mold making material (a talk i had with Rob Applegate)

[Lloyd Smale]

Robs building me a gun and we talked for about an hour on the phone last night about just about everything. For you that dont know Rob a smarter and more knowlegable man on every facet of guns would be hard to find. I passed on a question to him from a buddy who is make a 12 guage swc mold about how differnt mold materials and how much to compensate for shrinkage when designing a mold. He brought up a good point that never crossed my mind. I allways thought when he used to make molds he made the brass because it was easier to machine. I should have know better as hes not one to take shortcuts. I have to explain this in dummy terms as he used stuff that was way over my head. He said that if you think about mold cavities as two pieces of wire your trying to solder together it makes sense. Lead alloys are very simular to solder and its a lot tougher to solder two pieces of steel together then it is brass or aluminum. Lead has a much better tendency to flow toward brass and aluminum and it makes mold fillout much better and tends to eliminate pour fillout in hot spots on molds. He said hed never make a mold out of steel. Now ive been one that preached the superiority of steel molds for years. Mostly though because im rough on a mold and they hold up but his talk has me thinking differntly. Maybe veral has been on to something for years that i wouldnt admit.

[madcaster]

Lloyd,
Hard aluminum is great mould material,so is naval brass(bronze).
The standard Lee moulds are made of a softer grade of aluminum,if they used harder material it would be nice.
Rob Applegate is a great fella!

[felix]

Lloyd, what you have found out is indeed correct. That is why making iron mold material with some copper included is the cat's meow. The RCBS and SAECO and NEI iron materials have been specked this-a-way. Iron's ability to wear much longer than non-ferrous materials is the only reason to go to an iron mold. The problem is in sliding the sprue plate back and forth on an aluminum mold for the most part. The top of the mold can easily get out of shape with the hard sprue plates used. The whole mold, made out of any kind of material, will last much longer if gloves were used exclusively when handling molds. No sticks, hammers, etc. ... felix

[Dale53]

Fliex
>>>The whole mold, made out of any kind of material, will last much longer if gloves were used exclusively when handling molds. No sticks, hammers, etc. ... felix<<<

This is sure something we can agree with wholeheartedly. I have been using "fireplace" gloves (welding gloves) for many years and just twisting the sprue plate. I get much better bullet bases and it IS much easier on the moulds. I treat ALL of my moulds like they are Swiss watches. Even aluminum moulds will last forever if they are treated like the "fine watch" tools that they are. I DO lubricate all of my moulds and am currently using BullShop's Sprue Plate lube (the best mould lubricant I have found-in fact, the quest is over (the quest to find a near perfect mould lubricant).

Dale53
__________________

[Bass Ackward]

Yep..

I use aluminum for everything 400 grains and over to disipate heat.

Brass for heavy 30s up to 400 grain 45s. Can't beat it for pistol molds except it's heavy. Brass will warp on you now and then when you are machining it, but is fairly stable expecially if you heated it prior to machining.

Steel or iron for 30 caliber and below myself. There, I want all the heat I can get.

[Char-Gar]

The best bullet molds ever made on this planet were made by Rob. I have a couple of his brass molds. I have done about everything I know how to do, to cajol him back into making molds. He just don't want to put up with some of the customers who are impossible to please and can be very nasty. Can't say I blame him, but sure do miss his molds.

His metal work on rifles is also a work of art.

[Lloyd Smale]

hes building me a 475 linebaugh model 94 marlin and its all done except the sights and should be in my hands shortly. He said it was a total pain in the ass to build and woulnd try it again.

The best bullet molds ever made on this planet were made by Rob. I have a couple of his brass molds. I have done about everything I know how to do, to cajol him back into making molds. He just don't want to put up with some of the customers who are impossible to please and can be very nasty. Can't say I blame him, but sure do miss his molds.

His metal work on rifles is also a work of art.

[Glen]

Rob Applegate is one of my favorite people. The quality of his machine-work and mould-making are only a couple of the reasons why...

[3sixbits]

Am I the only one that hates it when you are told about a really great gunsmith and then are left high and dry with no contact information? Lloyd Smale and others, don't want to share!

[Glen]

Contact info won't help much in this case. Rob is out of the mould-making business, and besides that he's getting ready to sell his place and move, so the old address won't be good for much longer. They haven't made a final decison on what to buy, so there is no new address either...sorry....

[Lloyd Smale]

hes out of the gunsmithing bussiness too. The other guys that know him are right. Youd go along way to me a nicer more honest gentleman.

[Lloyd Smale]

just a footnote. Rob is in the process of writing a book on cast bullets and it will no doubt be the best book ever written on it. Hes forgot more this week then ive ever known.

[Petander]

Google took me here.

I took a pic of my first brass mold ever. I managed to contact Mr. Applegate around 2002 and he made me a heavy mold that still cycles in a Marlin 1895. This is My Precious. 470 grains.

Bullets have a funky Hi Tek/PC -combo, the mold itself looks dusty but it is Hi Tek mold release. Excellent stuff to prevent smearing. I tend to cast a bit hot.

[waksupi]

Very interesting!

[Bazoo]

Google took me here.

I took a pic of my first brass mold ever. I managed to contact Mr. Applegate around 2002 and he made me a heavy mold that still cycles in a Marlin 1895. This is My Precious. 470 grains.

Bullets have a funky Hi Tek/PC -combo, the mold itself looks dusty but it is Hi Tek mold release. Excellent stuff to prevent smearing. I tend to cast a bit hot.

Nice photography.

[john.k]

Worst mold I ever used was a current Lyman steel mold.............the old Lymans I have are iron,according to an early Lyman Handbook......meehanite ,a finegrained dense specialty cast iron.............they switched to steel for cost ,I d say............old Lymans ,Ohaus ,RCBS ,bullets just fall out as soon as the blocks are opened..................i do have a lot of Lee molds.......cost is the main reason .....but as I get older ,weight is also an issue..............in this country the Lee double cavity have risen in price from around $20 before the plandemic ,to a current price of $96 .........no I wont be buying any more .