A Good Mold

[hothands906]

hope everyone is well. been away for a while and I see myself casting my first boolits this winter being the slow time of the year for me. two years ago I started collecting wheel weights and sorting them like I have read here, and after five smeltings I now have approx. 900lbs. of muffin pan ingots. I seem to have two more five gallon buckets to work up as well. I ran across some great 147gr. 9MM's FP last year at an estate sale a friend was doing for someone he knew, and I came away with 200 rounds of the 147/FP 9MM's, don't know the make. they shot great and I would like to buy a quality 5-6 cavity mold for this round.

if you can steer me in the right direction here on the forum or links to find a real good mold, I will forever mow your yard and clean your gutters.
Thanks

[Springfield]

http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=35-147B-D.png

[Crash_Corrigan]

go to the vendor sponsors on this forum and look up Mihec. He makes the rolls Royce of molds and I have more than a few. He has some dandies in 9mm. Make sure you slug your barrel to get the correct inside diameter. Example my Browning Hi Power likes a .358 dia lead boolit and will gum up and malfunction if I use a smaller boolit. My sig and Eaa Witness can utilize a smaller boolit but not the browning. Every gun is different you want your boolit to be at least .001 bigger than the bore and some even like it .002 bigger. YMMV

[abqcaster]

These are my thoughts based on my personal experiences. The best molds for working right out of the box are from Accurate molds and NOE, best aluminum molds out there. For me they have rained perfect bullets after just a couple of pours. Accurate, however, can get you a custom or semi custom mold, with some compromises and a couple of days of turnaround. NOE as far as I know has to have a group buy for a custom job, but their catalog molds are top notch. Mihec molds are definitely the apex of mold manufacture and design in my estimation. I have had to do some more prep work with Miha's molds than with Swede's or Tom's, but it was worth it. So I wasn't up and running as fast, but I got EXACTLY, what I wanted. Lee, well, it's cheap. Not horrible but it has the worst of all the others qualities. Lot's of prep lots of compromise and requires a group-buy-like wherewithal to get a custom mold. That said they're still super cheap, so if you cant get their mold to work for you within reason, you're only out $20, or less if you can sell it to someone else. As s side note every mold you get is going to have it's own "personality." you'll have to play with it to find an operating temp it likes or an alloy that it likes more. Hope this helps!
-ABQ

[mold maker]

Quote
if you can steer me in the right direction here on the forum or links to find a real good mold, I will forever mow your yard and clean your gutters.
Thanks
Quote


It's a long trek from Alabama, but if you'd do that, I'd give you the molds.
The above advice is all good.

[abqcaster]

Also if you get a hollow point mold from Miha or Swede, depending on the pins you get, you're getting 2-3 molds in one. I can't speak to the rest of the molds out there as I have not used them.

[MBTcustom]

If I were in your shoes, (and I assume you are wanting to cast for the 9mm Luger) I would start right here:
http://leeprecision.com/6cav-tl356-124-2r.html

For handguns and lever action rifles (basically, anything that drinks the lead) I really really love the Lee 6 cavity molds. I just wish I could get them cut in a few of my favorite 45-70 bullet styles. As it is, they only have 4 rifle molds in 6 cavity:
one .22 caliber, two .312 diameter bullets, and the recently added 35-200FN (and the angels sang). If they make a 45 caliber rifle bullet in 6 cavity, I'll probably buy it and just hope that it works LOL!

[LAH]

http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=35-147B-D.png

Agree

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

hope everyone is well. been away for a while and I see myself casting my first boolits this winter being the slow time of the year for me. two years ago I started collecting wheel weights and sorting them like I have read here, and after five smeltings I now have approx. 900lbs. of muffin pan ingots. I seem to have two more five gallon buckets to work up as well. I ran across some great 147gr. 9MM's FP last year at an estate sale a friend was doing for someone he knew, and I came away with 200 rounds of the 147/FP 9MM's, don't know the make. they shot great and I would like to buy a quality 5-6 cavity mold for this round.

if you can steer me in the right direction here on the forum or links to find a real good mold, I will forever mow your yard and clean your gutters.
Thanks
Casting and reloading for 9mm luger ?
then I think this sticky thread is required reading.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?121607-Setting-up-for-boolits-in-a-new-9mm

IMHO, I think Lee molds are the way to go for a beginner caster. I've cast and loaded several of Lee's designs. Myself, I have settled with the 358-125 RF sized to .357 for use in 9mm, but when just getting your feet wet with casting, any of their designs are a good start, til you come across clues as to what your gun likes best.

As you get some casting experience, you'll learn quickly, if you tend to have a heavy hand(like I did), that molds can't handle a lot of abuse, so if you damage a $20 2 cavity mold, or a $40 6 cavity mold, it's not a big deal, as compared to damaging a $100 custom mold.

[LAH]

I have settled with the 358-125 RF sized to .357 for use in 9mm

That's one of the 2 I use.

[Rattlesnake Charlie]

I have the Lee 356-120-TC in 6-cavity, and it casts and shoots wonderfully. They are in stock, and cost the least.

I also have a MiHec 9mm 125 gr RNFP with HP pins. As all his molds, it casts wonderfully. I have yet to load any up. You may have to wait some time to get a MiHec mold as he does only group buys.

I have a NOE heavy 9mm for subsonic/suppressor use, but it is still in the box. NOE molds are beautiful. NOE has several 9mm molds in stock.

[Retumbo]

First time casting...make your mistakes on a $20 dollar mold instead of a $200 mold.

My opinion for what it's worth.

[castalott]

First time casting...make your mistakes on a $20 dollar mold instead of a $200 mold.

My opinion for what it's worth.

This is good thinking...

[Don Fischer]

Boy, that custom mold went from $100 to $200 in the bat of an eye.

[Retumbo]

Boy, that custom mold went from $100 to $200 in the bat of an eye.

Once you throw in taxes and shipping... I can get a lee mold from Amazon with free shipping

[Viper225]

I have molds by Lyman, Saeco, RCBS, Mountain Molds, NOE, and Lee.
I think I would follow Retumbo's advice and get a cheap Lee 2 cavity to start with. The new ones are quite a bit better that older ones. Read Read Read and Learn, which I believe you have been doing. Learn to Pre Heat your mold on a hot plate, play with sprue plate lube, and cast some bullets while you research exactly which better mold to buy. You will be learning about adjusting your sprue plate tension, when to open the mold, a lot of things old casters do not even think about after doing it for years.
If you are going to over tighten a sprue plate and cut grooves in the mold, better to learn on a $20 mold, and not an expensive one. You will cry a lot less. And probably learn to check the bottom of the sprue plate for burs that need polished off.
My last purchase was a NOE 360-180 WFN-GC 5 cavity for I believe $109. I really like it, and consider that to be a super buy. I picked up a Lee 2 cavity to experiment with loading cast for a 300 BO also. This is the NEW Lee design 2 cavity. I was very impressed with it. The bullets just tumble out of it. Now if Lee would just put a Sprue Plate about 3 times as thick with a reservoir type fill hole on their molds I would be even more impressed. The bottom line is a Lee Mold while not up to the quality of a more expensive mold, is a good mold to learn on.