pics and questions about a mold

[Rusty W]

We had a little snow last night and it's cold. I bought a mold from a fellow on another forum and couldn't wait for warm weather. I had to go out to the shop and fire up the ole wood stove. I got the temp up to 55-60 and thought I'd see what the mold would do. It's a Lyman 9mm 356402 style. I've been using the Lee TC-124 tumble lube design and it's worked good for me. I saw this one and another RCBS LRN 125grn and couldn't pass on the price. The boolits dropped at .3575 and 125gr with WW's. The mold was working good except the cavity farthest away had an issue filling out the base. I was using my Lee bottom pour and about 2 out of 5 pours the base wouldn't fill out. I started experimenting and found if I held the mold about 1/2" away from the spout and kept the temp to about 775 it would work great, perfect fillout every pour.

I have another mold I bought at a pawnshop a few years ago and it's a one lunger. It had some surface rust on it but cleaned up pretty good, it's a Lyman 452423. I've had pretty good luck with it in my blackhawk and 625 Smith using AR brass. It throws a little big, .460 and I have to size to .453 for my Blackhawk. I've tried some light loads in the 45/70 but they're not very accurate past 50yds. I was wondering if there was a way to make the mold drop smaller boolits? I smoke the mold with a match before I use it and still get fat boolits.

Now if some of this white stuff would go away I'd get to try them out.

[leadman]

To get the 45 to drop smaller spray the cavity with mold release. This can be done a couple times to get the layer thicker. It will come off after awhile but can be removed with carb or brake cleaner and a toothbrush and reapplied.

I have that same 9mm mold in a 4 cavity but haven't cast any yet. Might try it in my 38 Special.

[MT Gianni]

Your boolits look good and I would write down the notes about what your 402 likes. That 402 will shoot in 38 & 357 as well as 9mm/38 Super.
I am not aware of how to make a mold drop smaller without loosing roundness, It should size OK unless it is a hard alloy. If so size it the same day that you cast.

[Buckshot]

...........About the onl way to get the cavity to drop a smaller slug is as LEadman suggested, or also go to a softer alloy if possible. BTW, I've had very good accuracy in a 45-70 shooting paper patched 45 pistol boolits, and they were only patched due to be so undersized for the rifle. What load were you using under those fat 45 pistol boolits in your 45-70?

.............Buckshot

[Rusty W]

What load were you using under those fat 45 pistol boolits in your 45-70?

.............Buckshot

I used Trailboss in a Ruger #1. I don't remember the exact charge as it was not a eye opener so I didn't persue it. I think it was 14-16 grains. I also tried IMR 4759, it worked a little better. I only tried 1 load with it at 28 grains. I got a Lee 340 and a RCBS 325 gr mold so I quit playing with the 250 grainers. I really like the RCBS 325 FN boolit but it being a gas check it gets expensive to shoot a lot of. I use the Lee 340 for most of my shooting. I like IMR 3031, it seems to work the best in the loads I've tested for the 300 -350gr range boolits. I range from 45 to 55grs., much more than that and my shoulder starts to cry uncle.

[geargnasher]

Check that last cavity in the mould for a venting issue if it fills best when dropping a long stream. Maybe lead plugging up a vent line somewhere near the base band. Go over it gently with a loupe and sharp scribe.

I've had pretty good luck (accidentally, and detrimentally) reducing boolit size 1-1.5 thousandths every time I tried smoking a Lee mould. A heavy coat of clean soot from a BBQ lighter works best, but won't get you as much reduction at you're looking for. I recently tried smoking just the nose of a bore-rider mould and that worked great but was hard to get consistent.

Gear

[Echo]

I have the -402 mold in a 2-banger, and had to beagle it to get it the throw large enough boolits. Have you slugged the bore of your 9? I have found that I want the largest boolit I can chamber in my autos, and .375 probably is fine without sizing, if it will chamber.

Re the .45 mold - my first thought was to use softer alloy, as others have suggested, but I don't think that will reduce the as-cast size enough to get down to a satisfactory size. Smoking, or spray-on, may be the only answer, but I can't testify - I have occasionally smoked a mold, but haven't noticed any change in dimension (haven't looked).

[MtGun44]

Maybe you could trade yours for a smaller 452423.

Bill

[bigboredad]

I've had good luck using a heavy coat of soot from a bic lighter. I found that out by accident but it has worked well