358-180

[davenmaine]

i finally got to cast some lead today,the mold is fantastic,however one of the pins that center the mold popped out.any ideas about locking it in?oh yes it was well worth the wait,this could be the start of a new addiction thanks again jeremy.

[jdhenry]

HMMMMMMMMMMMM. Mine was missing:(

Any one else having Pin problems?????

[siamese4570]

JDHenry: One of my pins was loose. Has fallen out a couple times. My mold was sticking bullets until I polished it. I figured that whacking on the handle bolt had loosened it. Would be curious on how to stake the pin. Mold throws a nice bullet. Thanks again for running the group buy.

Siamese4570

[jdhenry]

HMMMM I'll have to go look around my casting bench to see if I can find my missing pin.

[imashooter2]

Take the pin and stipple it on the bearing surface with a center punch leaving about 1/8 inch clean for starting it back in the blocks straight. Align it and press it back in. In use, lube the pin and bushing with Bull Plate and you should have no further problems.

[jdhenry]

Can't find mine, But LEE has already sent a new set.

imashooter2:

Thanks for the tip!!!!!!!!!

[Rick N Bama]

HMMMMMMMMMMMM. Mine was missing:(

Any one else having Pin problems?????

Mine fell out early during the first casting session, also the same thing happened on the C434-210RF mold.

Rick

[davenmaine]

ok where do i get bull plate,and are the bullets that are a little stepped any good?

[Bluehawk]

Got mine last week and did somecasting on Saturday had three molds going Had some problmes with this mold but finlayy realized aht I probalby had not cleaned it as thoroughly as I ahd thought could nto get any bullets that were not wrinkled no matter what I did I tried the mold warm , cold alloy at diferent temps. All came out wrinkled
I use lighter fluid to clean my molds when they are new and did this twice on this mold smoked it iwth wooden matches ( as I always do ) but it still did not work OH WELL IM going to clean it again this week and try again
The mold seems to be fine though so IM NOT complaining Just probably too anxious to try it out and did not clean it enough MY BAD
DId get some nice 45/70 bullets and some nice bullets for 38 Special out of the session so it was not a bust .

[davenmaine]

i cleaned mine with an old printers fluid called film clean and used nei mold prep and got great results within three pours.the pivot bolt did loosen considerably,which caused missalignment,and some staggered bullets.

[imashooter2]

ok where do i get bull plate,and are the bullets that are a little stepped any good?


For the Bull Plate see the link for The Bullshop at the bottom of any forum page.

The bullets that are stepped should be melted and recast. Bullets come out of the 6 bangers so fast there isn't a need to shoot anything less than perfect.

[davenmaine]

i used a small strip of aluminium foil as a shim and it seems to be working just fine.anybody worked up any loads? i've picked up some from the "complete reloading manual for the t c contender" that i'll try in my marlin and gp 100 using blue dot and h 2400 using the lowest loads to start.how about the 35 rem?any suggestions?

[imashooter2]

i used a small strip of aluminium foil as a shim and it seems to be working just fine.anybody worked up any loads? i've picked up some from the "complete reloading manual for the t c contender" that i'll try in my marlin and gp 100 using blue dot and h 2400 using the lowest loads to start.how about the 35 rem?any suggestions?

12.5 grains of 2400 under a boolit from the first group buy gets me just over 1500 fps in my 1894C and provides just over 4 inch 10 shot groups at 100 yards. That's as accurate as my rifle gets with me and my tired old eyes.

[Old Ironsights]

I have to get another set of handles first...

And do another Smelt....

But I should be ready to start casting again soon.

[jdhenry]

UPDATE: My replacement Pins came today (Fast shipping) I pressed it in and now my mould lines up:) Hope to cast some more this weekend..

[davenmaine]

i got to shoot today,using 8.5 blue dot,and 11.0 of 2400.each one pushing a little over 1000 fpc.they both shoot 3 shots in one inch,however the blue dot obviously created less pressure.i'm dealing with about 50 yards in the back yard. the ammo won't fit in the gp 100 as loaded for the marlin either i'll seat it further in the brass or try 38 cases.

[jdhenry]

I shot some today also:) 4g of unique about 25yds all in about a 1/2 inch group. Now to work up some hotter loads..I casted up about 800 last nite so I can send my mould out to have one of the cavitys hollow pointed:D

[Rick N Bama]

I shot some today also:) 4g of unique about 25yds all in about a 1/2 inch group. Now to work up some hotter loads..I casted up about 800 last nite so I can send my mould out to have one of the cavitys hollow pointed:D


Jeremy set me straight on this. Are you loading the 4.0 of Unique into 357mag cases? Do you have any idea as to your velocity?

I loaded a couple rounds using your data this morning & fired them off in my 6" 686. It seems to be a nice load with an easy to handle recoil. I just shot them to see if they went bang. I'll do some accuracy testing on my next range trip.

Rick

[imashooter2]

Hmmm... are these the gas check boolit we're talking about or the plain base? I assumed it was the gas check version.

[jdhenry]

Sorry for got to add that they were .357mag. I'm not real sure about velocity, but If I had to guess I'd say at the most 800fps..

Also they were gas checked, and shot out of my marlin 1894.

[imashooter2]

Huh! I can't picture going to the trouble of putting on gas checks for 4 grains of Unique. Different strokes I guess.:)

[jdhenry]

They where only gas checked because they where the first batch I cast up before I shipped the moulds and wanted to make sure the gc's fit. Other than that I have been loading without gas checks.

Most of my loads are slow plinking loads, So I hardly ever use gc's. Only use them for hunting loads.....

[davenmaine]

i sized the first batch at 358,and they worked fine in the marlin,however they wouldn't chamber in the ruger gp 100,or the smith 66-2 till i sized them down to 357. loaded with 9.5 gr of blue dot,they don't show any signs of pressure.i fired one pistol and one rifle bullet into a snow bank to see what they look like because the ones shot into my detroit bullet trap are flat disks,they are cast out of ww.they're under three feet of packed snow and it will be a while before i can find them.

[johnly]

I brought my mold into work today to address a pin problem, but it's a bit different than the others I saw posted. My pins seem firmly in place, but have moved in such a way that the hold faces don't contact each other. I was planning on placing the assembled mold in a large arbor press until the pins shifted to allow full closure of the mold. Any thoughts or comments on doing this?

John

[jdhenry]

I put my mould in a vice to press in the pins, That LEE sent me. Just set them in place closed the mould slowly in the vice. It worked great. Hope that helps.