Another NOE Mold (or two)

[KHornet]

Well, thanks to Al's special's over the 4th of July, I ended up with two more molds, one on order, one received, been cast and sized and lubed, and some loaded. Got the 3 cav 360 Keith 172gr. (My favorite 357 bullet). The nose is just a scose different than the original, at least from my lyman mold, but I like it. It feeds well thru my 94 Win, and my Blackhawk. It is to long for my colt unless I crimp it way forward, and that looks
sort of lousy to me. If it was good enough for Elmer, it is sure good enough for me.

The one on the way in is the 311284 PB, 2 Cav, to play with in my milsurps in the 1200 or so range. Have hopes it will drop large for my 303's and Mosins. Have always loved that bullet, and years back had Buckshot HP a single cav mold for me. Which reminds me: I think I ought to reserve a day or two, one of these days just to cast HP bullets. Have 7-8 that have probably not been cast in a number of years and are neglected. Think one of these days, will have to break down and put the money out for a HP multi cav mold for the one 172 grain Keith.

I need to be weaned off buying molds. Have far to many---naw, but, I don't have time to cast and shoot for all I have. There are worse addictions I guess. Will try to put my self on a one year mold buying probation.

Paul

 

[Brother_Love]

You will like the 311284, it is a good shooter in all of my 30 calibers.

I wanted to get another one on sale. I sent him an email with couple questions but got no reply. I probably did not need it anyway ( but I wanted it).

 

[USSR]

Think one of these days, will have to break down and put the money out for a HP multi cav mold for the one 172 grain Keith.

Do it. I've got the MP 358-429 HP Cramer mould, and it's a great one. Can't imagine laboring over a single cavity with a removable pin.

Don

 

[Ian]

It's a labor of love, as opposed to going 15 rounds with an RG4 and calling it a draw to go sand, file, tweak, tune and fuss with the mould....for the third time.

 

[Rick]

It's a labor of love, as opposed to going 15 rounds with an RG4 and calling it a draw to go sand, file, tweak, tune and fuss with the mould....for the third time.

I've got several NOE molds and not on a single one of them have I ever needed to do any sanding, filing, tweaking, tuning or fussing with. Clean it in denatured alcohol, pre-heat it, check sprue plate tension and go to making great bullets.
.

 

[Ian]

You obviously don't have an RG4.

 

[Rick]

Yeah, that's true enough. For all the HP molds I have none are Al's.

 

[USSR]

Never been impressed by the NOE moulds. Mihec's brass moulds using the Cramer method are where it's at.

Don

 

[Roger Allen]

I would never get a rg4 ever....hard enough w a rg1

 

[Ian]

MP makes the finest HP mould one can buy today, in my opinion.

Equally good if not better, but on a custom basis only, is the work of our friend Erik Ohlen of Hollowpointmolds dot com. My dream multi-cavity HP mould would be one cut by Accurate and converted with an inset bar by Erik. Not cheap, but it would be heirloom-quality.

 

[KHornet]

I will remember your words of wisdom Ian, when & if I just have to have a multi cav HP mold.
Thanks,

Paul

 

[KHornet]

Brother Love, A single cav 284 was my first mold, back in the dark ages.
or at least 55 or so years. It is the one that Buckshot HP'd for me.

Paul

 

[freebullet]

Been having a hard time avoiding the last of that sale offer. He has at least a few off the shelf molds I'd like to own. Not into those tilting hp designs though.

 

[Roger Allen]

Yeah I'm not a fan of tilting hollowpoint pins either.

 

[waco]

This is a bullet from the very first casting session from an RG 4 mold where I cast around 400 bullets it's first time out in the shop. Once I got everything nice and hot I had zero problems. This is my very first RG 4 mold so I do not have a lot of experience with them. Maybe I just got a lucky one. All of the bullets look this good, with very few rejects.

 

[Rick]

That is indeed an outstanding HP Waco and I think no small part of the success is that you didn't go into casting with it with preconceived notions that it wouldn't work, would be nothing nut a hassle. Instead you went about casting bullets like that. Fine job for sure.

 

[waco]

Thanks Rick. I did get a lot of advice from you guys here before I dove in. It's a big (4 cavity) mold. Heat was the key. Getting all those pins hot was the key. Then just a good fast pace. They jumped off the pins.

 

[Roger Allen]

How did you preheat 4 pins at once? Maybe I can use your advice for my 2 cab hp

 

[waco]

A $10 hot plate from Walgreens.
Preheat the mold on med high while the lead pot heats up.
Pretty simple.
Then just cast fast to KEEP everything hot.

 

[waco]

This is the bottom of the mold so the heat transfers through the pins quite nicely off of a hot plate. I grabbed a 5 inch diameter piece of half-inch mild steel and set on top of the burner of my hot plate to keep the hot coils directly off of the mold. A lot of guys use a saw blade or something similar to protect the mold from the hot coils on the hotplate.