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Wayne Smith
01-29-2006, 05:57 PM
Last weekend I ordered a RB mold from NEI - .671"- and a mold from Mountian Molds. Got the NEI mold Friday, and this after an e-mail saying that they couldn't make it in 2 cavity and did I want it in a one cavity? I answered that Monday and still got the mold Friday!

Still waiting on Dan or the mail.

Blacktail 8541
01-29-2006, 07:13 PM
It states on Dans' webb sight on his home page the expected lead time. If you can't wait don't order.

9.3X62AL
01-29-2006, 08:00 PM
Wayne--

I've found that the "lead time" given by Dan at Mountain Molds is accurate, perhaps a little pessimistic--he has beaten the lead time on all of my orders.

On the NEI mold.....how would you rate its quality?

Wayne Smith
01-30-2006, 08:55 AM
Blacktail, I know, it was 4 weeks when I ordered. I'm just surprised that NEI got in so quickly, that was unexpected. When I said I'm waiting for Dan I didn't mean unhappily, I'm in the same state with Dave at CH4D. He responded to my e-mail promptly and told me he had a desk full of measuring to do, and mine was in there somewhere. That was three weeks ago. If I haven't heard from him by mid Feb. I'll e-mail him again, or call and talk to him, thereby slowing the process down for me and everybody else waiting!

Deputy, I'd say good so far. It's designed with no sprue, so on a ball this big there's a large flat, so it's not truly round. As long as I load it with the flat up or down it's no problem. I"ve only cast 25 of them, and wasn't keeping my heat very constant or very hot, so I'm hesitant to judge the mold on the results. I'm casting this in pure lead largely because I'm shooting it out of a Damascus barrel.

NVcurmudgeon
01-30-2006, 12:37 PM
Deputy Al, I have two NEI moulds, both aluminum, and both bought used. One is a .35 cal. 220 Gr. SCRNGC than I have been using as my primary mould in my .35 Whelen, and a .358 before it, for over twenty years. Now that Buckshot has worked his magic on it, fixing up the wallowed pin holes (my carelessness) and making a new sprue cutter, I expect to be using for another generation. The other is a four-cavity 9mm in the 124 gr. truncated cone that every mould maker offers. With that one I can turn out a year's worth of 9mm on any given day. Aluminum is not my first choice, but these two have served me well.

475/480
01-30-2006, 01:38 PM
I have 2 NEI moulds
376-220 Keith GC(6 cavity) that casts very nicely, mould is Aluminum and well done,this is for my DW 375 SuperMag.
502-370 TCGC (5 cav),also Aluminum and nice,for my SW 500.

Sean

Blacktail 8541
01-30-2006, 06:27 PM
Sorry if my post was a little harsh but I have been thru numerous wiaiting games with bad results. Much longer wait times than Dan and still did not get what I wanted. Dan is so straight up about how long it will take to get your order and so helpful if you ask that it is easy to overlook in this day of instant gratification mentality. I ordered a mould on Jan 2 06 and recieved it today Jan 30 06, at the time his estimated lead time was 4 weeks. He even included a note about how much temp will produce the best boolit from this mould. My alloy of choice for this projest was 50/50 wheel weights and lino. An alloy that could cause problems if the would gets to hot.

chunkum
01-30-2006, 07:33 PM
I have four double cavity NEI Aluminum moulds. Their response time has always been less than two weeks; usually a lot less! I have a penchant for variety and trying lots of different type bullets and their "deal" of cutting two similar bullets in the same mould block allows me to induldge this. I've had nothing but good results in my dealings with them. I like to order by phone rather than on line because the variety of options they have kinda overwhelms me sometimes. Good folks! Superior bullet moulds!
c.

9.3X62AL
01-30-2006, 10:26 PM
My request was to assess the new-series molds being produced since Mr. Melander passed away. It sounds like all is well.

I have 2 of Walt's molds in 25 caliber--aluminum, and I couldn't be happier with them. I rate both the NEI's and Dan's molds as my best casting tools, and I'm glad the NEI quality has been consistent since the company's re-start.

475/480
01-31-2006, 07:50 AM
[QUOTE=Deputy Al]My request was to assess the new-series molds being produced since Mr. Melander passed away. It sounds like all is well.

That how I took your word's,as a question on the quality of NEI moulds these day's.That is the only reason I posted.


Sean

9.3X62AL
01-31-2006, 11:26 AM
That's what I was looking (and hoping) to hear. Thanks, Sean!

Wayne Smith
02-10-2006, 08:14 AM
The Mountian Mold came yesterday, well within his four week prediction. I'd say Dan estimates on the conservative side.

Al, what can I say? It's a RB mold, they are round, the right size, and the mold opens and closes and registers well. As round balls, they almost jump out of the cavity. The design, on this size ball, leaves a large flat where the sprue is cut.

9.3X62AL
02-12-2006, 08:43 PM
Well, cool all around! Both firms will be getting a little business from me shortly.

BruceB
02-12-2006, 10:01 PM
Just a few days ago, I was a happy .338 shooter, having just obtained a brand-new (meaning: un-used) .338 NEI mould for a heavy 300+ bullet.

The first casting run was short, only about a hundred boolits or so, and I thought they were looking fine as I made them. Then....I made the mistake of inspecting them under my magnifying-lens-cum-worklight. Hmmm....MOST had rounded edges on at least one band, and spotty places which failed to fill out were also pretty common. I ended up by rejecting about 80%!!!! This is unheard-of, at my place!

Since then, I have done the following:

-cast at max temp for my pot (870 degrees)...the original plan...no good

-cast at 750 degrees...no good

-cast at 700 degrees....no good

-cast with the mould in contact with the spout.....no good

-cast with the mould 1/2" below the spout...no good

-cast with the mould 1" below the spout....no good

-cast with the mould TWO INCHES below the spout (an exercise in dexterity and depth perception)...no good

-cleaned the pot rigorously....no good

-cast with WW alloy from a completely different 100-lb "lot"..no good

-smoked the cavity with a butane lighter...no good

-cleaned the cavity, and cast some more after cleaning...no good

-gave 'er the old lightly-applied graphite spray.....so-so

-since the light graphite application "sorta" helped, I gave it another coat....no good

-stuck the mould IN the pot for a few seconds before each filling.....no good

In all my years of casting, I have NEVER encountered such a difficult mould to work with. First, I'm SURE it's female, and also it's wearing one of those T-shirts:

"I'm 50% angel and 50% bitch....DON'T PUSH YOUR LUCK!"

Yep, sho' nuff. I wonder how I ticked 'her' off so badly?

In the bargain, I took some of the (few) reasonable bullets to the range today, and fired a selection of 2400, 4198, 3031 and Blue Dot loads from 50 yards with Karen's M70. Some were edging toward the "decent" mark, and some sprawled to over 5" for five rounds. Interesting, for sure. I guess this is part of what keeps us coming back for more. My 'stubborns' are now in full flower, and this SOB will NOT BEAT ME!!

....mutter, grumble, bitch, moan.....

Bret4207
02-13-2006, 08:18 AM
Bruce- Is this a venting problem? I'm sure you know the tricks, buit a good scrubbing with a mild abrisive sometimes has helped me. (The mould Carpetman, the mould!)

Jeffreytooker
02-13-2006, 11:20 PM
I have an NEI mould. It is a .225 bore rider. It is about 70 gr in lino. It was made post Walt. It has two problems. First the bore riding nose is about .217". Secondly the lube grooves are very shallow. I sent the mould back twice. It seems they have two cherries for cutting moulds. The one I mentioned above and one which is about the same with a DD band on the front of the nose. Both are too small in the nose. I have the one with no DD band. I use Grays 24 for lube and the barrel is 9 twist. The major problem is the small nose on my bore rider boolit. Is there someone who can take the nose on the mould about .002"? The bore on my Savage is right on 218 and I would like the nose to engrave a bit.

The lube grooves are shallow. I do not yet know if this is a problem. It may just be that they look shallow to me, when actually they are in the proper porportion. I need to fix the nose first. I will worry about the lube grooves when I have the nose fixed.

I have another NEI mould I bought used. It appears to be an old Sinclair 47B. I will work with it and one or two unidentified NEI 30 cal moulds that I have when I get down to the home place.

I think being retired is going to keep me quite busy.

Jeffrey

BruceB
02-14-2006, 07:34 PM
[QUOTE=Tpr. Bret]Bruce- Is this a venting problem? "


Bret;

Many thanks for kick-starting my think-tank.

Yes, it was showing all the indications of poor venting, but I wasn't receiving the signals.

After reading your post, I went out back and looked again at the mould. Then I broke the sharp edges on the top of the blocks with a stone, and also deepened several of the (so-called) vent lines on one block half with a knife-edged needle file.

Firing up the pot, I made a fast run of about 100 boolits, scooped up a sample of twenty, and examined them under magnification. Remember, before this run I was rejecting up to 90% of the little beggars. Out of my recent sample of 20, I rejected....NONE!!!!!!! SUCCESS!

The "vent lines" on this NEI mould are so fine that they really aren't much more than near-microscopic scratches. Obviously, they are inadequate, at least with a boolit of this size.

Thankee, pard. I might have gotten there eventually, but you sure shortened the process.