Iron mold blocks?

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Have you ever used them? Will you ever use them?

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[adamsutherlandModerator]

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I have a lot of iron blocks in my collection and find them just fine.

As with aluminium and brass blocks they have their own ways, personally I find iron the easiest to cast with.

[stephenquick]

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I suppose that I should have added that I have three molds from NOE that are aluminum and, however finely made, I much prefer iron blocks.

[adamsutherlandModerator]

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I like aluminium for its lightness, I can use aluminium four cavity moulds fine but find my four cavity iron moulds very hard work.

[stephenquick]

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Maybe I should rephrase the question: Can I get my NOE mold made from iron instead of brass or aluminum?

[SwedeNelsonKeymaster]

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oldblinddog

Sorry to take so long to get back to you
We are playing with some iron blocks but its not going to happen soon
It will take new tooling for what ever we run.

Bullet maker, maker
Al Nelson

[stephenquick]

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Thank you. You have great bullet designs but I am not going to buy any more aluminum molds.

[teemuParticipant]

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Thank you. You have great bullet designs but I am not going to buy any more aluminum molds.

What about Brass?

[adamsutherlandModerator]

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What is it about aluminium blocks that you don’t like, just curious.

[stephenquick]

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I have to run the pot on high (as high as it will go – just to be clear) and I get about a 60 % reject rate. If I run the melt any cooler than that the reject rate just goes up. I have a couple of molds that are better than that (depending) but they are just too much work compared to iron molds. All of my aluminum molds are NOE, I have never in 40 years of casting wasted my time with Lee molds. I have used RCBS, Lyman, and Accurate molds. Every one is hands down easier than the NOE to get good boolits. With my RCBS or Lyman molds the reject rate is about 2-3% and with the Accurate molds the reject rate is <1%.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?289818-Accurate-molds

For the inevitable questions:

Yes, I followed the break-in instructions. Each mold was heat cycled at least three times.
Yes, I pre-heat the mold and the sprueplate.

[anthonylafleurParticipant]

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Can you be more specific about your rejects? What sort of defects are you encountering?
I use quite a few aluminum moulds from NOE and LBT… I also use aluminum moulds from MP, Accurate and Mountain Moulds. All of these aluminum moulds case excellent bullets (a couple of dozen to choose from, at least).
Perhaps there are issues you could find help with by supplying additional info.

Feel free to PM if you’d like, but discussions like this are beneficial to the forum. You may very well help newer casters avoid similar issues in the future.
 

[teemuParticipant]

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I noticed that it is very important clean those molds before use it first time. First I wash with dishwashing liquid,then acetone,and last isopropyl alcohol. Then heating cycle 4 times. I’m getting good bullets.

I have  9 different mold manufacturers molds

[Author]

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