Saeco from redding

[lightload]

When I see Saeco molds mentioned, I think of this brand before Redding. So, do our members mostly use the older ones, or do we buy the newer ones from Redding, which I'm sure are excellent? They are a bit more costly than some others, though.

[shoot-n-lead]

Fine molds...either era.

[rintinglen]

"You can buy better, but you can't spend more," is a facetious motto given to the products of a certain manufacturer. It has a certain application here.

SAECO makes excellent molds, but IMHO, they are over priced to the point that I do not purchase them. I have three, two newer ones and one older one and they all seem to be 1st quality.

However, they are not 30 % better than comparable RCBs Molds, and certainly not better than the products of companies like Accurate, NOE and MP.

[Thin Man]

I have only a few Saeco molds. They are fine quality but, as others have said, their prices do not translate into higher quality than other alternatives. Usually the price is not what slows me from buying them, but the shape of the nose section of the boolit they create does prevent my buying them. They may group well, but they look strange. One example I will share is Saeco 32 revolver mold 313-95-SWC. In appearance it is very parallel with a shrunk-down Lyman 454424. Very blunt nose and a lot of the body tucked away in the case under the crimp. I loaded several of these Saeco boolits, also some cast from an RCBS mold 32-98-SWC, to run an accuracy comparison. Can't recall the exact load I used but the cases, primers, powder type and charge weight were the same between the two loadings. Without exception, every 32 S&W Long revolver that I used to compare group size favored the Saeco ahead of the RCBS. This surprised me as I had been rather fond of the RCBS mold which did not seat as deeply in the case as the Saeco - thinking about pressure levels and not wanting to stress these small frame revolvers. However, as I have repeated this test a few times (with the same results) all I can recommend is that the Saeco 313-95-SWC mold creates one fine boolit. Another of their molds may not out-perform your favorite Lyman, or NOE, or Accurate, or whatever. You simply get whatever results you get with mold patterns.

Thin Man

[quasi]

I think My Saeco-Redding moulds are better than RCBS and Way better than Lyman. H&G moulds are the only cast iron moulds I have used that are equal in quality and casting ability to Saecos.

Most of my moulds are aluminum and brass NOE and MIHEC moulds which are both very high quality, but I think cast iron may just be a touch better than even Brass for mould use.

[Dragonheart]

Consistency between the cavities and fine mold line are the main factors I use in judging the quality of a mold. I have molds from from the main manufactures and most are 4 cavity. It is my opinion that my old Saeco molds are better than my new Saeco molds; both throw a consistent bullet, but the mating surface on the old molds, or at least on mine, lock up better leaving almost no viable mold line. Out of the iron molds, I have never used any better that my old Saeco, but Saeco is pricey.

However my NOE brass molds have Saeco beat. For example I have two identical 4 cavity NOE 358-128- molds I run simultaneously, so I am dropping bullets from 8 different cavities. When I started load development with this new bullet I weighed and sorted 300 bullets. I quit weighing these bullets because the variation between the high and low out of 8 cavities was only 1.5 grains! I find the consistency of the cavities amazing, the new CNC technology available now is capable of turning out a better product. If you have never seen a bullet out of a NOE brass mold, the lead looks like it has been polished as the cavity finish is glass smooth, with an imperceptible mold line. Brass is heavy, but I don't think any other material will cast a better bullet.

[MT Chambers]

I really like the materials used in making saeco molds, the steel or iron contains some other alloy, maybe copper, and they are tough and won't rust as easily. I put the Saeco in the same class as a lot of the custom molds but Saeco use better materials. I always look forward most to a casting session using Saeco mold/s.