Haley 257 Scandalous and the NOE 80 grain 4 cavity mold
This mold was difficult and frustrating to break in, it took me 2 days but this is the result.
It is a NOE 80 grain 4 cavity mold. It drops them at .260 and 81.5 grains average of 20-1. They shoot best 1085/213 PFE 3200 PSI and unsized.
At 260 yards, I was shooting at the red spray can valve stem tied to the string. .80 MOA.
At 260 yards I shot at another bullet mark for this .78 MOA group
What 260 yards looks like from the target.
With magnification, the bench rest is at the corner of the house on the 2nd story.
Regards,
Roachcreek
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Viewing 11 replies - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
Yeah that and how fast you get a pile of bullets with a gang mold.
RC
RC,
Awesome stuff. I’m gonna give it a second shot in a couple of days. Im excited to cast with the mold again. So i’m just gonna remelt all the bullet i did the 1st time and run my lead just a little hotter than i did the 1st time.
No, nothing really wrong with the bullets, Its just fun and exciting casting with a new mold as pretty as this one………lol!
KM,
Both RC and Steve are correct. Casting is actually EASY to learn how to do, BUT, there is a lot of knowledge that goes with casting. And all of us learn something new just about everytime we turn the pot on or at least, EVERYTIME WE BUY A NEW MOLD 😆
Doug bought all the equipment and lead to cast then asked me to come over and teach him. I couldn’t get to Doug fast enough so he started casting on his own on a whim with NO HELP. When i saw his 1st bullets, i was seriously shocked as they looked TEXT BOOK or PICTURE PERFECT. NOT ONE SINGLE FLAW.
It was about the same for me. I bought the equipment and read just a little but got even more ADVICE and off i went. No one really SHOWED me how to do it they just told me and off i went. The guy who saw my 1st bullets was amazed that they looked as great as his. I EVEN TALKED A LITTLE SHIT TO HIM 😆
So give it a go and we will help you as much as we can via the keyboard. If you provide BBQ and BEER……well………I’ll show up and show you in person,
Mike,
Your just about to have free air.
With a 257 barrel, a bullet mold and a way to melt lead, you then have a rifle capable of 300 yard precise shooting with bullets that cost less than 2.50 per hundred if you buy alloy from Rotometals, if you reclaim your spent bullets it is is almost free shooting.
It just does not get any better than that.
Well if my wife cast bullets it would be better I guess.
Regards,
Roachcreek
Of course you will KM. This stuff takes work and patience. Clearly you understand both of those concepts. Your knives just don’t happen on their own. Do you have 260 yards? …or is that a stupid qusetion for a guy who lives in Texas. Maybe you’ll post 300 yard groups and force RC to cut down some trees to keep up with you. 😉
Hopefully, I will have too! 😉
Mike
Impressive RC, to say the least. Tofaz is right, these gun continually amaze us with their accuracy.
KM, casting is not that difficult. You will catch on quickly. 😉
Lot’s to learn it seems. Thank you for the indepth answer. Now If I can just remember it! 😆
KnifeMaker
Mike,
Molds usually come with oil on them from machining or as a preservative, if left on it will bake into the caviites and off gass as you cast and voids in the surface of the bullet will result.
So first thing you need to do is to clean the mold. I first clean it with alcohol and a toothbrush. Then I wash it in hot soapy water, usually grease cutting dish soap and rinse it very well, then I pour boiling water on it to heat it up so it will dry.
So now you have a bare metal mold, I then remove the sprue plate and put some sprue plate lube, a very small amount so that it does not migrate to a cavity, on the sprue plate screw hole on the mold and under side of the sprue plate at the pivot hole. Then I carefully wipe off any excess. Both iron and aluminum and I suspect brass molds will gall if not lubed there, but again use very little lube.
Next I will use a bic lighter and smoke the cavities to leave a layer of carbon on them.
I then melt some lead in my pot and while it is melting I keep the mold close to the flame to slowly warm it up. Once I get to around 675 to 700 degrees with my alloy, I start casting, the bullets will be wrinkled on the first and second session and are only for the remelt pot. I really don’t expect any good bullets until the third casting session and few even then.
Getting back to the first castings, as soon as the mold is hot enough to melt wax, I have a stick of wax lube that Veral Smith of LBT gave me for the alignment pins on molds. I gently touch the wax to the male pin to put again a very small amount of lube on those pins, not wanting it to migrate to the cavities.
Somewhere around the 3rd or 4th session while the mold is still cool I will give it a light spray of Mold release, a graphite spray substance sold by Midway.
THe NOE mold was different in break in in that they want a lube put under the sprue plate and the entire top of the mold blocks, underneath the sprue plate, it is a lube that they provide, instructions say to put it on with a q tip, they advise to do it with the cavities filled with bullets so that the lube does not migrate to the cavities and to wipe off the excess.
They also advise to warm up the mold at least 4 times and then let it cool down each time to set the alignment pins in the mold.
Molds will wear at the alighment pins and at the sprue plate pivot hole as a general rule, aluminum molds wear faster than iron. Always make sure that the screw holding the sprue plate and the screws holding the handles to the mold and set screw for them are at the correct tension and that the set screws are tight, they do like to come loose with the jar of striking the mold to cut the sprue and to eject the bullets. Loose handle screws can cause misalignment with the alingment pins and peen your mold blocks.
I always like to close the mold gently with my hands each time to make sure that the alignment pins don’t wear or peen prematurely.
Excess heat likes to warp things, and sprue plates seem to be the first to be affected, luckliy most mold makers sell replacements.
Old second hand molds can be rejuvenate as far as buying a new sprue plate and resetting the alignment pins. The holes for the alignment pins can crater or peen leaving a rim around the hole that prevents the mold from closing fully, you can use a 3/8ths drill bit and gently turn it while holding it on the cratered holes with your fingers to trim off this cratered metal. You then can use a punch to drive the pins a very minute amount out further to engage the hole.
Galling under the prue plate can be repaired by surface grinding the top of the mold square again, works best on a iron mold but aluminum mold can be surface ground also.
Erik@hollowpointmold.com offers repairs to molds.
Regards,
Roachcreek
I’m a newbie on this RC. What do you have to do to break in a mold?
Mike
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Thanks Guy’s. when I can spring for a .257 bbl, I guess I know what’s next on my to do list! 😉 😀
BBQ and Beer. In Texas???, I kinda think I might be able to come up with a “Little” of that. 😆
Mike