I'm the exception to the above .........
I have a brand new when I opened the box brass 462-420 HB/PB 2 cavity MP mould my first MP and only brass mould .
I very carefully followed all of the instructions from the MP website and all of the offerings from well know long time casters .
I washed it with at least the care of the NOE aluminum moulds, Dawn blue original with an old toothbrush, very hot water .
I assembled the base pins , one plain , one hollow base , installed them , and whispered 2 stroke oil over the slid rods on the outside of the mould . I then preformed the 3 times heat and cool rituals and blessings.
I didn't get to cast it the 1st time I heated it to cast but made a special trip the next day to do so ........ I must have uttered the blessing in Greek instead of Latin or possibly some Elven curse .
I poured 12# of junk and put it all back in the pot . Half of the mould was tooooo hot or half was wrinkled . Bases and noses looked like I was short on sprue or there was a qt of 30 at in the mould .
I took it back to the sink washed it again with Dawn and a new from service spent toothbrush. Then I repeated the heat cycles and blessing . I was very careful not to mix the Latin and Greek .
I cast it again. Now this is the second casting and 9th heating second wash out with no lubricant of any sort anywhere near the bench . With everything up to temp I added a quick specticals , belt button ,wallet , and watch ....... I then poured 10# of junk with the same defects except for the noses looking good now . Back in the pot .
I returned to the sink and washed in very hot water from a fresh bottle of Dawn and rinsed . I then gave it the kidney pie prep treatment and boiled the piss out of it . Seriously 20 min turned it over and boiled it for another 20 minutes. I let it dry of its own accord . Gave it a good Naval cussing and heat cycled it 2 more rounds . I lived at 4,000 ft in the Great Basin what's rust desert so boiling is only about 196° without salt , sugar , or Glycol , none of which would help here so weren't added.
I poured another 5# of junk and about 10 not completely horrible bullets . Pre heated and the whole bit of course.
I considered Holy water , but instead just glared at it while I waited for.the pot to come back up to temp . Instead I grabbed a handy can of carburetor cleaner and hosed it down with a spritz of the last of a can of brake clean , heated it up again and tried it again, and threw 5# of junk back in the pot . The iron 457193 dropped things of beauty as did the slightly fussy 287-154 NOE . So not an alloy problem.
Seriously I've never been sooooo close to hurling a possessed , contrary , uncooperative, sorry pos tool into a lake from a cliff overhang in my life ! I just left it laying there with an intense loathing glare .
5 more times I tried because "MP is the best and brass is the finest mould materiel ever invented" ....(I hope that last part came out in some childlike whiny sarcastic voice) .
What is this this witchcraft!?!? The 5th session, actually like 16-18th heat cycle , 6-7 washes , and now 9th casting session I got like 4# out of 10 in good bullets . It ran along delivering better ratios of good to junk until the move in 18' . Late in the Spring of 19' I got to cast it again . At long last it really was a great mould .
I don't know about brass being a devine gift to man as a mould material but it is nice for repeatable bullets . The mould now throws 2 bullet at 379.8-380.3 or 415.1-415.3 after visual culls at a delightful .460" from the 50/50 pistol pot .
If I ever buy a new brass mould again I think I'll just leave the blocks lay in a damp draft for about 3 months before I do anything but wash it out .
