NEI Mold ID?

[Bisley]

I traded into this mold for .30 caliber boltgun: . I rediscovered it setting up my bench.
It is an NEI design, which the seller advised me was made back when Walt ran NEI, not after he passed. I got it ten years ago. It is a .30 caliber gas check. Markings read 182308GC. Long nose with a flat tip.

Any idea what handles it takes?
It has a blue/blackish treatment in the cavities and the top of the blocks, which I believe is a mold lubricant.
It looks in perfect shape otherwise: no galling on the top of the blocks, sharp cavities, no light between the blocks when closed.

Any information about this?

 

[358156 hp]

RCBS handles should be correct. I've had a number of NEI moulds and the two cavity moulds all took RCBS handles. For that matter, I think the 4 cavity moulds too them too. Walt was big into a colloidal graphite mould release product similar to Neolube. Hell, it probably was repackaged Neolube. The stuff's pretty tenacious, and I think it has to wear off. My sole remaining NEI mould wears it too. Looking ay my NEI box, the first three numbers are the bullet weight, and the last three are the nominal casting diameter. GC of course stands for gas check. If Walt made your mould, it's probably a pretty good one. His son-in-law took over production at NEI after Walts passing, but was never the machinist Walt was, and quality suffered.

 

[Bisley]

Thanks for the reply. PM sent as well.

Bisley

 

[Ian]

No help on the mould but Walt also sold one of the best cast bullet lubricants the world has ever seen. It was Texaco Tourag brick soda grease, repackaged into hollow sticks. The stuff melts at over 450F so he must have figured some way to extrude it into sticks. Sadly both Walt and Texaco are gone, but the lube was neat...it cleaned up with plain water.

 

[fiver]

yeah that mold release stuff is something tenacious.
one dose is like 40 years worth of application, no matter how many bullets you pour in it.

 

[Charles Graff]

The stuff in the mold appears to be Mold-Prep a product sold by NEI. It is graphite in an alcohol carrier. Works very well, much better than "smoking the mold with a match or whatever.

 

[RicinYakima]

NEI moulds; first three digits are weight in linotype, next three are nominal diameter they were to be sized too. GC=gas checked. The black appears to be his graphite powder in isopropyl alcohol mould release. Put it on with a Q-tip and one ounce would last years.

 

[Charles Graff]

This post bring back memories. I was living in El Paso when Walt decided to HA to Oregon. He was very unhappy with the Texas Comptroller who decided he owned a bunch of taxes Walt didn't realize were levied on his business. I was in his shop many times and as far as I could tell, it was a one man operation. When I was there, he used Lawrence No. 2 alloy for his standard bullet metal. He unloaded several hundred pounds of this on me, for a very low price when he pulled up stakes. His shop was in the same part of town as El Paso Saddlery when it was run by Bobby McNellis. EPS was the after hours gathering place for a local collection of gun and history buffs. Bobby and Walt have both "left the range" and were irreplaceable parts of life in El Paso, in days gone by.

 

[Creeker]

Thanks for the history Charles. Never met Walt but did business with him several times..