Good mold temp to shoot for?
- Thread starter waco
- Start date
CWLONGSHOT
Well-Known Member
Just like the alloys they're going to vary what's optimal. Hollow points a little more really large block maybe a little more a really small block like a leaf would be less. But yeah I think 350s a good target.
Shoot for 350-400, bottom line is that the mold will tell you. Once you get the mold temp to a good casting temp adjust your casting Rythm keep it at that Goldi locks temp and perfect bullets will fall right out of the mold. If that temp is 350, 400, 425 so be it, each mold will be a bit different.
JWFilips
Well-Known Member
Wow Temperature ...I do not know But I put my molds on my hot plate on medium setting and start my Lee 20lb pot.
When that get to liquidus I scrape the pot thoroughly ten take it up to 720 deg and seal it with bees wax and light it!
Then I shut off the hot plate and start casting! If I'm lucky most time the first cast are right on!
Now the 25 cal 60 grain mould needs to run real hot and the pot is 780 deg and I cast fast
Never measure anything but th pot
When that get to liquidus I scrape the pot thoroughly ten take it up to 720 deg and seal it with bees wax and light it!
Then I shut off the hot plate and start casting! If I'm lucky most time the first cast are right on!
Now the 25 cal 60 grain mould needs to run real hot and the pot is 780 deg and I cast fast
Never measure anything but th pot
RBHarter
West Central AR
I thought I'd never get that MP to run ....... Once it finally got its patina it was a whole different animal to use . It's a 462-420 w/HB pins so its also a nose pour . New in box I must have washed it 6-7 times and heat cycled it 20+ times and run 18-19 sessions more than that before I got more than a dozen bullets in 35-40 pours I could use . I had the "dirty cavity" , "oil migration" , bad alloy , add tin , hot/cold halves , no filling out , over heated , can't keep it hot enough, gonna throw it off a cliff into 200' of alkaline brine lake so nobody else can get hurt with this rotten , lousy , son.......you get the picture.
It's sure nice to use now if I'm in the mood to pour a couple of pots of 380gr HB or 417gr solids or 50/50 for full boat sledgehammer truck wreckers .
I think it gave me more fivehead than the teenagers did .
Brass is a fine mold material and is a pleasure to cast with, get it to its Goldi Locks casting temp and don't run the pot too hot and it will be raining bullets, its downside is weight. Like any mold material there is a learning curve. People that learn on one mold material often have trouble when switching to another, iron to aluminum or aluminum to brass for example. Anything worth doing is worth the learning curve. I never had any of the issues that RB mentioned. Neither have I ever heat cycled any mold, never saw the point. Clean it well with denatured alcohol, pre-heat and cast.
As a side note, even after pre-heating it will take 7 or 8 pours to even out the mold temp (think Goldi Locks, just right) with any mold material, the first pours will be the lightest bullets of the casting session.
RBHarter
West Central AR
I lived in the land of "what's rust" a polished brass fitting not exposed to the wind will take years to discolor . I've picked up steel cans with perfect labels on the bottom side and the aluminum top sand blasted away. 12-18% humidity and 3.5-4" of annual precipitation ...... Now I don't think I can get it down to 25% in 400° oven and 3.5-4" is a weekly deal .
JonB
Halcyon member
Brass (4 cav) is too heavy for my wrists. I had several and sold most of them.
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I still have a Accurate 3 cav brass 41 cal WC, talk about goldie locks, once I get it hot enough to rain bullets, it starts to "tin" on a couple spots on the mold face (pointy edge) next to cavities. I tried to put on a artificial patina, and it helped a little.
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I still have a Accurate 3 cav brass 41 cal WC, talk about goldie locks, once I get it hot enough to rain bullets, it starts to "tin" on a couple spots on the mold face (pointy edge) next to cavities. I tried to put on a artificial patina, and it helped a little.