Author Topic: Veral. (Read 1429 times)

Lead pot · « **on:** December 22, 2003, 10:39:57 AM »

Veral> I'm getting ready for a nother 430gr. .40 caliber mould.I want 3 lube grooves .100 wide and .060 deep with the first groove .050 up from the base.The ogive I want to be 1.5 caliber.I think the bullet would be arround 1.400 long. Is that workable?

And Veral,how big is the hole in your sprew cutter?I found I had to oppen the holes in my .40-.45 caliber bullets to 3/16" to get a good bullet.

Veral I have two custom aluminium moulds build from a good mould maker,I never could get a consistant diameter from them.I find the expanchion from when they climb in temp they would expand.
I ended making a bullet sinker mould from it.How much does your block expand with heet?

Kurt.

Veral · « **Reply #1 on:** December 30, 2003, 08:52:30 PM »

Sorry but I don't do that kind of custom, but will cut only LBT cataloged profiles. (Except for a few which I still have patterns for but hadn't found when I made up the catalog.)
If you don't save bullets till the mold is hot, diameter doesn't change. Saving bullets from a cold mold is no good, no matter what the blocks are made of, though cast iron, which expands less with temperature increase than any other mold metal, does hold diameter best under this condition.

I make sprue holes just under 1/8 inch diameter, and have very few complaints about bullets filling perfectly. But a cold mold won't fill right with that size sprue.

Lead pot · « **Reply #2 on:** December 31, 2003, 07:49:47 AM »

Hi Veral.
I read that in GB's sticky and just plumb forgot till after I hit the send button.
No I dont keep the bullets untill after the mould comes up to temp eather,and I use a regulated pot.But I find the aluminium moulds dont cast a consistant diameter bullet,or I cant anyway.
What my question really was is your alloy different than say NEI used?
I'm not trying to slam any mould maker just curious.

TNX. Kurt

Veral · « **Reply #3 on:** January 05, 2004, 05:41:20 PM »

I believe NEI used a 70 series aluminum for their molds at the last. I use 2024 T351, which is a hard aircraft aluminum, close to mild steel hardness. All aluminums loose some hardness with the high heat of casting temperatures, so the object is to start with something real good so it's still tough after years of use.