Single cavity fun!

Brother_Love

Well-Known Member
I cast some bullets today from 3 of my Ideal single cavity molds. The 38 wadcutter cast great and I will load a box of fifty and ruin some turtles day. The 311299 was on a mess when I got it with some slight pitting in the cavity, I still expect it to shoot well. The last one, the 311413 gave me fits. It cast wrinkled bullets after 2 washings and plenty of heat. I finally gave in and smoked it and it cast great. I don’t like to smoke molds but in this case it did the trick. It is a little slower but I really like casting with the singles.
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Ben

Moderator
Staff member
If you have a 5 cavity mould , you have 5 possibilities , as to weight.
If you have a single cav mould , you've cut those numbers down dramatically.

It doesn't matter what they weigh as long as they all weigh the same thing.

Ben
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
I'm to the point I don't mind single cavity molds.
mostly I have 2 cavity molds, with the exception of a few 4 cavity lyman pistol caliber molds for rounds that I shoot a lot.
but I sure don't pass over a single cavity mold anymore.
 

S Mac

Sept. 10, 2021 Steve left us. You are missed.
I have a number of singles, yes they are slow but uniform for sure. Besides, when you go to a double you feel like your moving at warp speed.:cool:
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
Armenian voles.....in Armenia, and American prairie dogs are where I have
been closest to pestis, and I avoid it - and single cavity molds. The Armenian
deal was work, the prairie dogs was fun.

Bill
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Every now and again you get a mould that defies all attempts to coerce it into playing nice using the normal means of washing, heat and human sacrifice. I had a few that needed a dose of smoke and a few I rubbed down inside with a carpenters pencil before they acquiesced.
 

358156 hp

At large, whereabouts unknown.
My single cavity work primarily involves ancient hollowpoint moulds. I have faster, multicavity HP moulds, but find the old Ideals to be therapeutic somehow. I'd take an old Ideal SC over a new Lyman 2 cav. anyday. Once you get dialed in on block temp, you can build a pile of bullets surprisingly fast, even with a hollowpoint mould. I also have std Ideal SC moulds, I have a real weakness for them when I hit the auction sites.
 

JSH

Active Member
When I first started casting I was gifted several 1-C molds. I always thought it generous of that person, he is sly like a fox.
Went to an auction about that same time. Several NIB 1-C and pieces and halves all scattered in a big wooden box. Not one set of handles or any other casting stuff to be found or seen. There was more than one and less than forty molds in that box. I won't say what I gave for them, but it would not cover tax on 1k of primers or a pound of powder.
Once home and cleaned up, all the halves had mates! A few extra spru plates and screws, other than that they were all there. Traded a lot off but kept a few.
As mentioned above when going to a 2-C it seems like you are really throwing them out there,lol. I got a 6-C and I was like OMG, two of these running will empty a 20lb pot in nothing flat. Buddy has a 8-C iron mold I used. Even with a mold rest one will have popeye forearm or carpel tunnel in short order if used weekly.

Forward about 25 ish years. Helping clean up an estate and got a 10lb Lee pot and a Lyman 225415. Out side of mold looked pretty rough inside was perfect. I think it was either dunked in lard or beeswax, maybe a combo of the two, but it was full on the inside.

I swore I wold never cast for smaller than 30, yeah right. Yesterday and today I cast with the 10lb and the 1-C 225415. Several hundred total, while waiting for the 20lb RCBS to come up to temp.

Lol I can recall getting my first 20lb pot. Hot plate at the ready. Run till one would get frosty and grab another. Both get frosty and have another. I can remember having four different 1-C molds going at once. I thought I was cutting a pretty wide swath,lol.
Jeff
 

Rally Hess

Well-Known Member
I have 1c to 6c moulds. Enjoy them all, but have to admit to really being impressed with the NOE Rg 4 dp bullets. When I get them running right they just rain bulletts, and my guns seem to agree.
Thanks for the memory Jeff. My wife’s grandfather used that expression in his story telling of the old days often. He’s gone now but I always enjoyed his company.
 

KHornet

Well-Known Member
Once in a while, it is good to go back down memory lane, and
cast with a single cav----ONCE IN A WHILE! Need to do so with
a sing RN that Brad HP'd for me. Maybe just 50 or so to jar the
reality of 4-5-6 cav molds.

Paul
 

jaysouth

New Member
If you have a 5 cavity mould , you have 5 possibilities , as to weight.
If you have a single cav mould , you've cut those numbers down dramatically.

It doesn't matter what they weigh as long as they all weigh the same thing.

Ben

AND diameter!
 

462

California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
My first .30 caliber mould was an ancient ventless single-cavity Ideal 308291. My favorite casting moulds are Lyman single-cavities -- a 405-grain 457193 and a 225-grain 452374 (on loan from my son-in-law).

Other than feeding two revolvers and a rifle, in .357 Mag., the rest of my curret casting could be handled with single-cavities.
 

L Ross

Well-Known Member
Funny how we will accept slow, methodical single cavity casting for our target rifles. The tedious ladling of precisely weighed alloy, the counting, the cooling, the gentle deposition on folded layers of old bath towels. Then grab a multicavity mould, a bottom pour pot with 22 lbs. of Hobson's choice, vaguely plumbous grey metal, and cast like the pups of the Baskervilles were at our heels to feed our handguns and repeaters.
 
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Ian

Notorious member
^^^^ Guilty here. But I do still strive for the best when casting quantity at lightspeed from gang moulds and cull all defects.