Whats the difference???

[jdgabbard]

I have seen on a couple of H&G molds, on the sprue plate, that there is a gouge running longways connecting all the holes and effectively turning all of the cavities sprues into one large sprue.

It seems like this would help with base fill out, as the boolits would have more to draw from. Are there any real advantages to this, or am I just imagining things. And if there is, why don't we see this kind of design on other brands of molds???

[Echo]

Well, I think there is an advantage. Of course, it adds to the expense of manufacturing the set, so increases the cost of the mold. Many older ones have it, few new ones do.

But it's not that much of a disadvantage to not have the spru groove. I bottom-pour, and leave a trail of alloy along the spru plate between cavities, and therefore have sort of a reservoir on top for the cavity to feed from as the alloy shrinks. Still, I like the spru groove, and have used the Dremel to make one on a couple of plates.

[beagle]

The groove on the H & Gs came from the big, multicavity moulds and kind of carried over to the DCs. Personally, I like it as it seems to give the first cavity time to suck in lead and avoid holes in the bases.

Many of the custom sprue plate makers make them with the groove if you're interested in upgrading a Lyman or RCBS.

Any good machinist with a mill can lay a groove on with a mill in about 5 minutes if the sprue plate is thick enough./beagle

[jdgabbard]

Many of the custom sprue plate makers make them with the groove if you're interested in upgrading a Lyman or RCBS.

You mean there are custom sprue plate makers??? Who and Where please? I've got to check this out.