Looking for specific molds, need advice

[TexasAggie06]

I've been casting for about a year with Lee molds and I've come to the conclusion that while they are decent molds, they are not optimized for my process. I mass produce two calibers and want a high quality mold for each, 9mm & .312 for 300BLK.

One if the biggest decisions I'm trying to make is what metal composition I should go with. Obviously I only have experience with aluminum, so trying to decide between aluminum, steel, brass, etc. is a bit daunting. What would you recommend, or what about my casting style lends itself to one or the other?

I powdercoat all of my boolits so I wouldn't need lube grooves on either mold. I'm a bit of a stickler for uniformity and I cull far too many boolits due to less than perfect ridges and fill out, a smooth Boolit might not make a lick of difference in accuracy, but it will help with my mental health.

On the .312 mold I want something in the 150-165g range and I would need a gas checked base. I would also like a more pointed tip, see the picture below, both came from the same model 312-155 6 cavity mold, but the first mold I ordered had a more pointed tip than the second, for whatever reason the pointed tip cycled my AR better and was more accurate.

The 9mm mold needs to be a little fat, .358-.360 would be ideal. Weight I'm debating, since these boolits would be used for competition steel/3gun matches I would imagine a lighter 115g Boolit would be ideal, but the recoil difference between the two is negligible at best. Another design feature I'm debating on is the slight boat tail at the base, I can't figure out if it serves a purpose or if it's a positive/negative, I'm leaning towards negative because powdercoat can creep under it and make the second electrostatic coat a pain.

So I've looked online at all the better known mold manufacturers and haven't been able to find exactly what I want, so what do I do now? Should I send this checklist to one or more to get a custom mold made? Which shops do a better job than others? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[TexasAggie06]

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[Scharfschuetze]

I think everyone here has a preference in mould material. NOE and others make the same design boolits in brass, iron and aluminum. I guess you could try the same design with all three materials, but that would get a bit expensive although it would give you a definitive answer as to what works best for you.

My personal preference is for iron over aluminum, but I have several good aluminum moulds so who knows. I've never tried brass, but it look appealing to me. It should give one durability without any chance of rust. I guess if you stored one wrong though you could find some verdigris on it.

[TexasAggie06]

I'm leaning towards iron due to its durability, I've had to scrap a couple of aluminum molds because of user error while trying to lap/polish cavities. If I had high quality molds I'd simply make a dedicated air-tight storage with a lot of desiccant bags to keep things dry.

[jcren]

Get noe molds and you won't have to lap em! I would consider the shear weight of a iron 4-6 cavity mold over a long casting session.

[bedbugbilly]

I have everything from the inexpensive Lee to other more expensive molds - Lyman/Ideal, RCBS, O'Haus, NOE and in steel and aluminum. I own one brass mold but I really prefer the NOE aluminum molds that I have, and again, thats just me as I know others have their preferences.

You state that you are pretty fussy on your boolits and cull far too many. While some molds can be finicky - as an example I have a under 100 gr. RN mold that one cavity has a "fill" problem. It's a Lee mold and I attribute that to possibly a venting problem but I don't use a lot of them so I just pour the one cavity in the DC mold.

While good molds are important, technique is even more important. For 50 years, I have cast with a 10# pot, a bottom pour Lyman ladle and a LP single hot plate. I am pretty "low tech". I buy range lead so the alloy content will vary from batch to batch but it all works just fine out of all of my handguns and rifles of which I have way more than I need. If you are getting wrinkles, pour fill, etc. . . . you need to look at your technique. Either the mold is not hot enough, you are waiting too long for the mold to cool and thus, when you make the next pour, you are getting poor fill . . . or, you pot is not hot enough.

As I wait for my pot to melt, I place my mold near the base and the flame. By the time I am ready to pour, my mold is up to temperature. Whether an aluminum Lee or NOE or a steel mold, I very rarely have a bad first pour. If I do, it goes back in to the pot and the next pour is fine.

Boolit design and what a mold is made of makes little difference if you mold is not hot enough or your pot needs to be hotter. I have several Lee molds that cast just as well as a more expensive NOE and the boolits drop like butter, are uniform and I never have one that needs to go back in the pot.

I'm not being "critical" at all in what I say . . just passing it along for what it's worth. Just don't expect a more expensive mold to solve such things as wrinkles, poor fill, etc. as 99% of the time it will be something in your technique that needs some tweaking and adjustment - temperature of the pot or mold, cadence that you pour at, etc.

There are a number of custom mold makers that can provide you with a very high quality mold to meet your requirements. NOE, Accurate, NEI, etc. If you are going with a gang mold of multiple cavities, just remember that steel and brass weigh more than aluminum and if your casting sessions are extended, the wear and tear on you may dictate the material you end up going with for a mold.

Good luck to you!

[tja6435]

LBT will make exact what you want, but it'll be aluminum.

[TexasAggie06]

No worries, I lift, bro. #gains

In all seriousness, I'm 32 and am in good health, the weight of the mold is way down the list of concerns. I'm more concerned about possibly warping a brass mold by leaving it on a hot plate too long, or marring an aluminum mold by mistake... It kinda sounds like I'm talking myself into an iron mold... Besides weight and potential rust, what should I be concerned with an iron mold?

[stubert]

Get your mold drilled for a temp. probe, My brass NOE mold likes to be 450 - 475 deg. before it will throw a good bullet. Then it just rains bullets.

[TexasAggie06]

You state that you are pretty fussy on your boolits and cull far too many. While some molds can be finicky - as an example I have a under 100 gr. RN mold that one cavity has a "fill" problem. It's a Lee mold and I attribute that to possibly a venting problem but I don't use a lot of them so I just pour the one cavity in the DC mold.

While good molds are important, technique is even more important. For 50 years, I have cast with a 10# pot, a bottom pour Lyman ladle and a LP single hot plate. I am pretty "low tech". I buy range lead so the alloy content will vary from batch to batch but it all works just fine out of all of my handguns and rifles of which I have way more than I need. If you are getting wrinkles, pour fill, etc. . . . you need to look at your technique. Either the mold is not hot enough, you are waiting too long for the mold to cool and thus, when you make the next pour, you are getting poor fill . . . or, you pot is not hot enough.

As I wait for my pot to melt, I place my mold near the base and the flame. By the time I am ready to pour, my mold is up to temperature. Whether an aluminum Lee or NOE or a steel mold, I very rarely have a bad first pour. If I do, it goes back in to the pot and the next pour is fine.

Boolit design and what a mold is made of makes little difference if you mold is not hot enough or your pot needs to be hotter. I have several Lee molds that cast just as well as a more expensive NOE and the boolits drop like butter, are uniform and I never have one that needs to go back in the pot.

I've got room to improve as far as technique goes, but my process is pretty well controlled. I have notes and set temps for each mold, I keep my lead within 15F of target and I check mold temp with an IR thermometer, so I do get pretty consistent results when things go smoothly. I have taken a scribe to most of my molds to help with fill out, but despite as many controls that I put in place I still cull 25% or so due to minor imperfections, most of which I'm sure would shoot fine, but I'm a bit anal-retentive with my QC.

The molds I am going for is to satisfy wants, not needs. I figure if I'm going to continue making these two calibers in mass quantity for a long time I might as well get a custom mold that is exactly what I want. The biggest issue I've had with my Lee molds is accidental damage while trying to lap or polish a cavity, which is why I'd rather invest in a more robust metal. I was also a bit peeved at Lee because they sent me two different Boolit designs for the same 312-155 model. Now I've got a stockpile of slightly different Boolits, this bothers me much more than it should.

[Cord]

Question...
Are you deciding on the mold material first, and then looking for a design
made in that material to fit your needs,
Or looking for the design first, and then seeing what mold material it is available in?

I'll be interested in what you choose for 300BLK so please keep posting.

On 9mm, if by "slight boat tail" you mean a bevel base, those are usually on the heavier
boolits only and the purpose they serve is to fit the tapered inside wall of the 9mm case.
If you chose a 124gr or so it would probably not have or need a BB.

[TexasAggie06]

I guess I'm looking for material first with either brass or iron, although I think I prefer iron because it's more durable, but brass might be a good option, can't make up my mind.

I don't have autocad, but here's what I could come up with on paint that I would like to have. I would take this to accurate molds, but they don't do roundball pistol or rifle tips <.18"

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[gwpercle]

Brass is just about as soft as aluminum, both must be treated with TLC.
I'm tickled pink with the two NOE aluminum moulds I have recently bought. The blocks are large. They do not require any lapping , polishing or deburring. After breaking in , they make you smile while you cast . Everything that is objectionable with Lee moulds , NOE has corrected.
I even prefer them to my old reliable Lyman moulds , they are just so easy to work with.
Gary

[fredj338]

Nothing wrong with high end alum molds, especially if going with a 4-5cav. In brass, you'll be worn out casting 500 bullets. A good iron mold is a joy to cast with IMO. Not fussy heat wise like alum can be. Again, they do get heavy in 4-5cav, but not as heavy as brass. I have several Accurate & NOE alum molds & the great. All my 2cav molds for the Magma are iron & cast great bullets to.

[reddog81]

NOE makes good molds and the have a 9mm mold made specifically for powder coating it's flat sided and the ogive is smaller than normal so that the added powder coat doesn't cause chambering issues. It's a 135 so it might be a little bigger than you are looking for. They have a hollow point version and it's 130 grain.
Bullets just fall from mine. With the flat sides it's hard to create a bullet with defects once the mold is up to temp.

[country gent]

I have all brass or iron molds the brass molds hold heat better and longer brass is heavier than steel / iron molds. Steel moulds are durable but like any precission tool a screw up or accident and you may be repairing it. I use both materials and my brass moulds ( old west mould blocks) cast great bullets and are a joy to use. My rcbs, lyman moulds are steel / iron moulds and cast well also but Im comparing custom moulds to production moulds here. My Brooks mould is a paper patch slick adjustable for wieght and nose pour. It casts like dream also bullets dont stick they drop out nicely and are very consistant. I would consider a nose pour adjustable for the smooth sided bullet for the 300 BLK out. From one of the custom makers it would give great service the sprue cut would be on the nose rather than the base. But between brass and steel the decission is pretty much personal prefrence. If you flux often or run a smaller pot the Heat holding of the brass may be a plus. Over heating, heating to fast or unevenly can warp an iron moulds blocks also.

[sigep1764]

For me, its gotta be aluminum and either NOE or Accurate. They can be up to 5 or 6 cav, relatively light weight, and they will cut them to the size you need the boolits to drop at. Turnaround is good at both shops and priced around $100. This is my experience ao far in 9mm. Pretty sure they can do any of their designs without lube grooves as well. Send them an email after you look at their offerings.