10 cavity H&G ???s

[Coffeecup]

I've got to cast up some 148 grain WC plinkers for the .38, and a friend was kind enough to loan me one of his recent farm auction acquisitions: a 10-cavity H&G #50. Nice mould, but the darn mould blocks are longer than any I've ever used. Any advice or tips to make the process go smoother?

Current plan is to cast in 50-50 WWL/Range lead from a 20# RCBS pot. I figure the mould guide will make it a bit easier to balance the mould under the spout. I'll start at the cavity closest to my hands, and work my way back. That has been a fairly successful approach for me with other multiple-cavity iron moulds.

Any suggestion on best temps to go with? Should I add some tin to the alloy?

Thanks,
Jim

[Edubya]

Preheat the mould!!! Start by filling just two cavities at a time!! After two cavities start dropping decent boolits you can increase to 4 cavities, and so on. Once the mould is totally heated up and dropping you will be emptying the RCBS 20# before it can drip. Have some ingots warming up on the hot plate and start adding to the pot very slowly as to not reduce temps. This is where it pays to have, not larger than, 1# ingots. BTW, Run that pot at a higher temp than you would for a two or four holler!
EW

PS: Ad tin if you think that it's necessary (probably) but every time that you ad an ingot it will change and you should flux to get it blended well.

[RayinNH]

Preheat the mould!!!

Yeah, start about two days before you start casting. :kidding:

[Edubya]

It may seem laborious and time consuming but I can empty a 20# pot full in less than an hour with a 124 gr., ten cavity H.G. mould. I don't like to, therefore I keep adding those pre-warmed ingots. Once I get going, I want to make it worth while.
EW

[Bret4207]

I have the same mould. I use a 1lb Rowell ladle with that one and I have a large pot holding either 30+ lbs or over 100 lbs., depends on which I feel like using. I don't really preheat. I kust start casting and within a few cycles she'll come up to heat. I rest my mould on a block as I fill it. I'm not a wimpy wristed metro-sexual type, but neither am I Popeye and that mould gets heavy after a while. The nice thing is those moulds produce gorgeous boolits with little effort.

Have fun and be sure to thank your friend profusely

[Edubya]

I have the same mould. I use a 1lb Rowell ladle with that one and I have a large pot holding either 30+ lbs or over 100 lbs., depends on which I feel like using. I don't really preheat. I kust start casting and within a few cycles she'll come up to heat. I rest my mould on a block as I fill it. I'm not a wimpy wristed metro-sexual type, but neither am I Popeye and that mould gets heavy after a while. The nice thing is those moulds produce gorgeous boolits with little effort.

Have fun and be sure to thank your friend profusely

Sir, That mould weighs 6 lbs and 5 ounces. If you are ladel casting thirty pounds at a single session, you are a Popeye, whether you admit it or not!
Please be careful not to crush some old man's hand while shaking their hand.


EW

[Stork]

Sir, That mould weighs 6 lbs and 5 ounces. If you are ladel casting thirty pounds at a single session, you are a Popeye, whether you admit it or not!
Please be careful not to crush some old man's hand while shaking their hand.


EW

Ditto!
I normally cast with 3- 4 cavity H&G molds. Two years ago a fellow Bullseye shooter, who had a 6 cavity H&G 130, asked me to cast him some whenever I got in the mood.
HOLY FOREARMS BATMAN!!!!
I thought my left forearm was gonna fall off. Where I can sit down and cast for 3-4 hours comfortably with my 4 cavity molds, with that 6 cavity I could cast for an hour, max.
I don't even want to think about handling a 10 cavity.

Stork

[casterofboolits]

I have a 10 cavity H&G mold for a 168 grn Kieth style simi-wadcutter and as the others have said...preheating the mold is the key to turning out good bullets.

I let mine sit on the top of my RCBS 10 kilo pot for about 15 minutes and then start casting. I fill the mold and let it sit for a couple minutes to help with the warm up, after doing this a couple or three times the mold starts dropping good bullets. Just make sure you hit the holes in the sprue plate pretty much on center.

As for these molds being heavy, I hear people complain about Lyman four cavities being a strain! I get a giggle out of this as I have had a stroke which affected my left side and some what weakened that side and I still cast with three eight cavity H&G #68 molds. [smilie=l:

Have fun!

[Moonie]

And I thought my new Mehec brass mold was heavy, granted I've been using 2 cav Lee molds for awhile. I do seem to remember some 2 cav RCBS and Lyman molds I had many years back that were heavier but seems they have gotten lighter in memory than in actuality.

[hammerhead357]

First off preheat the mould on a hot plate that is set to the point that it won't quite melt a boolit. Let it heat at least as long as the pot takes to melt and stabilize the temp.
I always use a mould guide or heat sink that raises the mould up to the proper highth for pouring.
Also have a place directly in front of the pot to turn the mould on its side to cut the sprure and then turn it back right side up to open and clear the boolits. Then move the mould a little to one side or the other to close and then back up on the mould slide/guide/heat sink.

The key is to lift the mould as little as possible. I have mine set up to where I only lift them from the preheater to the heat sink and then have a place to rest them while I cut the sprue and dump the boolits out without lifting them.

When I first started I used two moulds at a time and did a lot of unnessesary lifting. It didn't take long to get tired of that. Try it for 6 or 8 hours at a time. You will find a way to work smarter not harder.

I hope this makes a little sense, it is not rocket science just good planning....Wes

[Echo]

+1 for the heat sink or mold guide. I built stages/platforms on my furnaces. Used 1x3 wood. screwed together and screwed in from the bottom. The wood doesn't sink the heat from the mold. Makes thing much less energetic.

[BarryinIN]

The key is to lift the mould as little as possible.

There you go.
I have an 8-cav H&G #34 (.45 230 RN) which is the same size as the 10-cav 38 calibers. I don't use it often, since I set things up around that one mould. If I do it right, I never have to lift it after I get started.

I cast with it on top of an old chest of drawers. I raise my work surface by stacking big ingots under and around the furnace. I can leave the mould on top of them and it's high enough to pour into. The top drawer of this chest is open, with two cardboard boxes in it- one for catchging sprues; the other for catching bullets.
After pouring, I pull the mould back until it is hanging over the edge above the open top drawer, turn it on it's side, strike the sprue plate, and shake the sprue off into a box. Then I roll it back up so it's resting on the hinge, open, and the bullets fall into the other box. After closing, I can roll it back up off it's hinge, sort of levering it up without actually lifting it up.
I never have to lift it. I just slide it around, and roll it over some.

Mine does seem to need a good warm-up. I will put it on the hotplate first thing, then go about setting everything else up. If it's cold, I have to turn the hotplate up a little higher than I normally use it for other moulds.
I think I get more pours before having to stop for a cool down than with other moulds, but maybe not. I should count sometime.

Yeah, it's kind of a pain to set things up just to cast with a single mould but I don't have to do it much. I almost want to laugh when I see all those bullets pouring out.

[sagamore-one]

I do basically the same as Wes.. Mr.Hammerhead.
Only lift the monster as much as absolutely needed.
I normally run 2 big uns at a time. I pre heat the moulds on top of the electric cook stove as the lead in the pot melts. I work one mould as the other sets up.
I used a mould giude for quite a few years, but lately I just use an aluminum heat sink/ platform to rest the mould on. And I try to limit myself to no more than 50 pounds a day.

[Coffeecup]

Thanks guys. I've got the mould pre-heating now, I'm going to have some coffee then go do a pour and let it sit while I flux the pot. I'll do a pot run to get used to the mould and work out technique, then when I have time next week will do a real run. Unless I get carried away, I figure 5k of these should last me a year or so.

[Cowboy T]

I have some Lee 6-cavity moulds, and I can empty my 20lb pot in short order. Since they're aluminum, they're easy on the wrists.

Leads me to wonder...does anyone make any H&G-style 10-cavity moulds in aluminum? That would be serious production there.

[Bret4207]

Sir, That mould weighs 6 lbs and 5 ounces. If you are ladel casting thirty pounds at a single session, you are a Popeye, whether you admit it or not!
Please be careful not to crush some old man's hand while shaking their hand.


EW

I 'm pretty sure the arthritis will ensure safety among anyone I should chance to meet...:bigsmyl2:

[Coffeecup]

Well, so much for that experiment today.

I ran about 200, then paused to let the mould cool a bit while I did some quick inspections. I'm getting decent fillout, but from the look of the bullets I need to do some tuning. It looks like there is some buildup in some of the cavities, perhaps general crud mixed with traces of dried oil. Once it cools I will go over each cavity with the tip of a pencil and make sure they are clean.

Cutting sprues was an experience! My poor old hammer-handle-mallet won't survive much of that. I think I'll get a new mallet turned this evening, then hollow the striking end and pour in some lead. The added inertia should make that go a little smoother. I think if I were going to do much of this I might have to find a hammer mould.

Again, thanks to all for the thoughts and advice.

Jim

[sagamore-one]

When I got my first big mould from H & G they sent me a lead head hammer to open the sprue plate. Then they offered to sell me a hammer mould. Been a constant love affair ever since.
Lead head hammer is the only way to go with a big H&G mould. Makes opening much, much easier and it does not hurt the mould, just ask anyone who has purchased a "used" mould from me.

[Edubya]

You might remove the sprue plate and use 600 or 800 grit wet/dry sandpaper and a thick glass plate. Wet the sandpaper and carefully work the work surface of the sprue plate flat across the sandpaper. Stop when you see shiny metal. This helps to sharpen the sprue holes a bit.

Or you could do it by methods described in:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=63638&highlight=sharpen+sprue+plate

Good luck,
EW

[vernm]

I came up with a few tricks while using my H&G 10 cavity that you might find useful.

As you found out, cutting the sprue can wear you out. I found a heavy wooden box about 15" square and the sides 10" high. Cut a 4X4 about 16" long and nailed it into one corner of the box so the end stuck up about the box about 6". I placed this between my feet. Let the hindge rest on the top of this 4X4, turn the mould on it's side and knock the sprue loose. The sprue falls in the box and now you can empty the mould. Sure beats trying to hold that 6 pound mould in mid air with one had while you cut the sprue.

I also used an RCBS 22 pounder. I took the mould support bar completely off and built a mould guide. Found a piece of old formica kitchen counter. Cut a piece about as long as the mould and small enough to fit between the uprights of the pot. A couple pieces of 3/4" angle screwed into the formica piece made a nice guide track for the mould. I stacked enough wood pieces under the formica covered board to bring the mould about 1/2" below the spout.

As I approached age 60, I could see the hand writing on the wall. I cast until I had about 50,000 boolits done. Keep them in ammo cans and lube them to load as needed. My sweetheart has been sitting in the cabinet with a healthy coat of Break Free for the last ten years. I suppose my wife will throw it in the trash one day.

[GabbyM]

I lay my 10 cavity on an aluminum plate. fill with rowel ladle. Then I have some thick nylon I brought home one day. It was off fall from cutting gears for Kraft foods. I lift the mould with both hands to smack the sprue plate on the nylon. I have the blocks backwards in there handles so the sprue plate tang sticks out front. It's a slow pace to cast at a rate of two dumps per minute. That is 1,200 bullets per hour. About two hours and I'm ready for a break. 1,200 of these #309 in 9mm 124 grain weighs 22 lbs.

Mold filled out fine with bottom poor but with a ladle the mold lays on the table and you just have to lift the ladle. I run a six inch fan blowing across the bullet pile and mould. I tried a 2 x 4 to smack the sprue plate onto. That took about three whacks before it broke in half. Some big lead ingots would work.

That ten cavity along with a six hole #50 and a few other assorted moulds will be posted for sale soon as I get around to it.

[hammerhead357]

My set up is sort of like what BarryinInd described. I have 2 sets of 2 RCBS pots. One on top of the other the top pot is the premelt and the bottom is the pouring pot.

Then under the pots I have an aluminum heat sink/mould guide. Then closer to me is a frame of 3/8 in round stock that form a u. I can pour the moulds full and then either let them sit on the heatsink or pull them back towards me and rest the handle pivot screw on the heat sink and the bottom of the u.

The sprue is cut with an ungainly swing of a mallet. I leave the mould flat and have a bumping post for the sprure plate to bump against. Then spread the handles and dump the boolits and then close the moulds. Then a small counter clock wise turn returns the sprue plate and dumps the sprue.

Under the u frames I sit some red plastic boxes with wood frames on top that have blue jean material stapled to them with slits to allow the boolits to drop slowly into the bins.

This turned out to be hard to describe. I think if you click on my user name and then look at my post you will find pictures of my casting set up....Wes

[26Charlie]

I let the mould preheat resting across the top of my Lee 20 lb. bottom pour pot - I got it in November and couldn't get it hot enough, so took a sheet of aluminum foil and made a little tent around it and the top of the pot to hold the heat in. That worked. Shop is not well heated at all.

[Dale53]

I have an H&G six cavity #251 dbl ended w/c. It is an EXCELLENT bullet but the mould, w/handles/ weighs nearly five pounds. I use like I do my six cavity aluminum moulds and my four cavity iron moulds but it is REALLY tiring for an old man (I was age 75 earlier this month). I only cast 20lbs at a time. However, 20 lbs of bullets is over 900 bullets. That is pretty good production for an hours work. I seldom get a bad cast, either.

It is absolutely necessary, from my point of view, to pre-heat the mould so that it is ready to work when I start pouring. I have a manicurist's fan (little six inch fan) right over the mould when the sprue is setting - it speeds up the setting of the sprue and also maintains a constant mould temperature for continuous casting. I work rather fast and "keep 'em coming"...

This is one, fine mould, but I would probably be happier with an aluminum six cavity or an H&G four cavity. However, this is such an excellent mould that I won't be getting rid of it any time soon.

Dale53

[Beau Cassidy]

I try not to use mine unless I have a good 6 hours to use it and a bunch of alloy. You absolutely have to rest the side of the mold on something when you cut the spru. I use a large rubber mallet to do that. I cycle mine about every 45 seconds using a Magma 30 lb pot. It's about time to warm it up again as I just mixed 200 lbs of alloy.