I know some of you have this mould as I do. Mine is a 2 hole Ideal and is the hardest to get good bullets with of any mould I own. I pre heat the mould on a hotplate while the lead is melting and run the lead temp up to a little over700*. Sometimes if you hold your mouth just right is starts out dropping good bullets right away and continues through the session. Most times I get a cull rate of almost 50%. The problem is the corners that should be square and sharp are rounded. I like the bullet but this thing is driving me nuts.
357446 Ideal mould
- Thread starter Rex
- Start date
Bret4207
At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Lead temp isn't all that important, mould temp is vital. Have you tried casting as fast as you safely can and seeing if the mould reacts better? Another thought would be are you doing the sprue plate to nozzle contact thing? Try an air gap or maybe hitting the sprue hole off center and certainly try letting a good excess of alloy flow over the sprue plate and blocks. Mould Temp is the biggie here in most cases. Using a ladle makes all this easier IMO, but other have done it with a BP set up.
Bazoo
Active Member
If you leave as large a sprue puddle as you can, and see that lead doesn't flow over the sides or into another cavity, it helps with fill out. When lead spills over the sides of the mould, it pulls from the bullet, one solution is to flow a bunch over the cavity, but I don't care for that.
If you take note while your casting, you'll see that the perfect bullets come from those with generous sprue puddles that did not flow.
If you take note while your casting, you'll see that the perfect bullets come from those with generous sprue puddles that did not flow.
Last edited:
All good ideas. Hope you hit pay dirt and solve the problem.
If not, try this. Slow down your casting. Occasionally you'll find a mould that has blocks that are too small and won't dissipate hear fast enough. This excess block heat will also cause rounded bands. There are three ways to cure it all of which result in reducing temperature of the blocks.
1) Reduce the rate of casting until you see the puddle on top of the sprue harden or frost.
2) I got a small 3" cooling fan from an old computer and made a "casting" shelf with the fan mounted blowing up. Cover this with hardware mesh and sit mould on top for a few seconds to cool between casts.
3) And I don't care for this one. Use a damp cloth to sit the mould on it for a few seconds between casts.
Assuming the mould is properly vented, it should cast good bullets. If not, break sharp edges at the top where the halves join with a fine stone. Just enough to make a small shiny line on both halves. This will allow proper venting.
As I recall, I have had this problem with the 357446. I shot it for years and eventually went to more accurate designs. As I recall, it comes in smaller blocks. This may be your problem. Won't cost anything to try./beagle
If not, try this. Slow down your casting. Occasionally you'll find a mould that has blocks that are too small and won't dissipate hear fast enough. This excess block heat will also cause rounded bands. There are three ways to cure it all of which result in reducing temperature of the blocks.
1) Reduce the rate of casting until you see the puddle on top of the sprue harden or frost.
2) I got a small 3" cooling fan from an old computer and made a "casting" shelf with the fan mounted blowing up. Cover this with hardware mesh and sit mould on top for a few seconds to cool between casts.
3) And I don't care for this one. Use a damp cloth to sit the mould on it for a few seconds between casts.
Assuming the mould is properly vented, it should cast good bullets. If not, break sharp edges at the top where the halves join with a fine stone. Just enough to make a small shiny line on both halves. This will allow proper venting.
As I recall, I have had this problem with the 357446. I shot it for years and eventually went to more accurate designs. As I recall, it comes in smaller blocks. This may be your problem. Won't cost anything to try./beagle
Sometimes I swear this computer will be my next target.
What I was trying to say was that you boys were right again, the mould needed more heat.
I had to "Beagle" this mould and now it drops a 164 grain bullet. Over 4 grains of HP38 in a 38 special case it is a dandy.
Much is made of the front driving band being undersized but 90% of the 358429 moulds have the same problem and most seem to like that bullet? Anyway I'm happy with mine and thank you for the help figuring out why I wasn't getting good fill-out.
Rex
What I was trying to say was that you boys were right again, the mould needed more heat.
I had to "Beagle" this mould and now it drops a 164 grain bullet. Over 4 grains of HP38 in a 38 special case it is a dandy.
Much is made of the front driving band being undersized but 90% of the 358429 moulds have the same problem and most seem to like that bullet? Anyway I'm happy with mine and thank you for the help figuring out why I wasn't getting good fill-out.
Rex
Well, I'm afraid it's not one of my favorites. I've owned several and never had one that shot "great" for me. I blamed the undersized front band and then opened the front band and no improvement. I've "beagled" it thinking maybe undersized. Then, I HP'd one and that helped some but no cure. After owning 3, I gave up.
I always test my pistol calibers on a dirt berm at 100 yards at a clay pigeon target. That way any problems with the bullets are magnified and easily detected at that range. This blasted thing was giving me at least one 3 foot flier out of 10 rounds or so no matter what I did. The only way I could get "passable" accuracy was to shoot 'em hot. Now, we're talking a couple of Smiths here, a couple of Blackhawks and a Marlin carbine.
Finally think I gave the last one away in disgust. The 357446 and the 429360 are the only two bullets I've never need able to shoot accurately.
Of course, your results may have been better than mine. If so, I'm happy for you./beagle
I always test my pistol calibers on a dirt berm at 100 yards at a clay pigeon target. That way any problems with the bullets are magnified and easily detected at that range. This blasted thing was giving me at least one 3 foot flier out of 10 rounds or so no matter what I did. The only way I could get "passable" accuracy was to shoot 'em hot. Now, we're talking a couple of Smiths here, a couple of Blackhawks and a Marlin carbine.
Finally think I gave the last one away in disgust. The 357446 and the 429360 are the only two bullets I've never need able to shoot accurately.
Of course, your results may have been better than mine. If so, I'm happy for you./beagle
Bret4207
At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Whenever I see someone mention they had to "shoot them hot" it immediately says "poor fit" to me. Maybe it's that front band and by booting them harder you got it to slump a little more and obturate enough to fit better? Could also be a twist thing, but we aren't dealing with a long bullet here. I've had dismal results from a couple of designs. I put it down to me not being real bright and also not wanting to waste time when there are other designs that are so much easier to work with.
358156 hp
At large, whereabouts unknown.
357446 has a very thick base band, as was the fashion when it was designed. I could see how this could possibly affect accuracy at lower pressures under the right circumstances, slightly undersized, or something. If it were something this simple, it could be very sporadic. That said, I've never seen an undersized base band in any that I've cast.
Last edited:
358156 hp
At large, whereabouts unknown.
Have you tried heavier loads? Both the 358429 & 357446 have reputations of sorts for working better with hot loads. 358429 especially was designed for 38/44 loads, and I've never appreciated it as a standard pressure 38 Spl. It's been a damn laser for me with a full case of 2400