Elric
Well-Known Member
Finally stopped being rainy, windy, and cold. It warmed up into the 60s on Thursday... Whipped out my Pro-Melt and fired up a big pot.... Put the 375296 and 358627 on to let them warm up. Casting results were crude. I filled the cavities with the sprue plate swung off to the side, poured lead after the cavities were filled, tried direct connection to the sprue hole... Neglected and rejected...
Whipped out the cool 357-180-SIL and the 285448, and within three pours there was a rain of good bullets falling from the RCBS mold. The 285448 held on to the bullets, but still was turning out nice edges. Churned out about 50 of each. Ran the pot down to about 1/3d full. Stopped, refilled, and while the melt came back up, I sordid the bullets out and returned sprue to pot.
When things were ready, I had the old reprobate come out and try the 375296 again, bad fill, bases rounded. He had to take off a short while later, leaving the mold on the Pro-Melt. A bit later, I went out, poured up more 285448 and 357-180s, then I decided to try more 375296 and 358627. I figured more care with direct connection and starting with the mould horizontal, connecting the ladle to the sprue hole, then tilting both vertical, would help with the wavy fill and rounded bases.
When the moulds came up to temperature, they started to throw good bullets. I would like to point out a possibly subjective feeling, the RCBS ladle seems to have more weight when full compared to a Lyman ladle. Maybe the extra pressure helped... Dunno.
I drained the pot (four ingots worth) after working it down to about 1/4 full. Recharged it with WW and pure lead. Sordid bullets, returned sprue to pot.
The 285448 are for the 7-30 Contender. Even though it shoots pretty good at 50yds, the case fill with Unique is less than 1/3rd. I wish there was a 7mm SPC. Case fill would probably hit 1/2 full.
Whipped out the cool 357-180-SIL and the 285448, and within three pours there was a rain of good bullets falling from the RCBS mold. The 285448 held on to the bullets, but still was turning out nice edges. Churned out about 50 of each. Ran the pot down to about 1/3d full. Stopped, refilled, and while the melt came back up, I sordid the bullets out and returned sprue to pot.
When things were ready, I had the old reprobate come out and try the 375296 again, bad fill, bases rounded. He had to take off a short while later, leaving the mold on the Pro-Melt. A bit later, I went out, poured up more 285448 and 357-180s, then I decided to try more 375296 and 358627. I figured more care with direct connection and starting with the mould horizontal, connecting the ladle to the sprue hole, then tilting both vertical, would help with the wavy fill and rounded bases.
When the moulds came up to temperature, they started to throw good bullets. I would like to point out a possibly subjective feeling, the RCBS ladle seems to have more weight when full compared to a Lyman ladle. Maybe the extra pressure helped... Dunno.
I drained the pot (four ingots worth) after working it down to about 1/4 full. Recharged it with WW and pure lead. Sordid bullets, returned sprue to pot.
The 285448 are for the 7-30 Contender. Even though it shoots pretty good at 50yds, the case fill with Unique is less than 1/3rd. I wish there was a 7mm SPC. Case fill would probably hit 1/2 full.
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