I decided to get back to shooting with the 375. I own a 270 gr mould from MP but hadn't cast with it much. I decided to use the flat nose pins instead of HP. I wanted to make casting easier to get the best bullets possible.
I used some advice from Ian and Fiver and slowed down my cadence. I was casting too fast and that was leading to excessive mould heat and I got some rounded bands and small flaws in bullets. Too much mould heat tends to do that.
I poured lead from the ladle for a 2 count, let the sprue set for a 5 count, dumped bullets, and waited another 5 count before pouring again. I used a small fan on the mould during the cooling periods. Results were amazing. Bullets all weighed 269.2 to 270.3. I can't argue with those results.
An unsized bullet next to a sized and check bullet. Checks snap on the shank well but remain loose enough to spin after sizing.
Notice the small flaw in the lower portion of the grease groove? The photo doesn't show it as well as I can see with the naked eye. This is what I get, along with rounded bands, from excessive mould heat.
Next time I cast these I may reduce the pot to 675 from 700 to reduce the heat being poured into the mould.
These will get loaded over enough RE 17 to get into the 2200 fps range. The rifle is heavy enough to make those loaded very manageable.
I used some advice from Ian and Fiver and slowed down my cadence. I was casting too fast and that was leading to excessive mould heat and I got some rounded bands and small flaws in bullets. Too much mould heat tends to do that.
I poured lead from the ladle for a 2 count, let the sprue set for a 5 count, dumped bullets, and waited another 5 count before pouring again. I used a small fan on the mould during the cooling periods. Results were amazing. Bullets all weighed 269.2 to 270.3. I can't argue with those results.
An unsized bullet next to a sized and check bullet. Checks snap on the shank well but remain loose enough to spin after sizing.
Notice the small flaw in the lower portion of the grease groove? The photo doesn't show it as well as I can see with the naked eye. This is what I get, along with rounded bands, from excessive mould heat.
Next time I cast these I may reduce the pot to 675 from 700 to reduce the heat being poured into the mould.
These will get loaded over enough RE 17 to get into the 2200 fps range. The rifle is heavy enough to make those loaded very manageable.