Poll: Best mould material

[excavman]

I have several Lyman iron molds I've been using for 40+ years, they still throw good boolits. Only in the past 10-12 years have I started using Lee's molds, haven't had a problem with them but I know they won't last as long as iron. But, then again, neither will I.

Larry

[Pat I.]

I like light so it's LBT moulds and Lee handles for me, which means I like aluminum.

[451whitworth]

I like light so it's LBT moulds and Lee handles for me, which means I like aluminum.

i like my LBT moulds too. hands down my favorite. i was actually surprised that iron had so many votes because all i seem to see is stuff about Lee on here.

[Cowboy T]

Aluminum, because I generally use six-cavity moulds. Iron or brass moulds like that would get very heavy very quickly. And aluminum doesn't rust. Not as strong as iron, for sure, but they're strong enough for my needs, and I cast a fair amount.

[Southron Sanders]

BRASS is by far the BEST MOULD material. The only reason brass rated so low in the poll, is that only iron and aluminum moulds are generally available in the marketplace; so most shooters have never had the pleasure of using a quality brass mould.

Unfortunately, the only mass production brass moulds are those cheaply made Italian moulds that are poor replicas of original Colt percussion pistol bullet moulds.

[Catshooter]

Southron,

I beleive you are correct. I have had the pleasure of using a NEI brass mould. Very nice, and of course, no corrorision worries at all.


Cat

[no34570]

Brass all the way. Jim at CBE has it sorted.

+1
But I also like iron,then aluminum.

[sljacob]

brass for me...my two MP molds that I recently purchaced are quickly becoming my favorite but that said I believe all mold material can cast a good boolit if you work with its own particular personalitys

[white eagle]

I like iron as well
I have aluminum but seem to have to work the mold more
I have a brass on coming so I may change my mind

[Marvin S]

Im not convinced there is one best, all of the ones I have made have been 7075 T-6 Alum. The high quality alum alloys machine very nice and clean. Aluminum Nickel Bronze sounds like a good idea but is pretty tough.

[liljohnnie]

I have used both aluminum and iron.Iron is my favorite because of the wear factor but aluminum does come up to temp quicker but i galled the top of the blocks in record time (probably user error). I would not shy away from the possibility of using a brass mold either if presented with the opportunity.

[rintinglen]

I was turned off buy the problems I had with Lee aluminum molds, and my only brass mold was a single cavity copy of a lyman 457-191 that wasn't all that hot. I like RCBS 2 cavity molds, but anymore I mostly use lyman 4-cavity molds. I especially like my 311-041 and 358-311 molds, but I also enjoy using the 429-421 and 457-192 4 cavity molds that I have. I can cast about 250 bullets an hour once the molds are up to temperature, and for my needs, that is plenty.

[Centaur 1]

I just read this entire thread, wheww. The first materials that came to mind when I read the title were aluminum bronze and invar. It suprised me how many of you have used aluminum bronze, i bet that it would work great for a mold. Invar is what we used for the liner in our vaccuum jacketed cryogenic lines. What this is, basically is a tube inside of a tube. The outer tube is made from stainless steel and the inner tube is made from invar and we'd create a vaccuum between the two, which acts as an insulator for the extreme cold of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. The inner liner would cool down to -427 degrees with the hydrogen and the outer shell would be the ambient temerature. If both were made from stainless steel, the liner would contract from the cold and the assembly would crack and break. Invar has an extremely low rate of thermal expansion, which I think would make a very good, but extremely expensive mold. I wish that I still had a Mazak mill at my disposal. When I worked for Knights Armament company about 90% of the work I did was on a Mazak Nexus 410 using Mazatrol programming. I'm looking at the various pistol boolit designs and I'm sure that I could have made a mold using a combination of mills, ball mills, and various woodruff style key cutters. If I ever get the oportunity again, boolit molds will be the first thing I make. I doubt that I'll ever get to use a Mazak, but someday I might find a bridgeport fitted with a trak controller for the garage.

[Lee S. Forsberg]

So which do ya favor? Why?


Cat

I've used all of them and get good bullets from all. I like Iron. Once up to temp Iron casts good bullets and lasts longer.
Anyone know of a mold maker using Stainless Steel?

[Merlin43]

It was a tough choice between "Iron" and "Something Missed", as I really like bronze, too, but I counted moulds and have a majority Iron, so that's what I voted.

Aluminum might cast faster, but I have a hard time with keeping the temperature just right with them. I converted all my RCBS, Lyman, and SAECO to fit the Master Caster and I have a couple of moulds from Magma, too. They all seem to do very well.

[white eagle]

two brass molds
I say iron then brass

[HollowPoint]

I have bullets molds made from most of the materials mentioned. They all seem to cast
equally well; so long as I do my part during the casting process.

About the only thing I could figure that would make one better than the other would be
if any one of those bullet molds made in their respective materials were free.

That would put them over the top and qualify them as the "Best" material.

I haven't read through all the thousands of replies to this post so there's a very good chance
I'm just repeating something that someone else has already mentioned. If so, please pardon
the redundancy.

HollowPoint

[Dale53]

>>>Aluminum might cast faster, but I have a hard time with keeping the temperature just right with them.<<<

Many years ago, I used to cast commercially. I had a good following and had people standing in line to take all of my output. It is a "Hard way to make a living", however.

When you cast thousands of match grade bullets, you are always looking for ways to improve your production and the quality of your bullets. I started off with iron moulds (that's all that was available). I had excellent results with them but I had to try various methods to cool the moulds.

It requires a certain metal and mould temperature (regardless of what metal the mould is made of) to get good fill out. That seems to necessitate cooling the mould to keep production up (can't wait too long for the sprue to set as that lowers production). I tried dipping the bullet filled mould in a bucket. It was a bit exciting what with the steam flying, etc but it worked quite well (just dipped when the mould overheated).

Then someone suggested using an ice cube tray with a bit of water in the bottom with a wash cloth in it. That made a wet pad to rest the bottom of the mould on to cool it, from time to time.

Water cooling works but I never did get comfortable with water close to a pot full of molten lead. I was never "turned on" by the idea of water dropping, either.

Using a slab of aluminum plate for a heat sink should work well but I never gave that a real try.

Then, I heard of various people's ideas using a fan (some in an enclosure, etc) and I was quite interested. Finally, I happened onto, for me, the PERFECT way to cool a mould (or rather to "stabilize" the mould temperature). By this time, I had a rather large variety of moulds in most materials offered (iron, aluminum, and brass). THE method for me was outlined by Mike Venturino in a Handloader article. He, in turn, had been shown "the one true way" by a bullet casting friend. That is, the use of a manicurists fan close to the bench top, for stabilizing mould temperature:



As you can see in the picture, the fan is less than a foot over the mould. Positioned, as you see, the fan is completely out of the way but close. I originally got this (thanks to Mike) to cool the sprue rapidly. However, I soon realized it also stabilized the mould temperature regardless of mould material (it works just as well with MiHec's brass hollow point moulds as well as the NOE and MiHec aluminum moulds - Lee's too, as well as the Lyman and H&G two and four cavity moulds).

The fan costs $6.00-$7.00 at Target or Wal-Mart. You'll find it in the fan department. It might be easier to find in the Spring rather than now in the Fall. However, I was at the local Wal-Mart recently and they still had them on display. They are quite similar to what women use in beauty shops to dry their nails (the "wags" can hold their tongues, I didn't discover this while drying MY nails).

If your bench doesn't have a convenient bulkhead like mine does, they you can use a couple of pieces of 1"x4" board and make a bracket that extends over your bench in the right place. Buy your fan before you make the bracket as they vary in how they are mounted from brand to brand.

One of the additional benefits, is that as I cast, I drop the bullets under the fan and keep shoving them to the rear of the bench on the towel covered padding. The fan cools the bullets MUCH faster. I can start filling my bullet box almost as soon as I stop casting without danger of getting burned fingers.

Back on topic;
With the use of the fan, ALL mould materials become more pleasurable to use. I would guess that my favorite mould material has become brass - although I can use any of the materials with excellent results.

FWIW
Dale53

[cajun shooter]

My first casting was with H&G molds in the 70's. I used iron and Saeco molds until I purchased some group buys in the Lee molds. Never did like them as others do. They are easy to have problems and gall. I only have a few in cast round ball now. I just had two custom brass molds made and they are now my favorite mold metal. In Louisiana after casting if you do not coat your molds with a oil of some type it will rust over night. You can put iron molds in sealed ammo cans with a anti moisture capsule but they will still rust over time. The brass still look the same after days on my bench. They also have all the good qualities of the iron molds. I am stuck on brass and brass is stuck on me! A little Barry Manilow tune except it was about band aids.

[home in oz]

Lyman molds seem to work better that Lee.