"Ben'd" (de-gas-checked) Another Mould...

Jeff H

NW Ohio
A few years ago, I went looking for MY perfect 180 grain bullet for my 357 revolver/carbine combo (357 Mag and Max), which I wanted to be aluminum, 4C, 3 flat-base and one GC. Any time I've looke at NOE, I've had to "settle." They never have the combination I am looking for, so I got one with 4 GC cavities. I make my own GCs, so they cost me something like two tenths of a cent per, but there's time making and applying them....

I've taken the GC rebate out of 30 cal mould, thanks to Ben's generous dissemination of knowledge and it turned out marvelously. I borrowed a 5/16" (.312") chucking reamer and it was perfect for an oddly over-sized LEE "309" mould, whcih cast .313" bullets. Some minor lapping and it came out like it was made that way.

This time, I took my NOE 4C 360-180 WFN, took a deep breath and set to work. As I believe it was Ben who mentioned (I'm paraphrasing) there's more time in setting up and checking than doing the work. Even though I knew better, I couldn't resist the coincidence that a T" drill is supposed to drill a .358" hole. DO NOT DO THIS! I knew what I was in for and was not wrong in my suspicion that the mould would want to climb up the twist-drill's flutes and it did. MIND YOU that everything here is under HAND POWER - drill press unpluged, belts off the sheaves. But still - I promise the "pucker-factor" will get you if you try the twist drill. Better machinists than I (and I'm not a machinist) may be OK with the drill, but unless you're really good - don't do that.

Miraculously (actually, I was really paying attention), all three gas check rebates were removed (partially) CONCENTRICALLY, but under-sized, which was expected. I figured I'd lap the rest out. WAY too much material for me and my limited patience with doing a super-clean/try-cast after several minutes of several sessions of lapping. So, I got a reamer.

Found a new 23/64" (.3594") chucking reamer on the big auction site for $16. Made another pass through all three cavities and got even closer to where I needed to be, but some lapping was still in order - I was .001" (.0005"/side) away, so I cast so me bullets and did some lapping. Impossible to keep grit off the full-diameter part of the new base-band, so it grew along with the undersized part - had to stop and reassess.

The solution was to drill the hole in the base of the bullet and then insert a tapered "pin" and give it a tap to expand the base of my lap (bullet) and then measure. I made a few too large right off, but eventually got three good ones.

Funny thing is that that line, where the GC shank met the first driving band remains as a VISIBLE vestigial reminder, even after passing through my .359" push-through sizer. You CANNOT FEEL it, but it looks like there's a GC on the bullet - especially in photos.

Now, I have a 186 grain, flat-base WFN to use in my 3" 357 revolver as well as in my 357 Mag and Max carbines. Honestly, the unfired Max barrel will likely only ever see the GC'd version for top loads for hunting. Which may never happen anyway, but I'm set. I have 400+ cast up and ready to try. Sometime soon, I hope to buy a suppressor, and this should make a good sub-sonic GP bullet for the carbine. At that point, I will be bugging @CWLONGSHOT about PVC'ing and probably others about the suppressor choice.

Thanks again, @Ben. I'm not sure I'd have had the guts to do this without the example you set by sharing what and how you did yours.
 

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Winelover

North Central Arkansas
No need to settle on NOE molds. Tom at Accurate Molds will make you anything your heart desires in cavity combinations. I frequently order GC and PB designs in one mould. If I purchase a three cavity for a pistol/carbine combination, only one will have a GC.
 

Jeff H

NW Ohio
No need to settle on NOE molds. Tom at Accurate Molds will make you anything your heart desires in cavity combinations. I frequently order GC and PB designs in one mould. If I purchase a three cavity for a pistol/carbine combination, only one will have a GC.

Thank you, and I have looked at Tom's stuff - very impressive, and I take all the good words said here about him to heart. Unless I fall off the wagon and start buying more stuff than I can use again, I have one more mould I "need." I will check with Tom first.

The last two I bought were from Arsenal, and I have to say that I am impressed with the quality and I was able to get what I wanted - not just to pick through leftovers. The last one took two months instead of two weeks, but that's the theme these days - at least early in the covid shut-downs/shortages. The bottom of the sprue plate was not up to speed, but easily fixed. I can grant him at least as much tolerance as I have had to any other entity since covid, but the service and product were still both way better than I'm seeing on all other fronts.

I don't mean to bash NOE either. NICE MOULDS, and I would have bought several more since I bought that first one - IF I could have gotten what I wanted - which is apparently what everyone else wanted. Seems an odd business model to me, but not MY business.

Since I am stuck inside on the computer today, I may start looking at Tom's moulds again to fill that one last mould vacancy. I have been using an ancient Ideal, single-cavity 428421 for ages and I'd like to eventually order a 4C version from someone. I love that old mould, but it takes a long time to fill up a small coffee can with it.

Oh, and don't anyone worry that I've lost my marbles by saying "one last mould." I have moulds coming out my ears, but I am scaling back to no more than two moulds per caliber, and a very limited caliber selection. At this point, the bulk of my moulds are my dads moulds, which are off the table as far as my "plan" goes or for liquidation.