The RG Difference

[SciFiJim]

The RG Difference.

I have been asked many times about the difference between a standard Night Owl Enterprises (NOE) mold and the RG molds they produce. I’ve created this write up to explain.

NOE’s standard molds come in a selection of one to five cavities. With a few rare exceptions, any of these molds can have a single cavity hollow pointed. See the following pictures as examples. Thanks to SwedeNelson for the pictures.


http://castboolits.gunloads.com/picture.php?albumid=294&pictureid=2026


Standard Molds with hollow point pin and holder knob
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/picture.php?albumid=294&pictureid=2028



The RG series of molds that NOE produces have either two or four cavities. All cavities are hollow pointed. The RG molds come with a set of pins for hollow points and a set of pins for flat points. The pins are attached to the mold blocks with a system that resembles the Cramer hollow point system. However, in the RG system the pins are retained by steel slides attached to the bottom of the mold block instead of sliding pins that go through one of the mold halves. This system allows aluminum mold blocks to have multiple hollow points. The Cramer system is usually reserved for harder metal mold blocks like steel or brass. See the following pictures for examples of the RG system.

RG4 exploded view
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/picture.php?albumid=294&pictureid=2029


Actual RG4 mold
picture courtesy of Blammer

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/picture.php?albumid=294&pictureid=2791

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Jim
maybe you could mention a few hints, tips, and tricks for casting with an RG.

I am pretty new to casting.
I have never cast any hollow point boolits til I got a RG by NOE.
I was quite frustrated til I found out that the mold needs to be run quite Hot.
I have a 2 cav Keith 41 , a 2 cav keith 44, and a 4 cav Keith 358.
I have a hard time getting the 4 cavity hot enough...I plan on getting a hot plate,
I guess that should help.

Also, I have not quite mastered pouring from the bottom pour pot into the RG with the pin retainer/steel slides, they get caught up in my mold guide making for a slow/irradic pour sprue to sprue. plus it doesn't help that the 4 cav mold is a little heavy for my liking, my wrist gets fatigued at 100 or so boolits...about the time I get the mold hot enough, then I can't maintain the rhythm...Frustrating.

Any help appreciated.
Jon

PS this is not a rant. these molds are beautifully machined, and the 2 cav molds drop excellent boolits for me, and I hope once I get a hot plate that the 4 cav will as well.

[Bret4207]

Jim
maybe you could mention a few hints, tips, and tricks for casting with an RG.

I am pretty new to casting.
I have never cast any hollow point boolits til I got a RG by NOE.
I was quite frustrated til I found out that the mold needs to be run quite Hot.
I have a 2 cav Keith 41 , a 2 cav keith 44, and a 4 cav Keith 358.
I have a hard time getting the 4 cavity hot enough...I plan on getting a hot plate,
I guess that should help.

Also, I have not quite mastered pouring from the bottom pour pot into the RG with the pin retainer/steel slides, they get caught up in my mold guide making for a slow/irradic pour sprue to sprue. plus it doesn't help that the 4 cav mold is a little heavy for my liking, my wrist gets fatigued at 100 or so boolits...about the time I get the mold hot enough, then I can't maintain the rhythm...Frustrating.

Any help appreciated.
Jon

PS this is not a rant. these molds are beautifully machined, and the 2 cav molds drop excellent boolits for me, and I hope once I get a hot plate that the 4 cav will as well.



In all seriousness, try a ladle.

[btroj]

I use my RCBS bottom poi with my RG4 with no problem. I also don't use the mould guide, I just hold the mould where it needs to be.
To heat the mould I stand the mould on end and place it about 1/4" into the melt for about 20 to 30 seconds. This gets the mould hot.
A rhythm for cutting sprue, turning mould over, dumping boolitsfein, and getting ready to cast again took me some time. I wish my wrist could rotate infinitely in one direction!
Experiment, experiment, experiment. You will find something that works.

[Blammer]

When I use the RG and my bottom pour I position the mould on the handles so the HP retaining pins are on the OPPOSITE side of my mould guide/holder.

Lots of heat is your friend on the RG's.

A light smoking with a lighter on the HP pins is very helpful for release.

When the RG is cool, look and see if the pins fit more perfectly when it's it right side up or upside down. What ever way they fit better, make sure you hold the mould that way when you close it.

If the HP pins are seated a bit "deep" into the cavity, the straight side of the HP pin may be part of the HP. In this circumstance, the boolits will release hard, because there is a "straight" side inside the HP of the boolit.

I usually set my mould on top of my pot for a good 30-45 min after it's up to temp to get the mould HOT before I start casting.

Scifijim, good write up and pics.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

thanks guys,
Jon

[a.squibload]

I have yet to cast with mine, but I read a few more techniques on other threads:

One guy dips the mold pins-down in the melt until the lead will drop off.

One guy heats the pins with a propane torch.

Another guy rests the mold pins-down on a hotplate.
Some of them use a saw blade on top of the hotplate coil to make it flat,
I'm gonna see if any of my blades are dull.


Hope to be casting soon, life gets in the way.
I actually welded some cast iron tonight, getting the pellet stove up and running.
Should be in the 20s tonight, back to 70s for the weekend.:veryconfu