Tuesday, July 05, 2022

I should mention more about that mould

He designs them to work with Saeco handles.  Which are either expensive or out of stock everywhere.  Nice thing is that you can get the Lee commercial handles, enlarge the holes for the pins appropriately, and they work.

It comes with two bullets cast before they ship, to make sure everything is right.  

He specifically says 'No mold prep, smoking, any of that, just follow this way and it'll be fine.'   He's right.(his method is in 'casting' under the 'support' heading)

What I've been using is a Lyman mold for their .457" diameter 530-grain Postell bullet.  Which turned out not to be quite round*.  Right now, if you can find one new, they're showing a little over a hundred MSRP.  Brooks price is a little over twice that for a one-man made mould that he guarantees to be right.  So far I'd say worth the money.  Among other things, I've had a real problem with bullets sticking in one side of the Lyman, enough so it's taken tapping hard on the hinge pin, or on the handle arm opposite the side it's stuck in, and I've STILL had some I had to grab with pliers and pull out.**  So far the worst with the Brooks is tapping on the hinge pin a few times and it comes right out.

We'll see how the bullets work.  Right now I've got some sized .459 and some .458" to try.  When time and it not being hot as standing over a forge or in front of an oven outside allow.



* I'm not going to yell too much at them, it's possible I did something that knocked it out of alignment by the time I noticed this.  I don't think so, but is possible.

** Yes, I've cleaned, repeatedly, and smoked, and every other trick I could find to try.

1 comment:

polimath said...

I've had issues with a few molds and my solution was to spray Lyman's mold release ($26.) on a couple times and forget it. It has moly in it so can stand the heat. I have always had to clean my new molds and I use easy off oven cleaner a soft scrub with a toothbrush and a rinse.
Any stickiness was do to my own fault of banging the mold mouth. Had to lap the mouth a tad with fine (320) sandpaper on a split dowel in my power drill. If a Q-tip snag on the mold then you have a burr there still.