Moulded Bliss

[LarryM]

This evening I learned how a good mould is supposed to work.
Got in my Lyman 311041 from MidwayUSA today. (ordered it Friday night late, got it at noon on Wednesday.)
Loaded my pot with about half WW and half "oatmeal" that I had skimmed off some Linotype, probably had 10 #s in the pot Cranked up the old Coleman as hot as it would go and pretty soon it all just melted together.
Any way, I cleaned the new mould with brake cleaner and started preheating it. I smoked the cavities with a paper match and on the 4th pour I was in business. the bullets just fell from the mould, only once in a while did I have to bump it to get one to drop free. I was running it a bit hot so they came out just a little frosty but not bad, they shine up under thumb pressure.

I only ran off a little over a hundred in the 2-1/2 hours I was working and that time included melt time, cleaning the new mould and shutting it down for the night.

I weighed and measured a random sample of 10, they came in from 173.3 to 173.7, as best as I could measure them I got .311 to about .3105 or so.

I am a happy camper. :smile:

[dromia]

Well done mate! Its feels good when it all comes together. :D

[copdills]

Sounds good , Larry sounds like a keeper for sure:castmine:

[missionary5155]

Greetings LarryM
I run my mix HOT all the time... FROSTED well they shoot the same and they sure do cast easier.
I wonder if anyone has tested the shooting difference between frosted and non-frosted.. ???
Surely by now someone has.

[LarryM]

I have had better luck running my Lee moulds hot as well. I'm not a good enough shot to be able to tell a difference if there is any. I've also got a Lyman 4 cav 452374 that works well but it is not as slick as my new 311041 and I can't get it hot enough to cast frosty.

[montana_charlie]

Frosted bullets don't have those razor sharp corners on the base and driving bands...a big deal, in my book.
CM

[STP22]

Dunno if you have the means to measure the BHN of that mix, but how did the sprues cut...a clean shear, or a clean break? I ask because I finally got some pure lino (4lbs) to experiment with. I plan to mix it with one or more of the ww mixes on hand here now in 10lb lots.

[LarryM]

Montana Charlie - I don't run it so hot as to get heavy frost, just a dull finish that will shine up under thumb pressure. The corners and base look plenty crisp under a magnifieing glass.

STP22 - mostly I just wanted to see if I could reclaim something from my pile of skimmings probably didn't come out much harder than WW. About the best i can do is a "what dents what" test against WW ingots and some 50/50 ww/monotype alloy I have. The sprues sheared cleanly.