takes longer to cool. Then I start with the other not keeping any bullets until it's up to temp. Then I can alternate ok....I actually have to be careful or both molds will get to hot. I don't pre-heat I just start casting and I can't do 3 molds at once. I also spoon the sprue back in the pot as I go.

[Idaho Mule]

How do you keep a 314008 4 cav near hot enough? In Al there is no way I could. I would be hustling to keep it hot just using a single mould. I start by pre-heating the molds on top of wood burning shop stove, as I get everything else ready. I use cast iron pot over propane heat, dipper, set molds on a heavy chunk of iron plate resting on an old wheel layed flat to cool between pours. My casting pot to left, cooling rest (iron plate) next, pan to catch cut sprue next, and then my drop point (sometimes I water drop, sometimes not). The first few fills are usually junk, I just keep going until they start dropping good clean bullets and from then on it is smooth sailing. Once the molds are both casting well I usually end up waiting for them to cool as my heavy plate of iron cooling rack warms up and becomes a heater in it's own right. One thing I do that I think helps a lot to get started is to pour a VERY generous sprue, thus heating up the sprue plate and aid in base fill out. As things heat up I back off a bit and then just keep going. JW