2 vs 3 vs 4 cavity mold? Accuracy is my goal.

[Three44s]

As some have stated, the move to CNC cut cavities is a watershed moment. Molds that were cut with cherries (old school) are suspect but the new molds if done diligently are going to not vary enough to amount to a hill of beans.

That said, a casters MO of how they operate their molds also has a great effect on how the product (castings) turn out. An average person will have greater variability in technique as the cavity count goes up.

More attention to detail and likely a mold guide under a bottom pour lead pot will be required because those multi cavity molds with a load of lead weigh more, Ie you get worn out faster.

As to rifle’s, caliber enters into the equation.

My best cast rifle story begins with a .338-06. If it had been even larger bore it would have been even better. As the bore gets smaller, the margin for casting error gets smaller.

Three44s

[Murphy]

dverna,

It will a .308. I have a Stevens Model 200 from back when they were going cheap. I picked it up new and topped it off with a Nikon 3X9 as a back up gun for deer season. I'm not as mad at deer as I once was. I found a decent jacketed load for it and haven't had a need for it for over a decade now, it just takes up space in the vault.

The .30 XCB is exactly what I'm looking at. I read a lot of threads (Larry Gibson, and others) and have decided that was the most likely candidate for my intentions. I most likely won't be pushing for velocity, just a good, fun shooting round that is accurate. Now and then, feral hogs in our area begin to get out of hand and I figure it would excellent for that.

Murphy

[dverna]

dverna,

It will a .308. I have a Stevens Model 200 from back when they were going cheap. I picked it up new and topped it off with a Nikon 3X9 as a back up gun for deer season. I'm not as mad at deer as I once was. I found a decent jacketed load for it and haven't had a need for it for over a decade now, it just takes up space in the vault.

The .30 XCB is exactly what I'm looking at. I read a lot of threads (Larry Gibson, and others) and have decided that was the most likely candidate for my intentions. I most likely won't be pushing for velocity, just a good, fun shooting round that is accurate. Now and then, feral hogs in our area begin to get out of hand and I figure it would excellent for that.

Murphy

If I was going down that road, I would do be traveling with you. That bullet has done well for a lot of folks.

BTW, one reason I linked that thread by Larry is it has a lot of wisdom in it. You will see a lot of accuracy claims, but Larry made an important statement...2 MOA is pretty damn effective for most practical applications for a cast bullet. To me, it seems a realistic level of performance that does not take someone down the frustrating rabbit hole of 1 MOA too many folks talk about but is seldom achieved...save for a few lucky groups.

Good luck and keep us updated!

[Bigslug]

Murph - if your intention is to bust things with a .308: https://noebulletmolds.com/site/prod...10-178-rf-ao5/

Mr. Ranch Dog cooked up the TL groove shank and nose profile using the SAMMI bluepring for a .308 chamber. It's a no brainer to load for and the displacement on impact is notable.

As to cavity count. . .you COULD argue that fewer cavities cuts down on the possibility for variance, BUT it's really only a valid argument if you stick to a single cavity. A two-holer with variance with throw 50% of it's bullets, good, bad, or just different. A four-holer with one bad cavity would still be a 75-percenter.

With an CNC-milled NOE or Accurate, coupled with care given on the sprue cut, you're not going to be seeing enough of a difference to lose sleep over - if indeed you see it at all. I follow Joseph Stalin's advice at that point - "Quantity has a Quality all it's own".

[Murphy]

Bigslug,

Thanks for the suggestion. That's a nice looking bullet, but I'm old school and never gave tumble lubing a try. I'm just interested in a nice looking spire point bullet. Thanks again though.

Murphy

[popper]

I looked at the xcb and decided against it, IIRC it is a target type vs hunting. Also played with BLL (2 coats) vs PC on GC 145gr in the BO, pushed to 2k fps. Works fine. SP can slump on firing so I use rnfp (31-165) in my 308 AR pushed to 2400. I had several good 4x rifle moulds, wasn't dimensions that varied but the base fill out from filling one end to the other. Haven't had a chance to get a hog with it yet. Results @ 200 yds, I know I pulled the upper right one:

[Screwbolts]

If a mold doesn't come in 5 or more cavities, i am not interested.

[John Boy]

Create a chart with 1-2-3-4
Place the dropped bullets on the chart from which cavity they came from
Weigh the dropped bullets by cavity to determine each cavity Weight Bell Curve
You’ll see different Bells for each cavity
Reload bullets for each cavity if within each cavity 0.5gr difference. Put the extreme weights back in the pot

[bobthenailer]

Ive had good luck in several calibers with a 2 cavity mould @ 100 & 200 yards

[MT Gianni]

One other candidate is the Saeco 175 gr. You can go $$$ https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1010294932 or less. https://noebulletmolds.com/site/prod...311-179-fn-i5/

[AlaskaMike]

Back in the 40's and 50's, single cavity molds were preferred due to dimensional differences in mold cavities from multi cavity molds. I understand that the BPCR crowd still largely follow this practice. However, modern mold manufacturers using CNC machining can make multi-cavity molds with cavities as near as to identical as it is possible to measure.

...

To me, rintinglen makes a hugely important point. The old long range shooters swore by single cavity iron molds because they were cut with cherries back then. When you got a multi cavity iron mold, the cavities could and did have small but significant variances due to cherry wear.

The CNC machined molds today don't have this issue.