Rally
NC Minnesota
Got the .410 and 20 ga. Moulds in the mail Monday. Had a pheasant hunt planned but would have had to drive home in the snow storm had we gone, so stayed home and did some casting. I was on the waiting list for the .410 and added the 20 to save on postage later. I already have the Paradox in 12 and Match in 16. And have been pretty impressed with the moulds. Haven’t loaded any of the Paradox yet, but have loaded several hundred of the Match in 16 ga.
Cleaned both moulds and started with the .410, a bit of a learning curve getting the mould to temp and getting good fill out with the thin skirt and a cold, new mould. Had a vent line I needed to clean out, right in the “waist” that was causing a bubble in the exact spot each cast. The mould still wasn’t up to temp, cut the cleaning the vent line made an obvious difference, and no void/bubble. Added a little heat and increased casting rate to get some decent drops. Then had to go outside a do some snow blowing before my plow guy got there. About 1.5 hours later came back and started again, but had left the pots going. Took longer than I was hoping to get good drops but ended up with enough for some testing.
The 20 ga mould was a joy to cast with. I had initially run it through a heat cycle with the .410 mould, so this was the second heat cycle for the 20 ga. Mould. Dropped the first ten or so in the spruce pan and it started dropping real nice slugs. I ‘m hoping this slug fits the z20 wad from BPI as well as the 16 ha fits the z16 wad.
Cleaned both moulds and started with the .410, a bit of a learning curve getting the mould to temp and getting good fill out with the thin skirt and a cold, new mould. Had a vent line I needed to clean out, right in the “waist” that was causing a bubble in the exact spot each cast. The mould still wasn’t up to temp, cut the cleaning the vent line made an obvious difference, and no void/bubble. Added a little heat and increased casting rate to get some decent drops. Then had to go outside a do some snow blowing before my plow guy got there. About 1.5 hours later came back and started again, but had left the pots going. Took longer than I was hoping to get good drops but ended up with enough for some testing.
The 20 ga mould was a joy to cast with. I had initially run it through a heat cycle with the .410 mould, so this was the second heat cycle for the 20 ga. Mould. Dropped the first ten or so in the spruce pan and it started dropping real nice slugs. I ‘m hoping this slug fits the z20 wad from BPI as well as the 16 ha fits the z16 wad.